courtesy of Shutterstock

Tips for Speaking About Estate Planning During the Holidays
With the holidays quickly approaching, many people use this time as an opportunity to speak to family about estate planning. For most families, this is one of the few times that everyone gets together. Whether you're speaking to parents about their estate plan or your children about your own plan, here's some tips to make the time productive.
Keep It Light
Discussions about incapacity and death are uncomfortable topics, for good reason. Instead, try a low-key approach that emphasizes the need to get it done before it's too late. Focus on the big picture and save the details for later.
Keep It Focused
Delicate conversations can easily slip off the rails. Avoid this by focusing on the fact that estate planning provides peace of mind for everyone, both the person preparing the plan and the family.
Seek Expert Help
People often delay planning because they feel out of their depth. They have many questions but few answers. They are often confused about the different documents and what is best for them. Speaking to a professional, both before and after the holidays, is the best way to get the information you need to have an intelligent and productive conversation.
Law Attorney Michael Yeager 471-2177

courtesy of Shutterstock

Making Holidays Happier for Children of Divorce
Who gets Christmas? Who gets New Year's? Thanksgiving? Can the kids go out of state during their holiday vacation?
There's no time like holiday time to rattle even the most agreeable co-parents, which is why my advice always is: Plan ahead and put it in the custody agreement with the court.
Here's why.
When stress levels and emotions are high, cognition - our ability to think clearly - is lower. If you wait until just weeks before the holidays hit, changes to plans and expectations will likely elicit big, negative reactions.
Plan ahead and file your plan with the court to ensure that each party's time with their children is legally protected.
As for who gets what: Some parents switch on and off every other year. Dad gets Thanksgiving and New Year's this year, Mom gets Christmas Eve and Christmas. It's swapped next year. Other parents split the days; the child has Christmas morning at Mom's and Christmas supper with Dad.
What matters is that the child feels supported and loved - never divided or the "cause" of friction between their parents.
Do it right and maybe you can be like a few of my clients. After the dust of acrimonious marriages and divorces has settled, they realized that the best thing for the kids was for everyone to celebrate joyfully - together.
My holiday wish for you is that you find what works for your new family dynamic so that everyone has a blissful holiday season.
Denise Lite, Esq. is a certified family law specialist at
DaCorsi Placencio, PC 877-317-8080