In this situation the identity thief impersonates someone else in order to conceal their own true identity. Examples are illegal immigrants hiding their illegal status, people hiding from creditors or other individuals, and those who simply want to become "anonymous" for personal reasons. Another example is posers, a label given to people who use someone else's photos and information on social networking sites. Posers mostly create believable stories involving friends of the real person they are imitating. Unlike identity theft used to obtain credit which usually comes to light when the debts mount, concealment may continue indefinitely without being detected, particularly if the identity thief is able to obtain false credentials in order to pass various authentication tests in everyday life.

Life insurance serves as a source to pay death taxes and expenses, fund business buy-sell agreements, and fund retirement plans. If sufficient insurance proceeds are available and the policies are properly structured, any income tax on the deemed dispositions of assets following the death of an individual can be paid without resorting to the sale of assets. Proceeds from life insurance that are received by the beneficiaries upon the death of the insured are generally income tax-free.


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When you use a will, however, after you pass away title to property passes from you to the estate and its executor. Eventually it passes to the final beneficiaries. The probate court supervises the process. If you become disabled, whoever holds your power of attorney has to present it to financial institutions and have them accept it before your assets can be managed. If there’s no power of attorney or financial institutions won’t accept it, the courts become involved.
The Texas parental guardianship of minor child power of attorney form is used by those who have a minor child and need a relative or close friend to assume parental guardianship rights. The agent selected will have the decision making options of choosing the minor child’s educational facilities and all medical care needs. These powers will only be required in the chance the principal should become…
Determine if a special power of attorney is sufficient. A special power of attorney gives your agent authority only to handle a specified business transaction or set of transactions. For instance, you might grant a special power of attorney to your agent to simply sign a particular contract on your behalf. It also may contain specific dates in which the power of attorney is to be in effect. Once those dates have expired or the specified transaction is complete, a special power of attorney document is no longer valid.
Related to the health care power of attorney is a separate document known as an advance health care directive, also called a "living will". A living will is a written statement of a person's health care and medical wishes but does not appoint another person to make health care decisions. Depending upon the jurisdiction, a health care power of attorney may or may not appear with an advance health care directive in a single, physical document. For example, the California legislature has adopted a standard power of attorney for health care and advance health care directive form that meets all of that state's legal wording requirements for a power of attorney and advance health care directive in a single document.[15] Compare this to New York State, which enacted a Health Care Proxy law that requires a separate document be prepared appointing one as your health care agent.[16]
In some jurisdictions, a durable power of attorney can also be a "health care power of attorney." This particular affidavit gives the attorney-in-fact the authority to make health-care decisions for the grantor, up to and including terminating care and life support. The grantor can typically modify or restrict the powers of the agent to make end-of-life decisions.[14] In many jurisdictions a health care power of attorney is also referred to as a "health care proxy" and, as such, the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.[8]
The term attorney-in-fact is used in many jurisdictions instead of the term agent.[2] That term should be distinguished from the term attorney-at-law. In the United States, an attorney-at-law is a solicitor who is also licensed to be an advocate in a particular jurisdiction. An attorney-in-fact may be a layperson and is authorized to act pursuant to the powers granted by a power of attorney but may not engage in acts that would constitute the unauthorized practice of law.
There are several very low costs, or even free, online services available to draft documents commonly used during estate planning, such as wills, trust, durable powers of attorney and healthcare proxies. These online services, as presented, seem to be a very good alternative for most people. So, are the benefits of using an estate planning advisor is not worth the expense? 
The Texas Power Of Attorney Form allows another appointed person, also referred to as the`Agent`, to make decisions over a patient`s health care treatment should they become so ill that they are no longer able to do so. This authority can be out right or can be limited by the principal to any lesser or greater extent they wish. The document requires either a notary or two witnesses. The document is in accordance with statutes §166.001 to -.166 in the state of Texas.
Within reason, you can address how you would like them to use what you have left them. While children, natural or adopted, have a statutory right to inherit, a will allows you to disinherit a child if you choose to do so (check your state laws for the specific details about this). A person can disinherit a spouse as well, under certain circumstances. However, you will need to be aware of the laws governing your state—whether it is a common law state, a community property state, or an equitable distribution state; a person may only disinherit a spouse in a community property state. Each has a different set of stipulations on what and how much can be disinherited. Note, too, that a person can only disinherit a spouse or child through a will.

For many qualifying product subscriptions McAfee offers additional benefits for free when you are enrolled in auto-renewal.  You can check your eligibility for these benefits in your My Account page. Not all benefits are offered in all locations or for all product subscriptions.  System Requirements apply.   Turning off auto-renewal terminates your eligibility for these additional benefits. 
In financial situations wherein a principal requests a securities broker to perform extensive investment functions on the principal's behalf, independent of the principal's advice, power of attorney must be formally granted to the broker to trade in the principal's account. This rule also applies to principals who instruct their brokers to perform certain specific trades and principals who trust their brokers to perform certain trades in the principal's best interest.[citation needed]
General powers of attorney are used to allow someone to act for you in a wide variety of matters.  For example, general powers of attorney are often used in business dealings to allow an employee to enter into contracts, sell property, spend money, and take other actions on behalf of their client. You may wish to create a general power of attorney if you are still capable of managing your own affairs but would like to have someone else take care of them for you.
A Living Will, also known as a “health care directive”, allows a person to state their end-of-life medical treatment and care. This document does not hold any bearings after death, it solely directs physicians to care for a person based on what is stated in their Living Will, especially with issues such as DNR (do not resuscitate). Without this document, it’s difficult to judge an ill or incapacitated person’s end-of-life wishes.
A person who acts under a power of attorney is a fiduciary. A fiduciary is someone responsible for managing some or all of another person's affairs. The fiduciary must act prudently and in a way that is fair to the person whose affairs he or she is managing. Someone who violates those duties can face criminal charges or can be held liable in a civil lawsuit.
The type of information taken during a breach can vary widely depending on what personal info the company has stored, and what the perpetrator is able to access. Sometimes, the types of info stolen can also depend on the purpose of the breach, which could vary from making a political statement to a hacker simply “showing off”. Perpetrators that are committing breaches for financial gain generally target personal information that can be resold on the dark web and be used for identity fraud, focusing on info like full names, email addresses, passwords, Social Security number, date of birth and driver’s license number to name a few.
However, many accounts, such as bank savings, CD accounts, and individual brokerage accounts, are unnecessarily probated every day. If you hold these accounts, they can be set up—or amended—to have a transfer on death (TOD) designation, which lets beneficiaries receive assets without going through the probate process. Contact your custodian or bank to set this up on your accounts.
Philippines, which ranks eighth in the numbers of users of Facebook and other social networking sites such as Twitter, Multiply and Tumblr, has been known as source of various identity theft problems.[46] Identities of those people who carelessly put personal information on their profiles can easily be stolen just by simple browsing. There are people who meet online, get to know each other through the free Facebook chat and exchange of messages that then leads to sharing of private information. Others get romantically involved with their online friends that they tend to give too much information such as their social security number, bank account and even personal basic information such as home address and company address.
Surveys in the US from 2003 to 2006 showed a decrease in the total number of victims and a decrease in the total value of identity fraud from US$47.6 billion in 2003 to $15.6 billion in 2006. The average fraud per person decreased from $4,789 in 2003 to $1,882 in 2006. A Microsoft report shows that this drop is due to statistical problems with the methodology, that such survey-based estimates are "hopelessly flawed" and exaggerate the true losses by orders of magnitude.[77]

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Schemes to commit identity theft or fraud may also involve violations of other statutes such as identification fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1028), credit card fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1029), computer fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1030), mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1341), wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343), or financial institution fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344). Each of these federal offenses are felonies that carry substantial penalties –¬ in some cases, as high as 30 years' imprisonment, fines, and criminal forfeiture.
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This is another strategy that can be used to limit death taxes. It involves an individual locking in the current value and thus, tax liability, of their property, while attributing the value of future growth of that capital property to another person. Any increase that occurs in the value of the assets in the future is transferred to the benefit of another person, such as a spouse, child, or grandchild.

Using a medical power of attorney to accompany your Living Will is highly recommended. It allows you to appoint an agent to make health care related decisions on your behalf when you become incapacitated or unable to communicate your health care wishes. In our example, the Principal named Greg Smith appointed his good friend George Leary to be his health care agent.
One of the major identity theft categories is tax identity theft. The most common method is to use a person's authentic name, address, and Social Security Number to file a tax return with false information, and have the resulting refund direct-deposited into a bank account controlled by the thief. The thief in this case can also try to get a job and then their employer will report the income of the real taxpayer, this then results in the taxpayer getting in trouble with the IRS.[23]
In their May 1998 testimony before the United States Senate, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) discussed the sale of Social Security numbers and other personal identifiers by credit-raters and data miners. The FTC agreed to the industry's self-regulating principles restricting access to information on credit reports.[37] According to the industry, the restrictions vary according to the category of customer. Credit reporting agencies gather and disclose personal and credit information to a wide business client base.
Using a medical power of attorney to accompany your Living Will is highly recommended. It allows you to appoint an agent to make health care related decisions on your behalf when you become incapacitated or unable to communicate your health care wishes. In our example, the Principal named Greg Smith appointed his good friend George Leary to be his health care agent.
While you can appoint multiple agents, decide whether these agents must act jointly or separately in making decisions. Multiple agents can ensure more sound decisions, acting as checks and balances against one another. The downside is that multiple agents can disagree and one person's schedule can potentially delay important transactions or signings of legal documents.
J. Derick Winfrey is a solo practitioner who specializes in assisting his clients in many legal specialties.  Derick has an extensive background in corporate law, real estate transactions, commercial real estate, contracts, oil and gas transactions, bankruptcy, civil litigation, family law, criminal defense and estate planning.  Derick believes not only in the importance of helping his clients understand the complexities of the law and the legal process, but also in their vigorous representation.  He has a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and received his Juris Doctor from Texas Tech University.&n ... View Profile
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