Rice & Rice — Protect your family and avoid potential headaches

Historically, wealth is squandered within three generations because families deal with real-life issues such as lawsuits, divorce, bankruptcy, nursing home expenses and family disputes.

Any one of these occurrences can hit home and wipe out an entire inheritance in just one generation, Plan now for both the financial and non-financial components of passing your legacy to the next generation.

You and your surviving family members will have a number of burdens and fears put to rest if your legacy can be planned with some of these potential stumbling blocks in mind:

• If your surviving spouse gets remarried, your children’s inheritance can be lost and other common mistakes made with blended families. In the event your surviving spouse remarries, a new set of pitfalls can arise that could have your hard-earned assets going to the new spouse instead of your children and future beneficiaries.

• How your beneficiaries can fall victim to divorces (“ex” in-laws), lawsuits or inexperienced financial decisions.

Most people give their assets outright to their heirs when they and their spouse are gone… this is a huge mistake! This type of planning almost always fails to protect your loved ones from these real-life occurrences.

• How your family can be torn apart over something as seemingly minor as “who gets grandmother’s quilt.” The biggest fights in families aren’t about money, stocks or real estate. They are about the little things that hold memories and most traditional estate plans fail to protect and pass on these valuable items.

Most families also find it important to preserve the wisdom, life lessons and history of the family. Traditional estate planning does not address these nonfinancial assets. Having a proper estate plan will help you to avoid your own potential hidden headaches by helping you protect your family and your legacy.

Our goal is to make sure you have all the informa- tion you need to ensure that none of these life-wrenching events happen to you or your family. Since our practice focuses exclusively on elder law and estate planning, it is our priority to be on top of the continuous changes in the law and techniques we can make available to you. Learn more about the benefits and protections of an estate plan by attending our estate planning/ Medicaid planning seminar at Teibel’s, 1775 US 41, Schererville, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 24; or Lighthouse, 7501 Constitution Ave., Cedar Lake, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 31. Reservations are required as seating is limited. Call (800) 303-7423 or visit riceandrice. com to RSVP.