Ivy & Owl Law Blog

Parent and two children walking together in a field at sunset

When Your Spouse Won’t Get on Board with Estate Planning

You've brought it up before. Maybe it came up after watching a friend go through something hard, a probate process that dragged on for years, or a family left scrambling without the…

Couple looking toward a house they are planning for their future

What Happens to Debt When You Die: What Families Must Know

The call came four days after her husband died.

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The New Tax Law and Your Family’s Trust: What to Know Now

A client forwarded me a CNBC article last week with a note: "Does this affect our trust?"

Grandmother, mother, and child hugging together

They Had the Passwords. They Still Could Not Get In.

She found the notebook in the top drawer of her mother's desk. Six pages. Every account. Every password. Username, password, recovery question. Her mother had been organized her whole life, and the…

Family gathered together while planning for their future

The Estate Planning Mistake Divorced Fathers Cannot Afford to Miss

If you are a divorced father, you already know something that most married fathers don't: showing up for your kids takes more deliberate effort than it looks like from the outside.

Young family walking together in a park

When Love Makes You a Father, but the Law Does Not

If you are a stepfather, you know the difference between the legal definition of father and the real one.

Two parents holding a baby's hands while walking in a field

Who Would Raise Your Kids If You Couldn’t? (What You Don’t Know About the First 72 Hours)

There are two kinds of fathers.

Parents holding a baby's hands while walking in a field at evening

Most parents think they have answered the guardian question. Many haven’t. Learn what happens to your children in the first 72 hours after an emergency.

I work with parents on this exact question all the time, and especially this time of year, sitting right between Mother's Day and Father's Day, the love you have for your children…

Parent and two children walking together in a field at sunset

No One Warned Her About the Widow Penalty. Her First Tax Return Did.

She had been filing taxes the same way for thirty years. Married filing jointly. Two incomes, two Social Security checks, one tax return. When her husband died, she assumed very little about…

Couple looking toward a house they are planning for their future

The Document That Fails When You Need It Most

This happens far more than it should.