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According to the Boston College Center of Wealth and Philanthropy, the Baby Boomer generation stands to inherit over $27 trillion in the United States alone over the next four decades. A large portion of that wealth is invested into your parent’s home, but when you inherit the house it can come with emotional and financial issues. When siblings are involved in the decision making process, deciding what to do with the home can be even trickier.

There are three options that you can elect after you have inherited your parents’ home: sell it, move in, or rent it. Each choice comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, emotionally and financially, for you and your siblings.

Selling the House

Many people, business owners and everyone else, are concerned about the federal estate tax when creating their estate plans. Although the federal estate tax is 40%, it does not apply unless the decedent has an estate worth over $5.34 million, and the estate amount is doubled if the person is married. However, there are other concerns besides the federal estate tax that a business owner should take into account when creating an estate plan.

Other State and Federal Taxes

The estate tax should be the least of a business owner’s worries when creating an estate plan. Before an estate tax is even considered other state and federal taxes are first deducted from a business and the estate. The federal income tax rate on an equity owner of a business can top out at 44.6%. State income taxes compound the issue by charging even more on an equity owner’s share. A business owner should first try and minimize the damage done by income taxes on his estate before dealing with the possibility of an estate tax.

An attorney is developing an online game aimed at teaching its players about estate planning. Stephanie Kimbro has created a demo for the game, “Estate Quest,” where the player is a detective who is given various cases about people who did not plan their estates correctly. The player is taken back in time and given clues about what the person should have done in his estate or written in his will. Examples include naming a guardian, specifying bequests to certain people, or naming an executor.

Using Crowdsourcing for Legal Products

Ms. Kimbro has been utilizing online crowdsourcing such as Rockethub as a means to develop her game. Crowdsourcing websites allow developers to explain their idea to everyone on the internet, and if people want to invest in the idea they donate money to the venture. Crowdsourcing is also a good tool for gauging interest in potential products. Ms. Kimbro is interested to learn about how crowdsourcing can be used to advance legal services projects, and she is using Estate Quest as a test product.

Estate planning can have ramifications decades (or even centuries!) after an individual passes away. On one hand, this is true because how one leaves assets and guidance to others can influence their long-term personal legacy. More specifically, however, planning can dictate legal matters far into the future. Whoever is in control of administering an estate has significant control over how some of those legal issues are handled.

Sudden Celebrity Death

Consider a dispute that recently arose between the estate of Rick Nelson and Capitol Records. Nelson was a popular musician an actor in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, best known for his role in the TV series “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” Unfortunately, Nelson died unexpectedly in a 1985 plane crash at the age of 45.

Of the many estate planning lessons pulled for the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman in New York last month is the need to properly update your documents. Hoffman’s will was drafted nearly ten years earlier. It had not been changed to reflect his new life circumstances, particularly the birth of two more children. While his first son was left assets in trust, there was no mention of his two daughters.

This is a common problem when an estate plan is outdated. In addition, the opposite problem can also arise. Instead of failing to account for a new birth, a plan can also miss the fact that one has died. Many New York residents may have questions about what happens when someone set to inherit per the terms of a will or a trust beneficiary is not alive.

“Anti-Lapse” Statute in New York

Making preparations for funeral services, burial preferences, and other memorial issues is a natural part of New York estate plans. These details have been a staple of the mourning and remembrance process for centuries. However, if trends continue, a new form of memory may be added to many plans: professional, digital tributes.

Online Memorial Websites

The stratospheric rise in popularity of online social networks and blogs should make it no surprise that remembrances for lost loved ones are moving online. Placing an obituary in the local paper or buying a memorial ad on the yearly anniversary is no longer the only way to share information about a passing and gracefully remember those who are gone. The process has moved online.

One of the more unique estate planning issues arising in recent years relates to “posthumous births.” This refers to a child who is born after one of their parents has already died.

This was always a possibility, as a parent could pass away in the months after a child was conceived by before the actual birth.

Yet, the issue has grown more acute with reproductive technology advances, including tools that allow the extraction and storage of genetic material, combined with in vitro fertilization. Children are now able to be conceived years after one of their parents has died. While the option is available to anyone, families in certain situations are currently more likely to take advantage of the technology, including those deployed in the military and when a partner has a serious medical ailment, like cancer.

The discrepancy in the law related to recognition of same sex unions may lead to some bizarre moves as part of an estate plan. That is particularly true when trying to avoid large tax burdens. For example, ABC News reported last week on a story out of Pennsylvania where a long-term couple decided to have one partner adopt the other to protect their long-term financial interests.

The couple has been together for four and a half decades. Yet, state law does not allow them to marry. As a result, even though they each planned to leave all of their assets to one another in the event of death, they would not be able to take advantage of inheritance tax exemptions for spouses.

One partner explained the situation regarding state inheritance taxes, “If we just live together and Gregory willed me his assets and property and anything else, I would be liable for a 15 percent tax on the value of the estate. By adoption, that decreases to 4 percent. It’s a huge difference.”

It is no secret that the federal budget (and many state budgets) are stretched thin as a result of rising healthcare costs. Medicare and Medicaid obligations make up a significant piece of the pie which has grown in recent years. In fact, the push to expand public healthcare options as part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was actually done in large part to save costs. That is because it offers the opportunity to provide more preventative care which may result in less expensive emergency services needing to be provided by the government.

It is for the same reason that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are working to educate the public on the reality of long-term care. The more preparation by community members, the better for residents themselves as well as public coffers. To help in this effort, the Department created a new website which provides a wide range of information covering different aspects of long-term care.

You can view the website here: www.longtermcare.gov