Archive for Kids Protection
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.
Can I Name Separate Guardians For My Children?
Posted by: | CommentsAbsolutely. The easiest part is setting it up legally (naming guardians). The toughest part – and the biggest hindrance to parents to get it done – is WHO to name.
If you are divorced and have children from a previous marriage plus have children together – or any number of scenarios that might make you want to set up different guardians for your children, then, that can be done.
Now… do the tough part; name who you want and then, call me to get the easy part done! You’ll be glad you did!
Estate Planning is more than who gets what at death
Posted by: | Comments–Written by Gerry Kane
Beyond the Allocation of Assets
Estate planning is about much more than just deciding who gets what in the event of your death. It’s also about avoiding unnecessary taxes, and in the event that you have minor children, making sure that custody of your children doesn’t go to the state.
Yes, you heard that correctly. It’s simply not the case that minor children pass to a trusted loved one or relative. In the absence of a directive from you—a directive from the parents—the state is automatically awarded custody of the minor children of deceased parents . . . until a judge decides otherwise.
The Reason for the Baseline
Waiting for a judge’s decision is the baseline rule, and it exists for a very good reason: The people who are entitled to custody of children by operation of law may or may not be properly equipped to raise children. Thus the need for a judge’s assessment before custody is passed.
Who wants to leave that decision to a judge? Nobody. What is the alternative? Our law firm. Our firm addresses the needs of parents who want to decide for themselves who is capable, willing, and loving enough to take on the responsibility of raising their children if the unthinkable happens. It’s simply a matter of deciding who you want to be in control: You? Or the State and an unknown judge?
Things to Consider
We’ve helped lots of families work through the process of developing plans to protect their kids. Along the way, we’ve learned a few lessons that we want to share with you.
1. Choose one person rather than a couple to take custody of your children in the event that something happens to you and your spouse. People get divorced all the time. Transitioning to a new home will be tough enough for your children, especially if they’ve already lost the people they love the most. It simply would not be fair to put them through a custody battle waged at some distant time in the future. Again, you have the power to control the outcome. It just takes a little bit of forward thinking.
2. In deciding who you should appoint to care for your children, consider not only who will love and nurture your children as you would want but also who will make the best effort at passing along your story and your legacy. This is important, because without this element in place, your children might have questions about their own identity, heritage, and background. Then, obviously, it makes sense to appoint a person with whom you have been totally open, so that your story can endure.
3. Consider putting one person in charge of managing finances for your children and a separate person in charge of actually rearing them. These two tasks require drastically different skill sets, and unless you know and trust someone who is capable in both areas, it is wise to separate the duties.
This Month’s Offer
Our appointment book for the next 30 days is already almost full. However, we’re making room for a few people who really want to plan and make provisions for the care of their children. Call us today to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Our Family Wealth Planning Sessions normally run $750 (and we have no trouble filling out our calendar, even when charging full price), but we have committed our firm to make extra space for the next two people who call and mention this article to have a comprehensive planning session at no charge, so please call right now.
