by Ethan Okura | Jul 10, 2015 | Articles
IDENTITY THEFT: HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America in the past two decades. In fact, last year it was the number one complaint category according to the FTC, with 12.7 million victims of identity fraud in 2014. The...
by Ethan Okura | Jun 12, 2015 | Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
DOES A LIFE ESTATE STILL WORK FOR MEDICAID? Back in March, April, and May of 2010, my father wrote a three-part series for the Hawaii Herald called “Protect Your Home From Medicaid Liens.” It explained that the best way to protect your home is to...
by Ethan Okura | May 27, 2015 | Articles, Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives
I often encounter clients (or their families) who have some confusion about their rights and responsibilities as a legal representative of a family member or friend. Usually, the person is named as an agent under a financial power of attorney or a...
by Ethan Okura | Apr 10, 2015 | Articles, Asset Protection, Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes
Last year at this time I wrote an article about tax deadlines and the penalties for not filing or not paying on time. This year I want to talk in detail about one of our most innovative and useful strategies that can help clients to save on their taxes. This strategy...
by Ethan Okura | Mar 6, 2015 | Articles, Trusts and Wills
Many Husbands and Wives own title to their home as “Tenants by the Entirety” or as “Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship.” Often they’ve been told that it’s a cheap and easy way to avoid probate and are shocked to...
by Ethan Okura | Feb 24, 2015 | Articles, Asset Protection, Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes, Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
Most of my clients have heard that you can give away $10,000 per year to any other person without consequences. That’s not exactly correct. Some have heard that you should consider...
by Ethan Okura | Jan 21, 2015 | Articles, Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes, Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
Here is a 2015 update on important numbers used in Estate Planning and Medicaid Planning in Hawaii. How much money and property can a person have at death without paying estate taxes? At the end of 2012, Congress passed a law making the exemption from estate taxes...
by Ethan Okura | Dec 15, 2014 | Articles
If you’ve been reading my articles, you may have noticed that I have written a few times on how you should own your real estate, what tenancy you should hold the property under, whether to use an LLC, the advantages of an irrevocable trust, and recently even...
by Ethan Okura | Oct 8, 2014 | Articles
Recently I have been hearing more and more people talk about Self-Directed IRAs. This idea has been spreading among entrepreneurs and investors all over the country in recent years. More accountants and lawyers are starting to become aware of this phenomenon. But...
