Private Wealth
The $15 Million Estate-Tax Exemption and Portability in 2026
How the 2026 federal estate-tax exclusion interacts with a late spouse's unused exclusion, taxable gifts, remarriage, GST planning, and state estate tax.
Private Wealth
All private wealth →
Private Wealth
Charitable Lead Trusts: Charity First, Family Later
Learn how charitable lead annuity and unitrust arrangements divide payments between charity and family, and examine gift, income-tax, investment, filing, and governance tradeoffs.
Private Wealth
Family Limited Partnerships: Control, Value, and Risk
Understand what a family limited partnership can organize, why real operation matters, and how to document funding, gifts, valuation, tax reporting, and succession.
Private Wealth
GRATs After Widowhood: What the Strategy Really Does
Understand how a grantor retained annuity trust works, what must outperform the section 7520 assumption, and which mortality, valuation, tax, and administration risks matter.
Private Wealth
Private Foundation Grants: Expenditure Responsibility
Determine when expenditure responsibility applies, perform a proportionate pre-grant inquiry, write the grant agreement, collect reports, and preserve the Form 990-PF file.
Living Well
Travel, art, design, health, and a social life rebuilt on your own terms.
Choosing a Medical Alert System: A Home Test
Choose and test a medical alert system by matching coverage, monitoring, fall detection, response rules, power, privacy, contracts, and daily habits.
Emergency Planning When You Live Alone: Support, Power, and Evacuation
Build an emergency plan for one-person households with a support network, medication and power contingencies, evacuation transport, records, and practiced check-ins.
Getting a Medical Second Opinion: A Decision File
Prepare an independent medical second opinion with complete records, the right specialist, insurance checks, focused questions, and a written comparison.
The first ninety days
The desk →First 90 Days
The First 72 Hours: A Decision Map, Not a Paperwork Marathon
A calm triage plan for protecting access, recording deadlines, and separating urgent tasks from permanent financial decisions after a spouse dies.
First 90 Days
What to Do When You Miss Something After Your Spouse Dies
Triage a missed bill, deadline, account, benefit, policy, or filing after a spouse dies without turning a recoverable problem into an irreversible decision.
First 90 Days
Your Spouse's Advisers Are Not Automatically Yours: A 90-Day Review
A practical guide to identifying each professional's client, checking credentials and conflicts, securing files, comparing fees, and deciding whom to retain after a death.
First 90 Days
How to Build a Financial Continuity File After a Spouse Dies
Choose a trusted continuity person, define what they may know, build a secure estate status file, and separate emergency contact access from legal authority.
First 90 Days
What to Do With a Check Payable to Someone Who Died
A practical guide to checks and payments issued after death, including IRS refunds, Treasury checks, wages, insurance proceeds, reissuance, and estate accounts.
First 90 Days
Memberships After a Spouse Dies: Find Benefits Before You Cancel
A practical search-and-notify plan for unions, professional associations, alumni groups, clubs, fraternal orders, and membership-linked insurance or retirement benefits.
Read the case for doing nothing first →The strongest financial move in the first year is usually restraint.
From the picture desk
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The desks
The full archive of 300 guides →First 90 DaysThe calm order of the first weeks: what must happen now, and what can safely wait.38 guidesMoneyCash flow, statements, advisers, and the decisions you now make on your own.45 guidesPrivate WealthTrusts, family offices, philanthropy, and the architecture of a substantial estate.35 guidesEstateProbate, executors, trusts, and the orderly transfer of what was built.38 guidesTaxesFiling status, final returns, basis, and the years of filing alone.36 guidesHomeThe house, the second house, and the places you choose to live next.46 guidesLiving WellTravel, art, design, health, and a social life rebuilt on your own terms.34 guidesLife After LossGrief, family, friendship, and the slow work of a new daily life.28 guides
Recently published
Everything, newest first →
Living Well
Hearing Aids After Hearing Changes: Test, Compare, and Buy Carefully
Separate medical red flags from routine hearing changes, compare OTC and prescription hearing aids, verify coverage, and test a device before the return window closes.
Living Well
Hiring a Private Chef: Payroll, Privacy, and Food Safety
Hire a private chef by defining the role, classifying the worker, documenting pay and hours, managing allergies, protecting privacy, and auditing food safety.
Living Well
Hiring a Private Driver or Car Service: Safety, Payroll, and Privacy
Choose between an established car service and a household driver, verify safety and insurance, handle payroll correctly, and protect your routes and privacy.
Living Well
Home Health or Home Care: Know What Each Service Actually Provides
Separate Medicare home health from personal care and household help, define the hours and tasks needed, verify coverage, and build a safe backup plan.
Living Well
Hospital Discharge When You Live Alone: Make the Home Plan Real
Turn discharge instructions into a workable home plan with reconciled medicines, trained help, equipment, transport, warning signs, follow-up, and coverage checks.
Estate
Jewelry Inventory: Insurance, Estate, and Appraisal Records
Build a jewelry inventory that connects photographs, identifying details, lab reports, appraisals, insurance coverage, ownership, condition, location, and estate instructions.