006- Estate Planning and Trusts with Deirdre Wheatley-Liss, Esq.

Financially Empowering Women

Host Laura Mattia and special guest Deirdre Wheatley-Liss, Esq. discuss estate planning, trusts, and the important implications they can have to everyone, particularly women. The statistics indicating that women live longer on average than men and tend to marry older spouses results in over 3 times more women versus men being widowed by age 65. In addition, women receive lower earnings during their working years which impacts the amount of social security they receive. For women, estate planning is a very important part of retirement planning since it can drastically affect their lives in retirement if proper planning is not done. Inherent to the decision of becoming financially empowered, Laura continues to promote the idea of taking responsibility for yourself and caring for yourself, a key aspect of estate planning. Amongst other issues, Laura and Deidre discuss the tendency for women to be the primary custodial parent, worried about how their children will be cared for if something happens to them. Deidre explains how to best prepare for this concern and also why it is important to determine who will handle their children's property until they are older. Women business owners listening to this program are reminded about the importance of protecting their assets, and planning for the succession of their businesses. Insights towards how to own life insurance, treat retirement assets and use a trust to achieve goals are discussed, along with an estate planning checklist tool which can be downloaded from FinanciallyEmpoweringWomen.com.

Deirdre Wheatley-Liss, Esq. is a Certified Elder Law Attorney and a practicing trusts and estates attorney has over fifteen years’ experience. Her passion is educating the public about the law so they can be empowered to use it to their benefit. She graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins University, earned her law degree at Boston College Law School, and holds an advanced Masters of Law degree in taxation from New York University School of Law. Deirdre authors the award-winning New Jersey Estate Planning and Elder Law Blog, and she is a sought-after speaker and contributor to national publications such as the New York Times, Consumer Digest, and Money magazine. Deirdre often hears that she makes estate planning and tax law "fun," and that she is adept at breaking down complex topics into understandable, and actionable, elements. The author of Plan Your Own Estate (Apress, 2013), she resides in Northern New Jersey with her husband and son.