By Jan Warner and Jan Collins
Monday, Nov. 9, 2009
Q: I am a 78-year-old widower and have two sons, two grown grandchildren and one great-grandchild. We all live and work on the family farm (300 acres worth $450,000) I inherited from my father. Since my stroke, my sons run our small farming and cattle operation in the Southeast. I have an IRA ($120,000), certificates of deposit ($100,000), and some old farm equipment. I receive Social Security and a pension from my old "day job," totaling $25,000 per year.

By Jan Warner and Jan Collins
Monday, Oct. 26, 2009
Q: My wife and I are in our late 60s and have about $500,000 in assets. We don't anticipate paying estate taxes. We have one married child who has two children, both in high school. Every asset we own, including our home, is titled jointly with right of survivorship so that if I die first, she gets it all, and if she dies first, I get it all. Our small life insurance policies and IRAs go to each other as beneficiary. Given our planning, is there any reason for us to go to the expense of getting wills drawn up?

By Jan Warner and Jan Collins
Monday, Oct. 12, 2009
Q: My father, now age 88, was in a nursing home for nearly three years as a private pay patient before my mother could get him qualified for Medicaid by "spending down" to $75,000, keeping her house, some old furniture and a car. He has been on Medicaid for four years.

By Jan Warner and Jan Collins
Monday, Sept. 21, 2009
Q: My wife and I have been discussing the pros and cons of creating a living trust for us that would become irrevocable after the first of us dies so it could continue for the survivor and then our children. Since my wife and I will have income from Social Security and retirement while we are living, we anticipate enough of a cash flow to take care of our needs. However, at the time of the first death, this income will be reduced and, at the second, it will stop. With interest rates as low as they are now, we are concerned that there may not be enough income to provide for the survivor and then for our children. We don't want those who are to get the income to keep going back to the trustee to get more principal that, in turn, will reduce future income and what is left. Is there any way to avoid this?