by Ethan Okura | Feb 8, 2014 | Articles, Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes, Medicaid and Nursing Home Costs
Here is a 2014 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? A little over one year ago, Congress passed a law making the exemption from...
by Ethan Okura | Jan 5, 2014 | Articles, Asset Protection, Trusts and Wills
Last month I wrote about the pitfalls of giving your home away without protecting yourself. We came to the conclusion that if you think you have 5 years of good health when you can still live at home before you might need nursing home care, it can be a good idea to...
by Ethan Okura | Dec 11, 2013 | Articles, Asset Protection, Trusts and Wills
We all know that the possibility of incurring disastrous Nursing Home costs is the biggest threat to most people’s estates today. Now that we have an exemption of $5.25 million from estate taxes, only the wealthiest 0.14% of Americans will pay this tax. In...
by michelle | Oct 25, 2013 | Articles, Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives
DIFFERENT TYPES OF AGENCY: ATTORNEY-IN-FACT VS. TRUSTEE By Ethan R. Okura Clients often come to me confused about the different ways their loved ones can act for them if they become incapacitated (or how they can act on behalf of their family members). Today...
by michelle | Sep 9, 2013 | Articles, Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes, Trusts and Wills
TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS By Ethan R. Okura Back in June, I wrote an article on how Obamacare affects the income taxes that trusts pay. It’s a very complicated subject (taxes always seem to be, don’t they?) and my quick summary of how it works may have left you with...
by michelle | Aug 9, 2013 | Articles
AGREEMENT OF SALE By Ethan R. Okura We all know that we had a recent real estate boom and bust cycle. From the early 2000s until around 2007 or 2008 the real estate market was going gangbusters. Prices were rising, and a lot of transactions were taking...
