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You finally get a quiet moment to look at the business account, and there’s money in it. You made payroll, your clients are paying, and the year is turning out better than you expected. You deserve to enjoy that progress. Then comes the question: how much of that money is actually available to use? Year-end tax planning helps you answer that before you commit the cash somewhere else. Through a business consultation, I help you connect that tax conversation to the business and

You have made room in your life for love again. There are new routines, more birthdays to remember, and people at your table who were not there a few years ago. You want this family to feel like a family, not two sides keeping score. Then a quieter question arrives: if you die first, how do you care for your spouse and still leave something for your children? Second marriage estate planning starts with that question. Asking it does not mean you distrust anyone. It means both

Your company owns a $2 million life insurance policy on your co-founder. That is business-owned life insurance, and the policy itself is only one part of the system your company needs. The business pays the premiums, and the company is the beneficiary. You bought the policy to provide cash if your co-founder dies, so the team keeps getting paid, clients stay, and the business has time to recover. As far as you’re concerned, the insurance is handled. Then your CPA asks three s

Your next payroll is $28,000. A supplier needs $19,000. You have $35,000 available, and you’re the only person authorized to decide what happens next. You know exactly how you would handle it, because you earned that judgment through years of keeping promises to your employees and customers. But if you couldn’t answer your phone for two weeks, who would have the authority to act? That is a business continuity planning question worth answering while you can still guide the dec

You bought the policy when your first child was born. You chose an amount that felt enormous, named your spouse, added the premium to autopay, and felt the relief of knowing your family would have money if you died. You acted to protect your family. A life insurance beneficiary review respects that decision while asking whether the policy still fits the life you built afterward. Now it is 10 years later. Your income has changed. The mortgage is larger. You have two children,

You and your spouse planned for one of you to carry on. You named each other as beneficiaries and talked about how the survivor would care for your family. It is understandable if you never asked what happens when neither of you can. What happens if spouses die at the same time, or only days apart? When I review your plan, I want you to be able to answer three questions: Who inherits first?How long must that person survive you?Who inherits if they do not? You may remember the

Your daughter is a physician with a growing practice. Your son is an attorney on the path to partnership. Your youngest built a company that now employs 14 people. You are proud of all of them. You trust their judgment, and you want their inheritance to strengthen the lives they have worked hard to build. When I discuss an inheritance trust for adult children with parents like you, I do not begin by asking whether the children are responsible. I begin by asking what they have

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, died in 2025. One year later, his widow alleges $1.2 million in unfulfilled premarital obligations: a life insurance policy never purchased, a Roth IRA never funded, and anniversary payments never made. A nine-year-old daughter is at the center of the dispute. Here's what more thorough follow-through on the planning could have helped prevent. 2026.08.14 The Cosby Show Made Him Famous. His Estate Plan Faile

I've been sitting with a recent Seventh Circuit decision for a while now, and I can't shake it. The court spends page after page explaining why the ALJ got it wrong. Not just one mistake—several. The opinion walks through how the ALJ reversed the regulatory framework for evaluating medical opinions, failed to properly address supportability and consistency, applied inconsistent reasoning across the decision, failed to build a logical bridge between the evidence and the conclu

The Ninth Circuit handed down a decision on July 1 in Allen v. Bisignano that's worth a quick read if you're briefing symptom testimony or medical opinion challenges. It's not a case that breaks new legal ground, it's a roadmap of what an ALJ decision looks like when it survives review because every finding is tied back to the record. The Facts The claimant alleged disability based on mental health impairments and arm pain. The ALJ ran the five-step sequential evaluation and

How to have the estate planning conversation with the people you love without making it weird. There's a phrase most of us remember from decades past: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." It was simple, direct, and it worked, because it reframed a difficult conversation as an act of friendship, not judgment. The same logic applies to estate planning. For most of us, our friends are among the most important people in our lives. For some, they're chosen family: the people w

You've raised it before. Your spouse keeps saying "not now." But every week that passes without a plan is a week your family's future depends on chance instead of intention. Here's what to do when you're not on the same page, and what you can start doing today. Read more...

Most families believe they will inherit their loved one's debt. Most debt collectors count on that fear. Your debt does not automatically transfer to your heirs, but it shapes how much they receive and what the estate must pay before they get anything. Here is exactly what happens and what your family needs to know before the collectors call. Read more…

The One Big Beautiful Bill raised the estate tax exemption to $15 million per person. That provision made headlines everywhere. A second one didn't: a deduction limitation buried in a Congressional footnote that tax lawyers say may create double taxation inside family trusts, including special needs trusts with as little as $400,000 in assets. Here is what families with trusts need to know right now. Read more…

The Ninth Circuit recently handed down a decision in Starkweather v. Bisignano that every Social Security disability appellate practitioner should read, not because it changes the law, but because it illustrates exactly how procedural missteps and the harmless error doctrine can swallow otherwise valid arguments whole. What Happened Starkweather appealed the denial of her Social Security disability benefits. The ALJ discounted her treating physician's opinion, made a factual

Most families assume that a list of passwords will be enough to access accounts after a death. That assumption is wrong, and the problem is not the list. The problem is a layer of security most accounts now require that no password can bypass. Here is what actually keeps families locked out, and what a real digital estate plan looks like. Read more…

If you are a divorced father, you already know something that most married fathers don't: showing up for your kids takes more deliberate effort than it looks like from the outside. You have worked on the relationship you have with them. You know which weeks are yours and how to make them count. You have figured out the handoffs, the schedules, and the way to stay present even when circumstances make it complicated. What I find almost universally, when a divorced father walks

The Eighth Circuit issued its decision in Bonham v. Bisignano on June 2, 2026, and if you handle Social Security disability appeals, it's worth reading carefully. Not just the majority. Especially the dissent. Here's what happened, why the dissent matters, and what this means for how you handle cases going forward. The Setup: A Long Wait and a Narrow Window A veteran with serious cervical spine issues waited five years to file for SSA disability, alleging an onset date back i

If you are a stepfather, you know the difference between the legal definition of father and the real one. The real one shows up. He learns the allergies, the fears, and the names of the friends. He drives to the practices and sits through the recitals and knows which child needs quiet when they're upset and which one needs noise. He considers these children his family, and they consider him theirs. The legal definition is something else entirely. Under the law, a stepparent h