"Beneficiary designation" is a mouthful. It's the kind of phrase that registers mainly as something you've heard before but not as a readily discernible "thing".…
What’s Yours is Yours
One of the things that I find (incredibly) nerdily interesting about my work is the concept of the character of property. In Washington, most property…
Change, and Willpower
My latest "read"--an audio book, actually--has been "Willpower" by Roy F. Baumeister. Published in 2011, it's a book about the science behind controlling yourself. I've…
Decide What Your Stuff is Worth
This excerpt on Slate.com offers a "Minimalist" perspective on some of the hidden costs of our belongings. I'm not siding one way or the other…
Persuading Yourself
Full disclosure: I like the way that Dan Pink thinks and I like the way he writes. "Free Agent Nation" captured my imagination a decade…
Women and Money
This article from the September 2012 issue of Real Simple is a piece about which I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, there are…
Spreading the Word on Collaborative Probate
Probate had a bad rap when I was in law school. There were--and still are--numerous guides for consumers on how to avoid probate. Washington has…
Your IRA in a Divorce
This "Tax Talk" question on the Yahoo Finance site does a pretty good job summing up important information on dividing an IRA ("individual retirement account")…
Financial Planning, Post-Divorce
From Florida's Bradenton Herald, here's a Cliff Notes version of helpful post-divorce financial planning steps. (As I update this in 2016, the original post has…