I am not sure if this photo is legitimate,but it seems that a man had his living will and organ donation wishes tattooed on his arm.  That should remove any ambiguity about his wishes, although a standard living will on paper with verbal instructions to his relatives, and checking the organ donation box on a drivers license would be far less intrusive.  Those documents would also preserve skin space for tattooing his girl friend’s name and current favorite band.

File this under news you can use.   The annual gift tax exclusion will increase to $14,000 next year from the current $13,000.  The gift tax exclusion is the amount of money someone may give away each year without paying gift tax (or more realistically without reducing the amount of money he may leave tax free at death).  When giving away this larger amount, do not forget the blogger who shared this news.    He would even settle for the incremental amount.

Forbes discusses 10 common estate planning myths, all of which I have heard.  The most egregious myths are that without a will the state will inherit one’s estate and that having a will allows one to avoid probate.  Of course, neither is true which is why they are myths.

Personally, the myth I am most vested in is that people need an attorney to draft a will. For reasons stated previously on this page, the cost of retaining an attorney far outweighs the downside of an error or not addressing an issue.  Just ask the illegitimate child who inadvertently inherited a share of an estate or the children from the first marriage who were disinherited entirely in favor of the second, late in life spouse.