by Ethan Okura | Apr 8, 2016 | Articles
We often see clients who have been advised by someone else that holding bank accounts or real property as “Joint Tenants” (also called “Joint Tenancy”) is a cheap way to avoid probate costs. It’s true that if one of the joint tenants passes away, the other joint...
by Ethan Okura | Mar 9, 2016 | Articles
When a client comes in to our law firm for the first time, they usually ask us to explain the basic concepts of estate planning and to make recommendations on how they should proceed. Our attorneys will share with the client how doing a plan with us can help to...
by Ethan Okura | Feb 10, 2016 | Articles
One of the most common mistakes in Estate Planning is: A person will go to a lawyer (or some non-lawyer salesperson will come to their door) and they are talked into “purchasing a Trust” to help protect the person’s assets and to avoid probate...
by Ethan Okura | Jan 6, 2016 | Articles
Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! (That’s Happy New Year in Hawaiian for those of you reading on the mainland). Here is a 2016 update on important numbers used in Estate Planning and Medicaid Planning in Hawaii. How much money and property can a person have at death...
by Ethan Okura | Dec 4, 2015 | Articles, Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
When people come to us for advice on how to qualify for Medicaid to pay for their nursing home cost, we hear this phrase “Spend Down” all the time. Many people who have researched Medicaid benefits for long term care have heard that they should...
by Ethan Okura | Nov 4, 2015 | Articles
I can already hear you thinking, “Of course I’m going to hear a lecture on why I need an estate plan, coming from an estate planning lawyer!” Well, I decided to check with Google to see what it thought about the topic. I ran the search...
