Archive for Estate Planning
Who Cares For Ya, Baby? (Client Care Program Information)
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are too young to remember Kojak’s (Telly Savalas’ tv series) famous line, “Who loves ya, Baby?” then, you may not get my question, but no matter.. . It’s a quote just too fitting for me to let you know about our improved Client Care Membership Program. (It’s goooood stuff!)
Read on to learn about how changes in your life can cause havoc if you don’t keep up your planning to match your current lifestyle…
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Changes in our lives can bring a wealth of opportunity or surprising disappointment.
We can anticipate some changes, like getting married or the birth of a child, and other times, change just struts in and makes itself at home without warning.
It’s easy to evaluate and plan for those big or significant changes that we know are going to happen: what they entail, when they will happen, how they will affect our lives, and how we can be better prepared when change does occur. 
Fortunately, most changes in our lives don’t require the assistance of outsiders to help us get through it; but there are those that require an auto mechanic, a plumber, a doctor, or… a lawyer.
If you plan for those times when you need to rely on a professional, you can save a lot of money, time, aggravation, and heartache.
A true story is told by Alexis Martin Neely, Personal Planing Lawyer and Founder of the Personal Planing Lawyer program, of her grandfather’s estate. Years before his passing, he’d done what he thought was all the right things to plan for the day when his family had to live without him. He did an estate plan, put it away, and marked that off his list of what he needed to do to prepare.
When he passed away, the family learned that he’d not titled anything to the trust – and his attorney had not ensured that he did, plus the fact that their assets and their family had changed over the years, led to the estate plan’s complete failure. It was a nightmare for the family and took its toll financially and emotionally.
If you have done your estate planning, that’s wonderful. But if you have not had it reviewed in the last three years, you are in danger of its failure, too. Estate plans are not something that you can do one time and put on a shelf. It must be changed as your life changes.
Here are some examples of when your estate plan needs to be updated:
- You get married or divorced
- You have a child
- You buy or sell a house
- You inherit property, receive a settlement other “windfall” asset
- Your beneficiary dies
- You invest in or sell your stocks or bonds
- You buy or sell a business or there are changes in your share of a business
- Your life insurance changes
These are only a few examples of what needs to be updated about your estate plan. And, if you think about it, paying a lawyer to make these changes can be very expensive. Even if you “save” them all up for a one time amendment every few years, you can pay a lot of money for it and you run the risk that something may happen to you before you get to your target date of having all of the changes incorporated into your plan.
If you are very wealthy – and even if you are not wealthy but still worry about how your kids will handle their inheritance when you’re gone – you certainly would like to know that your children are prepared to receive the wealth they are due so that it’s not squandered or lost.
How do you go about doing all of these things and still not lose your mind or your “shirt” taking care of them?
Our Client Care Program is one of the benefits of working with our firm and makes us unique. This is one sure fire way of getting your plan updated at the time there are changes in your life, your family or your business at no additional cost. If you are in Client Care, you can call us with confidence that you can take care of your plan updates at the time they happen without a loss of integrity. If you have not contacted us for changes, we will contact you after 12 months to remind you to come in for a update to your plan at no additional cost.
All of our clients receive a free review of their estate plan every three years. We do that because it’s our mission to make sure that families are not left at the mercy of a failed estate plan. You can have confidence in your plan and its integrity. While we will offer the review free, we do charge for the changes necessary to update your plan.
That’s why we encourage our clients to join the Client Care Membership program. It’s easier to pay a little each month than to be faced with a large updating fee later. And it’s much less expensive. One change in your plan could conceivably pay for the entire year’s membership investment or more. And the most important thing is that you have it as a benefit, so you have no excuse for making sure your plan stays up to date for when your family needs it most.
To also give you incentives for making sure you take advantage of keeping your plan absolutely up to date, we also offer over $4,000 in enrollment bonuses to our clients. If you’d like to see everything that you can get by joining our Client Care Program, please click here.
Benefits include annual family meetings to prepare your children to receive their inheritance and to create your Priceless Conversation when you will document your most valuable wealth: Who you are and what’s important to you. Also, you can add to your Priceless Conversations so that you have a complete Legacy Library that you can pass down for future generations. (Wouldn’t you just love to, right now, be able to hear in your great grandmother’s own words her dreams, ideals, and take on life? You can do that for your family.)
As your Personal Planning Lawyer, I encourage you to take advantage of our Client Care Membership programs. We want to help you and your family make the best decisions possible and, then, leave the world a better place.
Call us today to learn more at 818-905-6088.
Then, when life throws a curve ball your way, you have peace of mind knowing that you’ve provided for it in your plan and it will work when it needs to and will not have it lost or diminished through improper handling by a broken down court system who doesn’t know you or your family.
A Higher Level of Estate Planning
Posted by: | CommentsMost people who consider estate planning want to accomplish at least one of five specific goals. Those goals are:
- The ability to maintain control of assets while alive. This includes investment and managerial control.
- Access to the assets. This includes access to both the principal and the income. In short, most folks want to have the beneficial use and enjoyment of their assets.
- Decision-making authority over how assets are to be distributed to family members and other loved ones.
- Protection from creditors, regardless of whether the creditor is after you or the people to whom you leave your wealth.
- Reduction of taxes upon the transfer of your wealth.
Cold, Hard Trust . . . I Mean “Truth”
The long and short of it is that it’s incredibly difficult (and very, very expensive) to accomplish all five of those objectives. The good news is that most people don’t need all five. Most people really only need three out of the five. The three most important elements of any estate plan are control, access, and decision-making over distributions after your death. All of those goals can be accomplished with relative ease, so long as you’re working with an estate planning attorney who “knows the ropes.” In short, to retain control, access, and decision-making authority, you will need a revocable trust and a will, both of which must be drafted to meet your individual needs and fit your unique circumstances. There is no “one size fits all” in estate planning.
What They Do
Revocable trusts are designed to hold assets. Because they are revocable, the creators of the trusts retain complete control over the assets in trust, and they have complete discretion to use those assets however they see fit. No exceptions.
What the trust does is designate certain people as beneficiaries. That simply means that when the last trust creator dies, the trust document itself states who is to receive what. We all know that a will can do that as well. The trust goes one step further. Trusts are not probated, which means that when the last trust creator dies, the trust itself becomes the law. There is no need to involve the court system in any way.
Finally, when the last trust creator dies, the trust itself can become irrevocable. When a trust become irrevocable, the assets held in trust are effectively shielded from outside creditors. In other words, when you create a trust, you have the option to make sure that the assets held in the trust are protected from future claims against your loved ones.
Where The Will Fits In
When used together with trusts, wills are generally termed “pour over wills.” In essence, the will “pours over” into the trust, so that all assets in your estate are distributed according to the terms of your trust. Again, this avoids expensive and potentially lengthy and contentious court involvement, and it gives your wishes the effect of law. It’s your one chance to be both the judge and jury!
Year End Planning
The end of one year signals the beginning of something new, and this is your chance to create a new plan that will let you sleep well at night, and it will serve to protect your loved ones. Don’t wait another year. Do it now! And to help give you some incentive, we are going to meet with the first two people to call our offices and mention this article for free. Our Family Wealth Planning Sessions™ normally run $750, so this is an extraordinary value. Make 2012 your year of planning.
What An Estate Planning Attorney Does (aka “Some Things I Did This Month”)
Posted by: | Comments1. Help two different clients get ready to sell a home through probate due to their family or friends who didn’t have a plan in place. Reviewed contracts, title searches, and met with brokers.
2. Work with at least half a dozen families to deal with assets after a loved one has died. Some have effective plans, some don’t. Some require court probate, some don’t.
3. Met with client to design a living trust plan that will smoothly prepare for disability and pass assets at death.
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