With Your Family in Mind

I know a lot of people who say that winter is their favorite time of year. Many of us look forward with great anticipation to the holidays. It’s during the colder season that we most enjoy celebrating with family and friends.  We indulge in lots of delicious food. We gather around the fireplace...

Late-life depression affects about 6 million Americans age 65 and older, but only 10% receive treatment.No matter what age we are, living a life of purpose, connection and joy is critical for our physical and mental wellbeing. For older adults, a variety of obstacles like vision loss, social...

  Time for my annual run of this important message…Holidays are the one or two times a year we are able to spend time with parents or other aging loved ones in person. If we do see them daily, sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees, and may not recognize a cognitive and/or...

  Uncle Jim thought he had his affairs in order. He had a living trust prepared, and the attorney properly prepared and recorded a new deed changing the house title to Uncle Jim, Trustee of his trust. Uncle Jim also made sure his brother was the beneficiary of his trust, with two favorite...

That’s right… 2023. You haven’t even prepared your taxes for 2022. Yet, this is the ideal time to begin developing your tax strategy for next year.Tax planning is the method for analyzing your current financial situation and then establishing a strategy to reduce the amount of taxes you will...

As I get older, I fall more and more behind the times. I miss things that everyone else just seem to know about. Tiktok, Instagram, the song “Let Her Go” by Passenger. Eventually I catch up. Let her Go was first released in July of 2012. I heard it for the first time like 5 years later.Anyways,...

I started in the mortgage industry in January of 1999 when mortgage rates were coming down and everyone had just refinanced to a low rate of 6.75%. It was a challenge starting a new business after being in the banking industry as a branch manager for over 15 years and knowing that everyone had...

An “Epstein Credit” is a reimbursement or “credit” that a spouse can seek if they use separate property income to pay the community property debt of one-half the payment made. For example, Wife solely pays for the mortgage of the community property family home after separation. Wife would then...

Older people have higher risk of getting pneumonia, and are more likely to die from it if they do. For US seniors, hospitalization for pneumonia has a greater risk of death compared to any of the other top 10 reasons for hospitalization.Why Pneumonia is More Common in SeniorsChanges to the...

Recent studies show that if you’ve reached the age of 65, you have a 50/50 chance of needing some form of long-term care in the future. For women, odds are slightly higher. There are different types of long-term care, including skilled nursing care, assisted living communities, residential care...

At Otter we truly value the work of caregivers and that includes stay-at-home parents. I’ve been a stay-at-home mom myself and I know how much work goes into an average day with toddlers. As I built Otter, I spent a lot of time thinking about the skills I’ve developed through parenthood and how...

Seniors continue to be a rapidly increasing segment of the population targeted by con artists. In fact, financial scams targeting seniors have become so prevalent that they are now considered to be “the crime of the 21st century.” And this crime against seniors is not always one that is...

I am often asked to review trusts and estate plans that were prepared years ago. Often the person’s circumstances have changed, and they want to amend their trust. Or, they know time has passed, and they want to make sure their trust stood the test of time. Many times, people just don’t know or...

Finding the right attorney is a daunting task, right up there with the prospect of divorce itself. There are ‘one stop shop’ attorneys who practice many areas of law. There are those attorneys who have built a reputation for toughness, being the best ‘arguer’ in town. There are others that...

One of the more horrific stories in the news this week was the salon shooting in Seal Beach, California. It was alleged that at least eight people were killed by a man enraged over a custody battle. Issues of custody commonly arise in Family Law cases. But they do not all have to be bitter...

There are some terms you can’t or should not include in a prenuptial agreement. Some are unenforceable, but depending upon other terms of the agreement, the inclusion of such terms may destroy the validity of any of the agreement! Terms you should avoid in your prenuptial agreement fall into...