Legacy Assurance Plan Article: Estate Planning Tips to Remember Before You Travel

Summary: Many people will travel during the late fall and winter months. Before you embark on your trip, you should.

With the holidays fast approaching, many people will undertake trips. Some may make a shorter trip to see family at Thanksgiving or Christmas, or others may plan a larger wintertime vacation escape cold weather. Regardless of your reasons, as you prepare to travel, your "to do" list should include taking a look at your estate plan. 

If you haven't completed an estate plan yet, now would be a good time to get that executed prior to your trip. Having your will and/or living trust executed and in place can provide you with a sense of relief from knowing that, if something unfortunate happens on your travels, you have a "roadmap" in place for your loved ones to follow to implement the legacy you want to leave behind.

It is also important to make sure that you have powers of attorney and a living will created, as well. Should you become ill or injured while you are away from home, having these documents will make certain that the person you want to make decisions for you has the legal authority to do it. To make sure that all of the planning decisions you make are well thought out, give yourself enough time to get your plan set up; don't just contact your attorney a few days before you are scheduled to leave.  

If you have already created a plan, make sure that it is up-to-date. If you have experienced any life events, such as family births, deaths, marriages, divorces, etc. since you last updated your plan, you will want to look into creating the appropriate update documents to make sure that your plan paperwork still reflects your planning goals. This can include checking on, and potentially updating, many items, including not only your will, living trust, powers of attorney and living will, but also any financial accounts or other assets that have death beneficiary designations attached to them.

In the event that you have minor children or children with disabilities still at home with you, it is extremely important that you make sure you have a plan in place to ensure their care. In your will, you can name the person you want (and who has already agreed) to serve as the guardian of your children. If you've already named someone, now may be a good time to review that choice, to consider whether that person is still best suited to handle this role. If you do not name anyone as a guardian, the courts will be forced to select someone without any input regarding your wishes.

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8039 Cooper Creek Blvd

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Legacy Assurance Plan Article: Dealing with the Consequences of Assisted Reproductive Technology in Your Estate Plan

Summary: In today's modern world, changes in society and advances in science have modified many things, including the definitions related to who is, or is not, a family member. To make sure that your estate plan carries out your objectives exactly as you'd want, it is important to go over your goals in deep detail with your estate planning attorney so that your planning documents can make sure that your wealth and belongings go to everyone you want to inherit from you, and no one that you don't.

Modern technology has allowed people today to enjoy many extraordinary advantages that, in some cases, would have seemed (or actually been) impossible or only a few years or decades ago. For infertile families, the greatest benefit modern technology has created is the ability to have children. 

With the gift of children, however, comes certain additional complexities in estate planning. Whether it's you or a loved one who's considering assisted reproduction, it is important to make sure that your estate plan reflects this aspect of your family dynamic.

Parents of children conceived through assisted reproductive technology are not the only ones who need to consider these issues. As a potential grandparent, you may need to engage in this type of planning. If your son or daughter has frozen genetic material, you need to contemplate whom you want to take from your estate. This is done by making sure that your estate planning documents are very specific and include very specific definitions regarding who is (or is not) a member of a group. In this case, you should discuss your desires with your attorney so that he or she can craft a definition of "grandchildren" that include everyone you want to inherit from you, and no one that you don't. 

People who are seeking to have children through assisted reproduction have a wide array of decisions they should reach and include in their estate plans. One scenario where planning is especially important  involves the freezing of reproductive material for future use. Many courts that have addressed what happens to this material have ruled that it is property, meaning that you can (and should) include directions in your estate plan indicating what should be done with it if you die. Do you want it donated? Destroyed? Distributed to your spouse/partner to do with as he/she sees fit? These are obviously extremely personal decisions, so it's highly important that you get your desires down in writing using your estate plan.

Additionally, it is essential that your plan state how you want to approach any children that come from this assisted reproduction. For example, if you decide to freeze your fertilized eggs, then die before using them, and your spouse/partner uses these fertilized eggs to have a child, what do you want this child to receive from your estate? In some states, a posthumous child conceived using your frozen genetic material can still inherit from you, even if he or she is born more than 9 months after your death, as long as you state that preference in writing (and the child is born within certain statutory time limits.)

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Legacy Assurance Plan

8039 Cooper Creek Blvd

University Park, Florida 34201

844.306.5272 (Phone)

info@legacyassuranceplan.com (email)

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Legacy Assurance Plan Article: Estate Planning and the Small Business Person

Summary: Estate planning is important for all people, but it is extremely important for small business owners. A proper plan can help ensure that the business can continue seamlessly and without interruption, can go to the person or people you want, and can separate your business assets from your personal ones to make certain each is properly protected. 

In 2014, in the U.S. Tax Court, a taxpayer defeated the Internal Revenue Service in an important case called Frank Aragona Trust v. Commissioner. Mr. Aragona had created a trust and named his five children as beneficiaries, and funded the trust with several rental real estate properties. The IRS had tried to classify the trust's control of the properties as "passive" ownership, which would have negative tax consequences, but the Tax Court ruled for the trust, which meant that it got to claim active participation status, which is more tax-friendly.

While the case of the Aragona Trust centers around many intricate, technical aspects of the law, it also has a broader meaning outside the world of tax lawyers and CPAs. The Aragona family benefited because Frank Aragona took the time to create an estate plan and to ensure that he meshed his business holdings with his estate plan. 

Making sure that your small business is covered by your estate plan goes beyond just making certain your beneficiaries are positioned as well as they can be in terms of income taxes. Most businesses fail to survive past the first generation, and in many cases, they fail due to a lack of planning. A good estate plan for a small business owner takes into account potential estate tax issues. Because many small businesses are cash-flow operations with relatively little liquidity, an estate tax bill can be devastating -- forcing a sale of the business just to pay the tax obligation. With a proper plan in place, you may be able to reduce or avoid this tax trap.

Additionally, some small businesses fail because there is no clear plan for who will take over running the operation. Creating buy-sell agreements can help establish a clear line of succession to ownership of your business when you die. Even once you've established succession, the person you want to take over the company may lack the funds to buy it. Life insurance may serve as a exceptionally helpful tool to aid in carrying out your succession plan. You can purchase a policy that pays out when you die to whomever you desire to purchase the company, thereby giving them the money they need to transition ownership smoothly.

If you're a small business owner, you also must consider protecting your personal assets from business liability and vice versa. You don't want a disgruntled business client to ruin your personal wealth, nor would you want a messy divorce to take down your company. A plan that properly uses trusts, LLCs or other legal tools can help you ensure you have the necessary protection in place.    

This article written and published by:

Legacy Assurance Plan

8039 Cooper Creek Blvd

University Park, Florida 34201

844.306.5272 (Phone)

info@legacyassuranceplan.com (email)

Legacy Assurance Plan Article: Planning to Protect Yourself Against the Possibility of Alzheimer's

Summary: Alzheimer's Disease can affect people across a wide array of ages and races. For that reason, it is important to act without delay to craft an estate plan that will protect your family and yourself. It is also important to make sure that you update your plan regularly to reflect any changes in your life. A complete and updated plan, which includes a will, advance directive and powers of attorney, along with possibly a living trust, can make sure that your have your planning goals in writing and that you have clearly designated who you want to make decision for the management of your assets and your personal care should you lose the ability to make those decisions yourself.   

Actress Julianne Moore's Oscar-winning portrayal of an accomplished Ivy League professor in her early 50s who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in the recent film "Still Alice" is just the latest reminder that Alzheimer's can affect wide range of people. Three years ago, Hall Of Fame basketball coach Pat Summitt retired as head coach of the University of Tennessee women's basketball team at the young age of 59. She retired because, a year earlier, her doctors diagnosed her with Alzheimer's. Additionally, the Alzheimer's Association reports that African-Americans are 200% more likely (and Latinos 150% more likely) than whites to develop the disease, though these groups are less likely to be diagnosed.  

While having the knowledge that Alzheimer's can attack a wide spectrum of ages and races is important, that knowledge must also be put into action. So how should you plan for the possibility of Alzheimer's? One of the key steps is to create an estate plan right away, and to update it regularly. Your estate plan will allow to put down your planning goals while you are unaffected by any type of dementia or other cause of mental incapacity. Your regular updates will make sure that your plan reflects the current state of your planning preferences and your family's life situation. An estate plan crafted when your children are elementary school-aged will likely look different than what you'd want it to say 20 years later when your children are adults and perhaps have spouses and children of their own.

Your plan should include a will, an advance directive ("living will",) and powers of attorney. Your health care power of attorney may be especially important because, if you have Alzheimer's, you may live for a period of many years after you've lost the ability to make decisions for yourself and this document will empower the person you prefer to interact with your doctors with regard to managing your care. A financial power of attorney allows the person you designate to manage your financial affairs if you become incompetent. Depending on your preferences and your financial situation, you might choose to ensure the continued management of your financial matters through the use of a living trust. Utilizing a trust can provide for a seamless handoff of the control of your financial affairs by possibly helping you avoid the need to go to court to obtain the appointment of a guardian or conservator of your financial estate.   

With regard to updating your plan if you have Alzheimer's, it is important to remember that just because your doctors have diagnosed you with Alzheimer's, that does not necessarily make you mentally incapacitated and unable to modify your plan. Many people with Alzheimer's can live for months or years before the disease becomes so advanced that it makes them incompetent. Because the disease is unpredictable, however, it is vital to act on your estate planning goals without delay.

This article written and published by:

Legacy Assurance Plan

8039 Cooper Creek Blvd

University Park, Florida 34201

844.306.5272 (Phone)

info@legacyassuranceplan.com (email)

Legacy Assurance Plan Article: The More Details You Include, The More Your Estate Plan May Benefit

Summary: No estate plan is 100% immune from estate litigation. The litigation of the estate of actor Robin Williams demonstrates this, as the items in dispute are of comparatively low monetary value. While litigation is sometimes inevitable, including a detailed set of asset distribution instructions in your plan can provide even greater clarity into the nature of your true wishes and hopefully minimize the chances that your family will require the courts to resolve the distribution of your possessions.  

For some folks, procrastination serves as a road block that prevents them from ever creating an estate plan. In other cases, people overcome the inertia of procrastination and do create a plan, but make the mistake of placing too few details in their plans. When it comes to your estate plan, it is often true that the more details you include, the better off your plan will be when it comes time to carry out your true wishes.

The late actor and comedian Robin Williams created what was generally viewed as a strong estate plan. His plan included multiple trusts, including one that benefitted his three children and another that benefitted his wife of three years. The plan also contained provisions for distributing many of the celebrity's personal possessions between his wife and his children. However, Williams's estate plan was not foolproof. The wife and the children are now in court battling over several pieces of Williams's personal effects. 

The estate plan left the contents of Williams's Tiburon, Cal. house to his wife, but left his jewelry and memorabilia to the children. Unfortunately, while detailed, this plan left enough room for conflict, which is why the estate litigation has occurred. When a family has reached a point where they seek a judicial resolution to the ownership of movie posters and Japanese anime (as is true in the Williams case,) perhaps litigation is inevitable. Nevertheless, the more details you can include in your plan, the more likely your family will be to know your true wishes and possible avert the need for litigation. 

For estate plans where assets are distributed using a will, it may be helpful to specifically distribute each asset that has a value (whether financial or sentimental) individually and by name. Your collection of old vinyl records may only be worth $100, but if you have someone whom you'd like to inherit them, list them. If your plan includes a living trust, your Schedule A can be very helpful here. Your Schedule A is often used to make specific distributions, especially with assets that don't have a deed or title. Even if an asset lack significant monetary value, it is worth listing in your Schedule A if you have a loved one with an emotional attachment to that item, or if the item's distribution is likely to cause conflict in the absence of specific instructions from you.    

As with the other parts of your estate plan, your estate planning attorney can provide you with invaluable assistance and advice in crafting your living trust's Schedule A or the specific distribution paragraphs of your will. While no plan is 100% safe from estate litigation after your death, you can, with the aid of your attorney, minimize the chances of a court battle by maximizing the level of detail when it comes to distributing your belonging. 

    

This article written and published by:

Legacy Assurance Plan

8039 Cooper Creek Blvd

University Park, Florida 34201

844.306.5272 (Phone)

info@legacyassuranceplan.com (email)

Legacy Assurance Plan Article: Estate Planning and the Modern Family: Ensuring that Everyone's Goals are Protected

Summary: Fewer families are in the mold of "Ozzie and Harriet" or Ward and June Cleaver. For families where the partners have children from previous relationships, it is important to ensure that the plan fully protects each spouse. These plans might include co-trusteeships, multiple trusts or other techniques to protect each spouse's family. A properly constructed plan can minimize the risks that your children will be frozen out and receive nothing from you simply because you died before your spouse did.   

While federal statistics show that the oft-repeated factoid about half of all divorces ending in divorce is no longer true, a significant number of married couples with children either have (or will) choose to end their marriages. Of those, many will find new partners whom they will marry or with whom they will cohabitate. For families in these situations, it is very important to engage in careful estate planning to make sure that what happens matches what is supposed to happen.

As an example, take a hypothetical family where each spouse has been married once before, each spouse has children from that previous marriage and each partner wants an estate plan that will support the surviving spouse during his/her lifetime and then benefit all of the children. For this family, having each spouse create will that leaves everything to the surviving spouse, and then to all the children (and step-children,) may be risky. If you are the first to die, there is generally nothing that legally bars your spouse from changing his/her will to leave everything to his/her children, meaning that your children would not only get nothing from their step-parent, they would inherit nothing from you, either; rather, all of your assets would go to your step-children. 

An estate plan with a single living trust where you and your spouse are the co-trustees may present some of the same risks. If you die before your spouse, then your spouse, as the sole surviving trustee of the trust, would be completely free, in many cases, to alter the plan to cut out your children.

There are multiple techniques to minimize this risk. One option is to set up the trusteeship of your trust such that neither spouse ever assumes sole trusteeship. You could construct your trust such that, if you die first, one of your children assumes co-trusteeship alongside your spouse (and create a mirror provision to protect your spouse's family.). Another method for addressing this potential risk is by creating two separate living trusts, one for each of you and your spouse. In this plan, when you die, your trust becomes irrevocable and cannot be changed.  

The best way to ensure that your estate plan operates exactly as you desire is to communicate fully all of your goals and each of your concerns with your estate planning attorney. Your estate planning attorney has a wealth of legal tools at his/her disposal to make sure that the plan you and your spouse put into place best protects each of you. However, you should be aware that, with some families, the needs of each spouse may create what's called a legal "conflict of interest." If that happens, it means that two attorneys will need to be involved -- one to represent your interests and one for your spouse.   

This article written and published by:

Legacy Assurance Plan

8039 Cooper Creek Blvd

University Park, Florida 34201

844.306.5272 (Phone)

info@legacyassuranceplan.com (email)