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July 24, 2026
Phil Runyon discusses when revocable or irrevocable trusts may be appropriate, including probate avoidance, beneficiary planning, creditor protection, Medicaid eligibility, and asset protection trusts.
June 26, 2026
Solstice greetings from Phil Runyon on reviewing estate planning documents, updating wills and trusts, and keeping powers of attorney and health care directives current.
April 1, 2026
Greetings again, everyone! I know you've just heard from me, but I have a few more things to say, including an update on the finCEN real estate reporting rules...
February 10, 2026
Medicaid Planning and Long-Term Care Options for New Hampshire Families Greetings again, everyone! This is my final summer offering, so I'm going to give you so...
June 5, 2024
I won't offend any of you by assuming you're regular readers of the AARP magazine quite yet, but a recent issue raised some of the knottiest planning dilemmas f...
March 1, 2024
Early (Very Early) Spring greetings to you all! As a native Southerner, I confess to being less than sanguine about the weather of January and February and to b...
August 1, 2023
Phil Runyon discusses why the best executor or trustee may not be the most legally or financially sophisticated family member, and how to think about those choices.
July 1, 2023
Phil Runyon discusses practical work-arounds for funding revocable trusts, transfer-on-death beneficiaries, vehicle titles, and federal student loan concerns.
May 1, 2023
Phil Runyon explains why wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, and health care directives may need periodic review as family circumstances and legal requirements change.
December 1, 2022
Phil Runyon discusses springing powers of attorney, health care directives, downloaded wills, revocable trust funding, and when estate planning documents should be refreshed.
July 1, 2022
Phil Runyon discusses keeping health care directives current, preserving family stories, capacity planning, trustee choices, cremation, and trust provisions for vulnerable beneficiaries.
March 1, 2022
Phil Runyon discusses how revocable trusts and estate planning documents can help provide for pets after their owners are gone.
April 24, 2019
It's Never Too Early to Plan Ahead It occurred to me that most of what I say in these pieces is directed toward my contemporaries rather than our children and g...
March 15, 2018
A Modest Proposal Many of you have already taken the suggestion to convey your assets to revocable trusts to help your family avoid the winter (spring, summer a...
July 11, 2017
EnABLEd Accounts We've probably all at least heard about so-called "special needs trusts", even if we've never met one in person. They're intended to provide su...
January 25, 2016
Another Planning Resolution In addition to resolving to being nicer people this year, let's also resolve to keep our planning documents in good order - and let'...
August 27, 2015
Sometimes More Information is Better Here are a few words on a subject that can be totally unenjoyable, even divisive, in many families, at a time when they rea...
May 22, 2015
Asset Beneficiaries are important As we all know (some more traumatically than others), the divorce bug has attacked nearly every family at some point. And when...
November 19, 2014
Express Your Trust Intentions Thanksgiving, more than any other holiday, seems to bring us together not only for a gargantuan meal, but also for those awkward c...
August 12, 2014
Joint Tenancies Redux I've written already about the use of **joint tenancies** to help avoid probate. If one of the JTs dies, the other becomes the sole owner...
July 24, 2014
Ensuring a Future One of the consequences of summer winding down is that schools and colleges will soon be cranking up again - and cranking out their tuition bi...
July 24, 2014
More Trust News If you've been even an intermittent reader here, you know I've proclaimed the helpful uses of trusts on many occasions. Historically, the primar...
January 7, 2014
Joint Tenants Take Note As the heading suggests, I'm out to toss a little cold water on the common technique many of us employ to pass our worldly stuff on to o...
September 17, 2013
**Probate Avoidance Revisited I've mentioned before - harped may be more like it - about doing your best to keep your family from having to endure the delay (mo...
May 1, 2013
Time for a Trust Tune-up? Now that the dust is settling on the new tax law, and the rules have become as permanent as anything can be in Washington, it's pretty...
November 1, 2012
Food For Year-End Thought We've got about 2 months to go before the end of the year, which is when all our current estate and gift tax goodies are due to expire...
June 14, 2012
More on Trusts I've noted previously that most people's estate values are now less than the federal estate tax exemption amounts - currently $5,000,000 per pers...
May 21, 2012
Too Good to be True? First a disclaimer: I'm certainly not in favor of people evading their legal obligations! Having said that, I'll also state that much of wh...
January 18, 2012
A Probate Alternative Nearly every family has a horror story about "probating" a relative's estate, the usual complaints being about how long it took, how much...
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Food for Thought offers general educational commentary only and is not legal advice. Reading a post, using the glossary, or following links on this section of the site does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please contact Runyon Law Office PLLC if you would like advice about your own situation.