tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19938054438081158332024-03-13T22:41:26.036-05:00Legacy Assurance PlanThe Legacy Assurance Plan is uniquely designed Estate Planning Service Program intended to provide you with an efficient, cost-effective means of protecting you and your loved ones from certain costs, challenges and frustrations associated with today’s legal environment. Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.comBlogger272125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-23021917583020020262019-07-23T13:00:00.001-05:002019-07-23T13:00:39.017-05:00Differences Between Wills and Trusts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-39176552350698970012019-07-16T12:42:00.000-05:002019-07-16T12:42:23.406-05:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Avoid mistakes leading to estate planning failures </h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Estate planning failures are mostly preventable. If you have a plan, you’ve avoided one big problem, but other pitfalls lurk. Problems often arise when people fail to update their plans and inadequately address issues involving incapacity, minor and special-needs children, beneficiary designations, end-of-life care and other matters.</em></span></div>
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There are many reasons why estate plans fail, but they tend to have one factor in common – the failures are avoidable.</div>
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When creating a comprehensive estate plan, you’ll find there’s a lot to learn about how various legal documents operate separately and work together – wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance health care directives and so on.</div>
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If you’re like most Americans, you’ve wisely relied on your attorney or consultant to explain in detail how the sea of paperwork protects your interests and provides for your beneficiaries. But in too many cases, those planning documents gather dust on a shelf or hide in a drawer. In the meantime, those documents – if they exist to begin with – can become outdated, ineffective and lead to outcomes you no longer intend or never intended.</div>
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Planning mistakes lead to unpleasant surprises in the future – disinherited loved ones, rewarded ex-spouses, disqualification for entitlements or lawsuits among warring family members – and they don’t have to happen. Your estate plan, like most things in life, requires some adjusting, maintenance and even professional help from time to time to remain viable and succeed.</div>
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Here’s a look at seven preventable failures that can make your life, and death, more difficult and give your loved ones more grief than necessary:</div>
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How do estate plans fail?</h2>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to create an estate plan</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />There perhaps is no planning blunder greater than having no plan at all. The estates of those who lack at least a valid will are subject to the delays, expense and lack of privacy of probate and state laws of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/intestacy/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">intestacy</a> that have rigid rules on how assets are distributed. Family members may find themselves fighting among each other – and in court – over your assets. Without a will, parents can’t name a guardian to care for their minor children. If you ever become incapacitated and lack powers of attorney for health care and finances, an advance health care directive or a revocable living trust with explicit instructions, you could force your family to petition a court to appoint a guardian to make decisions for you. You may relinquish control over health care and financial decisions to a total stranger. A judge, unaware of your preferences, could appoint an ill-motivated professional guardian. Without a plan, you also lose control of the distribution of your assets when you pass away. Without a comprehensive plan, you’ll burden loved ones with the hassles of probate, be vulnerable to an unwanted guardianship and squander the ability to control your financial legacy.</li>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to plan for incapacity</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Your planning documents need to address more than how your property is distributed when you die. One recent study found that those who reach the age of 65 have a 50 percent chance of becoming incapacitated in their lifetime. But incapacity can happen to anyone, young or old, at any time due to an accident, disease or disability, so there’s no excuse to delay being prepared. With powers of attorney for health care and finances, you can be proactive and create a plan that names trusted people of your choosing to act on your behalf. Otherwise, your loved ones may be subject to costly court proceedings to be allowed to care for you or challenge an unwanted guardianship. Another way to plan for incapacity is to create a revocable living trust in your lifetime that can enable your successor trustee to protect and manage your assets, on your terms, upon your incapacity. Remember, a will only takes effect upon your death, and the personal representative you name in your will cannot manage your affairs while you are alive.</li>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to review your plan</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Peace of mind is a good thing. Out of sight and out of mind isn’t. A failure to update your plan is an oversight that can lead to its downfall in many ways. As time passes and family dynamics change, your plan must be amended to include or exclude people and provisions depending on life events and your current priorities. If you get married, divorced, remarried, have children or suffer a death in the family, it’s time to review and amend existing documents. Otherwise, you risk passing assets to an ex-spouse or leaving behind a new family member. Beneficiary designations (and alternate designations when allowed) for annuities, insurance policies, retirement accounts and bank and brokerage accounts must be up-to-date. They must be coordinated with the beneficiaries named in your will and trust for your plan to succeed. When the “wrong” beneficiaries receive assets, lawsuits from disgruntled family members challenging the estate are to be expected. Beneficiary designations supersede the provisions of a will or trust, and conflicting documents can lead to legal challenges. Regular reviews (after major life events or every few years) are required.</li>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to plan for children as beneficiaries</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Part your plan is to make sure the kids have a financial safety net. But naming a minor as a direct beneficiary can backfire. When beneficiaries automatically receive an inheritance at a young age, long-term financial planning usually falls by the wayside. One nightmare is not being around for your children. Another is imagining them squandering their inheritance in short order. A better option is to ensure your will or trust specifies that minor children receive their inheritance once they reach a certain age, and that your representative or trustee will be responsible for managing their assets and providing support. If the child – not your trust – is the beneficiary of your life insurance policy, the child stands to receive a lump sum at age 18 or 21. Proper trust planning is required if you intend assets to be paid out over time or when a child reaches certain milestones. Another potential mistake is adding adult children to the deed on your home as co-owners with <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/joint-tenancy" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">rights of survivorship</a>. With this arrangement, they could expose the value of the home to their liabilities (divorce settlements and debt claims come to mind) and possibly create a tax burden by receiving the home as a gift.</li>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to plan for special-needs beneficiaries</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Leaving assets directly to a beneficiary who has <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/special-needs-trust" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">special needs</a> and receives government assistance can be disastrous. In many cases, those with special needs rely on Social Security and Medicaid benefits to provide support over a lifetime. A windfall of income, however, could disqualify a special-needs individual from receiving government entitlements. Most of the inheritance would have to be spent down to enable the individual to once again qualify for assistance – a contradiction of your objectives. A better solution is to create a special-needs trust within your will or living trust that can be rigorously controlled by a qualified third-party successor trustee and maintain eligibility for assistance. But even a professionally designed special-needs trust is fraught with challenges because of strict rules in the administration of trust assets. Its trustee faces complex duties that require a high degree of formality, and it’s not a job easily assumed by a family member. In many cases, a professional trustee is necessary to prevent administrative failure.</li>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to plan if you outlive a beneficiary</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Beneficiary designations are praised for their ability to distribute assets quickly to your loved ones after your passing. They help achieve the important goal of bypassing probate. Unfortunately, our presumptions about the order of death of our beneficiaries are sometimes wrong. You need to update your beneficiary designations as circumstances in life change, otherwise assets can wind up in your probate estate or in the hands of an unintended recipient. If a beneficiary dies before you do, your plan can fail, and most banks don’t allow alternate beneficiaries for payment-on-death accounts. Proceeds from life insurance policies, retirement funds and other assets also are at stake, and alternate beneficiaries should be named, whether you’re leaving behind a checking account or a Chevrolet. Meanwhile, other problems arise when former spouses or departed family members were named as beneficiaries long ago when accounts were initially created. Your paperwork is only as good as the last time it was updated.</li>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600;">Failure to plan for end-of-life issues</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Many people avoid planning for the possibility of a terminal illness or a tragic accident. After all, it’s an unsavory subject. But if misfortune strikes, there’s no good reason to lack control of your fate or force your family or loved ones to make difficult treatment decisions on your behalf. Many people fear being placed on artificial life support or having to endure a long, slow death. A living will, also known as an advance health care directive, enables you to express your end-of-life treatment preferences. It’s important, while you can still communicate, to decide the extent of life-sustaining treatment you want – or don’t want. Otherwise, you leave treatment decisions at the sole discretion of medical professionals, who may not share your preferences or those of your family.</li>
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How can I create an estate plan?</h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. </span><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/get-estate-planning-quote" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px;"> provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-26599617457556948822019-07-16T12:22:00.000-05:002019-07-16T12:22:48.383-05:00Avoiding Court Appointed Guardianship | Legacy Assurance Plan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Avoinding Court Appointed Guardianship | Legacy Assurance Plan</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Estate Planning with Legacy Assurance Plan allows you to plan for your future decisions, avoid court appointed guardianship and protect certain assets from the probate process.
Sometimes, the hardest part of the process is just knowing where to start. At Legacy Assurance Plan, we make getting started easy.
Nowhere, will you find a simpler, easier or more cost-effective way to create and maintain a comprehensive estate plan, designed specifically for you and your family. We guarantee it!
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"><i>This article is re-published by Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal or medical advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website <a href="http://legacyassuranceplan.com/">legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </i></span><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" target="_blank"><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /></a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"></span><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">This article is re-published by:</span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy</a> <a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Assurance Plan</a></span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">8039 Cooper Creek Blvd</span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">University Park, Florida 34201</span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">844.306.5272 (Phone)</span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)</span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">#legacyassuranceplan</span><br style="color: #212529; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">@assuranceplan</span></span></div>
Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-22088965994091331642019-01-23T11:23:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:43:47.593-06:00Even when not in Rome, eat a Mediterranean diet to cut heart disease risk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Even when not in Rome, eat a Mediterranean diet to cut heart disease risk</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by </span><a href="https://khn.org/news/author/rachel-bluth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Rachel Bluth</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> / </span><a href="https://khn.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Kaiser Health</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> News Jan 23, 2019</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Once again, your mother was right. You really do need to eat your vegetables. And while you are at it, put down the bacon and pick up the olive oil, because new research supports the contention that switching to a Mediterranean diet could significantly decrease the risk of heart disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">According to a <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2717565?resultClick=24" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">study</a> published Dec. 7, 2018, in JAMA Network Open, people who followed this type of diet had 25 percent less risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the course of 12 years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The diet’s components make sense to anyone who follows nutrition news. Avoid red meat in favor of “good” fats like fish and poultry. Swap out salt for herbs and spices. Ditch butter and margarine and opt for olive oil instead. Most important, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Nuts are good, so are whole grains. And, every once in a while, have a glass of red wine.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Since the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3684452/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">1950s</a>, researchers have pointed out this diet’s possible cardiovascular benefits. More recently, it has been credited with addressing any number of ills, including Alzheimer’s disease, <a href="https://www.bhg.com.au/diet-rich-in-fatty-fish-could-reduce-asthma-symptoms-in-children" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">asthma</a> and helping <a href="https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2018/12/mediterranean-diet-associated-lower-risk-accelerated-growth" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">pregnant women</a> control factors that lead to high-birth-weight babies and contribute to obesity risk factors as kids grow.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Until the recent study, though, no randomized trials had been conducted in the U.S. to determine this diet’s long-term effects. This research also sought to shed light on the molecular underpinnings of why.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The mechanisms by which the Mediterranean diet reduced cardiovascular disease “were sort of a black box,” said Shafqat Ahmad, the lead author of the paper and a researcher in the department of nutrition at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “We know it reduced cardiovascular risk,” he added, but the precise ways it had this effect over time “are not well understood.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Ahmad and his co-authors, using a panel of nine biomarkers in blood tests, were able to isolate exactly why the diet reduces heart disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The three biggest biological mechanisms were changes in inflammation, blood sugar and body mass index.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Inflammation was the issue for Meg Grigoletti, a 23-year-old graduate student from New Jersey who switched to a Mediterranean diet when she was recovering from back surgery in 2014. Her doctors recommended it to reduce swelling, hoping it would ease the pain in her back and help her migraines.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s more of a lifestyle than a diet,” Grigoletti said. “It taught me what food is good for me and what’s not.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Researchers followed more than 25,000 women who were part of the Women’s Health Study, a survey of female health professionals older than 45. At the beginning of the study, participants completed a questionnaire on 131 different foods to assess their diets. They were then assigned different “MED scores” on a scale of 1 to 9, based on how closely they followed the Mediterranean diet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There were three levels, people who scored between zero and 3 were on the low end, 4 to 5 was in the middle and 6 and up was categorized as a high intake of Mediterranean diet foods.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The participants’ cardiovascular health was then tracked for 12 years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">When all was said and done, those in the middle category saw a 23 percent reduction in risk, and the upper category had 28 percent less risk of cardiovascular disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Heart disease is the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">leading cause of death</a> for both men and women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — claiming about 600,000 lives each year. Coronary heart disease is the most common form, killing more than 370,000 people annually. Each year, about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The authors pointed out that these findings do have limitations. For instance, the study relied on self-reported data, which isn’t always accurate — especially when it involves diet choices. The participants, all of whom were female health professionals, also might lean toward healthier behaviors than the rest of the population.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The results of the study weren’t a shock to Dr. Andrew Freeman, the director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health hospital in Denver. He wasn’t involved in the study but has been recommending a Mediterranean diet, or a similar version of it that emphasizes vegetables and fruit, to his patients for years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“There’s a lot of noise out there, but the signal that’s been out there the longest is this kind of plant-based diet is the best.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">He also acknowledged that there is a lot of competing nutritional information swirling around the airwaves and the internet, which amounts to “a whole lot of hype” that makes healthy eating habits a difficult regimen for many consumers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">And doctors often don’t have clear information, either. “The vast majority of cardiologists and health providers in general have very little nutrition training,” Freeman said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">He switched to a mostly plant-based diet after his residency, and lost 35 pounds. He now recommends this approach to his patients, too. He said he has seen his patients’ conditions — heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes — improve.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Nutrition and lifestyle medicine is the place where there’s a chance of a cure,” Freeman said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is re-published by Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal or medical advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com. </a></span><br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com1United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-6530573912733729902019-01-18T11:15:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:44:29.221-06:00Problems lurk when beneficiary designations, wills and trusts lack coordination<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Problems lurk when beneficiary designations, wills and trusts lack coordination</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by Tom Alberts Jan 18, 2019</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Common misperceptions about the way wills, trusts and beneficiary designations work together can lead to the failure of your plan for the distribution of your estate. Because beneficiary designations supersede other planning documents, a major misunderstanding is that a person’s assets will be distributed exactly as they’ve specified in their last will and testament or trust.</em></span> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If you’ve drafted a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/last-will-and-testament" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">last will and testament</a>, you may think your estate planning work is done. After all, you’ve accomplished something a <a href="https://www.caring.com/articles/estate-planning-by-the-numbers-infographic" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">majority</a> of adults in America have yet to address or continue to ignore. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Having a properly drafted will is a great start. It’s a better option than having no plan at all – unless you’d prefer the state to have complete control through <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/intestacy" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">intestacy</a> laws to decide how many of your assets are distributed and who distributes them when the time comes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Unfortunately, a will by itself won’t guarantee your intended beneficiaries will receive the money or property you want to leave behind. Also, a will can’t be enforced until a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/probate" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">probate</a> court is petitioned to appoint a personal representative and the will is proven to be valid.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">What’s worse, a will is the subject of more litigation (the bulk of which originates from squabbling family members) than any other legal document because of conflicts with other planning documents, experts say.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Many people mistakenly think their estate planning affairs are in order once they’ve stated their intentions in one handy document. Indeed, a simple last will and testament may seem like a straightforward way to plan for the distribution of your estate, but this strategy can lead to disputes among loved ones, lawsuits and ill will if your paperwork’s not in order and your true intentions are ignored.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Contrary to popular belief, terms of a will are not all-controlling, and potential pitfalls await that can cause your plan to fail.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“The days of a simple will are over,” says New York-based estate planning attorney <a href="https://www.certilmanbalin.com/article/four-common-misconceptions-about-estate-planning/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Lisa S. Hunter</a>. “A complete estate plan includes documents that address distribution of your retirement plans and life insurance, management of any individually owned businesses, guardianship of your dependents and medical care while you are still living but unable to make your own decisions.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If your will describes what you really intend to happen, Hunter says, then you need to make sure its provisions are coordinated with the other elements of a comprehensive estate plan.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“People circumvent their own will all the time,” Texas-based estate planning attorney Bill Dendy tells <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/13/top-estate-mistakes-140414-schwartz-ec.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">CNBC</a>. “They’ll indicate in their will that they want their assets divided equally among their three children, but then they go and name one child as the beneficiary to their IRA account and another to their house or a joint bank account.”</span></div>
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What assets can avoid probate?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The way your assets are titled or transferred upon death determines whether they avoid the often long, costly and public process of probate administration. All states have legal documents that take priority over the stated intentions of a last will and testament and, upon the death of the owner, can distribute assets outside of the probate process and directly to beneficiaries. Laws vary from state to state on ways to avoid probate when distributing assets including bank accounts, retirement savings, securities, vehicles and real estate. Also, spousal survivorship rights may overrule various beneficiary designations. In many cases, if no beneficiary is named or the beneficiary dies before the owner without an alternate beneficiary, assets are payable to the owner’s estate and distributed through the probate process.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Key documents include:</span></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/beneficiary/coordinating-estate-plan-documents/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Beneficiary designations</a> - Retirement accounts, life insurance policies and annuities include beneficiary designations. Death benefits from policies and annuities and the balance of retirement accounts are paid to designated and alternate beneficiaries. Because of tax considerations, beneficiaries are often advised to consult with a professional to determine the most advantageous method to receive the inheritance.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/payable-on-death" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Payable-on-death (PoD) designation </a>- Owners of checking, savings and money market accounts and certificates of deposit can simply fill out a PoD form at the financial institution such as a bank, credit union or thrift to designate a beneficiary. PoD’s are sometimes called poor man’s trusts or informal trusts because they distribute assets outside of probate like a revocable living trust. Generally, alternate beneficiaries cannot be designated on individual accounts, and funds in joint spousal accounts pass to the survivor.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/transfer-on-death" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Transfer-on-death (ToD) designations</a> - In many states, ToD designations can be utilized to distribute securities, brokerage accounts, real estate and vehicles to beneficiaries. Ownership of the ToD asset is transferred to the beneficiary, and the asset is not liquidated. Keep in mind that real property owned in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving joint tenants, regardless of what your will or trust might say.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/revocable-living-trust" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px;">Revocable living trusts</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px;"> - Titling assets into and properly funding a revocable living trust will expedite the settlement of your estate. However, the instructions in a trust for the distribution of assets, just like instructions in a will, should be in sync with any beneficiary and PoD and ToD designations. If instructions in the will or trust don’t line up with beneficiary designations, the intentions expressed in the will or the trust will likely fail.</span></span></li>
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When should I review my estate planning documents?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Problems – such as potential family estrangement over inheritance or assets going to the wrong people – are prone to occur when the wishes detailed in a will or trust don’t jibe with superseding instructions. One key to achieving a successful estate plan is to review your will, trust and ToD, PoD and beneficiary designations regularly to make sure they are in agreement and leave little room for a misunderstanding in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It’s time to review all elements of your plan – wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, deeds, advance directives, powers of attorney – whenever there’s a marriage or divorce, the addition of a child or grandchild, a death in the family or other changes in the family dynamics. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Despite a testator’s best intentions to communicate his or her dispositive wishes, estate planning documents are rife for disputes among family members apt to contest their inheritance,” says a <a href="https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/WisconsinLawyer/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=88&Issue=8&ArticleID=24304#a" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">State Bar of Wisconsin</a> report. “As a result of ambiguity in the documents, family dynamics, or feelings of unfairness among beneficiaries and family members, wills are contested with stunning frequency.”</span></div>
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How do I create an estate plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with </span><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Legacy Assurance Plan </a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-77345553944149079252019-01-09T11:03:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:44:59.150-06:00Who knew? Life begins (again) at 65<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><img class="img-fluid" height="425" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/health-family/life-begins-again-65/assets/img/bruce%20horovitz.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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Who knew? Life begins (again) at 65</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by </span><a href="https://khn.org/news/author/bruce-horovitz/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Bruce Horovitz </a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">/ </span><a href="https://khn.org/Kaiser%20Health%20news" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Kaiser Health</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> Jan 9, 2019</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Turning 65 is a milestone, and a playbook for the next phase of life is recommended to remain physically, financially and emotionally healthy.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">I was convinced I would become an adult when I turned 21. But now, I’m certain that turning 65 was the watershed moment that finally grew me up.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">I’m pleased as pomegranate punch to be 65 — and alive. Not just alive and breathing, but actively engaged in making the right choices about this next chapter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“We enter this phase of life without a playbook or anything equivalent to institutions like elementary school and college that prepare youth for adulthood,” said James Firman, CEO of the National Council on Aging, who turned 65 two years ago. “There’s really nothing to prepare us for the transition to this next phase of life.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">My playbook on preparing for life after 65:</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Consider enrolling in Medicare Part A, to cover hospitalization expenses. It works for me because my family is still covered under my wife’s health care plan. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Double up on checkups. My annual visit to my primary care doctor evolved into a biannual visit. “Age 65 is a time to proactively visit a geriatric physician instead of just going when you’re in trouble,” said Dr. Ardeshir Hashmi, director of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. “Don’t wait until things get to a point where you’re in a cycle of being in and out of the hospital all the time.” Starting at age 65, he said, these visits should last longer than the standard 20 minutes — so older patients have time to discuss what’s on their minds. Older patients who do this regularly tend to require “minor tweaks” instead of major repairs, said Hashmi.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Schedule annual visits to the dermatologist, ophthalmologist — and visits every five years to the gastroenterologist. “Establishing a coordinated care team becomes more important at 65,” said Jean Setzfand, senior vice president of programs at AARP.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Take the leap and sign up for long-term health insurance. My wife and I finally did after putting it off for years. Remember, it’s a lot easier — and cheaper — to get when you’re younger than 65.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Stick to a vaccine regimen. Vaccines are important again. I’ve since received my first pneumonia vaccine. My doctor also told me to get the new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, because I developed shingles about five years ago.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Evaluate your diet. I have mostly stopped eating red meat, except for the very occasional burger. I now opt for meals mostly composed of fruit, veggies and my new diet staple that I used to gag on as a kid: salmon.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Bone up on Social Security. I attended a free county-funded seminar at the local library. Then, to discuss my personal needs, I met (for free) with the same volunteer who led the seminar.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Challenge your financial plan. I changed financial advisers — based on recommendations from trusted friends — because my portfolio really matters now.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Serve your community. I bumped-up my volunteer schedule to once a week instead of once a month at a local food pantry. I also volunteer every other week at a local homeless shelter on the 5 p.m.-to-midnight shift. I’ve most recently started to volunteer at an equestrian therapy center for kids with mental or physical handicaps. Each of my volunteer gigs reflect my personal interests.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";">Stay active. I extended my daily exercise routine from five days to seven. I now swim at least five days a week; take our dog, Shadow, for 45-minute walks twice daily; and hit the weight room at least twice weekly. I also play <a href="http://www.wallyball.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">Wallyball</span></a><span style="font-size: 16px;"> (a fast-moving form of indoor volleyball where the walls are considered inbounds) every week with friends who are equally motivated to stay in shape.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;">Stay flexible. I learned to stretch my back muscles an extra long time before beginning any strenuous exercise. When I forget, I inevitably pay for it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;">Look to the future. I initiated “adult,” end-of-life conversations with my kids that I wish my parents had had with me.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;">Get your paperwork in order. I not only updated my will but I filled out a “Five Wishes” end-of-life pamphlet created by the Aging With Dignity nonprofit group; and I got very specific, in writing, about where I want my ashes to be scattered.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;">Stay connected — and not solely to devices. I stopped taking my friends for granted, banished past grudges and re-established contact with a best buddy from college whose friendship I’d foolishly let slip away. </span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px;">Age 65 is when many of us realize that we’re mortal. “This is when we start thinking about our next 20 to 30 years,” said Hashmi. “It’s when we ask: How can I be smart about investing my remaining decades wisely?”</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Eric Tyson, author of “Personal Finance After 50 for Dummies,” theorizes that one of the most powerful undercurrents of turning 65 is how it affects the working lives of so many Americans. It’s when the majority go from working full time to working less — or not working at all, he said. “The best scenario is when this change can unfold over many years instead of all at once.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It has for me. Things started changing at age 62, when I took a buyout from USA TODAY, where I’d worked for 20-plus years as a marketing reporter. I’m now a freelance writer and media training consultant.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">So, at 65, the one thing I’ve opted to put off for at least a few years is retiring. While 65 still remains the most common retirement age, more and more folks are breaking that tradition, said AARP’s Setzfand.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Call it living with purpose.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Turning 65 is not just an extension of middle age. It’s a new life chapter that’s waiting to be written. “It’s a new stage of life that reminds us we don’t have forever,” said Firman. About a decade ago, at age 56, Firman had a quintuple bypass operation. His father, grandfather and uncle all died of heart disease in their 40s and 50s.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Firman isn’t distraught over the family genes he inherited. Instead, he’s celebrating his survival. When he turned 65 two years ago, he said, he had a realization that the real purpose of aging is to make the world a better place. “Life is a gift,” he said. “Success in old age starts with an attitude of gratitude.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It seems Firman and I share one common trait: We both grew up at 65.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">KHN’s coverage of these topics is supported by </em><a href="http://www.jhartfound.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">John A.</em></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="http://www.jhartfound.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hartford Foundation</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">, </em><a href="http://www.thescanfoundation.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The SCAN Foundation</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> and </em> <a href="http://www.silvercentury.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Silver Century Foundation</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</em></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is re-published by Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal or medical advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com. </a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is re-published by:</span><br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-75950134903292792262019-01-07T10:57:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:45:12.781-06:00Check your medical records for dangerous errors<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Check your medical records for dangerous errors</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://khn.org/news/author/judith-graham/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">by Judith Graham</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">/</span><a href="https://khn.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Kaiser Health News</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> Jan 7, 2019</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Mistaken information in medical records can lead to serious problems, including misguided evaluations, diagnoses and treatments. Under federal law, patients have a legal right to review their records for correctness and omissions.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">When Liz Tidyman’s elderly parents moved across the country to be closer to their children and grandchildren years ago, they carried their medical records with them in a couple of brown cardboard folders tied with string.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Two days after their arrival, Tidyman’s father fell, which hadn’t happened before, and went to a hospital for an evaluation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In the waiting room, Tidyman opened the folder. “Very soon I saw that there were pages and pages of notes that referred to a different person with the same name — a person whose medical conditions were much more complicated and numerous than my father’s,” she said. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Tidyman pulled out sheets with mistaken information and made a mental note to always check records in the future. “That was a wake-up call,” she said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Older adults have cause to be careful about what’s in their medical records. Although definitive data aren’t available, the <a href="https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/page/2018-03/HINTS-2017-Consumer-Data-Brief-3.21.18.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology</span></a>estimates that nearly 1 in 10 people who access records online end up requesting that they be corrected for a variety of reasons.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In the worst-case scenario, an incorrect diagnosis, scan or lab result may have been inserted into a record, raising the possibility of inappropriate medical evaluation or treatment. This, too, is something that Tidyman’s father encountered soon after moving from Massachusetts to Washington. (Her parents have since passed away.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">When both his new primary care physician and cardiologist asked about kidney cancer — a condition he didn’t have — Tidyman reviewed materials from her father’s emergency room visit. There, she saw that “renal cell carcinoma” (kidney cancer) was listed instead of “basal cell carcinoma” (skin cancer) — an illness her father had mentioned while describing his medical history.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“It was a transcription error; something we clearly had to fix,” Tidyman said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Omissions from medical records — allergies that aren’t noted, lab results that aren’t recorded, medications that aren’t listed — can be equally devastating.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Susan Sheridan discovered this nearly 20 years ago after her husband, Pat, had surgery to remove a mass in his neck. A hospital pathology report identified synovial cell sarcoma, a type of cancer, but somehow the report didn’t reach his neurosurgeon. Instead, the surgeon reassured the couple that the tumor was benign.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Six months later, when Pat returned to the hospital in distress, this error of omission was discovered. By then, Pat’s untreated cancer had metastasized to his spinal canal. He died 2½ years later.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“I tell people, ‘Collect all your medical records, no matter what’ so you can ask all kinds of questions and be on the alert for errors,” said Sheridan, director of patient engagement with the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In less dire scenarios, a patient’s name, address, phone number or personal contacts may be incorrect, making it difficult to reach someone in the event of an emergency or causing a bill to be sent to the wrong location. Or, your family history may not be conveyed accurately. Or, you may not have received a service recorded in your record — for instance, a stress test — and want to contest the bill.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Dave deBronkart, a 68-year-old cancer survivor and patient activist, recounts mistakes he and his family have experienced. Once, he checked a radiology report through a Boston hospital’s patient portal. It had his name on it but identified him as a 53-year-old woman.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In another instance, the records that accompanied deBronkart’s mother to a rehabilitation center after a hip replacement incorrectly identified her as having an underactive thyroid when in fact she had an overactive thyroid. DeBronkart’s sisters, who asked to look at their mother’s chart, discovered the mistake and had it fixed on the spot, so she wouldn’t get potentially harmful medications.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s important for people to realize how easy it is for mistakes to get into the system and for nobody to know it. And that can cause downstream harm,” deBronkart said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The law that guarantees your right to review your medical record, <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996</span></a>, offers some recourse: If you think you’ve discovered an error in your medical record, you have the right to ask for a correction. (For more information about how to obtain your record, see my earlier column <a href="https://khn.org/news/in-days-of-data-galore-patients-have-trouble-getting-own-medical-records/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">here</span></a>.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Start by asking your doctor or hospital if they have a form (either a paper or electronic version) you should use to submit a suggested change.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A simple error such as a wrong phone number can be corrected by drawing a thin line through the material and writing a suggested change in the margins or making an electronic note. A more complicated error such as incorrect description of your symptoms or a diagnosis that you’re contesting may require a brief statement from you explaining what material in the record is wrong, why and how it should be altered.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Physicians and hospitals are required to respond in writing within 60 days, with the possibility of a 30-day extension. (Some states set shorter deadlines.) But medical providers are not obligated to accept your request. If you receive a rejection, you have the right to add another statement contesting this decision to your medical record. You can also file a complaint with the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint/what-to-expect/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">government office that oversees HIPAA</a> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;"> </span>or a state agency that licenses physicians.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Devin O’Brien, senior counsel with The Doctors Company, the largest physician-owned medical malpractice firm in the U.S., notes that rejections can be warranted when facts or medical judgments are in question. An example might be a patient who wants a doctor’s notes about potentially excessive opioid use eliminated from the record. “The patient may say I don’t have a problem, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but the physician may think the patient has an issue,” O’Brien said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Another example might be a patient who wants a diagnosis eliminated from a medical record, because it might compromise her ability to get insurance coverage. That wouldn’t be an acceptable reason for making a change, experts said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For more information about correcting errors in medical records, see <a href="https://www.healthit.gov/how-to-get-your-health-record/check-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">this guide to getting and using your medical record</a> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;"> </span>from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, this <a href="https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-correct-medical-record-errors-2615506" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">explainer</span></a> from patient advocate Trisha Torrey, and these descriptions of your HIPAA rights from the <a href="https://www.privacyrights.org/consumer-guides/hipaa-privacy-rule-patients-rights" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">Privacy Rights Clearinghouse</span></a> and the <a href="https://cdt.org/insight/getting-your-medical-records/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: underline;">Center for Democracy & Technology</span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://khn.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kaiser Health News</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is re-published by Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal or medical advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com. </a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is re-published by:</span><br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com5United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-71113280479722411092019-01-04T10:49:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:45:25.818-06:00Unprepared for a lifetime? If so, you lack a life (estate) plan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unprepared for a lifetime? If so, you lack a life (estate) plan</span></h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: A comprehensive estate plan addresses many of the events and challenges that take place during one’s lifetime. Estate planning, meanwhile, remains a tough topic for people to consider and often is misunderstood as strictly dealing with issues involving death and wealth distribution.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Estate planning</a> continues to get a bum rap.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For many people, it’s a low priority and depressing duty reserved for the old and dying. It’s an undertaking only for the rich, they wrongly reason. They’d prefer to avoid the subject.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In truth, estate planning is a lifetime process of being prepared for life. It’s about asserting control – in advance – of events that happen as life goes on. Despite its doom-and-gloom reputation, planning is much more about you while you’re living and how you wish to impact the lives of others.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The world of estate planning, its reputation notwithstanding, can be a happy place. It can soothe the sting of unforeseen events and eliminate the need to force loved ones to make difficult decisions on your behalf. By planning for your life, you can control decisions about your health care and finances ahead of time in case an accident, illness or tragedy leads to your incapacity or untimely demise. Those well-planned decisions can remove the agony of uncertainty, burdens on family and lack of control in times of a health crisis or loss of a loved one.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Indeed, the notion that estate planning is death-centric is a doomed proposition, experts agree.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Gone are the days of planning for your death. It’s time to plan for your life,” says attorney and Forbes contributor <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielscott1/2018/07/26/estate-planning-is-dead/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Daniel Scott</a>. “Rather than have a legal framework to protect and distribute your assets at death, you need a legal framework that propels you toward achieving your greatest success and living a happy, fulfilled life,” Scott says. “Instead of focusing on death, we need to focus on life and to view our jobs as advisers who navigate the legal road toward your happiness and human fulfillment. Otherwise, what’s the point?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/growth-strategies/2017/03/proper-estate-planning-is-as-much-about-life-as.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">bizjournals.com</a> contributor Denise Bendele, a better term for estate planning is “lifetime planning.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Every day, thousands of people have unexpected accidents or health events. And death is not the only potential outcome,” Bendele says. “What if you survive? What if you are in a coma or are incapacitated? Can funds be accessed to ensure your bills are paid and your family fed? Can income tax returns be filed? Will your businesses continue to operate uninterrupted? Failure to plan can result in expensive and unintended consequences.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Fear, however, leads to procrastination, according to a recent <a href="https://www.caring.com/articles/wills-survey-2017" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Caring.com</a> survey on estate planning.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Planning for a possible tragedy is an uncomfortable process that forces people to answer some tough questions,” Caring.com reports. Nearly a third of respondents believe that planning documents are needed only “for those with substantial wealth or complex finances.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The survey found that 60% of adults in America lack a simple <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/last-will-and-testament" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">last will and testament</a>, and only 36% of parents with children under age 18 have one. A will, which is just one of several recommended planning documents, has two primary functions (distributing assets and nominating guardians of minor children) and does nothing to address life events. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s only unimportant until you need it, and then it’s too late because you don’t have it,” Penny Vance, fiduciary managing director at PNC Wealth Management, told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiepf/2018/12/07/4-basic-financial-documents-every-family-should-have/#66b6694c5f99" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Forbes</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Think of a lack of planning as distressing, not depressing, says <a href="https://timmaurer.com/simple-money/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Simple Money</em></a> author and financial planner Tim Maurer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“We avoid the discussion because it involves a topic we’d rather not consider, but while the probability of your imminent passing is low, the damage done from a lack of estate planning is so significant that it demands our immediate attention,” Maurer told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/28/aretha-franklin-and-11-other-music-icons-who-died-without-a-will.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">CNBC</a>.</span></div>
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Have you planned for life?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Fear may cause procrastination, but it’s also a factor that might motivate people to engage in life and estate planning.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Experts say there are four planning documents, at minimum, every adult should have in place: a will, an <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/advance-directive" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">advance directive</a> for health care, a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/health-care-power-of-attorney" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">health care power of attorney</a> and a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/financial-power-of-attorney" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">financial power of attorney</a>. Those legal documents give your self-appointed representatives the authority to follow your instructions and act on your behalf regarding medical treatment, <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/guardianship" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">guardianship</a>, care of minor children and management of your finances if you become incapacitated or terminally ill.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It also can be frightening to know that a mystery person or institution, appointed by a judge in a so-called “<a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/living-probate" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">living probate</a>” proceeding, could be empowered to make intimate health care and financial decisions on your behalf. Those who lack planning documents – such as powers of attorney or revocable living trusts that set forth their wishes in lieu of a judge’s orders – put themselves at risk of being placed under a court-imposed guardianship if they become incapacitated.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Failure to plan can leave the decision of guardianship in the hands of a stranger who doesn’t know you, your intentions or your family. In many well-documented cases, a lack of planning has led to the nightmare of unscrupulous guardians having total control over an individual’s most basic day-to-day freedoms. The guardian, not the ward, has final say on all matters from food and clothing choices to spending money and visiting family and friends.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">While lack of control is one negative aspect about living probate, lack of privacy is another major disadvantage of the process. Guardianship proceedings are a matter of public record in which details about your assets and medical condition are available for anyone to see, including nosy neighbors, meddling outsiders and financial predators.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/revocable-living-trust" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">revocable living trust</a> is another way to ensure that you or your representative manage your assets, not an unknown agent of the probate court. Trusts have many purposes. One is to control and safeguard property and assets during your lifetime. As owner and grantor of a living trust, you appoint one or moresuccessor trustees to seamlessly manage the assets of the trust on your behalf – according to your detailed instructions – in the event of your incapacitationor demise. Your trust and power of attorney instructions can be as specific as necessary to give you control over how your assets are used for your livingarrangements, health care and other needs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Those who lack even a simple last will and testament should dread a lack of control that looms in their future. The assets of those who die without a will are distributed under state <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/intestacy" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">intestacy</a> laws based on a predetermined hierarchy of blood relatives. A court – not you – decides who administers the estate and who gets what. Your legacy is determined by state law, not your own personal liberty or preferences.</span></div>
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When should I update my estate plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Estate planning has a lifecycle of its own. Planning documents need to reflect changes in life as time goes on. Legal paperwork and other documents should be reviewed regularly and adjusted.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Whenever there’s a change in the family dynamic or a major life event, plans need to be updated, emphasizes Kansas-based estate planning attorney <a href="https://www.kylekrull.com/Overland-Park-Kansas-Life-Estate-Planning.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Kyle</a><a href="https://www.kylekrull.com/Overland-Park-Kansas-Life-Estate-Planning.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Krull</a>. “Consequently, you should regard your life and estate plan as a lifetime process, not as a one-and-done event.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Here are 10 common changes in life or activities that Krull says could necessitate revisions of planning documents:</span></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Marriage remarriage or divorce.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Death of a spouse.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A substantial change in estate size.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Death or incapacity of an executor, trustee or guardian.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Move to another state.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Acquisition of property in another state.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Change in beneficiary attitudes</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Change in insurability for life insurance</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Financial irresponsibility of a child</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">“Life and estate planning is about much more than an after-death plan for the distribution of your earthly things,” Krull advises. Instead, he says, your focus should be planning to protect yourself, your loved ones and your assets “whether you are healthy, incapacitated or deceased.”</span></div>
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How can I create an estate plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:</span><br />
<a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">8039 Cooper Creek Blvd</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">University Park, Florida 34201</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">844.306.5272 (Phone)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">#legacyassuranceplan@assuranceplan</span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-18341387501485567222018-12-31T08:41:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:45:40.371-06:00You may resolve to drop pounds or stash cash, but family is a priority every year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><img class="img-fluid" height="371" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/resolutions-for-family/assets/img/family-new-years-fireworks.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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You may resolve to drop pounds or stash cash, but family is a priority every year</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by Tom Alberts Dec 31, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: New year’s resolutions are easily broken and rarely become reality. Most resolutions are impractical and abandoned within a month or two. To be successful, resolutions require a strong desire and disciplined motivation. While we tend to focus on health and finances after the first of the year, dedication to family is the top overall priority for most Americans. A resolution to protect yourself and your loved ones through comprehensive estate planning is a realistic objective to consider.</em></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">By the time corks fly and calendars flip, less than half of Americans will have resolved to make changes for the better as they begin 2019.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">About half of us will make a new year’s resolution, and the rest won’t bother, recent <a href="http://maristpoll.marist.edu/1220-being-a-better-person-weight-loss-top-2018-new-years-resolutions/#sthash.XFILdr6N.dpbs" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">polls</a> say. An estimated 90% of those who’ve made a resolution will have broken it by Jan. 15, and a <a href="https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2015-12-29/why-80-percent-of-new-years-resolutions-fail" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Forbes</a> report says 80% of those early-January aspirations will be abandoned entirely by February.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Those who vow to improve their lot in life tend to find that new year’s resolutions can be daunting when they set unrealistic goals and overly lofty expectations. It can be impossible to make a resolution become reality, especially if you choose the wrong objective.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Blown budgets make us resolve to spend less and save more. Those Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts inspire us to cut calories and exercise. As a result, health and fitness and finances have become leading contenders on the list of resolutions. Suddenly, we’re motivated to explore automatic savings account transfers and the latest smartwatches that count every step we take.</span></div>
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Do you have practical expectations?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400;">Experts agree that if you want to turn your new year’s resolutions into reality, make them practical and achievable. Don’t try to accomplish too much, they say. Keep them simple. Be patient. Don’t expect perfection. And seek help and encouragement from family, friends, faith and other resources.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Keep in mind that to break a habit, it can take two months of daily diligence, according to a <a href="http://repositorio.ispa.pt/bitstream/10400.12/3364/1/IJSP_998-1009.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">University College London study</a>. Persistence and dedication are key ingredients to success, experts say.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Your resolution is more likely to succeed if you pick quality over quantity, suggests investor, philanthropist and Bridewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. He urges those who plan to make a new year’s resolution “to identify what your <a href="https://www.facebook.com/raydalio/posts/as-you-think-about-new-years-resolutions-i-urge-you-to-identify-what-your-one-bi/408586486229699/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">‘one big thing’</a> is and deal with it.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Everyone has weaknesses and they are generally revealed in the patterns of mistakes they make,” Dalio writes in his 2017 autobiography, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Principles:</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Life and Work.</em> “The fastest path to success starts with knowing what your weaknesses are and staring hard at them. … The first step to tackling these impediments is getting them out into the open.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For Dalio, it’s OK to focus on a single significant shortcoming. If so, you’re likely to knock down the obstacles you confront in life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Make it your mission to effectively deal with your ‘one big thing’ in the next year. By having identified it and by constantly keeping it in mind so that it annoys you like a pebble in your shoe, you will find that you will naturally reduce it as a barrier. And by reducing it as a barrier, you will radically improve your life. Then you can go on to the next big challenge or the one after that.”</span></div>
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Are you in the right mindset?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">So by the time February rolls around, why do many of us find that getting in shape, kicking a habit, saving money or other resolutions seem out of reach?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“As the saying goes, it’s not the horse that draws the cart, it’s the oats. It’s not the gym, Pilates class or diet that will change you – it’s your mind,” says a <a href="https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2015-12-29/why-80-percent-of-new-years-resolutions-fail" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">U.S.</a> <a href="https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2015-12-29/why-80-percent-of-new-years-resolutions-fail" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">News and World Report</a> article that ponders the annual challenges we create for ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The way to succeed is found above the shoulders and between the ears, agrees renowned life coach and author <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIHmty265Us" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Tony Robbins</a>. Unless you are vested in your resolution, he says, you’ll likely shrug your shoulders and try again next year, maybe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s like the old adage, ‘If you want to take the island, you burn the boats,’” Robbins says. “Because, when you burn those boats, there’s no going back. You’re going to find a way to make things work.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Robbins provides the following pointers to avoid a detour on the road to your resolutions.</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;">Back your resolutions with a strong desire.</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"> Think of the obsessions you may have felt in the past – for a new car, a coveted job or a magical relationship. Pursue your resolution with the same passion, excitement and energy.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Focus the intensity of your emotion.</span> If you keep at it daily, you’ll get to the point where the resolution or goal becomes hard-wired in one’s mind. “When you really get clear and it’s compelling and you are reviewing it every day and have strong reasons to review it every day and are feeling it, the brain becomes incredibly acute at noticing anything to get you to move forward,” he says.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Raise your standards.</span> Make a resolution a “must” and not a “should.” Says Robbins: “If you identify yourself in a new way and you own that every day and that becomes the standard of how you live, you will find a way to make that standard real.”</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Follow up with a ritual.</span> “Rituals define us. All the results in your life are coming from your rituals. They start with a standard, and the rituals follow it up. For example, if you are where you want to be physically, you have very different rituals than if you are not where you want to be physically,” he says. If your standard is to be healthy and strong, your ritual should be to eat well and exercise. Persistence will pay off, and you’ll gain momentum every day. “Discipline weighs ounces; regret weighs tons.”</span></span></li>
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Have you resolved to protect your family?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It’s no surprise, but most Americans surveyed say the <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2018/11/20/where-americans-find-meaning-in-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">meaning in life</a> is found in their obligation to family, followed by careers and money.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“The most popular answer is clear and consistent: Americans are most likely to mention family when asked what makes life meaningful … and they are most likely to report that they find ‘a great deal’ of meaning in spending time with family,” a <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2018/11/20/where-americans-find-meaning-in-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Pew Research Center</a> study found. Also, one-third of Americans surveyed mentioned children or grandchildren when describing what makes life feel meaningful. Children and grandchildren were the most commonly mentioned specific aspects of family.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Meanwhile when it comes to resolutions, Americans still prefer to take better care of their bodies and their bank accounts – especially in the wake of the holidays.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“The top resolutions among American adults all revolve around two main themes: health and money,” a <a href="http://maristpoll.marist.edu/1220-being-a-better-person-weight-loss-top-2018-new-years-resolutions/#sthash.XFILdr6N.dpbs" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Harris Poll</a> found. “Most commonly, adults are resolving to eat healthier (29%), save more money (25%), lose weight (24%), drink more water (21%), and/or pay down debt (17%).”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Despite concerns over health and money, only 42 percent of adults have some estate planning documents in place, such as a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/last-will-and-testament" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">last will and testament</a> or <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/revocable-living-trust" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">revocable living trust</a>, to protect themselves and their families, according to a <a href="https://www.caring.com/about/news-room/nearly-6-in-10-u-s-adults-don-t-have-a-will" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Caring.com</a> survey. What’s worse, the percentage is lower (36%) for parents of children under the age of 18, leaving the kids without a predetermined guardian should the need arise. A still smaller percentage of the adult population has a comprehensive plan with a host of other critical documents, including <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/power-of-attorney" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">powers of attorney</a> for health and finances, an <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/living-will" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">advance directive</a> for health care, HIPAA waivers, instructions for <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/estate-maintenance/digital-estate-planning-need-plan-review-periodically/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">digital assets</a> and others.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Family is a top priority for most folks, and there’s a natural desire to be prepared for the life-changing events that may come our way – the addition of a new child, an unexpected serious illness, a marriage or divorce, the tragic loss of a loved one, or our own potential misfortunes. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Nevertheless, many of us remain unprepared.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“I think many Americans avoid setting up a will because they simply don’t want to think about their death,” Texas-based financial coach Craig Dacy told Caring.com. “However, setting up a will not only takes care of your loved ones financially, it can save them a lot of emotional stress after you’re gone.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A lack of resolve is the leading excuse given by those who’ve failed to address estate planning obligations. The survey found that 47% or respondents said they “hadn’t gotten around to it.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">That’s unfortunate, because without a comprehensive plan, you have a lack of control and a weak link connecting you to your family’s future. If you care about your family but lack a comprehensive plan, you’ll likely start the year with a so-called “pebble in your shoe.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“This is the ‘I’m going to live forever’ theory. No one literally thinks that, but we all want to believe we are going to live until our 80s or 90s, so we don’t think we need a will right now,” says Debbi King, author of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The ABC’s of Personal Finance, </em>told Caring.com. “This isn’t true, of course. We all have an expiration date, and no one knows exactly when it will be. The best thing you can do for your loved ones is have a will now.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Over the recent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, you’ve likely spent a good deal of time with loved ones and have the latest information on the family’s long-term needs. If estate planning is that “one big thing” you wish to address this year, you’ve got a head start. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A good place to begin your estate planning quest is with a checklist. Do you and your spouse have wills? Have you nominated guardians for minor children if needed? How about a living will that addresses end-of-life preferences for health care? Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your assets and beneficiaries from the lack of privacy, expense and delays of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/probate" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">probate</a>? Are powers of attorney in place to look out for your health and financial interests in the event of your incapacity? Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan enables consumers to accomplish their estate planning mission with the guidance of network attorneys and financial professionals.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">As the years pass, family circumstances change, so it’s a good idea to resolve to review your documents annually and update them when necessary. In doing so, you’ll have peace of mind knowing the paperwork is in place to protect you, your loved ones and your eventual beneficiaries. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Remember that weaknesses don’t matter if you find solutions,” Dalio says.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">And those solutions begin with commitment, Robbins says. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”</span></div>
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Do you have a plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-27820724692041540032018-12-26T08:22:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:45:52.869-06:00Deeds have duties, but they fall short as an estate planning tool<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Deeds have duties, but they fall short as an estate planning tool</span></h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Numerous types of deeds exist with wide-ranging conditions regarding the ownership of real property and survivorship rights. As an estate planning tool, deeds address what happens to property upon an owner’s death – but they fail to address contingencies that occur during life and can introduce other challenges. It’s important to determine the best planning approach to meet objectives during your lifetime and beyond. A comprehensive estate plan that utilizes a revocable living trust can preserve your control, protect your interests and address issues that arise when using <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-planning-deeds/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">deeds to convey property ownership</a>.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Ownership of real estate is an essential part of the traditional American dream and a foundation of a family’s life together. It’s also an investment in which a significant part of your financial legacy resides.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Many people acquire real property of all types – residential housing, rental and commercial properties, vacant lots and farmland, to name a few – over a lifetime as part of estates that benefit generations to come. Improper planning and misguided use of deeds to convey property can lead to costly mistakes that potentially leave real property exposed to probate, creditors and lawsuits. Use of the proper deeds to transfer ownership of real property in combination with other estate planning tools – such as a revocable living trust – can help prevent the American dream from becoming an estate planning nightmare. Consider, for example, the implications of adding someone’s name to the deed of your home. The home is now exposed to that person’s creditors, lawsuits and divorce settlement. That’s just one of the big mistakes you can make when relying on deeds alone in estate planning. A deed in itself is not a reliable estate plan – unless you have a crystal ball and can determine the script of life ahead of time.</span></div>
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What is the role of deeds in estate planning?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">As a legal instrument filed with the county recorder’s office, a deed conveys ownership of an interest in real property from the buyer to the seller and provides documentation of who sold or transferred title of the property (the grantor) to the purchaser or recipient (the grantee). Deeds include information about the date of the transaction, a detailed legal description of the property’s location and any covenants, restrictions and obligations for the grantee to follow. More importantly, deeds provide evidence of ownership, or title, and the transfer of ownership. Deeds must be free of title defects – such as liens, legal judgments and other liabilities – for the seller to transfer the title and avoid court challenges over ownership rights. Deeds also provide formal assurances that titles are transferrable and without liens or other defects.</span></div>
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What types of deeds are available?</span></h2>
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Tenancy in common</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This is the default form of ownership when two or more people own property together. The owners can give away or sell their property interest as they wish. Ownership interests among the tenants can be unequal and the owners do not need to be related. When an owner dies, that person’s property interest as a tenant in common is conveyed via last will and testament to beneficiaries and is subject to probate. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Another issue with this type of ownership is the exposure of all the tenants in common to certain risks. Let’s say three tenants in common share ownership of an apartment building. If one of the owners is successfully sued, it’s conceivable that a creditor could force a fire sale of the entire property to satisfy the judgment. The other two owners would recover their share monetarily in forced liquidation, but the asset of real property would cease to exist. It’s also possible that the successful litigant suddenly could become your new business partner as a new tenant in common. The financial and legal difficulties of one tenant can negatively impact the interests of the others.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Incapacity of an owner in a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-planning-deeds/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">tenancy in common</a> arrangement creates other problems. If a fellow tenant, for example, becomes incapacitated and can’t approve a change in the property’s ownership status, the matter must be litigated, and there’s no guarantee on how a judge may rule. Perhaps a jointly owned asset needs to be mortgaged or sold and the proceeds invested in long-term care in a nursing home for an incapacitated spouse. Without the approval of the incapacitated spouse or a time-consuming and uncertain court order, the property can’t be utilized as an asset to provide financial benefits during your lifetime.</span></div>
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Joint tenancy with rights of survivorship </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Multiple owners can also hold property as </span><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/joint-tenancy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">joint tenants with rights of survivorship</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">. In order to create this type of tenancy, the deed must specifically state that joint owners have rights of survivorship. When one joint tenant dies, the property belongs to the remaining joint tenants without using the probate process. The property will be subject to probate when the last owner dies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Many people use this type of ownership as a probate avoidance strategy. This strategy, however, has drawbacks that include exposure to liability and tax implications. For example, after dad dies, mom, hoping to keep the house out of probate when she dies, adds their son’s name to the deed with rights of survivorship. In doing so, she has just given away half of her ownership share as a potentially taxable gift to the son. Another problem is mom’s exposure to the son’s financial liabilities. If he files for bankruptcy or divorce, the loss of his ownership stake could force her to sell and find new living quarters – such as a nursing home. Adding a joint tenant after the value of the property also has tax implications. The new tenant will pay capital gains taxes on the difference between the increase in value from the original purchase price to the present market value when the property is sold. If the property had been inherited, rather than gifted, the basis would step up to the date-of-death value, likely resulting in little if any taxable gain.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Once again, the incapacity of a joint owner, as in a tenancy in common arrangement, limits control over real property and creates a lack of certainty. If either tenant becomes incapacitated, the deed doesn’t allow the other tenant to take unilateral action on mortgaging or selling the property. If liquid assets from the property are needed for emergency contingencies, a court petition and hearing could be required. Remember, deeds in estate planning only work to avoid probate at death and fail to address unanticipated life events that are difficult to predict.</span></div>
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Tenancy by the entirety</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">This type of ownership is only available to married couples. It is created by noting on the deed that the owners are married. The couple owns the property as one undivided entity with rights of survivorship. Upon the death of the first spouse, the property is conveyed outside of probate to the survivor. The property will be part of the survivor’s probate estate when he or she passes away. A key benefit of this type of ownership is creditor protection. The individual creditors of the spouses, except for the IRS, cannot place a lien on property held tenancy by the entirety. However, if the debtor spouse survives, the asset no longer</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">enjoys creditor protection. The asset also becomes part of the surviving spouse’s probate estate. Because of rights of survivorship, neither spouse cansell or give away their interests in the property.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The issue of incapacity, again, is not addressed by a deed. This can cause problems if, for example, a co-owning spouse becomes incapacitated and can’t approve a change in the property’s ownership status. Another consequence is who decides how the asset is eventually distributed. The first spouse to die loses control over deciding who receives the property after the death of the second spouse. In many cases, the wishes of the surviving spouseare the same as the deceased spouse. If their wishes are at odds, there’s nothing stopping the surviving spouse from disregarding any previous intentions. This is especially important, for example, when children from previous marriages are involved. For instance, the surviving spouse is under no obligation to name stepchildren as beneficiaries, leading to an estate planning failure for the first spouse.</span></div>
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What deeds may be used to avoid probate?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">In addition to deeds using the right of survivorship, two other types of deeds exist to allow property to avoid probate at the owner’s death: transfer on death (ToD) deeds and deeds reserving a life estate.</span></div>
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Transfer-on-death</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">These deeds are available in the District of Columbia and these states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">ToDs are an inexpensive and simple way to convey ownership of real estate at the owner’s death. A <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/transfer-on-death/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">ToD deed</a>, also known as a beneficiary deed, specifically names a beneficiary who will receive title to the real estate directly upon the death of the owner, bypassing probate. During the life of the owner, the named beneficiary has no ownership interest in the real estate, so the property is not subject to the beneficiary’s liabilities. Also, the beneficiary designation can be changed at any time during the owner’s lifetime. The control that the owner retains is a key difference from some other types of deeds, including life estates and joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">One major disadvantage of ToD deeds is that the beneficiary cannot access the value of the asset if it’s needed to provide for your care in the event of incapacity. If you own property and become incapacitated, it would require a court order and costly time-consuming legal proceedings to provide access to the property’s equity. ToDs only convey property upon the owner’s death, and that’s too late for the property to be used as a beneficial asset during lifetime. Another drawback of a ToD deed is when the owner survives the beneficiary, the heirs of the beneficiary become the new owners if an updated deed is not recorded. They may not be the people you had in mind. People don’t necessarily die in the order the order they are presumed to pass away.</span></div>
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Life estates</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In this type of ownership, an individual property owner becomes a “life tenant,” retaining rights to utilize the property during his or her lifetime. A life estate deed, which is not reversible by the life tenant alone, is commonly used to enable a widowed spouse to pass on ownership of the family home, free of probate, to the adult children. The surviving spouse, in turn, maintains the right to reside in the home for life. In this type of ownership, a life estate deed can convey the asset upon the owner’s death to one or more beneficiary, known as a “remainderman” or remainder beneficiary. One key strategy of a life estate is to keep the asset out of the life tenant’s probate estate.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Another common use of a life estate is to shield the asset from Medicaid eligibility requirements and post-death Medicaid recovery efforts from the recipient’s probate estate. Because the property avoids probate, the asset also can avoid recovery of Medicaid expenses by the state. Also, to be eligible for Medicaid’s long-term care coverage, recipients are required to “spend down” their assets to just a few thousand dollars. Use of a life estate can disqualify the real estate from the spend down only after a five-year “lookback” period. Assets transferred during the lookback period cannot avoid the spend-down requirement. When a life estate is used, five years must pass before the asset can avoid the lookback period.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">As with other types of ownership deeds, life estates can have unintended consequences when unexpected life events get in the way. As in other situations, the intentions of the remainderman can conflict with the wishes of the original owner. A life estate may be a shortcut to qualify for Medicaid, but its application as an estate planning tool can create unrelated difficulties. For example, if the life tenant becomes incapacitated and lacks a power of attorney, the remainderman cannot sell the real property to pay for the life tenant’s needs or upkeep of the property. Conversely, the life tenant can’t act if the remainderman becomes incapacitated. A life tenant, or a power of attorney who may act on behalf of an incapacitated life tenant, needs approval of the remainderman to sell or mortgage the property. In those situations, litigation would require that a decision be left to the unpredictable whims of a judge.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Only upon the death of the life tenant can the remainderman dispose of the property. By that time, it’s too late for the property to benefit the life tenant. Also, the remainderman then can leave the asset to anyone of his or her choosing without regard to the life tenant’s original wishes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">One type of life estate is a “ladybird” estate, also known as an enhanced life estate, which gives the original owner much more flexibility. In a ladybird deed, the original owner does not require the approval of the remainderman to sell or mortgage the property. A ladybird arrangement also avoids probate as the property transfers automatically to the remainderman upon death of the owner. However, ladybird deeds only are available in a handful of states. They include Florida, Michigan, Vermont, Texas and West Virginia.</span></div>
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What planning alternatives are available?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-planning-deeds/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Deeds</a> can present challenges for estate planning and weren’t created with many of life’s contingencies in mind. The use of a living revocable trust as part of a comprehensive estate plan avoids probate and can help deal with the shortcomings that deeds present. A trust and the appointment of a successor trustee can be utilized to address issues related to incapacity of property owners, the unexpected deaths of beneficiaries, ill-motivated family members, unanticipated changes in joint ownership, accessibility to equity and other matters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A person’s ownership stake in real property can be conveyed into a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/revocable-living-trust/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">trust</a> quickly and efficiently with a quitclaim deed. The trust creator, also known as the grantor, transfers ownership of assets, such as real property interests, into the trust. The grantor maintains control over the assets in the living trust as trustee and appoints successor and alternate trustees with fiduciary responsibilities to act on his or her behalf in the event of incapacity or death. Upon the grantor’s death, the successor trustee then follows the grantor’s instructions and predetermined wishes on administration of the trust and distribution of its assets.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Having a successor trustee to act as your agent with power of attorney can help keep your affairs out of the courthouse. With a successor trustee, there’s no need to petition a court to appoint someone to act on your behalf or to forfeit your control over assets held in your trust. Your trustee will manage your real estate interests if you can’t, providing highly desired flexibility in estate planning. If you are incapacitated and need access to liquidity to pay for long-term care, a successor trustee can make the decision to mortgage or sell off assets for your benefit. Trust instructions also can authorize a successor trustee to remove unintended beneficiaries. Also, because a trust is not part of a probate estate, grantors can avoid petitions by ill-motivated family members or others seeking to exert undue influence over an estate.</span></div>
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Do you have a plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:</span><br />
<a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">8039 Cooper Creek Blvd</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">University Park, Florida 34201</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">844.306.5272 (Phone)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">#legacyassuranceplan</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">@assuranceplan</span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-11970004585326340682018-12-20T08:13:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:46:35.895-06:00Christmas traditions, shared values are a family’s lifelong gift<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><img alt="Traditional christmas family diner table setting." class="img-fluid" height="427" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/health-family/traditions-family-lifelong-gift/assets/img/xmas-dinner.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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<h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #494d51; font-size: 46px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0px;">
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Christmas traditions, shared values are a family’s lifelong gift</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by Tom Alberts Dec 20, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Year after year at Christmastime, families and loved ones look forward to spending time together and treasure their traditions and unique memories they create. Among the blessings of the annual family gathering are the shared customs, beliefs and values that are passed from generation to generation.</em></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;">Christmas is a time for families to get together, and as they gather to share gifts, food and good cheer, they also share traditions.</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;">Families cherish the activities and rituals they have in common, and their traditions, some serious and some not, are often the most anticipated pleasures of the holiday season.</em></span><br />
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Joe McBrayer, a Florida-based author and speaker, shares the story of a friend of Sicilian heritage who salivates at the mere mention of the tradition his family follows every Christmas Eve. The popular seafood-centered “Feast of the Seven Fishes,” known simply as “The Eve,” is a mouth-watering ritual that many Italian-Americans observe.</div>
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Generous platters of lobster, linguini, cod, cannoli and other culinary delights are washed down with ample servings of homemade red wine. The warm glow of candles and faces young and old, belly laughs and cross-table conversations fill the air.</div>
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“After feasting for hours, full of food and drink, they stagger to church for midnight Mass,” recalls McBrayer. The decadence of the feast, tempered by devotion to faith, has been part of the family’s tradition as far as anyone can remember.</div>
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The McBrayer family, however, takes a different approach, and their tradition is grounded less in cultural significance and more in originality. On the evening of Dec. 24, just as they’ve done for the past 20 years, the whole clan will head over to the local Waffle House for a simple spread of eggs, grits, hot coffee and a smorgasbord of family-style chitchat.</div>
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“Weird, I know, but it’s not Christmas Eve for the McBrayers without the smell of hash browns in the air, Elvis’ ‘Blue Christmas’ on the jukebox, and the wackiest of conversations with the restaurant staff.”</div>
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The low-budget breakfast fare is nice. But what McBrayer’s family loves most is an annual rite that “keeps us grounded in an otherwise unsure world.”</div>
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What about a pajama party and chili dogs?</div>
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“We’ve always done that,” says country music star <a href="https://popculture.com/country-music/2018/12/13/luke-bryan-family-surprising-christmas-eve-tradition/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Luke Bryan</a> when asked about his family’s quirky Christmas Eve activity. “It’s special any time you can come up with fun traditions and hold true to them. Cooking chili dogs in a onesie is pretty special.” The Bryan family tradition may be unusual, but it’s a cherished ritual that his kids are likely to perpetuate for generations to come.</div>
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Americans agree that the meaning of Christmas is found in faith, family, traditions and giving to others, and the time spent with family and friends is what people look forward to the most, <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">surveys show</a>.</div>
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You could say Christmas is a kind of glue that strengthens the family’s bond.</div>
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“Traditions foster closeness between family members, provide family stability and create feelings of belonging,” says Utah State professor Shannon Cromwell, who has created a list of <a href="https://extension.usu.edu/sanpete/ou-files/ez-plug/Family_Holiday_Traditions.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">20 holiday tradition ideas</a> to bring families together. “Our values and beliefs are often reinforced through family traditions. Family traditions do not have to be elaborate, expensive activities. The significance of a tradition is for families to have time to relate and communicate with one another. Spending quality time together helps to affirm family values, faith and life experiences while celebrating the season.”</div>
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Whether your family’s treasured memories involve “Silent Night” and sugar cookies, eggnog and ugly sweaters or white elephants and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, they are all worth having.</div>
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Just ask some of the folks at Legacy Plan, whose employees have an array of favored traditions. One colleague howls with laughter as she recalls the annual competition with her sister to see who could come up with the ugliest gift for each other. One year it was a lamp complete with velvet shade and ball fringe; another it was a gaudy mirror with hideous sconces jutting from a mustard-colored frame. To this day, another colleague says he can taste the Christmas Eve lasagna just by talking about it. “It started as a kid, and it’s all I remember having,” he says. He honors his mom’s memory every year as he savors his favorite, yet sentimental, holiday meal. For a third co-worker, it’s all about the <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/valerie-bertinelli/lynns-sick-brownies-bites-3087173" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">bonbons</a>. The white orbs of gooey crunchiness made from graham crackers, walnuts, chocolate, condensed milk and other goodies are now favorites of his youngsters, ages 6 and 4. “The kids love them, and they asked for them again this year,” he says.</div>
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The thrill that Idaho-based author and self-described family man Dan Harmon anticipates each Christmas is a certain sense of satisfaction. Harmon enjoys his family’s annual tradition of spending several hours volunteering at the Salvation Army. He’ll remember forever the reaction of a grateful little girl after receiving her gift.</div>
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“They headed for the exit when the little girl suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, handed the special doll she had chosen for herself to her mother and dashed back toward me with her pigtails flying. Frightened at her own audacity, she nevertheless threw herself at me and with a whispered ‘thank you very much’ gave me a big hug, planted a kiss on my cheek and dashed back to mom,” Harmon writes. “That 30-second episode more than made up for the long days in the store. It was the most wonderful experience of the joys of giving I've ever had. That was 30 years ago, and I've never forgotten that little blonde girl in her plaid dress.”</div>
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For Harmon, the best part about the holiday season is the annual opportunity to help those in need and earn a heartwarming reward of a child’s appreciation.</div>
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Even if you have a long journey and are debating hitting the road this year to the old homestead, family traditions are well worth the time and travel, Harmon says, offering some valuable advice.</div>
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“So, go home for Christmas, wherever home might be, and soak in the healing familiarity. … There is no reason to stop now.”</div>
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As life goes on, family traditions become as important to the future as they are to a celebration of the past. Christmas offers a unique annual opportunity for the older generations to share their traditions, values and unique history with the entire family – and it can be the most wonderful time of the year to remind us what is important in life.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have a plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-59064362892154740702018-12-18T07:44:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:46:49.036-06:00Your best friend is good medicine. Are you prepared for his time of need?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><img class="img-fluid" height="403" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/estate-planning-with-pets/assets/img/sully-service-dog.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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Your best friend is good medicine. Are you prepared for his time of need?</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by Tom Alberts Dec 18, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: After George H.W. Bush became a widower, his service dog Sully helped fill a void in the life of the former president and assisted him with daily activities. Service dogs and family pets provide beneficial physical and emotional support. Pet owners can return the favor by making plans for the care and welfare of their special friends if they’ll have to spend the future without them.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Few will forget the iconic image of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/estate-planning-with-pets/ww.instagram.com/sullyhwbush/?utm_source=ig_embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Sully</a> the service dog lying at the casket of his best friend, former President George H.W. Bush.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The 2-year-old yellow Labrador was a loyal companion and trusty assistant during the last several months of President Bush’s life, and the beloved pooch helped fill a void after first lady Barbara Bush died in April 2018.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Following in his friend’s footsteps, Sully will continue in his own lifelong mission of service as an active member of <a href="https://www.vetdogs.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">America’s VetDogs</a>, spending time with and assisting patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington, D.C.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Service and therapy pets are well-known for the emotional support, physical assistance and potential health benefits they provide. In the case of the 41st president, who had a form of Parkinson’s disease that required his use of a wheelchair, Sully was able to open doors, fetch things and summon help if needed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Social interactions among people, especially for older folks, are good medicine for loneliness and provide mental stimulation, says a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-chemistry/201806/does-animal-assisted-therapy-work-the-pet-human-bond" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Psychology Today</a> report on the pet-human bond.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But animals may have a leg up on the average Joe in the good vibes they give to others.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Humans are judgmental, and when you’re sick, stressed or just trying to process life, pets won’t judge you, and they will be there for you unconditionally,” the report says. “Often times, the presence of a fellow human, even if it’s a friend, would contribute to our stress, even if that is not our friend’s intention. … We can say that pets provide a safe place for people, and during illness or emotional struggle, this can be very helpful in the process of recovery.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If you need some quick <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOwxrg1F350" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">video evidence</a>, watch what happens when YouTube sensations Ross Smith and 92-year-old “Granny” show up for a Thanksgiving visit at an assisted living center with a small herd of puppies. The residents, mostly elderly Alzheimer’s patients, were awash in love and serenity as they cuddled with their furry, therapeutic companions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Experts say that wagging tails even work physical wonders.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Researchers have long suggested that pets are good for us, even offering health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and heart rate, reducing the stress hormone cortisol, and boosting levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin,” says the online community <a href="https://www.alzheimers.net/2013-05-17/how-can-pets-benefit-alzheimers-patients/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Alzheimers.net</a>. “It stands to reason, then, that finding four-legged friends in <a href="https://www.alzheimers.net/find-dementia-care" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Alzheimer’s and dementia communities</a> is becoming commonplace. In fact, some facilities are hiring pet coordinators to aid in the care of residents’ pets.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Any animal lover understands the special bonds that are formed, and that warm feeling inside means something, according to the <a href="https://www.therapydogs.com/alliance-therapy-dogs/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Alliance of Therapy Dogs</a>(ATD).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Physically, the presence of and interaction with therapy animals can help lower blood pressure, reduce the number of medications that people need, diminish overall physical discomfort or pain, motivate people to exercise, and help children with autism in the departments of language and social interaction,” the ATD reports.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Are you ready to return the favor?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Many people consider pets as members of their family. Your pets take care of you, and you take care of them. That’s a deal a responsible pet owner gladly makes. If you value your pet as much as it unconditionally treasures you, you should be prepared to return the favor to your adorable dependents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Part of having a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">comprehensive life and estate plan</a> is being prepared for the unexpected events – illness, incapacity or worse – regardless of one’s age or status in life. That requires working with qualified professionals to utilize the appropriate documents that protect your interests, and those typically include powers of attorney for <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/health-care-power-of-attorney/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">health</a> and <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/financial-power-of-attorney/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">finances</a>, <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/last-will-and-testament/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">wills</a> and <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/revocable-living-trust/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">trusts</a>, <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/beneficiary-designations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">beneficiary designations</a>, <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/living-will/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">living wills</a> and others. Your plans are made to protect your loved ones – and those plans should include pets.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The full range of pet owners, whether they are in robust health or their final years of life, should make provisions for the care and future welfare of their pets as they create their estate plans. Pets are like people in that they can be provided for with the proper planning documents. One popular option is the creation of a pet or animal trust, which is a type of revocable living trust now available in all 50 states.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">How do pet trusts work?</span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;">As part of a comprehensive estate plan, a pet trust can be structured to ensure the needs of your pets, just like your loved ones, are addressed in the event of your incapacity or death.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">A major benefit of a pet trust is that it gives the animal owners peace of mind knowing they can return the favor of a lifetime of loyalty with uninterrupted care for as long as it’s needed. In a typical case, a pet owner (the grantor of the trust) designates one or more trustees, successor trustees, caregivers and successor caregivers, according to a <a href="https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/pet-planning/pet-trust-laws" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">planning guide</a> provided by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). In a typical situation, a trustee manages the trust’s finances and ensures its provisions are honored, and the caretaker provides the animal with food, shelter and TLC. The roles of trustee and caretaker can be filled either by organizations or individuals.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">The ASCPA suggests the following “homework” for those who intend to establish a pet trust.</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";">Develop a detailed description of the desired nature of the pet’s daily care, its standard of living and information about its health needs, veterinary care as well as its final disposition.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";">Determine the amount of funding required to cover the pet’s care based on its life expectancy and appropriate standard of living.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";">Specify how and when the trustee is to distribute funds to the caregiver.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";">Determine the amount of funding required to pay the trustee to administer the trust and compensation for the caregiver and successors.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";">Include a requirement that the trustee conduct regular inspections of the pet to ensure the trust’s instructions are being followed.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";">Decide on a remainder beneficiary of the pet trust in case its funds are not exhausted.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Pet owners can opt to include provisions in their last will and testament with instructions for a pet’s care, designate a caretaker and allocate funds. The instructions of a will, however, do not carry the same weight as the continuing obligations assigned to a pet trust’s successor trustee. Also, keep in mind that use of a will for ongoing pet care can keep an estate in probate and prolong its final settlement. It also may cause a gap in the pet’s care while the court considers a petition to open an estate. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“The integrity and moral commitment of the caregiver will be your only assurance that the pet’s care will continue,” the ASCPA advises. “Therefore, choose your primary caregiver and alternate caregiver, wisely.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For many, a less favorable option may be for your pet to wind up in a pet shelter or with an animal rescue group. But the least favorable option for a doting pet owner and a deserving friend is to have no plan at all.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have a plan in place?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;">Get your </span><a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/applic/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;">QUOTE</a><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;"> now!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-11330481947407880402018-12-15T07:50:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:47:02.571-06:00In grandma’s stocking: an Apple Watch to monitor falls, track heart rhythms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In grandma’s stocking: an Apple Watch to monitor falls, track heart rhythms</span></h1>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Wearable technology, while often marketed to the younger generations, includes health-monitoring and fitness applications that medical experts say can benefit older consumers as well. Among the new innovations is a smartwatch feature that helps prevent falls and monitors heart rhythms.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For more than a decade, the latest Apple products have been the annual must-have holiday gift for the tech-savvy. That raises the question: Is the newest Apple Watch on your list — either to give or receive — this year?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">At first glance, the watch appears to be an ideal present for Apple’s most familiar market: the hip early adopters. Its promotional <a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-series-4/?afid=p238%7CsJKznVXu8-dc_mtid_20925qtb42335_pcrid_295216235025&cid=wwa-us-kwgo-watch-slid--" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">website </a>is full of svelte young people stretching into yoga poses, kickboxing and playing basketball.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But when Apple unveiled its latest model in September — the Series 4, which starts at $399 — it was clear it was expanding its target audience. This Apple Watch includes new features designed to detect falls and heart problems. With descriptions like “part guardian, part guru” and “designed to improve your health … and powerful enough to protect it,” the tech giant signaled its move toward preventive health and a much wider demographic.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“The health care market is obviously important to Apple,” Andy Hargreaves, an Apple analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets, wrote in an email. The fall prevention and electrocardiogram apps are a “play to sell people more stuff” and bring health-monitoring apps beyond just “fitness people” to baby boomers who want to keep themselves and their parents healthy, he added.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This watch could be a perfect present for those older people, said Laura Martin, a senior analyst with Needham. “People who wore watches their whole lives, plus fall monitoring?” Martin said. “Voilà! It creates another on-ramp for another consumer in the Apple ecosystem.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">The fall-monitoring app uses sensors in the watchband, which are automatically enabled for people 65 and older after they input their age. These sensors track and record the user’s movements, and note if the wearer’s gait becomes unsteady.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">If a fall is detected, the watch sends its wearer a notification. If the wearer doesn’t respond within a minute by tapping a button on the watch to deactivate this signal, emergency services will be alerted that the wearer needs help.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">That minute also gives the wearer time to prevent false alarms, such as a dropped watch.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Many geriatricians and medical experts agree that this app could help older consumers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Falls can cause fractured hips and head injuries, but even fear of falling can prevent older people from living on their own or participating in activities.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Fall deaths in the U.S. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">increased 30 percent </a>for older adults in the past decade, and 3 million older people go to the emergency room for fall injuries each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Dr. Armin Shahrokni, an internist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who describes himself as “tech-savvy,” is excited that older patients might get into wearable technology.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“In older cancer patients, my area of expertise, all the chemo can make them fall more,” he said, making detecting falls and balance important.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The other app, the ECG monitoring app, also uses sensors in the wristband to monitor a patient’s heartbeat and send alerts if it gets too fast or too slow. Specifically, the app is meant to detect atrial fibrillation, which is a type of arrhythmia, also described as a problem with the speed or rhythm of the heartbeat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">How does the Apple app work?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">The watch’s sensors can detect a heart rhythm in 30 seconds, creating a “waveform” readout. It also allows the user to note how they are feeling — lightheaded, winded, full of energy — at that moment. This combination, according to Apple, will help people have better conversations with their doctors about symptoms and heart patterns.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">The Food and Drug Administration cleared this function for people 22 or older. However, it’s rare for anyone younger than 50 to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, noted Eric Topol, a cardiologist at the Scripps Research Institute.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Doctors have expressed concern that scores of panicked Apple Watch users would flood emergency rooms with every heart rhythm notification and blip.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“It’s mass use of a tool, and with that is going to come lots of unintended consequences,” Topol said. “It’ll lead to a lot of anxiety and expense and additional testing, and even then some people will get blood thinners inappropriately,” he added.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“This is the opposite of individualized medicine, where you are using something on exactly, precisely the right person,” Topol said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Is this a new wave of healthy apps?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">The watch represents the beginning of what analysts agree will be a wave of new health apps and wearable health trackers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Consumers can expect more ways to track vital signs, like blood sugar, and more apps that will use those numbers to help people prevent medical emergencies, said Ross Muken, an analyst with Evercore ISI. While health tracking isn’t a new concept, putting that data into an algorithm to help change behavior and get ahead of a health crisis is the next big frontier for wearable health technology products.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Experts caution, though, that while the FDA “cleared” these new apps, it hasn’t actually “approved” them, which is a bureaucratic distinction that means they haven’t faced as much rigorous testing as something that has gained the agency’s formal OK.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For example, there are no findings from studies or trials that offer evidence of the fall prevention or ECG apps’ benefits, Topol said. “We don’t have any data to review. These are unknowns.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Someday, he added, he expects the “medicalized smartphone” to be more common, cheaper and accessible to seniors. Right now we’re seeing the very beginning of this technology be put into use. “Technology is way ahead of medical practice,” Topol said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kaiser Health News </em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">(KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the </em><a href="http://www.kff.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, </em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is re-published by Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal or medical advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com. </a></span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-13372946536900281402018-12-14T14:13:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:47:11.900-06:00Claims of undue influence difficult to prove because of lack of evidence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Claims of undue influence difficult to prove because of lack of evidence</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: The existence of undue influence in the creation of an estate plan is a common allegation but difficult to prove. In most cases, there is a lack of reliable evidence available. However, in some obvious cases, a presumption of undue influence can arise, and if some critical facts are established, it may be worth contesting the validity of a will or trust.</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The allegation that a family member was inappropriately compelled to include or omit a beneficiary from an estate plan is often raised, but in reality is difficult to prove. There are several reasons why this is the case.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">First, direct evidence of misconduct, such as eyewitness testimony, that would serve to support the contention that the testator was persuaded to favor a certain individual over others, rarely exists. Undue influence tends to occur behind closed doors without witnesses present.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Second, the courts have long held that evidence of opportunity alone does not permit an inference that undue influence occurred. The mere fact that a particular person spent a great deal of time with the testator does not in and of itself give rise to a presumption that such a person unduly pressured the testator into drafting or revising an estate plan in a way that would inure to the benefit of that person.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Third, the allegation is typically brought after the testator is deceased. It is only then that one or more family members expecting to be included among the beneficiaries are surprised to find out for the first time that they will not be receiving the share they were expecting. Unfortunately at this point, the testator is not available for further questioning. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">So while in many cases there may be a lack of reliable evidence available to support a claim of undue influence, the law recognizes that in certain circumstances the contesting party may be entitled to a presumption of undue influence. Experience has taught that if certain evidentiary facts can be established, there is a strong likelihood that undue influence occurred, and may therefore be presumed, unless rebutted by other evidence.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The law will presume that undue influence has occurred, for example, where a patient makes a will in favor of his physician, a client signs a will naming the lawyer who drafted the document as a beneficiary, or a sick person leaves all of his assets to the clergyman attending to him. The presumption of undue influence arises from a confidential or fiduciary relationship, an opportunity to exercise influence, and the proof of a benefit to the alleged influencer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Relationships of inequality are inherently suspect, such as a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/guardianship/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">guardian </a>and ward, an agent and principal, or an attorney and client. These are situations where dominion may be exercised by one person over another. The contestant therefore needs to prove three critical facts to give rise to a presumption of undue influence.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">First, that there existed a confidential or fiduciary relationship between the testator and the fiduciary; second, that the fiduciary (or an organization or party he represents) will benefit; and third, that the fiduciary had the opportunity to exercise influence over the testator’s decision making. If the claimant can meet this burden of proof, the burden then shifts to the accused wrongdoer to offer evidence that may contradict and disprove the contention that any undue influence took place.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Since litigation is expensive, time consuming and often causes irrevocable damage to family relationships, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence, careful consideration should be given, and the advice of a qualified professional should be sought, before commencing a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/will-vs-trust/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">will or trust</a> contest.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">This article, written by Steven Gnewkowski, a Michigan-based attorney with 44 years of experience, is published by Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at </em> <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />8039 Cooper Creek Blvd<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />University Park, Florida 34201<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />844.306.5272 (Phone)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />#legacyassuranceplan<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />@assuranceplan</span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-29468334955420632772018-12-11T13:59:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:47:18.767-06:00Are you in the sandwich generation? If so, expect financial and emotional challenges<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Are you in the sandwich generation? If so, expect financial and emotional challenges</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: Members of the sandwich generation – typically those who provide support for their children as well as aging parents – are prone to financial hardships and a stressful existence. Experts say those in a caregiver role for multiple generations can take steps to ease the emotional and economic challenges.</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If you are like millions of Americans, you could face a life-altering detour on your path to the American dream.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There’s a decent chance that if you are middle-aged and have kids and aging parents, you’ll wind up in the middle of the so-called “sandwich generation,” providing simultaneous support to the generations below and above you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Almost half of Americans in their 40s and 50s share a common situation in life. They have a parent age 65 or older and are raising a youngster or financially supporting a grown child (18 or older) who may or may not still reside at home, according to a <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/01/30/the-sandwich-generation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Pew Research Center</a> study. Of those people in the middle generation, about one in seven – an estimated 20 million Americans – provides financial support at the same time to both an older parent or parents and a child or children.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“With an aging population and a generation of young adults struggling to achieve financial independence, the burdens and responsibilities of middle-aged Americans are increasing,” Pew’s study found. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Those burdens aren’t confined to finances and pull at both the family’s purse strings and heartstrings, experts say.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Not only do many provide care and financial support to their parents and their children, but nearly four in 10 (38%) say both their grown children and their parents rely on them for emotional support,” Pew says.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Filmmaker Julie Winokur and her husband, Ed, made an award-winning documentary in 2008, aptly titled “<a href="https://talkingeyesmedia.org/sandwich-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">The Sandwich Generation</a>,” which chronicles her family’s experience after she and her husband and their two preteen kids moved across the country to live with and take care of her 83-year-old father with rapidly progressing dementia. Winokur simply describes her peers as “people who are taking care of their children taking care of their parents.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Winokur’s story exemplifies the enormous challenges facing all layers of the sandwich generation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“We uprooted our lives and moved 3,000 miles in order to be there to support my father,” Winokur says. “It’s like the primetime of my life, and I basically gave it away.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The film depicts the double duties of Winokur and her husband as they tend to the kids’ needs – breakfast, homework, a shoulder to cry on – and the needs of her aging father that encompass everything from dressing him to handling his finances and making health care decisions to simply using the remote control.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Their experience shows how aging parents can lose their sense of freedom and diminished personal pride over their inability to live independently. Another lesson: Children, meanwhile, may feel ignored or as if they are a burden themselves while those in the middle place their own retirement at risk.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">What’s the upside?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Despite the difficulties, there can be benefits. Perhaps it’s simply the personal satisfaction of caring for a loved one. For Winokur’s family, a huge blessing of their sandwich generation experience is the positive values instilled in the youngest generation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">“The kids are being given this life lesson in what it means to care for someone – what it means to come through for someone else,” says Winokur’s husband.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">“It’s pretty cool having my grandpa in the house with us, but it’s a little stressful for my parents,” says their grade-school age son.</span></div>
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“I will have no regrets when I look back on this, but darn, it’s hard while you are in it,” Winokur says.</div>
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Studies support the anecdotal evidence found in Winokur’s example. Despite the burdens and challenges those in the sandwich generation face, a 2018 Pew study found that caregivers cherish their roles. “The act of caring for an adult is often a very meaningful one for those who do it,” Pew found. “Caregivers rated about half of their caregiving experiences this way.” </div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">How did we get here?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">These days, not everyone will endure the challenges of the sandwich generation, but being stuck in the middle used to be a way of life for the majority of Americans.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Retirees began receiving Social Security benefits in 1940 – when the <a href="http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">life expectancy</a> was 60.8 years for men and 65.2 for women. Before then, “most elderly widows lived with one of their children – so common a practice that it developed a nostalgic sheen, enshrined as the way things ought to be,” according to a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/health/multigenerational-shared-households.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a> report. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.2307/2648124" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">landmark study</a> conducted for the National Institute of Aging in 2000 found that 18% of elderly widows lived alone in 1940, and that climbed to 62% by 1990. “Income growth, particularly increased Social Security benefits, was the single most important determinant of living arrangements, accounting for nearly one-half of the increase in independent living,” the study found.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The longevity of Americans has been on a steady rise over the decades, according to the <a href="https://www.prb.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Population Reference Bureau</a>. The life expectancy of Americans since 1900 has increased from 47 to 79. Meanwhile, the U.S. population of people 65 and older is expected to double and reach 98 million by 2060.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Taking notice of this demographic trend was a scholar, not a food critic, who first coined the term “the sandwich generation” in a 1980 academic paper.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Adult children of the elderly, who are ‘sandwiched’ between their aging parents and their own maturing children, are subjected to a great deal of stress,” University of Kentucky professor of social work Dorothy A. Miller wrote in the abstract to her 1980 study. “As a major resource and support for the elderly, this group has a need for the services that is only beginning to be met by the helping professions.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In the meantime, if you’ve watched television over the past several decades, you’ll find dozens of examples of the sandwich-generation theme. Popular culture provides many variations of the family dynamic in which middle-age people provide support to both younger and older generations. One could argue “The Waltons” family probably had it the worst, trying to make ends meet during the Depression, pinching pennies for John-Boy’s education and coping with grandma’s stroke and grandpa’s unexpected death. In most sandwich generation scenarios – real and imagined – there’s plenty of drama involved.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">How to survive the sandwich generation?</span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">So, what are some strategies if you have or may have the young, the old and you – the in-between generation – all under one roof? After all, in some cases, parents have depleted their retirement resources to pay for caregivers and now rely on you for financial and physical support. </span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">With one in seven adults providing support to both an aging parent and a child, it makes saving for the college and retirement funds that much harder. Some actions to consider:</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Don’t wait for a crisis. </span>There are a lot of issues to address throughout life to prepare for a sandwich generation situation. Does the parent in need have adequate retirement savings or long-term care insurance? Can other siblings also participate in and contribute to the support system? “Don’t wait until there is a health scare or a financial crisis to start having these conversations,” advises <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F73b4a3HKPE" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">CNN</a>’s Christine Romans. “The needs of your loved ones are important, but so is your own financial future. So, talk openly and honestly with the people you love and don’t put your own retirement at risk.”</span></span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;">Don’t wait for a crisis. </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">There are a lot of issues to address throughout life to prepare for a sandwich generation situation. Does the parent in need have adequate retirement savings or long-term care insurance? Can other siblings also participate in and contribute to the support system? “Don’t wait until there is a health scare or a financial crisis to start having these conversations,” advises </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F73b4a3HKPE" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: none;">CNN</a><span style="font-size: 16px;">’s Christine Romans. “The needs of your loved ones are important, but so is your own financial future. So, talk openly and honestly with the people you love and don’t put your own retirement at risk.”</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Get planning documents in order.</span> Sandwiched family members should have powers of attorney for health care and finances for the people in their care as well as themselves. Medical release forms and advance directives (living wills) regarding end-of-life treatment decisions should be completed, and wills, trusts, beneficiary designations and other planning documents should be reviewed and updated. Also, professional legal and financial advice can help families navigate through a sea of paperwork and the complications involving Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and insurance coverage and claims.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Get a support system.</span> Friends, other families, neighbors and community organizations are a valuable resource that can reduce the vice-like pressure sometimes felt by those squeezed in the sandwich generation, the MoneyTrack report suggests. Consider including your employer as part of your support group. It may require explaining your situation to your boss if you anticipate needing time off or other considerations because of your caregiving obligations.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji";"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 16px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Provide assistance where it’s truly needed.</span> Romans suggests establishing some important “boundaries.” For example, children in the home are one thing; 30-year-old gamers in the basement are another. If finances are tight, “whatever you do, don’t make living at home too comfortable for them – you are not running a bed and breakfast,” she advises. “Find ways for them to contribute financially.”</span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">What are the biggest challenges?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">1. It’s a financial drain</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Family caregivers spent about 20% of their income in 2016 toward the care of loved ones, according to an <a href="https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/financial-legal/info-2017/out-of-pocket-cost-report.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">AARP study</a>. For lower-income folks, the out-of-pocket costs consumed closer to 44 percent of their wages. “Family caregivers report dipping into savings, cutting back on personal spending, saving less for retirement or taking out loans to make ends meet. More than half of family caregivers reported a work-related strain, such as having to take unpaid time off,” the study says.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">2. The denial of reality</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Stress is another huge problem for those in the sandwich generation, but there are ways to address the anxieties, says gerontologist Amy O’Rourke in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c2grKhiKEw" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Ted Talk</a> presentation on the subject. “We are afraid of endings,” O’Rourke says. “We are scared of seeing our parents get smaller, more diminished – shaky judgment, walking slower. We are scared, and we deny it. We pretend it’s not there; we don’t want to face it.” A failure to accept the decreasing ability of older people to care for themselves causes stress for all those involved, she says. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">3. You can’t go backwards</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Aging is a one-way transition, O’Rourke advises. “Kids want the parents to go backwards. They want them to go back to where they were, and they miss where they are.” Don’t expect an aging parent to stay the same, and realize that the aging process is not reversible, she says. “The most important thing is to be there.” Another piece of advice: Do not consider caring for an aging parent as a role reversal. “We never become our parents’ parents, and if you try, you won’t do so well,” and don’t expect an elderly parent to suddenly enjoy being bossed around, she warns. “You are responsible for them, but you should work on a way of communicating to help them manage this time of life without insulting them and telling them what to do. And it takes some work.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">4. It’s going to be a lifestyle change</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">As parents age and require some level of care, your responsibility begins – whether or not they live in the same town as you, O’Rourke says. Those who accept their responsibility as a caregiver will have less stress than those who don’t, she observes. O’Rourke relates a little-known story about the tough decision Condoleezza Rice faced when she was offered the position of secretary of state. “She almost turned that job down. You know why? Because her father had a stroke, and she didn’t know if she could do that job and take care of her father.” Rice felt her first responsibility was to her aging parent and only accepted the post once she was assured his needs would be met, O’Rourke said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have an estate plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">A place to start is to put your planning house in order. There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects you and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">This article written and published by:</span><br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-60102601566968117892018-12-07T13:42:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:35:37.356-06:00Family learns valuable lessons as Legacy Assurance Plan members<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Family learns valuable lessons as Legacy Assurance Plan members</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: An Alabama couple dedicated their careers to teaching others, but they say the lessons they’ve learned and plans they’ve developed as Legacy Assurance Plan members now benefit the oldest and youngest generations of their family.</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Before his recent retirement, David K. spent the past four decades in Alabama and Tennessee as a teacher, coach and school administrator overseeing the curriculum and instruction for thousands of students.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">His wife, Carolyn, also dedicated her career to sharing knowledge with others, retiring after 27 years as an English and performing arts teacher.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But lately, David and Carolyn say they have utilized the lessons learned as <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Plan</a> members to create comprehensive life and estate plans that now protect and benefit four generations of their family.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Life has been hectic over the past year for David, 66, and Carolyn, 67, because of some family challenges. They both have elderly mothers in their 90s. Carolyn’s mother recently moved into their home and is under hospice care. Her mother, who had lived alone as a widow for nearly 40 years, suffered a fall, and the resulting injury caused cognitive issues.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Each week, the retired educators travel 90 minutes to the home of David’s mom, a proudly independent woman, to visit with her and lend a hand around the house. They also find time to visit with the families of their two adult daughters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“We stay on the road quite a bit, watching the grandkids play ball and taking care of our mothers. That’s kind of the stage we are in right now,” says David, a soft-spoken gentleman who shares his story in a soothing Southern drawl.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Their oldest daughter, 39, a pediatrician, is married to a mechanical engineer, and they have two children. Their youngest daughter, 34, a high school teacher, took the lead of mom and dad. Following tradition, she married someone in the same line of work – an assistant principal – and they also have two youngsters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">With the addition of grandchildren, the issue of aging parents and the desire to leave a lasting legacy, the family dynamics and priorities for David and Carolyn changed. They had come to realize that the <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/last-will-and-testament" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">wills</a> they executed several years ago were out of date. They also knew they needed to be able to look out for the health and financial interests of their aging parents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Yet they encountered a common stumbling block.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Where to begin?</span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;">David says he had done a lot of reading about estate planning and attended retirement seminars over the years, but the task remained daunting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">David’s luck changed last year when he learned of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/lifetime-benefits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Plan’s services</a> after receiving a postcard in the mail. He returned the card to get more information and received a call from a Legacy representative. They scheduled an appointment, and the representative traveled to their home to provide a detailed presentation on a vast array of planning considerations.</span></div>
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“It was an education for me,” David says. “I wasn’t aware of all the ins and outs. We had wills done years and years ago, back when our kids were small. I knew enough then that I didn’t want something to happen to me and my wife and then not have something spelled out for the kids. Now, my kids are grown and they have kids, and I hadn’t had the wills updated, so there were a lot of issues with that.”</div>
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Before learning of Legacy Plan, David says he was frustrated trying to figure out where to begin. It’s a problem that, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zachconway/2018/01/26/more-than-half-of-americans-dont-have-these-essential-estate-documents-do-you/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">studies show</a>, confounds a majority of Americans.</div>
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“I was thinking I would have to go to this attorney and get this done, and go back and forth between the lawyers and really didn’t know where to start,” David says.</div>
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During the presentation, he quickly discovered that a Legacy Plan membership would enable their family to consult with a network attorney and other planning professionals to create a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/estate-maintenance/estate-plan-documents-care-protection/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">comprehensive life and estate plan</a>.</div>
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“I had never seen it all put into one package,” David says. “So, when they came out and explained the program to me, I knew immediately it was something I was interested in. ... At the same time, we were having health issues with my wife’s mother.”</div>
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By working with their Legacy Plan network <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-planning-attorney" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">attorney</a>, they were able to deal with an immediate need and formally establish a support team for an elderly parent. David, Carolyn and their physician daughter now work together to make health and financial decisions as her <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/power-of-attorney/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">power of attorney</a>.</div>
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“We thought now would be a good time to include power of attorney for her,” David says of his mother-in-law. “We were able to get that paperwork done, which has been a godsend for us now because I’m having to do all of her financial stuff, and she’s not able to make decisions for herself – for health or finances or really anything right now. We did that just in time, so everything has worked out.”</div>
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David and Carolyn also have made arrangements for themselves in the event of their own <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/living-probate" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">incapacity</a> as they progress through their golden years.</div>
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“Everybody says it’s something they need to do, but nobody wants to address the fact that something could happen at any moment – a car wreck, any number of things,” David says. “Or illnesses, when people are perfectly healthy one day, and the next day they are bed-ridden and can’t do anything for themselves. So, you need to make decisions while you’ve got a clear mind and are thinking straight. Because you don’t need to wait until you are forced toand have to decide in a day or two.”</div>
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In meeting with their Legacy representative, David and Carolyn achieved another key goal, which was protecting their assets and ensuring they will be distributed promptly and with as few hassles and as much privacy as possible when that time comes. Most of their assets have been funded into their <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/do-i-need-a-living-trust" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">revocable living trust</a>, which will ensure they avoid the delays, expense and public disclosure inherent in the <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/probate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">probate</a> process. </div>
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“I keep receipts and stuff for years and years. I can go back and tell you what my utility bill was 15 years ago. I’ve always been a facts and figures person,” David says. “But I hadn’t dealt with end-of-life things like trusts and wills and <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/payable-on-death" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">payable-on-death</a> documents and matters like that. And it has really come in handy in dealing with issues involving my mother-in-law. It has been helpful and an eye-opener because of all the things that have happened in the last six months to a year.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Should others consider Legacy Plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">David emphasized that his membership, which includes <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/beneficiary/beneficiary-review/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">regular reviews</a> of his plan, gives him peace of mind, and he encourages others to consider the services of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/legacy-assurance-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a>. He has shared his story with friends and former colleagues, and they, too, have become Legacy members with their own comprehensive plans.</span></div>
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“It is something that I share with friends of mine who might want to look at it,” he says. “And it has really made me feel good that I don’t have any unfinished business. Everything is spelled out about what’s to be done.”</div>
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David says he and Carolyn considered all their options before making a final decision on how to proceed. But once they decided on a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/lifetime-benefits" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy membership</a>, they felt a sense of relief.</div>
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“The presentation was long, because I had a lot of questions,” David says. “But all the questions were answered to my satisfaction. I don’t make quick decisions. Normally, I get information and think about it for a while. It really wasn’t a quick decision because I had been thinking about it for a while, but I just hadn’t seen a program that put everything together for me. When I saw something that could have it all at one time, it was like I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I found it.”</div>
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David also says he appreciates the <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/estate-planning-contact/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">customer service</a> provided by the Legacy team. “I have had a time or two when I’ve had to call and ask follow-up questions, and they have been very helpful and responsive to me, and I’ve just been 100 percent satisfied.” </div>
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In the meantime, the educational process continues.</div>
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“There was a lot I didn’t know, so it was enlightening to find out about estate planning, and I’m still learning things,” he says. “And I’m not a person who likes to make decisions without thinking something through.”</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have an estate plan?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </div>
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This article written and published by:<br />
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8039 Cooper Creek Blvd<br />
University Park, Florida 34201<br />
844.306.5272 (Phone)<br />
<a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)<br />
#legacyassuranceplan<br />
@assuranceplan</div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-31912385751853354482018-12-05T13:25:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:35:05.201-06:00Staying on the job has valuable payoffs beyond paychecks for retirement-age folks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Staying on the job has valuable payoffs beyond paychecks for retirement-age folks</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: #212529; font-family: "assistant" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;">by Tom Alberts Dec 5, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default;">Summary: For a growing number of Americans, reaching retirement age isn’t the milestone it used to be and has become less of a reason to quit working, according to studies of employment trends. Researchers have found that those who continue to work during their retirement years live longer, have less stress over finances and find satisfaction in staying socially active and productive.</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Sure, retirement can usher in endless golf outings, shopping excursions, day trips, card games, good books, long walks, lazy lunches, knitting sessions and whatever else it takes to while away the time. It’s a fanciful way you may envision spending those golden years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But a life of total leisure – and too much cable surfing and idle time – can get old, especially for active, productive people who think of age as a number, not a formal requirement to take it easy. Those entering their so-called golden years may find that retirement can be tiring, and a job is a rewarding remedy for boredom.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Cultural anthropologist Caitrin Lynch spent years on the shop floor with employees of Vita Needle in Needham, Massachusetts, as part of the research for her book about what work means for people who are of conventional retirement age.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">At the time of her research for <a href="https://www.caitrinlynch.org/excerpt" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">“Retirement on the Line,”</a> Vita Needle was a Boston-area manufacturer that employed 40 production employees with a median age of 74. In 2013, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NujnD1tykkY" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">PBS reported</a> on Lynch’s research into motivations of older workers and interviewed some of the company’s employees.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Among them was Bill Ferson, 90 years old at the time, who had been with Vita Needle for more than two decades since retiring from a job he’d held for 39 years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“I’ve got a place to come and people to talk to. I’m not alone. I’m keeping my upstairs going,” Ferson tells the PBS interviewer, pointing to his forehead. “If it wasn’t for this job, I might be six feet under. Now, a lot of people younger than me are in tough shape. I know. I’ve seen them. I don’t want to be like that.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In describing her findings, Lynch explains the beneficial common denominator that impacted all of the company’s older workers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Regardless of the financial need, everybody really talks about the other thing they get from work, which is this sense of connection and the sense that they feel like they matter,” says Lynch, an Olin College professor. “It’s through the process of working, through knowing you are doing something productive that’s contributing to a very successful business that people feel like there’s still a reason for me to be here – be here in the world. In American society, unfortunately, people feel invisible as they get older.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Company president Fred Hartman says good business sense, not mere acts of kindness, is why Vita Needle prizes its stable of retirement-age employees.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“We get it back in spades as far as the company is concerned with the loyalty and the effort that’s put forward,” Hartman tells PBS. He said they are reliable and on time and have low turnover, a positive attitude and a strong attention to detail.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Employee Howard Ring agrees with Hartman’s praise for his retirement-age peers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Look, the Supreme Court has got people over 80 on it,” Ring says. “We don’t think much about that, so why can’t we do this with other people?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Lynch says she discovered that older workers “seek from work a paycheck but also a sense of belonging and friendship, as well as the experience of productivity, purpose and usefulness.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">At age 94, Grace King boasts to Lynch of the “busy ethic” that keeps her from “going crazy” in retirement. “Nothing to do all day long, and it drove me crazy. I wanted to be busy.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Indeed, surveys show that many older Americans keep working past their retirement age because they want to. The message they are sending, which is supported by the data, is that working is good medicine that not only yields financial rewards but also improves physical and emotional health. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In a 2015 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2015/15_0040.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">study</a> conducted for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Miami researchers analyzed 15 years of survey data provided by 83,000 Americans age 65 and older.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“A strong association exists between employment and health status in older adults beyond what can be explained by socioeconomic factors,” says the study’s conclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The study also found that “being unemployed/retired was associated with the greatest risk of poor health across all health status measures, even after controlling for smoking status, obesity and other predictors of health.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In 2016, a Oregon State University <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160427221206.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">study</a> sponsored by the National Institute on Aging reported similar results. According to <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160427221206.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">sciencedaily.com</a>, the study concludes that “working past 65 could lead to longer life, while retiring early may be a risk factor for dying earlier.” Researchers examined data collected over an 18-year period.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“The researchers found that healthy adults who retired one year past age 65 had an 11 percent lower risk of death from all causes, even when taking into account demographic, lifestyle and health issues,” <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160427221206.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">sciencedaily.com</a> reports. “Adults who described themselves as unhealthy were also likely to live longer if they kept working, the findings showed, which indicates that factors beyond health may affect post-retirement mortality.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">More recently, in 2017, researchers with <a href="https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2018/03/why-unretirement-is-working-for-older-americans.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">RAND Corp.</a> trumpeted the benefits of older Americans returning to the workplace, reporting that “unretirement is working.” Researchers learned that among workers over age 65, 40 percent of them had previously retired and later re-entered the workplace. RAND’s American Working Condition Survey also found that “retirement isn’t necessarily permanent,” according to economist and report co-author Kathleen Mullen. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">All three studies offer the same bottom-line message. Working is good for your health. Retirement, not so much.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Besides, having older people in the workforce is a demographic trend that will continue, according to the federal <a href="https://beta.bls.gov/dataQuery/find?st=0&r=20&s=popularity%3AD&fq=survey:%5bln%5d&more=0&fq=cg:%5bDemographics+-+Characteristics+of+People%5d" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>. BLS projections show that 20% of workers in 2018 were 55 and older. The number will increase to 25% by 2024.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; font-weight: bolder;">Why continue to work?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; font-weight: bolder;">RAND also found that when retirement-age people are engaged in “meaningful work,” they have a tendency to continue working. Indeed, many older workers boast how the phenomenon of “unretirement” boosts one’s energy and keeps the mind sharp.</span></div>
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The study cites the example of an 82-year-old man who worked a decade beyond his pension-eligibility date. Once he finally retired as a police officer, the man transferred his skills into a role as a part-time instructor at a community college. He was asked if he’d ever stop working. His reply: “I hate to say it, but you sound like my wife. In spite of some health issues, I’d like to work as long as I’m viewed to be an asset. Any time I become a burden or liability to somebody, then it’s time to hang it up. Right now, I’m having fun.”</div>
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The BLS found that the average life expectancy for those who reach the age 65 is 84.3 – nearly another 20 years. Some older Americans may be concerned that their retirement savings and Social Security income won’t be adequate to provide for another two decades. Longevity puts a strain on nest eggs and motivates people to keep earning money. Post-retirement employment income can be the difference between comfortable golden years and a struggle to not run out of money.</div>
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“We definitely see evidence that retirement is fluid,” Mullen, the RAND economist, told The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/health/unretirement-work-seniors.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a>. “There’s less of the traditional schedule: work to a certain age, retire, see the world. We see people lengthening their careers.”</div>
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Harvard Medical School economist Nicole Maestas told the Times that while financial concerns are a motivation to keep earning a paycheck, a larger impetus may be to just keep busy.</div>
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“It looks like something people are doing intentionally, instead of an oh-my-god response: ‘I’m running out of money; I have to go back to work,” Maestas says. “It’s much more about a choice. ... You hear certain themes: A sense of purpose. Using your brain. And another key component is social engagement.”</div>
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In other cases, people may retire because they are ready to give up the daily grind that they’ve endured for decades. Maestas says those folks leave the workforce due to “burnout” and take a break and return to work in less demanding and more fulfilling roles.</div>
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Granted, lots of leisure time is an immediate benefit of retirement, which “relieves workers who feel constrained in their place of work, whether due to stressful job conditions or to work-impeding health problems,” says a 2013 study by the <a href="https://www.nber.org/chapters/c12982.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">National Bureau of Economic Research</a>. “For such individuals, early retirement should manifest itself in an improvement of well-being and, potentially, also health. On the other hand, early retirement might also be harmful, because individuals who stop working may lose a purpose in life. This might, in turn, decrease subjective well-being and mental health. Early retirement may after all not be the bliss that many individuals hope for.”</div>
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While work may be good for the health and wellness of older employess, there are some big economic advantages for people to keep working, especially those without abundant retirement savings.</div>
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For example, one key reason to stay on a payroll is to delay receiving Social Security income and therefore increase your expected monthly and lifetime payout, according to a 2017 report by <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-70-is-the-new-65-for-retirement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">CBS MoneyWatch</a>. Another bonus is the opportunity to utilize employer-sponsored health insurance, participate in workplace wellness programs and engage in social interactions that improve health and well-being, the report says.</div>
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For those folks with ample savings, a paycheck not only keeps them active and engaged, it also eases the burden on retirement nest eggs and helps preserve a financial legacy that can be passed on to beneficiaries.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; font-weight: bolder;">What are your retirement plans?</span></h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "assistant" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;">Retirement requires planning. A comprehensive estate plan includes both legal documents and a financial plan that together provide the retirement lifestyle you deserve. And that lifestyle may be very different from what you imagined during your working years. A retirement of leisure time, long walks and golf may not be in your best interests from either a health or financial viewpoint. Part of that lifestyle may include continuing to work, maybe part-time or in a different area from before you retired. Working after “retirement” will stretch your retirement savings further, allowing you to take Social Security later and positively impacting your health. Legacy Assurance Plan can be your trusted partner in reaching these retirement goals.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; cursor: default; font-weight: bolder;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; cursor: default; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-35160925873033532172018-11-30T07:27:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:34:40.360-06:00Prevent haggling over heirlooms to maintain family harmony<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Prevent haggling over heirlooms to maintain family harmony</h1>
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by Tom Alberts Nov 30, 2018</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: The distribution of heirlooms is a leading cause of friction within the family when a loved one passes away, experts say. Having a plan in </em></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">place for the equitable disposition of personal belongings can help diminish the likelihood of disharmony during an already difficult time. </em></span></div>
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Having a comprehensive estate plan in place gives you peace of mind. </div>
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You’ve executed a <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.comlast-will-and-testament/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">last will and testament</a>, and your <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/understanding-wills-trusts/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">trust</a> will keep your assets out of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/probate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">probate</a>. Your <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/power-of-attorney/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">powers of attorney</a> and <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/advance-directive" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">advance health care directive</a> will protect your interests should incapacity strike. Arrangements have been made to deal with your <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/digital-assets" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">digital assets</a>. What’s more, you review your legal and planning documents regularly.</div>
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So what’s left to worry about?</div>
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One issue rising to the top of the list is family members feuding over your belongings, experts say. They warn there’s a tendency of family members to lose their cool in a tug of war over all sorts of items.</div>
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“If the passing of heirlooms from one generation to the next is not handled with care, it can lead to long-lasting family disagreements. It is clearly not your intention that your children not speak because one received a valued, though maybe not valuable, picture of their grandfather while the other received a set of silver that had no emotional value to them. It comes as a surprise to many of my clients when I tell them that it is more common that the passing of their ‘things’ leads to family infighting than does the distribution of their money,” <a href="https://katznerlawgroup.com/family-heirlooms-and-estate-planning" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">says Gabriel Katzner</a>, an estate planning lawyer based in California and New York. </div>
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In her book “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate?” professor <a href="http://msuextension.org/publications/FamilyFinancialManagement/MT199701HR.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Marlene S. Stum</a>, an expert in family economics and gerontology, discusses many of the issues – and conflicts – that arise among families. Stum, like Katzner, warns of the difficulties heirs face when there’s no plan in place for the distribution of personal items.</div>
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“The transfer of non-titled property is an issue that impacts individuals regardless of their financial worth, heritage or cultural background. What surprises many people is that often the transfer of non-titled personal property creates more challenges among family members than the transfer of titled property. Why? Personal belongings usually have different meanings for each individual. The sentimental value or meaning attached to the personal property often may be more important than the financial or dollar value,” Stum says.</div>
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When passing along certain heirlooms, some families observe traditions. The first daughter to marry, for example, gets grandma’s wedding ring as it passes from one generation to the next. The oldest son has dibs on the grandfather clock, and so on. Perhaps they’ve had family discussions and reached a mutual understanding on how personal items will be distributed.</div>
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Other families might be inclined to follow another tradition of a free-for-all in which no plans are made ahead of time. Unless the <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/executor-guidelines" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">executor</a> of grandma’s estate changes the locks right away, the process of distributing family keepsakes can resemble an MMA cage match as relatives become rivals and skirmish over prized treasures and trinkets.</div>
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“Research has shown that disputes over inheritance and property distribution are one of the major reasons for adult siblings to break off relationships with one another,” Stum says. So, a key goal of the whole process of distributing heirlooms, regardless how it is carried out, is to maintain harmony within the family. Achieving that goal often falls on the shoulders of the estate’s executor.</div>
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“The person in charge shouldn’t allow people to start helping themselves,” Bonnie McPherson, who runs an estate sales company, told the <a href="http://www.startribune.com/dividing-up-heirlooms-can-be-touchy/128333808/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">StarTribune.com</a>for an article about dividing up heirlooms. </div>
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For most families, it’s unlikely their heirlooms will be revered with the same recent glory as those of the descendants of <a href="https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/19/heirlooms-of-alexander-hamilton/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Alexander Hamilton</a>and have their own museum exhibit in Philadelphia. Some would-be heirs may consider the antiques, china sets and endless knickknacks as just clutter that conflicts with millennial modernism. Whatever the case, the future of your illiquid assets should be part of your comprehensive planning.</div>
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Katzner and Stum suggest some common-sense estate planning steps to prevent infighting and keep the peace during an already challenging time.</div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Pass on heirlooms before passing away.</span> Katzner says the benefactor gains satisfaction during his lifetime and forms a lifelong bond with the recipients. “By gifting heirlooms during life, you can have a conversation with the recipients as to why you want them to have a specific heirloom and what you hope they will do one day with it.” Stum says that when people make distribution decisions ahead of time, it’s a big help during difficult times. “The process becomes more challenging and sensitive if family members are left to make the decisions when they are grieving over the loss of a relative, selling the home in which they grew up and/or facing the increasing dependence of an older adult.” You can list specific personal effects and mementos and their intended recipients in estate planning documents – your letter of instruction, minutes of trust and directives to a successor trustee.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Specify ahead of time who gets what – in writing.</span> If you fail to make arrangements in your will or trust, your executor will have to serve as the referee to make sure the heirlooms are distributed equitably and to the closest relatives according to the rules of intestacy. “You will want to create a list. On this list will go a schedule of the various family heirlooms and next to each heirloom, you will indicate to whom you wish it to be given,” Katzner says. Stum also recommends preplanning. “Distribution methods that require planning prior to death include: making a gift, labeling items, making a will and preparing a list of personal property specifying the intended recipient.”</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Potential heirs can ask, but it’s a sensitive subject</span>. Stum concedes it’s a tough subject to broach and can create anxiety for all parties involved. She suggests looking for natural opportunities to initiate a discussion. “You can provide reassurances by saying something like, ‘Chances are you will be living here for a long time, but if you would have to move or if you are unable to make those decisions in the future, I would like to know what you want so your wishes can be carried out.” The best outcomes tend to occur when choices are clearly communicated and considered by the family as a group, she says. </li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Develop a standard of fairness.</span> Stum suggests that fair does not always mean equal. “Some family members consider the distribution of belongings to be fair when everyone has received an equal amount. … When dealing with non-titled property, challenges quickly arise about whether equal means an equal number of items, equal dollar value, or equal in terms of emotional value. What makes dividing equally even more difficult is that the sentimental meaning or value of items will differ for each individual.”</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">How about an auction or lottery? </span>Katzner says that in his experience, a successful distribution method is to auction heirlooms within the family. For example, each family member can be given a certain number of credits. “As items come up for auction, each person may bid their available credits on the item. … This process allows the heirlooms most important to each person to end up with that person.” A lottery process is another way to divvy up items with an air of fairness, Stum says. “Some individuals may feel the process used to decide the way in which transfers are done is more important than who actually gets the items.”</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">What if I can’t decide? Try a round-robin approach. </span>If you’re not sure who should get what or would prefer to avoid making those decisions, you can leave instructions in your will or trust that your beneficiaries do the deciding. An example of a popular distribution option is to allow one’s heirs, typically the surviving adult children, into the house one at a time. An individual selects an item, it’s logged by the executor or successor trustee, and the next person repeats the process. Heirs then have an equal opportunity to choose items they desire, whether based on value, sentimentality or other any other reason. Once beneficiaries have determined the items they want, the remainder can be given to charity, sold in an estate sale or discarded. Your instructions can establish an order of selection, time limits and other procedures that could help minimize disputes.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Just sell everything.</span> In some situations, family dysfunction simply may be unavoidable. Perhaps you lack confidence that your executor or successor trustee can dispose of your personal belongings without a civil war erupting. You may find that the best way to maintain harmony is to have your personal property sold via estate sale, public auction, eBay, flea market, second-hand store or other means. You can decide the method or leave it up to your representative. The financial proceeds then can revert to the estate. That way, your heirs wind up with cash instead of curios, consternation and contempt.</li>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have a comprehensive plan?</span></h2>
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There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</div>
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This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-73246404860207161402018-11-26T08:49:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:33:52.969-06:00You can protect departed loved ones from the greed of identity thieves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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You can protect departed loved ones from the greed of identity thieves</h1>
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by Tom Alberts Nov 26, 2018</div>
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;">Summary: Studies show that incidents of identity theft in the digital age continue to rise, and it’s a problem that plagues the deceased as well as the living. When people die, their identities easily can be exploited by impostors seeking financial gain or a new persona. However, advance planning and quick action after a person’s death can help thwart the misuse of identities of the deceased.</em></div>
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Thieves are plundering the good names – and homes, cars, credit and cash – of those who should be resting in peace. </div>
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The problem of identity theft persists, and the deceased are among the most vulnerable targets. That’s why experts encourage families to have a plan in place and take precautions to prevent identities of departed loved ones from being stolen.</div>
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One of the most insidious forms of the crime is known as “ghosting” in which criminals steal identities of the deceased. It’s a growing problem, especially with easy online access to government agencies, financial institutions and troves of personal information.</div>
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Media reports detail a wide array of schemes, motives and victims involving so-called ghosting. Consider a few examples that made headlines of thieves who eventually were caught:</div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">A Chicago man used the names and Social Security numbers of dead people to file 645 fraudulent federal tax returns. He received nearly $20 million in refunds.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">A New Jersey accountant misappropriated the credentials of a deceased tax preparer and filed hundreds of bogus federal tax returns. He received nearly $400,000 in refunds using stolen identities of living taxpayers.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">A Cincinnati man was convicted of stealing the identities of at least five deceased children and then using their information to file fraudulent tax returns. He netted more than $40,000 in bogus refunds.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">An Army staff sergeant from New York state was killed by a roadside bomb in 2009, but memberships to online dating sites in his name were active long after his death when a thief stole the Green Beret’s identity in a scheme to lure women.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">An Indiana man left his family and then assumed the identity of a deceased Florida man to obtain a driver’s license and a pilot’s license, buy property and remarry, all in the name of the victim. The man even had a child who inherited the stolen surname. </li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">For nearly 30 years, a Wisconsin man lived under the identity of a boy who died of muscular dystrophy at age 12 in 1957. The man was issued a Social Security card in the boy’s name and subsequently obtained a driver’s license, credit cards, bank accounts and eventually government benefits. </li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;">A Colorado woman, 67, stole the identity of a 2-year-old Texas girl who died in an accident in 1960. She used the child’s identity for 28 years. She used a bogus birth certificate to obtain a Social Security card, open bank accounts and created businesses in the name of her deceased victim.</li>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">How bad is the ID theft problem?</span></h2>
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Th<img class="img-fluid float" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/identity-theft/assets/img/stealing-credit-card-info.jpg" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 15px; vertical-align: middle;" />e <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/consumer-sentinel-network/reports" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Federal Trade Commission</a>reports that consumers lost $905 million in 2017 due to fraud with a median loss amount of $429. Credit card fraud was the most common type, and about 30% of consumers annually register complaints about fraud. The other most common types were employment or tax fraud; phone or utilities fraud; bank fraud; loan or lease fraud; and government documents or benefits fraud.</div>
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Meanwhile, the FTC’s top complaint in 2017 involved impostor scams in which the swindler poses as a person known and trusted by the victim. The FTC also found that those in the 60-69 age bracket – baby boomers – were the most common <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/policy/reports/policy-reports/commission-staff-reports/consumer-sentinel-network-data-book-2017/frauds-losses-age-percentage" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">victims of fraud</a>.</div>
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Data breaches are another major vulnerability that exposes the identities of both the living and the dead. An <a href="https://www.idtheftcenter.org/2017-data-breaches.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Identity Theft Resource Center</a> study found that 14.2 million credit card accounts were exposed because of data breaches in 2017, which was a whopping increase of 88% over the previous year. Nearly 158 million Social Security numbers were exposed in 2017, the center said, eight times more than in 2016. The study, which surveyed victims, reported that 26% of them had to borrow money from family members or friends as a result of identity theft – and 7% had to take out a payday loan to deal with the situation.</div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">We are grieving. Why the urgency?</span></h2>
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When a person dies, it can take several months for the Social Security Administration and financial institutions to learn through legal and official notifications that an account holder has died. In the meantime, thieves exploit that window of time to pillage identities. Thieves also exploit lengthy passages of time to assume the identities of children and adults who died years ago, sometimes several decades.</div>
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“When a person is deceased, the Social Security Administration will eventually contact the credit bureaus and share that information. … Thieves won’t hesitate to take advantage of the grief family members might be going through, so the sooner you can alert the credit bureaus, the lower the risk,” Neal O’Farrell, executive director of the Identity Theft Council, told <a href="http://time.com/money/4167528/identity-theft-deceased" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Time.com</a>.</div>
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For the living, identity theft can be a nightmare, but they at least can take action on their own behalf. The burden to battle identity theft involving a deceased loved one usually weighs on surviving family members. They’ll have to deal with the stress and potential hassles – such as calls from debt collectors trying to track down the deceased victim – in addition to their sadness and grief.</div>
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“Just when the family is dealing with their loss, before they have even touched the probate issue, they now have to take additional steps to protect their loved ones,” writes Connecticut-based author and personal financial coach <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMmA2UZVzcE" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Jill Russo Foster</a>. “How does it happen? We give our loved ones’ identities to the world on a silver platter.”</div>
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A comprehensive estate plan should include a list of all bank and credit card accounts that are to be managed by a person’s personal representative, power of attorney or successor trustee. The list will come in handy in protecting the identity of a deceased family member.</div>
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“Having an effective plan and to-do list in place could make this difficult time more emotionally manageable,” writes Texas Tech law professor <a href="https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2018/11/a-to-do-list-for-widows-and-how-to-protect-the-identity-of-a-dead-loved-one.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Gerry W. Beyer</a>. “Also, having a deceased loved one’s identity stolen can be a painful reminder of their absence, and a great violation to their memory, so taking steps to prevent it is important.”</div>
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To prevent the theft of a departed loved one’s identity, experts suggest that survivors:</div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Immediately notify the Social Security Administration.</span> The executor of the estate will need to provide a copy of the death certificate and a letter of testamentary. A death initially can be reported by calling the SSA at 800-772-1213. </li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Be discreet with obituaries.</span> One main source of information used for nefarious conduct is the traditional obituary. Obituaries, laden with biographical details, are published in newspapers and on websites and are an easily accessible resource for those with ill intentions. Exact birth dates, middle and maiden names and places of employment are among the most valuable bits of specific personal information. Also, when addresses are published, it can be an invitation for a burglary during funeral services.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Notify existing creditors.</span> A decedent’s representative needs to provide the account holder’s banks, credit card companies, insurance issuers, brokerages and related creditors and institutions with a copy of the death certificate and request accounts be marked “Closed: Account Holder Deceased.”</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Advise the DMV.</span> Identity thieves often seek to have driver’s licenses issued in the names of the deceased, so the local Department of Motor Vehicles also needs notification and proof of death.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Contact the credit reporting agencies.</span> To thwart new accounts being created or credit issued in the name of a deceased person, the three major agencies – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax – also must be mailed a copy of the death certificate so the person’s credit can be frozen. When a deceased alert is placed on the credit report, new credit cannot be issued.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Prevent tax fraud.</span> Notifying the Internal Revenue Service of a taxpayer’s passing can help frustrate the filing of a bogus tax return.</li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Deny digital access.</span> Social media and email accounts of the deceased should be closed or memorialized to prevent unauthorized access by impostors. Information and instructions about digital assets should be included as part of a comprehensive estate plan.</li>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have an estate plan?</span></h2>
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There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</div>
</div>
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This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </div>
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8039 Cooper Creek Blvd<br />
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844.306.5272 (Phone)<br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-83799930664901773842018-11-22T12:36:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:33:12.426-06:00For Thanksgiving, serve up some talk about life and estate planning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For Thanksgiving, serve up some talk about life and estate planning</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">by Tom Alberts Nov 22, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"> </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><img alt="Social Share Icon" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/life-and-estate-planning/assets/img/fb.png" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><img alt="Social Share Icon" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/life-and-estate-planning/assets/img/tw.png" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"><img alt="Social Share Icon" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/life-and-estate-planning/assets/img/go.png" style="border-style: none; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: When the family gets together for Thanksgiving, it’s an ideal time to catch up on the past year and look forward to the future. Some topics of conversation are more palatable than others, but when families discuss issues related to life and estate planning, they can make significant progress toward protecting their interests and the legacies they leave behind.</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Every year on the fourth Thursday in November, far-flung relatives trek home for an annual feast and a long weekend with family. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Americans look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with overloaded plates, a full day of football and a good long nap. They travel far and wide to endure countless hours surrounded by chatty and opinionated family members, which is why politics and religion are wisely kept off the discussion menu.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Topics like favorite movies and Black Friday sales are safer territory and can prevent food fights. But another way to maintain family harmony in the present and for gatherings and generations to come is by engaging in <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/beneficiary/communication-estate-plan-success/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">meaningful conversations about life and estate planning</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Some candid conversations among family members can help keep future misunderstandings and surprises to a minimum and reduce the potential for friction among heirs. Even though discussions about serious matters involving life and death are delicate and can be met with resistance, talking in advance about family values, shared goals and planning objectives is easier than during a period of stress and sadness. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Thanksgiving is a holiday about family, tradition and reflection. A big part of Thanksgiving is simply catching up on what has happened over the past year and sharing our appreciation for the good things in life. Family gatherings are a unique opportunity to assess priorities and make or update plans that protect the interests and legacies of you and your loved ones. If it’s possible to broach the big topics – like planning for incapacity, guardianship, long-term care, burial wishes, avoiding probate and other matters – you’ll be a step closer to being prepared for some of life’s most challenging issues. They are serious and sometimes contentious matters, but at some point, they will need to be addressed. Thanksgiving provides a unique opportunity to have those conversations.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Your family is likely to resist having these discussions, since, for many of us, talking about debilitating diseases, nursing homes and what happens if we become incapacitated or when we pass away is awkward, but those dreaded discussions don’t get any easier when it’s too late to deal with life events after they’ve happened. Remember, a family’s time together should be a positive experience, and useful discourse doesn’t need to devolve into inquisitions about who gets granny’s grandfather clock or Aunt Edna’s antique armoire. Legal documents can come later, but simple communication is needed to start the process and can include discussing the family’s shared interests and values.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If there were any changes in the family tree over the past year, that’s a good place to begin. It’s never too early, for example, to envision a bright future for a baby making a Thanksgiving debut. Have the parents created or updated their wills and nominated a guardian for their minor children should the unthinkable happen? If there is a child with <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/special-needs/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">special needs</a>, is there a plan in place to deal with long-term obligations? Does the grandparents' planning include the recent addition?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Besides the addition of bundles of joy, there are a multitude of other life-altering events that may have taken place over the past year. <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/blended-marriage/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Marriages</a>, <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/estate-maintenance/divorce-and-estate-planning/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">divorces</a>, separations, deaths and other circumstances mean that existing planning documents require review and possible modification, and life’s changes can create unanswered questions. Should an alternative guardian be nominated for a new child? Should a new in-law be added as a beneficiary? Do planning documents like wills and trusts need to be changed because of a divorce, separation, death in the family or other circumstances? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Legacies fail when plans are not made, when plans are made but remain secret and when outdated plans are not reviewed and update. Most of all, plans fail when those we leave behind don’t understand them. For the more senior members of the family, Thanksgiving also provides a unique opportunity to talk about what decisions they have made, their goals and their values. If you have a plan, discussing it, and the choices you made, while the family is together may avoid future hard feelings and arguments. You are the best person to explain your plan so that your family understands and accepts your choices.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It’s a far-fetched goal to expect everyone in the dining room to experience an estate and life planning epiphany. But if your goal is to get the rest of your family talking and thinking about the subject, you’ve already made significant progress – and perhaps preserved family harmony for many Thanksgiving dinners to come.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have a plan?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />8039 Cooper Creek Blvd<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />University Park, Florida 34201<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />844.306.5272 (Phone)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />#legacyassuranceplan<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />@assuranceplan</span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-626993912044543692018-11-16T12:31:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:32:32.790-06:00Pursuing the American dream means having a comprehensive plan and sleeping easy at night<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Pursuing the American dream means having a comprehensive plan and sleeping easy at night</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">by Tom Alberts Nov 16, 2018</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-family: , "blinkmacsystemfont" , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica neue" , "arial" , sans-serif , "apple color emoji" , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "noto color emoji"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder; text-align: justify;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: A Pennsylvania couple shares how their Legacy Assurance Plan membership has given them peace of mind that their financial interests and legacies are protected.</em></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Legacy Assurance Plan member Miguel S. says that, in retrospect, he appreciates the persistence of his wife.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Over the years, Margaret, 60, had been politely nudging Miguel, 67, about taking care of something that most Americans prefer to put off – getting their estate plans in order. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“She was always telling me, ‘We have to do our wills.’ And I kept forgetting about it,” says Miguel, speaking with an infectious chuckle and a slight accent that reflects his rich Latin heritage.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The rural Pennsylvania couple has worked hard to pursue the American dream, Miguel explained during a recent interview about his experience as a Legacy Plan member. He says their membership has enabled them to create a comprehensive estate plan and take action to protect their assets and the legacy they’ll leave behind for their twin sons, now age 24. One of their sons serves in the Army, and the other lives nearby, working as a mechanical engineer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">As baby boomers, Miguel and Margaret realized they weren’t getting any younger. The occasional hospital visit provided more reminders about the need to plan ahead each time the admissions attendant would inquire about living wills, he says. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“But I never paid any attention to it because I was immortal,” says Miguel, a retired engineer who remains busy with a part-time job as an interpreter. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">These days, Miguel also is active with the local Rotary Club and volunteers as an Extension educator, imparting knowledge to the younger generation. He receives Social Security income and a regular distribution from an annuity. Margaret teaches Spanish at a local high school and hopes to retire in a few years. They met after Miguel moved here to escape the political turmoil and uncertainty of his native Venezuela. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">They’ve been dedicated in their long pursuit to own their own home, raise their children and build a nest egg to provide for their retirement. When they learned of Legacy Plan and received an invitation to receive more information about planning for the future, they decided to take advantage of the no-obligation opportunity.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Being here and not having an extended family and stuff, you think more about yourself and more about who is going to take care of you and what can happen to you at a later date,” he says. “If you subtract that worrying time from your daily life, you have more time to think about more creative stuff and more enjoyment.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Before working with Legacy Plan recently, Miguel and Margaret were like the estimated 60 percent of their fellow Americans who have failed to create planning documents. Prior to their membership, they had no last will and testament, revocable living trust, powers of attorney for health care and finances or advance health care directive (living will). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For Miguel and Margaret, part of the American dream is being able to sleep easy at night. He said they take comfort in knowing their estates will avoid probate and benefit their sons when that eventuality comes. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“My wife was very afraid of it,” Miguel said of the probate process, which involves delays and additional expenses that burden survivors. Probate’s lack of privacy was another factor that motivated them to develop a comprehensive estate plan. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">They created a revocable living trust and beneficiary designations to enable their retirement savings, bank accounts, the family home, insurance proceeds and other assets to skip probate and pass directly to their beneficiaries. Today, those important legal documents comprise their estate planning binder. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Miguel said that in his experience as a Legacy Plan member, he has learned that planning is much more than distributing assets when the time comes. He now realizes that comprehensive planning deals not only with our estates after death, but also our preferences on how to handle challenges we confront during our lifetimes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">He was reminded recently by a co-worker about the perils of failing to plan for life events. The co-worker’s mother is confined to a nursing home and was forced to sell her home and devote her Social Security income to pay for the costs of her long-term care. Miguel’s colleague is only able to provide clothing and incidentals to help her mom get by. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">According to recent estimates, the current <a href="https://longtermcare.acl.gov/costs-how-to-pay/costs-of-care.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">cost of long-term care</a> averages about $7,000 per month. It was a key reason Miguel and Margaret opted to invest in long-term care insurance.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“And then I think about myself,” Miguel said. “Would that happen to me?”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">That nagging question helped motivate them to create a plan that deals not only with their estate but also addresses life’s contingencies, such as incapacity. It’s reassuring, he says, knowing that the agents under his powers of attorney are trusted people of his choosing who will manage his health care and finances if the need ever arises.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Someone is going to make a decision for me when I am not around about my assets,” he says with confidence. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Miguel says he now encourages others to consider developing their own plans and take advantage of the free information that Legacy Plan makes available. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“In my case, the trust and the plan that I did with you guys protects me,” he said. “It was something we considered, and it was a good investment in terms of peace of mind. It gets us a lot of uncertainty eliminated from our lives. Now we know what’s going to happen, and we don’t have to worry. It makes your life more settled.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">He says he appreciates the customer service he has received from the Legacy Plan staff. “Every one of you have been nice, knowledgeable, serious people.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Miguel also likes the idea that his Legacy Plan membership enables him to review and update his plan regularly.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">That’s especially important, he says with a hopeful chuckle, if grandchildren are in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have a plan in place?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />8039 Cooper Creek Blvd<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />University Park, Florida 34201<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />844.306.5272 (Phone)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />#legacyassuranceplan<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />@assuranceplan</span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-73975000878571954302018-11-12T12:27:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:32:09.611-06:00Include dealing with your social media afterlife among planning responsibilities<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Include dealing with your social media afterlife among planning responsibilities</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">by Tom Alberts Nov 12, 2018</span></div>
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<em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;">Life these days extends beyond the physical world with increasing numbers of people maintaining a digital existence on social media platforms and other online venues. Those who “live” in the digital world need to take into consideration the continuation or termination of their web-based presence upon incapacity or death. A key step is to develop an inventory of your digital assets and online accounts and provide instructions on how they should be handled for you by an authorized representative. </em></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Like it or not, social media platforms dominate how we communicate with friends and family and have a say on the topics of the day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">These popular and pervasive platforms feed us endless streams of posts, links, commentary and click bait. In return, we contribute to the collective deluge by adding to our incremental “stories” on the popular apps that we rely upon to connect with billions of fellow users anywhere, anytime. With <a href="https://www.facebook.com/legacyassuranceplan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Facebook</a> leading the way, digital venues over the past few decades have replaced water coolers as the preferred place for sharing gossip, reviewing “Dancing with the Stars,” showing off the grandkids, blowing off steam and curating cat videos.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In the digital age, we live online. If you don’t, according to recent statistics, you are in a shrinking minority. Treasure troves of details about our lives, preferences, peeves and opinions live in cyberspace. Our data will survive long after we do and reside (some say forever) in stacks of servers and information-soaked clouds. Our texts, tweets, photos, videos, emails, likes, favorites, instant messages and other elements of our online existence can continue to speak for us long after we are silent. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Year after year, the popularity of social media continues its steady rise. The percentage of adults using at least one social media site reached the 50% mark in 2011 and has <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">steadily increased</a> ever since, according to a 2018 <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Pew Research Center study</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Baby boomers make up a big chunk of the social media crowd. As of 2018, 64 percent of adults in the 50-64 age bracket used at least one social media site, and 37% of those 65 and older had gotten into the act. Leading the pack, of course, are young adults with 88% of the 18-29 cohort immersed in social media.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Older adults also are keeping up with technology. “Boomers are now far more likely to own a smartphone than they were in 2011 (67% now versus 25% then). Further, roughly half (52%) of boomers now say they own a tablet computer, and a majority (57%) now use social media,” <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/02/millennials-stand-out-for-their-technology-use-but-older-generations-also-embrace-digital-life/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Pew reported in May 2018</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Surveys show that Facebook remains the most popular social media site with 68% of U.S. adults using the platform. The other most popular social media platforms were <a href="https://www.instagram.com/?hl=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Instagram</a> (35%), <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Pinterest</a> (29%), <a href="https://www.snapchat.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Snapchat</a> (27%), <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">LinkedIn</a> (25%), <a href="https://twitter.com/AssurancePlan" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Twitter</a> (24%) and <a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">WhatsApp</a> (22%). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Currently, the generations most affected by digital asset transference are baby boomers and their heirs who are most likely to be passing without any provisions or instructions for transferring their online assets,” says attorney <a href="https://www.bu.edu/jostl/files/2015/12/McCARTHY_NOTE_FINAL-web.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Laura McCarthy</a> in an article published by Boston University. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">As of 2016, there were 74 million baby boomers (born 1946 to 1964) living in the United States, according to <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Census estimates</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The numbers leave no doubt that our digital dealings are woven into the fabric of our lives. While we may ponder our own spiritual fate, it’s also worth considering the afterlife of our online existence upon one’s incapacity or death.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have a plan for digital assets?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Control of your <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/digital-assets/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">digital assets</a>, just like all your other assets, should be part of both incapacity and postmortem planning, advises George Washington University law professor <a href="https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1374&context=faculty_publications" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Naomi Cahn</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Planning for digital assets requires contemplating mortality — just like drafting a trust, writing a will or executing an advance directive,” Cahn writes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">You may want your Facebook page to remain online as a “memorialized” presence, or your preference may be to have it permanently deleted. Perhaps you want to download your content from the site. Account owners should consider their various options while they are alive and well. Facebook also allows those with an eye on planning to appoint a “legacy contact” ahead of time who can manage the account in the event of incapacity or death. Instagram, Facebook’s sister social media behemoth, allows accounts to be removed or memorialized with a big difference – the decision is out of the hands of the account owner, according to <a href="http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">thedigitalbeyond.com.</a> Instagram requires memorialization or deletion to be initiated by an authorized representative. Twitter has even stricter controls over the postmortem fate of its accounts, and rules vary among the other popular platforms. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Many of the instructions on how you wish your digital assets and online accounts to be handled can be contained in your planning documents. In your will, trust and <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/power-of-attorney/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">power of attorney</a>, you can authorize your executor, trustee or agent to follow your specific instructions regarding your digital legacy. The person in charge of your digital assets can act on your behalf to manage and maintain or close and dispose of your email and social media accounts based on your preferences. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are a wide variety of digital assets beyond the social media realm, and many involve financial interests. Planning experts suggest <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/personal-financial-information/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">creating an inventory</a> of all your digital assets with the relevant user names, passwords and security questions as part of the instructions you pass along. The inventory may include online accounts for checking, savings, credit card, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/us/home" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">PayPal</a>, <a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-pay/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Apple Pay</a>, cloud storage, music services and others. Don’t forget accounts for utilities, such as the cable or electric bill, and online retailers like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.wayfair.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Wayfair</a> and <a href="https://www.overstock.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Overstock</a> or membership clubs for meals, wine and other goods and services. Keeping a detailed inventory that lists all passwords and privacy protections does present a security concern, so precautions such as encryption and secure physical storage of the list are advised. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The transferability of control over online accounts is typically addressed by the service provider’s terms of use in one of three ways: it’s prohibited; it’s allowed at the provider’s discretion; or it’s allowed at death with required documentation as proof. Don’t count on providers to automatically disclose user names and passwords upon an account holder’s death to surviving family members or legal representatives of the estate, since most will refuse.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">As of 2018, 41 states had enacted the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, according to the <a href="http://www.uniformlaws.org/Act.aspx?title=Fiduciary%20Access%20to%20Digital%20Assets%20Act,%20Revised%20(2015)" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Uniform Law Commission</a>. As the name implies, states have enacted the act to extend “the traditional power of a fiduciary to manage tangible property to include management of a person’s digital assets.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">FADA automatically gives fiduciaries – your executor, trustee or power of attorney – the authority to manage computer files, web domains and virtual currency. However, FADA requires authorized proxies receive consent in a will, <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/https:/legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/trusts" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">trust</a> or power of attorney documents to access and manage social media accounts – one’s living embodiment online – as well as email accounts and text messages.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Can my ‘friends’ still ‘like’ me?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">You can think of the instructions you leave behind as another type of will to add to the list of required planning documents. There’s the traditional <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/last-will-and-testament/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">last will and testament</a> – a cornerstone of estate planning and a document that <a href="https://www.aarp.org/money/investing/info-2017/half-of-adults-do-not-have-wills.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">60 percent of Americans lack</a>, according to a Caring.com survey. Another is the living will, also called an <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/advance-directive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">advance directive for health care</a>, that states your wishes for end-of-life treatment. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The Information Age has initiated another informal type of planning document – dubbed by some as a<a href="https://perma.cc/8X7B-R268" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;"> “social media will.”</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The government-sponsored website USA.gov encourages the creation of a social media will that addresses the future of your post-life online existence. The first suggested step is to create a statement that details for your executor, trustee or agent what you want done for each account.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">USA.gov suggests that those with social media accounts take the following steps:</span></div>
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<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Review privacy policies and terms and conditions of the social media platforms in which you are engaged.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Create instructions on how your profiles will be handled when you no longer can manage them.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Provide the person serving as the executor of your digital assets with a document listing the websites where you have a<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />presence and include user names, passwords and security questions.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Require in your will that the executor of your digital assets be provided with a copy of your death certificate, which may be<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />needed for the executor to act on your behalf.</span></li>
<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Determine if social media platforms allow for proactive management of your accounts in the event of your incapacity or death.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Facebook and Google are among the websites that allow the designation of a legacy contact who can manage digital accounts of he departed. The assignment of a digital assets proxy is a task that needs to be done while the account holder is alive. Meanwhile, there are other popular social media sites that do not allow legacy contacts. Among them are Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For some sites, if accounts are dormant for a specified period, they may be closed due to inactivity. For those without a plan for their social media accounts, family members may be burdened with providing proof of the death and requesting that accounts be memorialized or deactivated by the host.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Your options for dealing with your digital afterlife depend on several factors, according to <a href="https://singularityhub.com/2018/10/29/the-how-why-and-whether-of-digital-avatars-that-live-on-after-we-die/#sm.0001oug3p5p73f2rz6n1fwyjg0mn9" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Singularityhub.com</a>, a website that chronicles technological progress. “Companies like <a href="https://www.google.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Google</a> and Facebook have processes to let you choose who should take control of your accounts in the event of your death,” the website says. “But if you’ve forgotten to do that, the fate of your virtual remains comes down to a tangle of federal law, local law and tech company terms of service.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have an estate plan?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="https://www.legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">Legacy Assurance Plan</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />8039 Cooper Creek Blvd<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />University Park, Florida 34201<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />844.306.5272 (Phone)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff; text-decoration-line: none;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />#legacyassuranceplan<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />@assuranceplan</span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-29049088752574216012018-11-08T12:20:00.000-06:002019-02-04T10:30:36.584-06:00‘Dandy’ Don Meredith’s plan fumbled as widow, ex-wife spar over trust for special-needs daughter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> ‘Dandy’ Don Meredith’s plan</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> fumbled as widow, ex-wife spar over trust for special-needs daughter</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">by Tom Alberts Nov 8, 2018</span></div>
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<em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bolder;">Summary: Thirty years ago, football legend “Dandy” Don Meredith established a trust to care for his special-needs daughter, Heather, for the rest of her life. Following Meredith’s death in 2010, a legal skirmish ensued over allegations that his widow neglected Heather’s needs and Don’s stated intentions. The situation is an example of the importance of planning for the long term and considering how changes in life’s circumstances require us to review and amend our plans. </em></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“Dandy” Don Meredith was a football icon from his days as a star quarterback for Southern Methodist University and the Dallas Cowboys and as one of the original voices of Monday Night Football.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Besides excellence in athletics and broadcasting, Meredith, who died in 2010, left behind a legacy of compassion and financial security for his special-needs daughter, Heather, who is now 49. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Or so he thought.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It appears Meredith had the right intentions when he crafted his estate plan and created a trust to pay for his daughter’s care. But he left the wrong person in charge of Heather’s welfare, a Kentucky judge has decided.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The affable Meredith, one of the most famous faces in football, was a popular public figure, but the private arrangements he made for Heather’s lifetime of support have made headlines recently after allegations of an abusive guardianship. Details have emerged of a simmering controversy and legal proceedings over the past year involving Heather’s care and alleged neglect by a stingy stepmother. An in-depth <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2018/11/01/don-meredith-daughter-family-fight-care-kentucky/1291455002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">report by Louisville Courier-Journal</a> reporter Deborah Yetter chronicles the saga after the newspaper obtained court records, investigative reports, emails and interviews of those familiar with the guardianship saga.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Don Meredith and Cheryl King were married in 1965 and divorced in 1971, two years after the birth of their child, Heather. Don then married Susan Dullea in 1972. In 1988, Don and Cheryl agreed that he would be granted custody of Heather, and he established a trust at that time to pay for all of Heather’s needs. Since then, Heather has been living at the Stewart Home & School in Kentucky, a highly regarded residential school for intellectually disabled individuals.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">After Don’s death, his estate plan called for Susan, Heather’s stepmother, to manage her trust and serve as her guardian, and he transferred control of a trust intended to care for his special-needs daughter to his surviving spouse. Don also mandated that his estate fund Heather’s trust as needed to ensure her future needs were met.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">At some point after Don’s death, however, Heather became less of a blessing and more of a financial burden, based on the documented actions of her stepmother. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The newspaper reported that state social service investigators found that allegations of abuse were credible. Cheryl filed a complaint in a Kentucky district court calling for the removal of Susan as Heather’s guardian. The complaint alleged that under the guardianship of her stepmother, Heather had untreated dental maladies; received only shabby, second-hand clothing; was deprived of basic personal supplies; and was restricted from participating in school outings due to their expense. It also alleged Susan failed to file required financial disclosures. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Emails that Susan sent to officials at the Kentucky school depict a penny-pinching guardian engaged in an ongoing dispute over expenditures for her stepdaughter’s care, according to the newspaper’s report. Despite Don’s stated instructions that his estate supplement Heather’s trust as necessary throughout her lifetime, Susan repeatedly insisted the trust was low on funds.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“I must decrease the expenses for all the extras at this time. Don’s trust just doesn’t cover her expenses and any extras,” she wrote. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Susan quibbled over a lunch tab of $18.64, insisting $10 would be more reasonable – “unless you are having caviar!! Ha ha,” she quipped. She took exception to the $127 cost for eyeglasses as well as money spent for clothes, haircuts and activities like yoga and horseback riding. She sent used apparel when the school requested clothing, shoes and other items, the report said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The allegations resulted in a court battle between stepmother and mother over Heather’s guardianship. The two sides settled the matter in May 2018 with Susan agreeing to contribute an additional $1 million into Heather’s trust and relinquish permanent guardianship to Cheryl. A judge also appointed an investment bank to oversee the trust’s finances.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">With her birth mother and an institutional fiduciary in charge, Heather was able to quickly receive $20,000 in badly needed dental care, the report said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Were Don Meredith’s plans fumbled?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Don’s intentions that Heather be taken care of for the rest of her life were not followed. He didn’t foresee a legal skirmish between his widow and ex-wife over the care and financial support of his special-needs daughter. In retrospect, should he have seen trouble on the distant horizon? </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Future family dysfunction is tough to predict, but it’s not uncommon when blended families are involved. In the short-term, it may have made sense for Don to rely on his spouse to immediately manage Heather’s trust on his behalf and continue to act in the best interests of his daughter. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But it’s debatable whether that was the best choice for the long term. One key factor to consider was the age difference – 27 years – between the guardian (Susan) and ward (Heather). Heather’s trust was established in 1988 when Susan was 46 and Heather was a teenager. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Regular reviews of estate planning documents are recommended to revise strategies as people age and life’s circumstances change. Had Don reviewed the terms of his trust decades later as he entered his senior years, he may have considered who would be watching out for Heather during her senior years. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It took litigation, three decades and a judge’s gavel for the provisions of Don’s trust to be altered so they would continue to fulfill his wishes and honor his legacy. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are many strategies Don could have employed during his lifetime to minimize future difficulties. Heather has two other siblings close to her age. They could have played a role as part of a long-term plan to care for Heather, for example, as successor guardians. Don’s plan to keep Heather’s birth mother out of the picture eventually backfired when a judge appointed her and a bank to share trustee duties. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The Meredith case provides yet another example of a plan that goes awry when we don’t fully consider who is the best representative for a long horizon of time. The best choice for now may not be the best choice decades from now, especially when special-needs children and blended families are involved.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Do you have plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-69495348940498019092018-11-02T13:23:00.000-05:002019-02-04T10:30:01.938-06:00A century since the 1918 armistice, the battle to protect legacies continues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> A century since the 1918 armistice, </span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> the battle to protect legacies </span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"> continues</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">by Tom Alberts Nov 2, 2018</span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: In the 100 years since the end of World War I, the American way of life has been transformed by significant technological, demographic and economic changes. Since that time, the average lifespan of Americans has steadily increased, and the nature and purpose of life and estate planning also has progressed. In terms of planning documents, a last will and testament alone had been considered adequate for most people a century ago, and that’s no longer the case. Nonetheless, Americans still have a tendency to delay comprehensive estate planning and create the necessary legal documents that will help them deal with major life events and protect their legacies.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">When John J. Scroggin’s father died in 2001, Scroggin contacted Arlington National Cemetery on how to proceed so he could honor his dad’s wish to be buried among his fellow American patriots.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But Scroggin ran into a problem. A paperwork problem.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">“They told me I needed his DD 214 to bury him at the cemetery, Scroggin told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/your-money/theres-more-to-estate-planning-than-the-will.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">The New York Times</a> for a 2014 article about estate planning. “I had never heard of a DD 214, but they told me if I could not find it, they would put him in cold storage for six months while they found it.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Scroggin, a lawyer based in Atlanta, went scrambling for that elusive DD 214. In civilian speak, it’s the documentation – a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty – that a veteran receives when leaving the military. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">After what was described as a “frantic search,” Scroggin was able to find the discharge document, which had been tucked away as a bookmark.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The episode serves as an example why it’s important that families discuss, review and update life and estate plans. After all, an oversight that would undermine a proper burial at Arlington is an avoidable disservice to a veteran’s legacy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Have you kept up with the changes?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A grateful nation will celebrate Veterans Day on Nov. 11, 2018, and mark the 100th anniversary of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UTUr_Htnaw" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">signing of the armistice</a> that ended World War I. In the century since the guns went silent on the 11th hour on the 11th day of November 1918, we’ve progressed from the outhouse and the Model T to automated fixtures and an orbiting Tesla headed toward Mars. A hundred years ago, you were much more <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2016/article/the-life-of-american-workers-in-1915.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">likely to work in farming or manufacturing</a> than finance or marketing, but advances in technology, education, globalization and other areas have changed all that. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">We’ve gone from a rural, agrarian economy of the past to one dominated by urban centers and office parks, and the changes over the past century involving most other aspects of life are nothing short of remarkable. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The fundamental components of life and estate planning also have evolved, and the enormous changes of the 20th century have altered the ways we plan our lives and legacies. Despite the numerous advancements and new priorities for Americans, they still have a tendency to <a href="https://www.caring.com/articles/wills-survey-2017" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">put off estate planning</a>. Studies show that about 60 percent of Americans have yet to even draft a will, and fewer still have created a comprehensive plan.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">At the time the Great War ended in 1918 and the Doughboys returned home, a simple last will and testament was considered to be adequate. Powers of attorney existed but were not commonplace in life and estate planning. Trusts were thought of as instruments to be utilized by the wealthy few to avoid estate taxes. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Demographic change is another reason planning has grown in importance. People continue to live longer. By 1920, two years after the end of World War I and following the global flu pandemic, the average <a href="http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">life expectancy</a> in America was about 55. By 2018, the number had risen to 79 in the United States. Unlike 100 years ago, building a retirement nest egg and creating a financial legacy are now priorities, and a <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2013/12/13/retirement/american-inheritance/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">2013 survey</a> found that the average American left behind an inheritance of $177,000. The nature of the family also has evolved over time. With divorce rates at about 50 percent, blended families are the norm, and same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in 2015. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Nowadays, trusts have become an integral part of estate planning for the middle class and no longer are reserved for the rich. The growth of the popularity of trusts stems, in part, from the landmark book “How to Avoid Probate” published in 1965 by author <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/19/nyregion/norman-dacey-85-advised-his-readers-to-avoid-probate.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Norman Dacey</a>. Dacey’s book, controversial at the time, brought wide public attention to the expense, delays and lack of privacy of the probate system, and raised the ire of bar associations. Dacey advocated the use of trusts as a key strategy to keep assets out of probate. Today, trusts are used to accomplish numerous planning goals, such as caring for a special-needs child, protecting assets from the claims of financial predators or providing for grandchildren after they turn a certain age. Because trusts avoid probate, they are not part of the public record and can keep financial details out of the limelight. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Other planning documents came into being as people realized that simply having a will, which only addresses how assets are distributed upon death, fails to address life events, such as who would handle your affairs should incapacity or a debilitating health condition strike. As a result, the use of advance health care directives, also known as living wills, to deal with questions of end-of-life treatment were created in the late 1960s. Living wills are prominent on the planning checklist, but <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0175" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">only 30 percent of U.S. adults have completed one</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, enacted in 1996, created rules that tightly control what medical and treatment information doctors and nurses can readily share with others. Back in the day, a HIPAA release was unheard of; today, it’s another of your essential planning documents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">With the emergence of instantaneous mass communication, billions of people across the globe willingly disclose intimate details on social media platforms. It’s a far cry from the rudimentary telephones and radio broadcasts of 1918. A 2018 <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/27/americans-complicated-feelings-about-social-media-in-an-era-of-privacy-concerns/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">Pew Research Center</a> survey found that 69% of adults report they use</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">social media. That number has increased by a factor of 14 since Pew’s initial surveys were taken in 2005. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The popularity of social media, however, doesn’t jibe with our preference for privacy. More than 90% of Americans <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/27/americans-complicated-feelings-about-social-media-in-an-era-of-privacy-concerns/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">surveyed by Pew in 2014</a> said they agree or strongly agree that “people have lost control over how personal information is collected and used by all kinds of entities. Some 80% of social media users said they were concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they share on social media platforms.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If privacy is a concern of most Americans, then efforts to avoid probate also should be a top priority. All wills must be proven to be valid by a probate judge, and those who simply have a will should realize their end-of-life testament will be forever etched into the public record. As a result of probate, prying eyes from anywhere can have access to details contained in your will about your assets and which of your heirs got what.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Trusts, beneficiary designations and deeds are among the estate planning tools that can be used to keep assets out of probate and ensure the financial affairs of your estate and heirs remain private. Wills express your wishes upon death, appoint the executor of your estate and nominate guardians for minor children if necessary. But wills fail to address life events like incapacity and the threat of guardianship. As the 20th century progressed, powers of attorney for health care and finances became increasingly popular legal documents to help safeguard the interests of vulnerable individuals and limit their exposure to unscrupulous guardians and caretakers, disgruntled family members and others. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Those who die without a last will and testament face a similar fate regarding privacy – and they also forfeit control over distribution of their assets when their estates are administered in probate under state intestacy laws. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">For many, probate has become an unpopular, time-consuming and expensive way to settle an estate. The option of intestacy, where the state determines your heirs and what they’ll get, is an estate settlement method that folks who cherish control prefer to avoid. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Are your veteran’s affairs in order?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A year after <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/05/a-hundred-years-after-the-armistice" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">World War I ended</a>, President Woodrow Wilson issued a message that resonates as much today as it did then. Americans, Wilson said, should be filled with “solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service, and with gratitude for victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to shows her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Today, there are about <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/10/the-changing-face-of-americas-veteran-population/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">20 million veterans alive</a> in the United States, and their service spans from World War II to the present efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Veterans Day also serves as a reminder to make sure our veterans have their life and estate planning documents in order. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Numerous programs are available to veterans and their spouses and survivors that provide an array of benefits that, for example, can supplement low incomes, assist with long-term care expenses and pay for burial services and interment. Decisions need to be made on how, when and to whom those benefits are to be distributed as part of comprehensive lifetime and estate planning for veterans and their families.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Veterans should check with a legal affairs officer in their branch of service to determine which planning documents they still need and which ones require replacement, revision – or nothing at all. That includes a re-examination of wills and trusts, advance directives (living wills), powers of attorney for health care and finances, HIPAA releases and other documents. It’s likely those documents were initially created with legal assistance from the military. But veterans often create or add to their families when coming home and have a new world of concerns that should be reflected in their revised legal papers. Additions to the family, deaths of loved ones, marriages, divorces, name changes and other developments require that plans be reviewed, updated and amended as necessary.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come periodic reviews.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #212529; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 1rem; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">8039 Cooper Creek Blvd</span><br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1993805443808115833.post-76403389451071219262018-10-15T08:59:00.000-05:002018-11-02T09:18:12.127-05:00What started as a dog walk ended with a lesson in life planning – and four stitches <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dog named Scotty" class="ImgT" height="233" src="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/why-plan/dog-walk-life-planning/assets/img/scotty-god.jpg" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">What started as a dog walk ended with a lesson in life planning – and four stitches </span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">by Tom Alberts Oct 15, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><em style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box;">Summary: There’s nothing like a real-life crisis to open one’s eyes to the need for proper planning. It’s difficult to predict what fate awaits us, so there’s no better time than now or the near future to get the proper paperwork in order. In the author’s case, it was a close call from a dog attack that provided instant motivation to utilize legal documents to protect his interests and ensure plans are in place for major life events. Among those documents are a last will and testament, a revocable living trust, powers of attorney, an advance health care directive, a HIPAA release and beneficiary designations.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">In my new job, I haven’t been practicing what I’m preaching.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">I’ve switched gears after spending three decades in newsrooms and now work in the estate planning business, extolling the virtues of preparedness as I write articles warning about the gravity of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/guardianship/guardianship-horror-stories/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">guardianship</a>, the ills of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/intestacy/intestate-estate-Aretha-Franklin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">intestacy</a> and the perils of <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/articles/wills-probate/do-not-die-without-estate-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">probate</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">My new mission is to help spread the word about the importance of planning for the unexpected events in life and the vital need to create a comprehensive estate plan to protect your loved ones and your legacy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">But like <a href="https://www.aarp.org/money/investing/info-2017/half-of-adults-do-not-have-wills.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">two-thirds of Americans</a>, I’ve put planning for life events and estate matters on the back burner. I haven’t executed a last will and testament, although I’ve spent a lot of time encouraging those of sound mind. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A revocable living trust? Haven’t been there or done that, despite the articles I’ve written imploring you to create and fund one. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">I haven’t signed powers of attorney enabling a reliable person to handle my finances and make decisions about my health care if necessary – but I’ve pounded the keyboard to alert others about such oversights.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">If I wind up in the hospital and lack my wits, I’ll be lacking a signed Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act release to keep my loved ones in the loop with my doctors and nurses. I’ve been typing feverishly, nagging about the necessity of HIPAA releases, but I haven’t bothered to sign one. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">While I sing the praises of advance health care directives (living wills), you will not find one in my binder of blank pages. Beneficiary designations for bank accounts and such? Don’t bet on it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">So what happened?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">My lack of preparedness came to mind in a hurry recently while out for a walk with my dog, Scotty, a sprightly Scottish terrier mix with a penchant for hunting lizards, coaxing belly rubs and chomping on ice cubes. The after-dinner jaunt is part of a routine I’ve enjoyed with my four-legged friend the past decade or so. But this time, unlike thousands before, was different. Little did I know I was about to experience one of those unexpected events in life that could alter the future in a big way. </span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">A few minutes into our stroll, we caught the attention of an aggressive dog being walked by a neighbor. The angry beast flashed its fangs, twisted its head and wriggled out of its collar as its owner screamed at me to “pick him up!” In the blink of an eye, the dog sprinted toward Scotty, clamping its powerful jaws onto my helpless little buddy’s neck. I wailed in horror as I put my hands in the offending dog’s mouth, fruitlessly attempting to loosen its tight-as-a-vice grip.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">I instinctively punched the top of the dog’s head with my fist. It’s a miracle he released Scotty and turned his vengeance on me, treating my fingers like they were wayward sausages. A nearby neighbor swooped in and carried Scotty out of harm’s way. I’m blessed Scotty’s injuries were limited to a single bite wound to the neck, and his prognosis is good. Scotty’s collar absorbed the brunt of the bite and acted as a protective shield. I escaped with four stitches in one finger, a nice puncture wound in another and assorted dings and dents.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">My experience doesn’t compare to much worse events that make headlines every day. Luck was with us, and the wounds will heal quickly. Scotty and I escaped a more serious fate, but there was no avoiding the wake-up call from our terrifying ordeal. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">The day after the trauma and drama subsided, it was time for some serious reflection on following some of the planning suggestions I make my living espousing. I thought about how life is fragile and that in the time it takes a dog to snap its jaws, any number of other calamities could strike.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 2rem; font-weight: bolder; text-align: left;">When do we need a plan?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Few people wake up in the morning and, over their cup of coffee, decide to create a comprehensive estate plan. Eventually, though, for some reason you may decide to prepare for life’s contingencies and endeavor to leave behind a legacy to benefit your loved ones when you’re no longer around. Some unforeseen event may serve as a trigger. It could be your own near miss. The demise of someone else. A medical condition. Or, in my situation, a dog attack.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There’s a natural reluctance to ponder one’s incapacity or death and imagine disasters that inspire you to get legal papers in order. Just ask two-thirds of Americans. A lack of urgency is normal, unless you’ve just received a doomsday diagnosis from your doctor. Maybe there are family dynamics that prevent you from broaching this sensitive subject with loved ones. Perhaps it’s hesitation about anticipated expenses for legal and planning services. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">All those roadblocks are understandable, but they put you on a detour from a path of certainty. I’m 53, and I know plenty of people my age who are among the ranks of the ill-prepared for those golden years, and grizzly bears, around the corner.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">I like the idea of having someone I personally choose to act as my power of attorney to manage my medical treatment and finances if I can’t. I’ll take comfort knowing that a will and trust are structured to minimize the exposure of my assets to probate administration – and there’s a provision for Scotty’s care if I’m not around. I need to be confident my family members will get details from my doctors with no hassles with a HIPAA release. I want to make my own decisions about end-of-life care with my living will, sparing my family of this potential burden.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">It took a dog bit out of the blue for me to get my planning priorities straight. The hours I spent at the vet and in the emergency room recounting a near tragedy helped me realize that now is the best time to act. What if the dog spared my fingers and nailed me in the neck instead? I simply would not have been prepared. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">Some time and effort are required to create the right planning documents, and there’s an expense involved. But it’s a prudent investment to maintain control of your future affairs during life and beyond. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bolder;">Have you considered Legacy Assurance Plan?</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">There are numerous options and scenarios to consider when developing an estate plan that protects your legacy and achieves your objectives, and important decisions should be made with the advice of qualified lawyers and financial experts. Membership with Legacy Assurance Plan provides members with valuable resources and guidance to develop comprehensive estate plans that take life’s contingencies into consideration and leave a positive impact for generations to come. Legacy Assurance Plan members also receive peace of mind that a team of trusted, experienced professionals will assist them in developing legal, financial and tax strategies that will meet their needs today and for years to come through periodic reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tom Alberts is staff journalist for Legacy Assurance Plan. A graduate of Indiana University with a double major in journalism and English, he previously was a reporter and editor for newspapers in Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida. Alberts resides in Bradenton, Florida, with his dog, Scotty. You can contact him at </em><a href="mailto:talberts@ufresources.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">talberts@ufresources.com</em></a><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> and follow him on Twitter at @alberts_tom.</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article is published by the Legacy Assurance Plan and is intended for general informational purposes only. Some information may not apply to your situation. It does not, nor is it intended, to constitute legal advice. You should consult with an attorney regarding any specific questions about probate, living probate or other estate planning matters. Legacy Assurance Plan is an estate planning services-company and is not a lawyer or law firm and is not engaged in the practice of law. For more information about this and other estate planning matters visit our website at <a href="https://legacyassuranceplan.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">www.legacyassuranceplan.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">This article written and published by:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">8039 Cooper Creek Blvd</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">844.306.5272 (Phone)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="mailto:info@legacyassuranceplan.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #007bff;">info@legacyassuranceplan.com</a> (email)</span><br />
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Legacy Assurance Planhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15877858143120387764noreply@blogger.com0United States37.09024 -95.712891000000013-36.4162205 99.052733999999987 90 69.521483999999987