News and Thoughts on Issues in Georgia Regarding Wills, Living Trusts, Guardianship, Advance Directives, Living Wills, Healthcare Powers of Attorney, Probate, Estate Planning and More by Marietta, Georgia, Personal Family Lawyer Stephen M. Worrall
I am offering a free Special Report, written by Alexis Martin Neely, entitled How to Avoid A Hidden Danger Facing Your Children: Seven Steps Smart Parents Must Take Today For Absolute Peace of Mind.The report also includes an offer for a free Family Wealth Planning Session with my office, a value of $750, and a discount of $250 off a comprehensive Trust or Wealth Plan should we agree to work together. That's a total value of $1000!
In this special report you’ll learn:
• How your children could be taken out of your home and into child protective services if you don’t plan the right way and the unthinkable happens to you…and the 7 simple steps you need to immediately take to ensure the protection of your children.
• Your plan probably does not leave your wealth to your heirs protected from lawsuits against them or a future divorce … and how very easy it is to give the people you love most the gift of knowing they can never lose their inheritance or have it taken away from them by an outsider.
• Why an estate plan isn’t something that you should do once and then never look at again…and the rock bottom bare minimum it needs to be reviewed to ensure the safety and security of you and your family.
• That failing to prepare your estate could cost your family hundreds of thousands of dollars unnecessarily. (Did you know that estate taxes and probate are totally voluntary…I teach you how to make sure your money is kept in the hands of your family and not given to the government.)
This Special Report walks you through 7 simple actions you can take TODAY so you can have absolute peace of mind that if the unthinkable happens to you, your children are totally protected.
This guide is available to anyone who provides their contact information on the "Sign Up for Our Email Newsletter" form on the upper right side of this page.
When you enter your email address there, you are taken to another page to provide your complete contact information (name, address, telephone, etc.) and you can select from a number of choices of free reports and newsletters I offer.
Select the "How to Avoid A Hidden Danger Facing Your Children" option and I will send you a link to a page where you can download the report.
Thank you for your interest and for being a reader of this blog!
The following series of posts contain articles posted at Kaboose.com, featuring an interview with my colleague and fellow Personal Family Lawyer, Kimberly Hegwood. If you have any questions or want to speak with me about these issues, please call me at 770-425-6060.
We asked Hegwood a few questions that probably affect plenty of parents. Here are her answers:
1. How do I set up a will? Can I do it online or through an attorney? What are the pros and cons of both?
Kimberly: The best way to set up a will is by seeing an estate planning attorney. I can’t tell you that you need an attorney to draft a will for you. However, if you mess it up, then your family could spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to accomplish your wishes.
Your children are your most valuable assets. Do you really want to take a chance on forms that have not been looked at by an attorney? The counseling that goes into estate planning is very important. You may have a taxable estate, need asset protection, a special needs trust for a child, or many other issues that are not always in fill-in-the-blank forms. Do you know what the terminology is and if your forms are correct? An online or fill-in-the-blank form may be cheap, but you get what you pay for.
2. I have insurance money and I have set my child up as the beneficiary should something happen to my husband and me. How do we make sure it goes to our children in a productive way?
Kimberly: I'd say the worse thing you can do is designate a minor child as a beneficiary on insurance proceeds. A minor child cannot receive the proceeds. The insurance company will pay the proceeds to the registry of the court and your child will be able to get them at the age of 18. At this age, the money will be spent on things that your child wants but is almost never what they need. A kid I know inherited at 18 and used the first $5,000 to put new tires and a lift system on his truck. Smart kid but, at 18, still a kid.
The better plan is to designate your living trust, if you have one, or your estate if you don’t have a living trust, and make sure that your will has a testamentary trust in it. The trust, whether living or testamentary, can receive the proceeds and be used to take care of your child’s health, education, maintenance or support.
3. What if I trust my designated guardians to take care of my kids, but am nervous about them also being in charge of their money? How can I make sure they don’t use it for themselves or their children?
Kimberly: I always recommend that the child’s guardians are not the trustee of their money. Otherwise, it’s too easy for the guardian, who’s also the trustee, to have a conflict of interest. Your guardian, in most all cases, will receive social security for your child or children and that money will be used for them to take care of your children. The money you leave should take care of any extras that you designate, such as private schools, college, extracurricular activities and anything else you choose for that purpose.
4. How do I set up things such as selling my property and all of the assets in the house and then making sure that also goes to my child?
Kimberly: The provisions in your will or trust will provide that your property will be sold and the proceeds will be placed in a trust to take care of your children. A proper estate plan will take into consideration income and estate tax consequences so as to maximize your estate for your children.
5. If something happened to me, I’d prefer that my daughter stay with my mom, but she’s getting older and I worry that she wouldn’t be able to raise my child until she’s 18. Is there any way I can select a backup couple? Can I establish criteria that my mom must be able to manage? Is there a way I can set up co-guardianship or part-time guardianship to give my mother the help she would need to act as primary guardian?
Kimberly: Each court has its own policies regarding guardianships. Most will allow co-guardians to take care of children. You can delegate two people as co-guardians, but you will have to give one of them the discretion to dictate when the child must live with someone other than your mom.
6. I know the guardians I have designated would love my child and take good care of her. However, they are not speaking to my aunt, whom my daughter loves. Is there any way I can insist that they allow my child to maintain a relationship with her and her children? I don’t trust them to make the effort on their own.
Kimberly: You will only have so much control over what your guardians do after you are gone. You can leave instructions regarding your wishes, but they are not controlling. I would speak to the guardians and make sure that your wishes for your child will be their main concern rather than their personal feelings. If they cannot do this for you, then they may not be the best choice as guardians.
7. When you say documented instructions, what do I need to do to make sure that they are legal and binding? Do I have to get them notarized? File them somewhere?
Kimberly: You need to make sure that your instructions are executed correctly, first and foremost. Some states require that the documents be notarized and some even require witnesses. It is important to make sure that you know the correct way for your state.
8. Where is the best place to keep a will or other documentation? Can I leave it on my computer? Safe deposit box? With friends? Who should get copies?
Kimberly: The best place to keep a will is somewhere safe. You can’t leave it on the computer as it must be signed in front of a notary and witnessed. You can leave it in a safe deposit box but your executor needs to be a signatory on the box (otherwise, the document will not be accessible if something happens to you). I would not recommend leaving it with friends and I would not give copies to anyone who doesn’t need to see the contents of your will.
9. I have tried to discuss my concerns with my family (especially my parents). They tell me I am being morbid and don’t want to talk about it. What are your suggestions for overcoming this? I really worry that this is still up in the air and you never know what could happen.
Kimberly: If your concerns are about your parents planning, then you need to have “the talk.” What would they want if the unthinkable happens? What should you do if the unthinkable happens? How would they want you to handle the unthinkable? It is not morbid to have the talk. It is the best conversation you can have with your parents. It is so important to know what they would want and it is very important for them to know what you would want if something happened to you. Good parents plan for their children.
10. How can I ensure that my children are raised in the faith we have chosen or that they are taught our values or about our heritage? Is that something I can put in a will?
Kimberly: The best way to have your children raised in the faith you have chosen is to have guardians who are in the same faith. You can’t put what faith the guardians will choose for your child in a will. While you can request that your guardians raise your children in your faith, please know that if your guardians are of a different faith, it will be a difficult task for them to follow.
The following series of posts contain articles posted at Kaboose.com, featuring an interview with my colleague and fellow Personal Family Lawyer, Kimberly Hegwood. If you have any questions or want to speak with me about these issues, please call me at 770-425-6060.
The person that you designated in your will can no
longer care for your children, however you have a younger brother, whom
you love to death, but you don't believe he’s mature enough to raise a
child (or has the financial means to do so). He thinks he’d make a
great dad and you know he’d be the first to offer. What do you do to
protect your children as well as avoid hurt feelings?
Kimberly:
You can avoid this by updating your will regularly and keeping an open
channel of communication with the potential guardian. If you do not
want your brother as a guardian then you need to put that in writing.
The court will not allow you to set up hurdles that a guardian must
meet after you die.
As for hurt feelings, remember you should always
put your children’s best interest above all others. But it will be
important for your brother to continue his role as an uncle and stay
involved with your children so discuss this with a potential guardian.
Try writing him a letter that he will receive at your death, explaining
your thoughts and how you would love him to be there for your kids as
an uncle.
The following series of posts contain articles posted at Kaboose.com, featuring an interview with my colleague and fellow Personal Family Lawyer, Kimberly Hegwood. If you have any questions or want to speak with me about these issues, please call me at 770-425-6060.
You and your partner are suddenly deceased. You both
have wills but you only nominated a permanent guardian. They were
prepared two years ago and since then the couple you designated has
divorced, and both of them are unreachable (he is out of the country on
business and she has changed her address).
What happens in the first 24 - 48 hours after your death?
Kimberly:
If there is no one to take custody of your children in this scenario,
then CPS will have to take custody until someone can be located or a
temporary or permanent guardian can be appointed by the court. The
procedure in Texas is to probate the will and appoint a guardian.
Unfortunately, in this case, the parents committed one of the six
common mistakes people make by not regularly updating their wills.
Since the couple you selected as guardians is now divorced, the court
may only designate one of them (and it may not be the person you’d
choose) or decide on someone else entirely.
The following series of posts contain articles posted at Kaboose.com, featuring an interview with my colleague and fellow Personal Family Lawyer, Kimberly Hegwood. If you have any questions or want to speak with me about these issues, please call me at 770-425-6060.
Your family is on vacation in another country and in a
terrible car accident. Perhaps it’s even a foreign-speaking country.
You and your husband/partner are deceased or incapacitated. Your
children are fine. You don’t have anything with you other than your
passports and wallets.
What happens to your children in the next 24 - 48 hours?
Kimberly:
Every country’s laws are different regarding death and accidents for
foreign travelers. Local laws take precedence. The State Department
would be the best source of information for your family and can help
advise them of how to proceed. There are some things you can do to
prepare.
What can you do to avoid this or better prepare?
Kimberly:
First of all, anytime you travel in a foreign country with your
children, you should contact the State Department in that country to
let them know your itinerary. Before leaving, make sure your assigned
temporary guardian knows where you are going, has a passport, and can
be contacted to travel if needed. Be sure that they also have a copy of
your temporary guardianship paperwork. It might not hurt either to ask
the State Department if they’d like a copy of that along with your
itinerary as well.
Each parent should carry emergency contact numbers on them, as well as a copy of the temporary guardianship paperwork.
The following series of posts contain articles posted at Kaboose.com, featuring an interview with my colleague and fellow Personal Family Lawyer, Kimberly Hegwood. If you have any questions or want to speak with me about these issues, please call me at 770-425-6060.
Talking about legal planning for your family is never something up
there on your list of fun things to do. However, finding yourself
without a plan can be scary so there’s no time like the present to sit
down and just do it.
It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if you
have young children, you need to think about this. In the long run,
there’s no better peace of mind than knowing you have hammered out the
details of how you want your kids to be taken care of, long term as
well as within the first twenty four hours of something happening.
We’ve asked Kimberly Hegwood of Hegwood & Associates, P.C., a
personal family lawyer, mom of two, and a licensed estate planning
attorney in the state of Texas, to look at some
not-so-uncommon-scenarios and tell us how parents can best to prepare
for them:
Scenario #1, You Don’t Make it Home
You
and your husband are in, God-forbid, a car accident driving home from
work together. Both of you is either seriously incapacitated or worse.
Your child is at preschool or home with a babysitter. You do not have
wills in place. What happens to the children in the next 24 hours? What
happens in the month following? What happens long-term?
Kimberly:
The problem with traditional estate planning is that there is no
provision for temporary guardians for your children, which results in a
planning gap. Your children may be at home with a sitter or at day care
when something happens. Since they haven’t heard from you, your care
giver may end up having to call the police. Once the police are called,
if the babysitter or daycare provider cannot show documentation that
they have legal authority to care for your children, the police have no
alternative but to call Child Protective Services (CPS). If that
happens your family may have to spend thousands of dollars to gain
custody of your children.
Since you don’t have wills, family members may end
up battling over custody rights, and a judge who does not know you or
your children, will determine who will raise your children for you.
What can you do to avoid this scenario?
Kimberly:
Not only do you need to have a will or a trust, a medical power of
attorney, statutory durable power of attorney and directive to
physicians, but you need temporary guardianship papers for your
children.
In order to make sure your ducks are in a row, you
should find an attorney that suits your needs. An estate planning
attorney usually knows how to protect your family from this happening.
A Personal Family Lawyer (PFL) is just such a lawyer. A good PFL can
help plan for the gap that others may miss. It’s important to put in
writing not only whom you want to raise to raise your children, but
those that you don’t want to be considered as well. This way a judge
will know that you have considered all possibilities. Make sure you
talk to the people you’d like to have raise your children as well and
clearly state your preferences for them in writing.
Before hiring a wills & trusts lawyer to guide you, your family or
your business, ask these questions to ensure that you don’t end up
paying a whole lot of money for services that are not what you need,
expect or want. Hiring an attorney does not have to be a fearful
experience. Instead, it can be the most empowered decision you ever
make for yourself.
1. What will happen during an initial meeting with your office and how much will it cost?
When you begin to consider getting your legal and financial
affairs in order, the first thing to do is call the offices of lawyers
who you will meet with to handle your planning.
This is a great opportunity for a first level screening to find
the right lawyer for you, your family and your business. Pay attention
to how the phones are answered by the office team. You want to find a
lawyer who has a live person answering the phones who can answer quick
questions for you when you are a client.
When you do talk with someone on the phone, be sure to ask what
will happen at the initial meeting and whether there will be a charge
for the meeting.
Look for an educational initial meeting. Ideally, the purpose of
the first meeting with your lawyer is not just to get to know him or
her, but to provide you with specific guidance and information that
will benefit you, your family and your business.
You want to leave this meeting with a clear action plan for what
your next steps are to ensure your financial and legal affairs and
business are set up the best possible way for your family.
Now, it may be that you have to pay for this guidance so don’t be
afraid to do that because it can be a hugely valuable education. The
key is, you want to know what the cost is going to be upfront so there
are no surprises.
Don’t expect to get valuable information that will help your
family during a free initial consultation. When a lawyer routinely
gives away their time for a free initial consultation it’s not to give
you an education, it’s so you can meet the lawyer and decide whether
you want to work with him or her. Don’t expect free legal guidance.
2. Are all of your fees flat fees? What is included in the flat fee? What is NOT included in the flat fee?
You want to be sure that you avoid a nasty surprise down the road.
Some attorneys will indicate that they use flat fees, but then may tack
on additional charges such a photocopying, telephone, courier, postage,
recording fees and other expenses. While it may be reasonable in some
instances to add on such fees, you want to make sure that you set the
proper expectations up front so you don’t end up with a surprise bill
in the mail.
3. Does my planning fee include a regular review of my legal documents?
What if I want to make changes later? What about on-going work after
completion of my initial plan?
Far too often today, families put in place legal documents and
think “great, that’s done”, now I don’t have to think about that
anymore. Then, the end of their life comes or a crisis pops up and
their family finds out that the documents are out of date and the
assets aren’t owned properly anyway. Then, the plan fails. Or, business
owners set up an entity to shield their personal assets from their
business, but then fail to operate the business properly and keep their
entity in compliance. Then, the business plan fails.
I blame these failures on lawyers who don’t set the right expectations for their clients.
The truth of the matter is, with estate planning, you can’t set it
and forget it. Your wills and trusts and your business documents are
living documents that need to be reviewed and updated throughout your
personal or business life. And you want to find a lawyer who will keep
everything up to date for you, review your documents regularly, and
offer a program to provide you with continuing guidance on an ongoing
basis without hourly fees.
Look for a lawyer who has a membership program or ongoing service
program so you can reach out to your lawyer on an ongoing basis for
legal, financial and business consultation without worrying about being
nickled and dimed. Oh, and be sure your lawyer isn’t going to charge
you for photocopies and faxes!
4. Do you make sure my assets are titled in the right way and my business stays in compliance?
You can have the best business structure and the best legal plan
set up for your family, but if your assets are not titled and
structured properly and if your business does not stay in compliance,
it’s all a false sense of security because when push comes to shove and
a crisis happens, those legal documents won’t work.
Make absolutely sure that the lawyer you are working with is not
only going to put legal documents in place for you, but is also going
to finish the job by ensuring your assets are structured properly and
your business stays in full compliance.
5. Can you help me make smart choices about things like buying insurance, saving for college, and retirement planning?
Your personal lawyer can and should help you make decisions not
only about things like legal documents, but also about things like
buying insurance, saving for college, planning for retirement and all
the other challenging decisions that will come up along the way of your
life and your business. Your business lawyer should be keeping you
informed about things like hiring and firing, trademarking and
copyrighting, and growing your business.
This doesn’t mean your lawyer needs to be licensed to sell
insurance or financial products or practice employment law or
intellectual property, just that they have a big enough breadth of
experience and knowledge and access to the appropriate resources that
they can be a trusted advisor to you on these issues helping you avoid
expensive mistakes.
6. Do you have a process for helping me capture and pass on my
intangible wealth, such as my intellectual, spiritual and human assets
or who I am and what’s important to me or do you primarily focus on
financial assets?
There’s a movement happening in the world in which we are finally
beginning to realize that our wealth is far greater than the sum total
of the dollars in our bank, brokerage and retirement accounts. In fact,
many of us are becoming aware that our intangible assets are much more
valuable.
When you are working with a personal lawyer, be sure to find a
lawyer who will help you to capture, document and pass on not just your
financial assets, but ALL of your assets, including the most often
overlooked intangible assets, like who you are and what’s important to
you.
Your lawyer should have in place an actual process so that when
your planning is complete, you have created either written or recorded
messages to your loved ones that pass on your values, stories, insights
and experience.
7. How are you able to be responsive to my needs on an ongoing basis?
One of the biggest complaints people have about working with a
lawyer is that lawyers are notorious for not being responsive. In fact,
I’ve heard of situations in which clients have gone weeks without
getting a call back from their lawyer.
This generally happens when a lawyer does not have enough
administrative support in his or her office. Far too many lawyers
believe they can take care of everything in and around their office
themselves, from paperwork to client meetings to calendaring to
returning phone calls to connecting with their clients other advisors,
the list goes on and on. Truth is, a lawyer who is a true solo
practitioner without administrative support or in a firm without
adequate support will become overwhelmed and non-responsive to your
needs.
You can and should ask your lawyer how he or she will respond to
your ongoing needs, how quickly calls are returned in the office, if
there is someone on hand to answer quick questions and if you should
expect to get right through to your lawyer when you call the office.
A great way to test this is to call your prospective lawyer’s
office and ask for him or her. If you get put right through or even
worse sent to a voicemail, think twice about hiring this lawyer because
it means they do not have effective systems in place for managing and
responding to calls or answering your quick questions. Instead, what
you want is for the person answering the phone or another team member
to offer to help you and if he or she cannot then to schedule a call
for you to talk with your lawyer at a future date and time when he or
she will be ready to focus on your matter.
Your lawyer cannot be effective and efficient if he or she is
taking every call that comes through to him or her – all calls should
be pre-scheduled when you are both ready and your lawyer can focus on
your specific needs.
8. How will you proactively communicate with me on an ongoing basis?
Unfortunately, most lawyers do a horrible job of proactively
communicating with their clients on an ongoing basis. The general
thinking in the legal industry is that legal work is transactional in
nature and clients will call when something changes. But, this is
faulty thinking and in my opinion just pure laziness on the part of
lawyers.
You want to look for a lawyer who will proactively communicate
with you at least quarterly by mail via an informative, easy to read
newsletter and monthly by email. I prefer to hear from the
professionals I work with monthly by mail and weekly by email, but
progress can only happen so fast.
If you are considering hiring a lawyer who does not proactively
communicate with his or her clients, think again. This lawyer might be
stuck in an old, outdated mindset that won’t serve your needs in the
best possible way.
Don’t be afraid to ask these questions for you hire a lawyer to work
with your family on your personal and business legal planning. You need
to be satisfied by the answers you receive to these questions, as they
often sneak up on families after-the-fact, and can be a major drain on
your family’s cashflow.
As Andrew notes, one of the
big drawbacks to relying on a will (instead of a trust) is that wills
must pass through probate court and are public documents. They can be
read by anyone.
So anytime a celebrity dies without leaving all of his or her assets
in a trust and/or joint tenancy, it gives the press something to write
a story about.
The New York Post recently published an article about the final
wishes of the late, great broadcaster Walter Cronkite who died on July
17, 2009 at age 92. You can read it here.
It is reported that Cronkite left most of assets (believed to be worth millions) to his
children and aides from CBS. His August, 2005 will excluded his
girlfriend, Joanna Simon (sister of singer Carly Simon). It appears
he was very generous to Simon during life, but didn't want to name her
in his will out of respect for his wife of nearly 65 years, who passed
in 2005.
As Mr. Mayoras notes, the best thing about probate court -- with its publicity, added expense, and breeding ground for family disputes
-- is that it can be avoided. Walter Cronkite is not alone in subjecting his
family to probate court when he easily could have bypassed it with a
properly funded revocable living trust.
While his family hopefully won't have to make multiple trips to court, like Michael Jackson's family has been forced to do,
he certainly had more than enough money to avoid this common estate planning
mistake. In fact, revocable living trusts make sense for most people
-- millionaires or not.
The author of the following article, Alexis Martin Neely, was featured in an interview on Good Morning America this morning. She had some important information that all parents need to hear:
Becoming a dad is the ultimate step into adulthood. It simply doesn’t
get more real than that, does it? That little face looking up at you
makes you realize that life isn’t just about you anymore. Suddenly,
you are responsible for the well-being and care of a little person who
is totally reliant on you. And in some ways, this new “mini-you” that
has come into the world makes you feel immortal.
On the flip side though is the lurking
thought “what will happen to mini-me if something happens?” If you are
like most people (69%), you push away the thought because it’s too
scary to contemplate your child being raised by anyone besides you.
But, here’s the thing … if you aren’t
willing to take the time and invest the energy in setting things up for
your little one (and her mom) the right way, you will leave your family
with a world of hurt if something happens to you.
The good news is that setting things up
the right way and doing the right thing by your family doesn’t have to
be as painful as you think it will be. If you are in the know about
what you need and how to get it taken care of, getting your personal
affairs in order can even be downright enlightening.
Let’s start with the bare minimum of what
every dad needs to have in place to make life as easy for his kids and
their mom if anything happens.
Document Set #1: Kids Protection Plan
Regardless of the size of your bank account, if you’ve got a child at
home who depends on you, you need to have a comprehensive Kids
Protection Plan® (KPP) in place to ensure her well-being and care in
case you can’t be there.
A KPP begins with naming legal guardians
to raise your children if anything happens to you and their mother.
But, that’s just the beginning. A comprehensive KPP will also name
local friends or family as guardians for the immediate/short-term care
of your children so that the authorities never have to take your
children out of your home and into the care of strangers. With a KPP
in place, you’ll carry an ID card in your wallet listing the names and
addresses of your immediate/short-term guardians as well as provide
written instructions to all of the people who care for your children,
such as babysitters and schools. Finally, a KPP will confidentially
exclude anyone you know you would never want to serve as guardian of
your children to ensure there are no court-room battles over your
child’s care and will also provide detailed instructions about things
like health care, education, discipline and your values, so your
children are raised the way you want, no matter what.
Document Set #2: Financial Durable Power of Attorney
A financial durable power of attorney is
something every adult needs, even if you don’t have little kids at
home. This document is what will let your family access your bank
accounts, pay your bills, and make financial and legal decisions for
you if you are hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated.
This story should bring home the importance of having a durable power of attorney in place:
My law firm was contacted by a young woman
after her father was hurt at his janitorial job, hospitalized and
unable to communicate. This man thought he didn’t need estate planning
because his income was very low and he had less than $10,000 in the
bank.
Unfortunately though, his failure to plan
left his family in a lurch. They needed the little bit of money he had
in the bank, but couldn’t access it without going to Court because the
account was in his name and he didn’t have a durable power of attorney
naming anyone to act for him legally.
The cost of going to Court was going to cost their family more than the money that was in the bank!
Don’t leave your family in this kind of a painful situation unable to
access the limited resources you have because you didn’t do what you
need to do. Be sure you have a financial durable power of attorney in
place and make sure it’s comprehensive and will work when your family
needs it.
Document Set #3: Health Care Directive (Living Will)
A Health Care Directive (also known as a
Living Will or Health Care Power of Attorney) is another document set
that every adult needs, even if you don’t have little ones at home
counting on you.
These set of documents do two important things:
Appoint the person you want to make health care decisions for you, if you cannot make them for yourself; and
Tell your appointed decision-maker how you want those decisions to be made.
Each state has its own rules for how these
documents should be prepared. In some cases, your instructions can be
all in one document and in others they need to be two separate
documents. The most important thing is that you get something down in
writing.
And, once again, make sure you’ve got
something that will really work when your family needs it. I recommend
giving broad discretion to someone you trust to make decisions about
all of your health care decisions, including not only life-saving
medical care, such as respiration, but continued nutrition and
hydration in case you are incapacitated. If you recall the Terry
Schiavo case from several years ago, in which her husband and her
parents fought over whether she should be kept alive or not and the
case was brought all the way to the Florida Supreme Court, the issue
was not whether to continue to keep her lungs pumping, but whether to
continue to provide nutrition and hydration – be sure your medical
directive addresses these issues.
Document Set #4: Will:
When it comes to estate planning, most
people think of having a Will. Unfortunately, having a Will often
provides a false sense of security to people who think “I have a Will,
therefore, I’ve taken care of everything.” That’s a myth.
In fact, your Will is the least important of the 5 legal documents every dad must know about.
A Will sets forth what you want to happen
to your assets at the time of your death. But, here’s the thing, where
there’s a Will and your assets are owned in your name, the Will merely
acts as instructions to the Court as to what to do with your assets.
That means your family is stuck dealing with the Court after you are gone. Nobody wants that, trust me.
The Court process for handling your assets
after your death is called probate. It’s typically expensive,
time-consuming, and always totally public, which means anyone in town
can find out how much you’ve left behind, who it went to and when they
get it. That puts your loved ones on the radar of every con artist in
the neighborhood.
A Will alone is really only appropriate for dad’s who have no (or very
limited) assets titled in their name. If you have assets, such as a
home, bank accounts, life insurance, and retirement accounts, you need
to have a Living Trust to keep everything out of court, totally private
and make it super easy for your loved ones.
You may have heard that if you only have life insurance and retirement
accounts that you could simply name beneficiaries on those assets and
avoid probate. That’s true, but not going to work if you have minor
children because they are too young to be the beneficiaries of your
assets and would end up in Court with a guardian appointed to handle
them. Not what you want.
Document Set #5: Trust
If you have financial assets or real estate, you want to have a Living
Trust. A Living Trust is the single best way to make things as easy as
possible for the people you love, bar none.
But, and it’s a big BUT, most people who have a Living Trust in place have one that won’t work when their family needs it.
It’s the same for each of these documents I’ve talked about; they are
only going to work the way they were designed to work if the law stays
the same and your life stays the same.
As your life changes, the documents need to change.
As the law changes, the documents need to change.
And, for your Living Trust, it won’t work
unless all of your assets are titled in the name of it, not just once,
but every time you acquire an asset in the future.
I’ve met with loads of people who thought
they had everything taken care of because they had prepared these 5
documents or had them prepared by a lawyer, but because they had not
been kept up to date or their assets were not owned properly, the
documents didn’t work!
In fact, that happened in my own family
when my father in law died. He had spent thousands of dollars to work
with a lawyer who put in place a set of documents for him and then
didn’t keep them up to date and didn’t make sure his assets were owned
properly on an ongoing basis. What that meant is at the end of his
life, we were stuck dealing with the one thing he thought he was
protecting us against – the probate court and a fight with his ex-wife.
Even Michael Jackson, who no doubt spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars with his lawyers, had a trust-based estate plan that he was
probably told would keep his family out of court. As we now know, it
must have failed because his family has been dragged into court already
multiple times since his death with everything open to the public.
So, yes, these 5 documents are absolutely
vital because they will make life as easy as possible for your family,
keep your loved ones out of court and get them easy access to your
assets in the midst of a crisis, but only if they are kept up to date and your assets are owned properly.
Most people do not have the time,
knowledge and discipline to do this for themselves the right way. If
you do, great. But, who is going to guide your family to make the
right decisions and carry things out the right way after you are gone?
Because when all is said and done, that’s really what this about, isn’t?
There’s nothing more important to you than your family. They are why you do everything you do, right? So, for them, find a lawyer who will guide you right during your lifetime and be there for your loved ones when you can’t be.
It’s far easier for you to take care of things now, while you are
living and able than it will be for them to take care of things after
you are gone. Legal planning is not about the money; it’s about making
life as easy as possible for the people you love … no matter what.
Special Update!
In honor of the Dad-o-Matic
article and her appearance on Good Morning America, Alexis has
convinced her publisher to give her vital book on legal planning for
parents (Wear Clean Underwear, Morgan James Publishing 2008) away on
Kindle for just .99. Get your copy today right here.
To complicate things further, the father of these children is not
(and has never been) in the picture to claim responsibility. So fearing
the kids would end up separated in the state welfare system, a neighbor
(who also has six children of her own), stepped up to the plate. And
thankfully the Los Angeles community has stepped up to the plate by
donating diapers, clothing, food, etc. for the now mother of 10.
But in most cases, stories like this one don’t have such a happy
ending. The sad reality is that children are placed in situations their
parents would’ve never have dreamed possible because they didn’t take
the time to plan ahead in the case of their unexpected death or
incapacity.
Let this be a wakeup call for you.
There are three simple things that could have been done differently
to ensure these kids were taken care of upon their mother’s
passing. And if you have little ones at home counting on you, I urge
you take these steps now to ensure a legacy-and not regrets-are what
you leave behind:
1. Get a Term Life Insurance Policy- For a small
amount of money each month, this mother of three with a fourth on the
way could have been paying for a life insurance policy so that her
children were provided for financially should something happen to her
(especially knowing that their father was not in the picture and would
not contribute to their care financially). Because she did not have
life insurance in place, her children are now forced to rely on
handouts and charitable donations from neighbors until they are old
enough to support themselves.
2. Name Short-Term and Long-Term Guardians- While
this story “seems” to have a happy ending with the neighbor stepping up
to raise the four children and keep them all together, will she really
be able to manage raising ten children? Maybe there was another friend
or a family member who would have raised these kids EXACTLY as their
mom would have wanted, but we’ll never know because she didn’t document
her choices for her kids’ care.
3. Create a Legacy of Non-Tangible Assets- This
mother unexpectedly died during childbirth. Because of this, her
newborn baby will never hear the sound of her voice or know firsthand
what her mother’s values were or how she would have guided her about
things like spirit, money, discipline, education, sex, or health
care. As parents, even if you don’t have any money to leave behind, you
can leave your children a gift of your values - who you are and what’s
important to you. You can do that for free by writing letters or
recording a CD for your children. If you work with a Personal Family Lawyer®, this is just part of the legal planning process and becomes a gift that is far greater than all the money in the world.
Ideally, the best way to ensure the well-being and care of your family is to meet with a Personal Family Lawyer®-but
if that’s not feasible for you at the moment because of time or
financial constraints or because there isn’t one in your neighborhood,
I’ve given you steps you can take in the interim. My number one
suggestion is to grab a Kids Protection Planning Kit and a digital recorder or a video recorder. The Kids Protection Planning Kit
will walk you through the legal documentation process and even has
forms you can complete to leave instructions to your guardian. But,
even better than writing them out, speak them. Leave your kids an audio
or video message from you - that’s truly priceless.
Regardless of how you chose to go about it, take the time to get
your affairs in order while there’s still time-ESPECIALLY if you have
young kids depending on you at home. It’s the only way to leave behind
a real legacy-instead of regrets-at the end of your life.
As an adult, you’re fortunate if you still
have your parents. However, as they get older, you may well have to
assist them in some key areas of their life. Specifically, they may
need you to get involved in some of their financial issues. And if you
do, you may need to focus on two areas: leaving a legacy and managing
finances during retirement.
While initiating these
conversations may not be easy for you, it is important, and you may
find your parents more willing to discuss these issues than you had
thought. In any case, if your parents haven’t already done so,
encourage them to work with an estate-planning professional to develop
the necessary legal documents, which may include wills, trusts and
financial durable powers of attorney. These documents and services can
be invaluable in helping individuals find efficient ways to pass assets
from one generation to the next. An estate-planning attorney can
identify which arrangements are the most appropriate for you and your
family.
In your discussions on leaving a legacy, you may also
want to bring up the topic of the beneficiary designations that may
appear on your parents’ life insurance contracts and qualified plans,
such as 401(k)s and IRAs. If the family picture has changed in recent
years, and your parents had intended to change these designations, they
should take action sooner rather than later.
While your
parents need to deal with the legacy issue, they still may have plenty
of years of living ahead of them — and they might need help managing
their money during these years. For starters, you may want to have a
discussion about their savings, investments, insurance and so on, and
where these assets are held. Are they kept in banks or investment
companies? Do your parents have safe-deposit boxes? This knowledge
could be valuable if you ever become involved in managing or
distributing your parents’ resources.
Also, you might want
to talk to your parents about the income sources they may be drawing
from during their retirement. For example, how much are they taking out
each year from their 401(k)s and IRAs? They don’t want to withdraw so
much that they deplete their accounts too soon, but at the same time,
they would no doubt like to maintain their standard of living in
retirement. You may want to suggest to your parents that they evaluate
their investment portfolio for both growth and income potential —
because they will need both elements during a long retirement.
If
your parents aren’t already working with a financial advisor, you may
want to encourage them to do so. Managing an investment portfolio
during retirement is no easier than doing so during one’s working years
— and there’s less time to overcome mistakes. A qualified financial
advisor can help your parents choose the right mix of investments that
can help meet their needs.
During the course of your
lifetime, your parents have done a lot for you. You can help pay them
back by doing whatever you can to assist them in managing their
financial strategy.
Georgia estate planning attorney
Stephen Worrall is urging parents across the state to re-evaluate the status of
their estate plans should they suddenly die or find themselves unable to care
for their kids.Worrall says free
websites such as www.gakidsprotectionplan.com make it possible to do this even if
parents can’t afford a lawyer.
ATLANTA July 1-Marietta,
Georgia estate attorney Stephen Worrall is urging parents across the state to
re-examine their own estate plans in light of the recent battle over Michael
Jackson’s assets and guardianship of his children.
Stephen Worrall is the only lawyer in Georgia recognized
as a Personal Family Lawyer® and specially trained to work with parents to
choose the right guardians for their children regardless of their income.The work of the Personal Family Lawyer®
program has been featured on the Today show, Fox News, CNBC and radio programs across the country as they help
make estate planning accessible and affordable for every family across the
United States.
Worrall explains, “Whether
you have $5 or $50 million dollars, if you have a child, you must put your guardianship decisions in
writing.This includes naming someone to
care for your children for the short-term until the permanent guardian (if they
live out of state or can’t be available for some reason) can come and take
charge of the situation”.
According to Worrall, estate planning isn’t “just for
rich people” either.One particular
site, http://www.gakidsprotectionplan.com
allows parents to name guardians for their kids free of charge so parents no longer have any reason to not plan
properly for their child’s future.
“None of us can
predict how or when we will die or become injured,” says Worrall.“But we
can all make the decision about who would raise our kids and not leave it up to
a Judge and an overcrowded court system to decide,” he adds.
The necessity of estate planning or naming guardians for
kids typically falls by the wayside until high profile cases such as Michael
Jackson’s death or Anna Nicole Smith’s death reminds parents that some form of
legal planning must be done to ensure children do not wind up with a court
appointed guardian, or worse, in the hands of the state foster system.
“Sadly,
I’ve seen so many cases where kids end
up in the care of the wrong people because their parents didn’t take five
minutes to make their guardianship decisions known in writing,” laments Worrall.“Yet it’s so unfortunate because estate planning is affordable, and even
free in the case of the GAKidsProtectionPlan.com website, so there is no longer
any excuse for parents not to get this taken care of for their children.”
For further information on Marietta and Atlanta area estate
planning attorney, Stephen Worrall or guardianship issues for kids, please
contact Stephen at (770) 425-6060 or by email at steve@georgiafamilylaw.com.
My colleague and fellow estate planning attorney and blogger, Jennifer N. Sawday, of the California Estate Planning Blog and the law firm of Tredway, Lumsdaine & Doyle, LLP has written a post on the recent deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon. She has gotten some nice feedback on it in the blogging circles (way to go, Jenni!) and I have reposted it below:
Three
very notable celebrities have died. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now
Michael Jackson. Each had families. Each had loved ones. Each had
assets. And each had potential contestants to their estate. Did each
have an estate plan in place that was updated and reflected their
wishes?
Time will soon find out. The media will report if their
estate administration turns out to be a mess like Anna Nicole Smith's
was.
Ed was survived by his wife so his estate is likely to be
less burdensome whether he had an estate plan in place or not. A
surviving spouse generally has an easier time on formal estate
administration than children or other loved ones.
If you are
not married like Farrah or Michael were -- having an estate plan in
place is very important especially if you want to provide for your
partner or other loved one despite not being married. Both Farrah and
Michael had children that should be provided for. And Michael is
survived by three young children. The mother of two of the children
relinquished her parental rights so their guardianship and care may
very well wind up being a contested matter.
You need to outline
your wishes for disposition of your assets, nominate a successor
trustee or executor to handle your affairs and otherwise make your
wishes known. Where there are minor children in place, it is very
important to nominate guardians and have a trust in place in the event
of your passing.
It simply does not matter who you are. An
estate plan carefully drafted and funded in conjunction with your
professional advisors, such as your attorney, accountant and financial
advisors, is important. Important for everyone including celebrities.
David Shulman of the South Florida Estate Planning Law Blog has posted an excellent, concise and very timely discussion of, and a link to, the Last Will and Testament of Michael Jackson. As I have posted before, we can show you a will after someone's death because it is a public record. Unlike many, however, as David points out, Mr. Jackson in this Will appears to have done it right: he had a trust (a private document) set up to hold his assets and this will transferred any property not otherwise ownedd by the trust but which was owned in the singer's individual name, to the trust, to be administered and distributed in accordance with the instructions left in the trust document. David's post continues below.
The will is what’s known as a “pour-over” will. In other words,
instead of the will itself disposing of all of his assets directly, it
instead transfers all of his assets to the “MICHAEL JACKSON FAMILY
TRUST” as amended and restated on March 22, 2002. The terms of his
revocable trust will govern the disposition of his property. I assume
that most of the assets will remain in trust for his children and their
children, with significant distributions to other family members and
charities.
However, I don’t know. I’m only assuming.
A will is public and is filed with the court. A trust is not.
There is no obligation to disclose the terms of the trust to the
public. Certain beneficiaries are entitled to copies of the trust
however, and it’s possible that one of them might leak it at some later
point in time.
The executors of the will [. . .] are John Branca, John McClain, and Barry Siegel.
Their primary responsibility will be to transfer the estate’s assets,
that is the assets that were not already owned by the trust, to the
trust. The successor trustee (whoever that might be) is then
responsible for managing the trust estate.
He did nominate his mother, Katherine Jackson as the guardians of
his minor children. In the event of the death, inability, or refusal
to act of Katherine Jackson, he nominates, believe it or not, Diana
Ross!
Those are the only details now. It’s a short five page will.
Unless there is a subsequent will, or the trust somehow becomes public,
this is all the information that will be public.
I’m actually impressed. It seems that as irresponsible of a person
as he was, he might have actually done this correctly. [Compare this to the outcome of] Anna Nicole
Smith.
Knowing that pets usually have shorter lifespans than humans, you
may have planned for your animal friend's passing. But what if you are
the one who becomes ill or incapacitated, or who dies first? As a
responsible pet owner, you provide your pet with food and water,
shelter, veterinary care, and love. To ensure that your beloved pet
will continue to receive this if something unexpected were to happen
to you, it's critical to plan ahead.
Learn what steps you can take to plan and provide for your pet's future without you by following the links below.
NOTE: The following information is intended to provide a general
overview and to stimulate your thinking about providing for your pet in
the event of your incapacity or death. It is not intended to provide
legal advice and is definitely not a substitute for consulting a local
attorney of your choosing who is familiar both with the laws of your
state and with your personal circumstances and needs, and those of your
pets.
Some
people think of estate planning as simply drawing up a will or perhaps
creating a trust, but there's much more to it than that. An estate plan
shouldn't be limited to simply providing for the disposition of your
property after your death. The term "estate planning" itself can be
intimidating, particularly for those who are not wealthy. Somehow the
word "estate" implies that such planning is only for people who have
vast sums of money. Everyone needs an estate plan, but it doesn't have
to be complicated.
Over the years I've
learned that many people avoid estate planning because they don't want
to think about such unpleasant occurrences as premature death or
serious disability. They don't think they are being selfish, but they
usually don't realize that the absence of proper planning might create
unnecessary burdens on their families. Others prepare the requisite
documents, but fail to keep them current. Just this week I was reminded
of the importance of regular reviews.
Early
Monday morning a man called me about his wife, who is not expected to
live more than another few weeks. Her cancer treatments have been
unsuccessful, and her health is declining at a rapidly accelerating
pace.
In the process of reviewing their
information, I uncovered a partially completed estate plan. The wife
has a proper will, but no power of attorney or health care directive.
Her attorney recalls drafting those documents, but she never signed
them and the attorney never followed up with her. She owns an annuity
with a beneficiary designation that hasn't been updated since before
her marriage. The people she listed on the original form were friends
she hasn't been in contact with for several years.
Fortunately,
it's not too late to fix the broken plan, but it's going to require
quick action, and the realization that these oversights might have gone
unnoticed has added more stress to an already tragic situation. I don't
look forward to taking documents to the dying woman for her signature.
A
common estate planning misconception is that you don't need a will if
you're married and your home and financial accounts are owned jointly.
Many people also don't realize that beneficiary designations override
instructions in a will or trust document. For example, your will can
say that everything you own should be left to your spouse, but if you
have an old life insurance policy that names your brother as your
beneficiary, your brother will inherit the policy proceeds.
It's
easy to be confused about estate planning, and errors can be
devastating. For these reasons you should consult with an attorney who
specializes in estate planning. If you need assistance locating a
competent attorney in your area, two valuable resources to check are
the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (www.naela.org) or the
National Association of Estate Planners and Councils www.naepc.org.
Whether
you already have an estate plan or if you're planning to work on the
project soon, don't assume you're finished after you've signed your
documents. If assets need to be re-titled, be sure to do so. Review
your documents and the beneficiary designations on your insurance
policies, annuities and retirement accounts regularly, to be sure they
continue to reflect your current circumstances and wishes. Start to
think about estate planning as an ongoing process that optimizes the
management of your assets during your lifetime, provides for the
administration of your affairs if you are unable to do so for yourself,
maximizes opportunities to save taxes, and leaves instructions for
when, how and to whom to leave your assets after your death.
Elaine
Morgillo is a Certified Financial Planner and president of Morgillo
Financial Management Inc. She has offices in Portsmouth and North
Andover, Mass., and can be reached at emorgillo@morgillofinancial.com.
Thanks to Portland, Oregon, estate planning attorney and fellow Personal Family LawyerCandice Aiston for the following post which appeared in her Oregon Estate Planning Blog this week:
Stacey L. Bradford has put out "The Wall Street Journal Financial
Guide for Parents." In it, she talks about how many parents should
be setting up trusts. The only thing I would add is that when you seek
out an attorney to do this, you should make sure that you are working
with one who is going to keep up with you throughout your lifetime, so
that you can be sure that your trust is always going to work for you.
Ask the attorney whether they offer a free plan review (at least every
3 years) and whether they have a membership program for ongoing legal
needs. We see many trusts fail because of little issues that could have
been prevented with better client service and communication. (Actually,
here is a good article about choosing an estate planning attorney.)
Many
goals are accomplished through the estate planning process. The best
definition for estate planning that we've discovered is "I want to plan
for me to maintain control of my estate while I'm alive and well, make
sure that I my estate is protected if I should become disabled, and
give what I have, to who I want, the way that I want after my death,
all at the lowest possible cost.
What is an estate plan?
An
estate plan is a strategy developed and customized through attorney
based counseling to achieve one or more goals for life events or after
death. The strategy is implemented usually through legal documents such
as wills and trusts and maintained through regular updating during life.
What is the difference between a will and a trust?
Most
estate plans are either will based plans or trust based plans. A will
is simply a set of instructions to the court. If the probate court
accepts the will, a probate of the estate is administered by the judge.
The will may be useful in choosing a representative to administer your
affairs, choosing a guardian for minor children, and for making
distributions of your estate to named beneficiaries. The drawback of
will based planning is having to go through probate. A trust is simply
a set of instructions to your loved ones. Assets that are titled in the
name of the trust are not probated, rather a back office procedure
called trust administration takes place after death. Trusts also allow
estate control to be put in the hands of trusted people during periods
of disability.
The Estate Planning Pyramid
The
estate planning pyramid gives a hierarchy of goals for estate planning.
This pyramid is useful in developing an estate planning strategy based
on specific client goals. At the bottom of the pyramid is the SELF. The
most important goals are centered on maintaining our estate for our own
protection and benefit. Likewise an estate plan should provide
protection and benefits for the ones that we love, our FAMILY. The next
goal is to have the estate plan structured to protect what we have or
PRESERVE WEALTH. Beyond that, our estate plan needs to anticipate
INCREASING WEALTH. The final consideration is to reduce TAXES AND
PROBATE.
Traditional
estate planning turns the pyramid upside-down. Taxes and Probate are
important goals to be addressed in every estate plan, but goals at the
bottom of the pyramid may be too important to sacrifice just to achieve
this result. Modern estate planning weighs several considerations when
developing an estate plan.
The Three-Step Strategy
Estate
planning is a process, not a set of documents. For an estate plan to
achieve all of a clients goals, a three-step strategy should be used.
Work with a Counseling Oriented Attorney
Use a Formal Updating System
Assure your Successors Utilize Fixed Fee Services after death
Working with a Counseling Oriented Attorney
Counseling
is the process of tailoring a plan to meet specific desires and goals.
Traditional estate planning services do not stress client counseling as
part of the estate planning process. Rather, traditional estate
planning is the creation of documents to meet general goals surrounding
probate avoidance and estate tax reduction. Important goals such as
protection for catastrophic disability, divorce protection, remarriage
protection, protections for minor children, and catastrophic creditor
protection are rarely if ever considered. In this light, much of what
passes for traditional estate planning is nothing more than glorified
word processing. Only by taking the time to thoroughly examine client
goals and tailoring a plan to meet those goals will an estate plan
truly work.
Use a Formal Updating System
An
estate plan will have to be updated from time to time to reflect
changes that may happen during the lifetime of the client. Three types
of changes need to be planned for: 1) changes in the personal situation
of the client, 2) changes in the financial situation of the client, and
3) changes in the law that affect the outcome of the plan.
First,
changes in the personal situation of the client. Many things may happen
during the personal lifetime of a client that will have a significant
effect on the estate plan. Individuals that have been chosen to do
certain jobs such as Trustees and Guardians may become no longer
available, making it necessary to make new appointments. Families may
be confronted with challenges such as a disability, addiction, divorce,
etc. making it necessary to build additional protections into the plan.
Clients also may desire to make adjustments in distribution patterns or
add additional beneficiaries as time goes on. Many of these changes may
warrant major changes to existing documents.
Second,
changes in the financial situation of the client. For an estate plan to
be effective, it has to conform to the types of assets that are held by
the client. Furthermore, assets have to be effectively titled in the
name of the trust instrument for the plan to have any effect over such
assets. It is rare that clients hold the same assets at death that were
held when the plan was originally created. This means that plans have
to be continually funded (transfer of assets to the name of the trust
instrument). While most asset transfers are generally simple, many
other assets provide challenges such as the acquisition of a business,
the purchase of real property, and changes in retirement plans.
Additional documents may need to be drafted or existing documents
amended to reflect these changes.
Third, changes in the
law that affect the outcome of the plan. There are several areas of law
that effect an estate plan. Income tax law, estate tax law, property
laws, and community property laws are a few. These areas of law are
highly susceptible to the political winds of change and have changed
drastically over the past few years. This is an area that also puts the
client in the most vulnerable situation. Because most clients do not
study these laws and would never know of major changes, they may never
come back to get the much needed amendments that are necessary.
Generally
speaking, clients can use one of two methods for updating a plan. The
first can be referred to as pay as you go. This means that clients
must initiate changes themselves and pay each time that the documents
are altered. This system has a few drawbacks. The client may not know
of legal changes that warrant amendments. Also, if plans are not
updated regularly, larger amendments or a complete re-do of the estate
plan may become necessary, this could become expensive over time. The
second method is to use a formal updating system. We is type of updating. Clients
pay an annual maintenance fee to have the plan updated regularly. This
involves annual changes in the documents to reflect all of the changes
in law that occurred the previous year. Some of these changes in the
law may require minor amendments, in other years even more drastic
changes may be warranted. Also, clients may make as many changes to
their plan as desired to reflect changes in a personal or financial
changes. All changes to the plan are covered under the annual
maintenance fee. In addition, trust administration fees will be lower
because the maintenance reduces the amount of time needed to wind up
the affairs of the estate (see Fixed Fee Services Below). The average
estate planning client will pay far less through annual maintenance
fees over lifetime than they would normally pay for pay as you go.
The greatest benefit is that a client with formal updating will always
have a plan just a current as the newest plan created by the firm, and
always have the piece of mind that the plan will work just the way it
was originally designed to do.
Assure your Successors
Utilize Fixed Fee Services after death. Most estate planning does not
take into consideration the services that are needed upon the death of
the client. While it is generally possible to avoid probate with a good
estate plan, the trust settlement or trust administration process is
necessary to wind up the affairs of an estate after death. This process
takes far less time than probate and is significantly less expensive.
Probate fees nationally average between 2 and 7 percent of the gross
estate value, trust administration fees average about one percent. By
using a formal updating system, the reduced work needed to administer a
thoroughly updated plan can reduce these costs down to one-half of one
percent. Utilizing fixed fee services means that clients may lock in
this fee before death by agreeing to update the plan through the use of
formal updating. This is a milestone in the estate planning field.
Reducing this back-end fee will, on average, make the overall costs
of an estate plan less than they would be under the traditional
approach of pay as you go updating and paying market rates for trust
administration. Furthermore, administration fees are not paid until
death, but the client is assured the lower fee upon inception of the
plan.
Revocable Living Trusts
A revocable
living trust is a contract. The document will state the management
terms for property owned by the trust. Initially, the trustees of the
trust will be the Trustmaker. Thereafter, the successor trustees will
typically be family members or friends. The job of the Trustee is to
manage trust property on behalf of the beneficiaries. Successor
trustees take over the job of the initial trustees upon disability and
death. Trust terms will instruct trustees of their duty with regard to
particular assets and specific events. Restrictions on distributions
contained within a trust add protections for the beneficiaries. Some of
these protections include disability issues, guardianship issues,
catastrophic lawsuits, keeping the estate in the bloodline, and
remarriage issues. In addition, trust property passes free of probate
and can be instrumental in reducing estate taxes.
Durable Powers of Attorney
Financial Powers of Attorney
A
financial power of attorney allows a client the ability to appoint an
agent to make financial decisions on behalf of the client upon
disability. Disability in this context can be defined as the inability
to manage ones own financial affairs as determined by two physicians.
These powers are used most often to manage assets that are not titled
in the name of the trust. These assets usually include vehicles,
retirement plans, and life insurance policies.
Medical Powers of Attorney
A
medical power of attorney is sometimes called an advanced physicians
directive or a living will. It will allow the client the ability to
appoint an agent to make medical decisions on behalf of the client when
the client is unable to so based on medical reasons. These decisions
include the power to remove life support when death is eminent with no
hope of recovery. It also includes decisions with regard to anatomical
gifts, preferences for disposal of final remains, and the choice to use
professional caregivers for a long-term care situation.
Most people have some idea what estate planning is about, but much of
what they "know" is actually false! Before we work with clients, we
want them to recognize that the "truth" about estate planning is
probably different than they thought. See what you think of the
following statements. Our "Truth About Estate Planning" workshops go
into the details behind these matters, so come sometime for more
information. (Dates, times and locations TBA; check back for information soon)
Estate planning is a Process, not an event. Every
estate plan goes through three steps. (1) My plan is developed and
written. (2) Time will pass until my plan is needed, during which
changes in me, my assets and the law often cause my plan to fall out of
date. (3) Administration of my plan at my death or disability.
The Three Step Strategy™ allows me to stay in control
throughout the estate planning process. (1) Working with a counselling
oriented attorney lets me learn what is possible and then develop my
plan to do whatever I want. (2) A formal updating program will assure
that I keep it current, and that my family and I stay in touch with it.
(3) Getting settlement fee disclosure and commitments now keeps my
family from losing control at my death.
There is no Magic Book that will free me from
ever working with an attorney again! Therefore, I need to have a
comfortable relationship with an attorney who follows the Three Step
Strategy™ so my plan will be kept current. "Call if you need to update"
will fail in the long run as a way of keeping my plan up-to-date. Just
leaving my family to "call the attorney" after my death would put the
attorney in control of my plan and the costs at that point, so I need
an attorney who will fully disclose and limit those costs.
I need to take a more active role than I realized.
If people just have the lawyer "draw up" a will or trust, then on death
or disability the attorneys usually have to go into "clean up" mode. If
I am proactive, with me and my family more involved in the process, we
lower our attorney fees overall.
Estate Planning requires teamwork! I can
trust and follow the advice I will get from my different professionals
if I get them to confer and agree on the advice they are giving me.
My estate plan won’t work without proper asset titling.
Proper asset titling is crucial to the success of my estate plan,
whether my plan is designed as a will or a trust. The will or trust is
my instructions to my family ... I need to review all asset titles and
make sure the assets will follow my instructions.
Estate Planning is about my personal goals more than avoiding probate and taxes.
Personal goals can include things like: how I want to live my life; how
I want my spouse and children cared for; how my children should be
raised even if I die early; what priorities I have for my heirs’
education; protecting my spouse (and my assets for my children) from a
new spouse after my death; keeping control of my assets and my care
within the family in the event of my disability; protecting my estate
from nursing home costs; protecting assets from divorces or creditors
of the children even after they inherit; and promoting my family and
spiritual values.
I understand how attorneys charge. Attorney
fees for estate planning are always some percentage of the estate, no
matter how they are calculated. Our
allocation of the fees allows me to explore all planning options, be
totally open and honest with my attorney, and reduce my costs at the
same time.
Group education is less expensive than one-on-one and will help keep my overall legal costs down.
Common legal things that will need to be updated and the preparation of
my family for administration of my plan can be explained in group
meetings to help save my family a lot in fees.
I can have peace of mind, knowing that my Estate Plan will work! I can do it through the proactive and systematic process of the Three Step Strategy™.
If any of these things seem difficult to accept, we invite you to
attend one of our Client Orientation Workshops for more of the
background information. Come learn with us; bring your family members
and your professional advisors. (Stay tuned here for more information on dates, times and locations.)
Q: What is Probate and why does everyone want to avoid it?
When a loved one passes away, his or
her estate often goes through a court-managed process called probate or
estate administration where the assets of the deceased are managed and
distributed. If your loved-one owned his or her assets through a
well-drafted and properly funded Living Trust, it is likely that no
court-managed administration is necessary, though the successor trustee
needs to administer the distribution of the deceased. The length of
time needed to complete the probate of an estate depends on the size
and complexity of the estate and the local rules and schedule of the
probate court.
Every probate estate is unique, but most involve the following steps:
Filing of a petition with the proper probate court.
Notice to heirs under the Will or to statutory heirs (if no Will exists).
Petition to appoint Executor (in the case of a Will) or Administrator for the estate.
Inventory and appraisal of estate assets by Executor/Administrator.
Payment of estate debt to rightful creditors. Sale of estate assets.
A
Living Trust can be used to hold legal title to your assets and provide
a mechanism to manage them. You (and your spouse) are the trustee(s)
and beneficiaries of your trust during your lifetime. You also
designate successor trustees to carry out your instructions as you have
provided in case of death or incapacity. Unlike a Will, a Trust usually
becomes effective immediately after incapacity or death. Your Living
Trust is "revocable" which allows you to make changes and even to
terminate it. One of the great benefits of a properly funded Living
Trust is the fact that it will avoid probate and minimize the expenses
and delays associated with the settlement of your estate.
Q: What are the advantages of having a Living Trust?
Like
a Will, a Living Trust is a legal document that provides for the
management and distribution of your assets after you pass away.
However, a Living Trust has certain advantages when compared to a Will.
A Living Trust allows for the immediate transfer of assets after death
without court interference. It also allows for the management of your
affairs in case of incapacity, without the need for a guardianship or
conservatorship process. With a properly funded Living Trust, there is
no need to undergo a potentially expensive and time-consuming public
probate process. In short, a well-thought out estate plan using a
Living Trust can provide your loved ones with the ability to administer
your estate privately, with more flexibility and in an efficient and
low-cost manner.
Q: Will I lose control over my assets if I establish a Living Trust?
Absolutely
not! During your lifetime when you are mentally competent, you have
complete control over all your assets. You may engage in any
transaction as the trustee of your Trust that you could before you had
a Living Trust. There are no changes in your income taxes. If you
filed a 1040 before you had a trust, you continue to file a 1040 when
you have a Living Trust. There are no new Tax Identification Numbers
to obtain. The Living Trust can be modified at any time or it can be
completely revoked if you so desire. Upon your incapacity, your durable
power of attorney comes into effect and allows your loved ones to
transact on your behalf according to the instructions you have laid out
in the Living Trust. Upon your passing, the Trust becomes irrevocable
so that no one can change your testamentary wishes. For married
couples, the surviving spouse still has total control over his or her
share of assets after its transfer to the survivor's trust, and the
trust becomes irrevocable only as to the deceased spouse's share.
Q: What assets are left outside of my trust?
Assets
with beneficiary designations such as a life insurance policy or
annuity payable directly to a named beneficiary need not be transferred
to your Living Trust. Furthermore, money from IRAs, Keoghs, 401(k)
accounts and most other retirement accounts transfer automatically,
outside probate, to the persons named as beneficiaries. Bank accounts
that are set up as payable-on-death account (POD for short) or an "in
trust for" account (a "Totten Trust") with a named beneficiary also
pass to that beneficiary without having to be titled into your trust.
However, when you do your estate planning, it is important to seek the
counsel of an experienced attorney who is familiar with the intricate
regulations of retirement accounts and can coordinate the appropriate
beneficiary designations with your overall estate plan.
Q: If I transfer real estate to my trust can the bank call my loan?
Federal
law prohibits financial institutions from calling or accelerating your
loan when you transfer property to your Living Trust as long as you
continue to live in that home. The only exception to the federal law,
enacted as part of the 1982 Garn-St. Germain Act is that it does not
provide protection for residential real estate with more than five
dwelling units. However, we find that most clients who do own
residential property with more than five dwelling units tend to own
them through a business entity and not directly in their individual
names and hence are not concerned with the five dwelling exception.
Q: Why do I need a Pour Over Will if I have a Living Trust?
A
Pour-Over Will is used first to name a guardian for minor children.
Second, it protects against intestacy in the event any assets have not
been transferred into the trust at the death of the Trustmaker/Owner.
It will also invalidate any previous Wills which you may have
executed. Its function is to "pour" any assets left out of the trust
into it so they are ultimately distributed according to the terms of
the trust.
Sharon Gaudin has written an article, published online on ComputerWorld, which asks the questions: When people plan for their death, they make sure
their homes, cars and money are left to someone. But what about their
Facebook page? A San Francisco company, Legacy Locker, is slated to launch their digital estate planning service in April.
"We see Legacy Locker filling a serious unmet
need considering the modern, digital lifestyle," said Jeremy Toeman,
founder of Legacy Locker. "[M]ost Web-based companies have no provision for
managing your account in the event of your passing." He further suggests that the assets we create online these days like Flickr,
multiple email addresses, and PayPal accounts, have real,
significant value to the user and the user's family."
Social networks continue to grow in the US and around the world, resulting in a lot of
personal pages out there that will have to be dealt with someday.
According to Nielsen Online, social networks, like Facebook and Myspace, have replaced e-mail as the
fourth most popular online product. Social networking sites now are
used by two-thirds of all online users worldwide.
Toeman
launched Legacy Locker, which will work directly with
consumers or with estate planners, after the death of his grandmother, an avid
e-mailer and online Bridge player. The family found that it had no way
to access her accounts or respond to her emails.
"Users enter online account information,
like logins and passwords to e-mail, photo sharing accounts or social
networking sites, into their 'locker' and then assign each one a
beneficiary. When the user dies, the information is digitally delivered
to the appropriate beneficiary.
Users also are able to leave what the company
calls Legacy Letters, which will be sent to friends, family or
co-workers upon their death."
The service is scheduled to launch in April. Free trial accounts will be available, while
paid programs will cost US$29.99 per year or US$299.99 for a lifetime.
A surprising number of readers want to know “Can a living trust protect my family’s assets from creditors and lawsuits?”
I think there are some promoters out there that use this as a pitch to get people to set up a living trust using their services:
“Transfer your assets to a living trust and hide them from your creditors,” are the claims.
Sorry, that’s not the law.
Let’s have a quick review of a revocable living trust. Basically a trust is “a legal arrangement where property is held for the benefit of someone.” In other words, you “entrust” title to your assets to “someone” who is instructed to use and manage those assets per the terms of the trust document.
A trust is revocable if it contains language that allows you to change your mind and terminate or modify it. In California, the Probate Code specifically states that all trusts are revocable, unless specifically stated otherwise.
A trust is called a “living” trust because it is set up by you while you are living. If you set up a trust through your will, it’s called a “testamentary” trust since it is created through your last will and testament.
The right to revoke your trust means you can remove any asset from the trust title at any time you choose.
Since you have the right to revoke the trust, you are treated as the legal owner of the trust assets for purposes of income tax law or creditor collection law.
So, the general, basic answer to the question, “Will my revocable living trust protect my assets from my creditors?” is no. Since you can remove any asset at any time, your creditor can force you to remove the asset.
Now there are types of “irrevocable” trusts that can be used for protection of “spendthrifts.”
(That’s the fancy term for someone who can’t manage their own property due to lack of sophistication, gullibility, or other problems).
I know a family where one son spends money as soon as he gets it.
He gives it to friends, spends it on new toys, whatever. He just doesn’t have a healthy concept of money and can’t keep it. He is a classic “spendthrift.”
In his parents’ case, what they have done in their living trust is said, in effect, after they’re both dead, the spendthrift son’s share of the estate will be held in an irrevocable trust for his benefit.
He is to be given a monthly draw on the trust until he dies or until the money runs out.
In that case, the money in the “spendthrift trust” is sheltered from the son’s creditors since he does not, nor did he ever, own the assets held inside the trust.
Sure, the creditors can get his monthly draw once he gets it, but the main trust is sheltered for his benefit.
That is a classic and perfectly legal way of sheltering assets from the creditors of a “spendthrift” using a living trust (it can also be done using a testamentary trust).
Phil Craig is a licensed attorney and entreprenuer. He started practicing law at age 25 in 1979. He does not take on any more clients, but is advisor to some of the biggest names in the internet world. He shares his knowledge gained over the last 25 years at his Living Trust Secrets newsletter site: click here=========>http://www.LivingTrustSecrets.com
The Leadership Committeeof the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers featured Cobb County attorney and candidate for Cobb County Probate Judge, Kelli L. Wolk, in its Leadership Spotlight:
This month’s leadership spotlight is on Kelli L. Wolk. Kelli is a 2008 graduate of the inaugural GAWL Leadership Academy, and also Leadership Cobb. She is currently running for the Cobb County Probate Court judgeship that opened up when her mentor and long-time probate court judge, the Hon. David Dodd, decided to retire. Kelli clerked for Judge Dodd for two years after graduating from the Georgia State University College of Law. In 2001, Kelli joined the Cobb County office of Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele, where her law practice has continued to focus on probate litigation, guardianship issues, estate planning, and general civil litigation. For the past three years, Kelli was named a Rising Star by Atlanta Magazine’s Super Lawyers, and in 2007, she was featured by Cobb Life Magazine as one of Cobb County’s Top 20 under 40.
In addition to her law practice, Kelli is a frequent speaker on the subjects of probate, guardianships, estate planning, advanced directives, and administration of estates at continuing education seminars for lawyers and other groups, including social workers, medical professionals, mothers’ groups, and senior citizens. Kelli worked on the revision of Georgia’s Guardianship Code and has also testified before the Special Judiciary Subcommittee of the Georgia House of Representatives.
“Running for Cobb County probate judge has been an amazing process,” Kelli says. “It has enabled me to put into practice many of the leadership, communication and networking skills we studied at the GAWL Leadership Academy.” Campaigning has given her the opportunity to meet a huge number of talented people and to do things she never would have experienced had she not thrown her hat into the ring. From attending forums and fairs and lugging 200 pound signs around the county, to taping television commercials, “Nothing brings home more just how large Cobb County really is than trying to meet all of its citizens,” says Kelli. Through her experience first as law clerk, then as a fulltime litigator before the Probate Court, Kelli has become passionate about the court and the services it provides to people in need and in crisis. Kelli’s enthusiasm for running for probate judge has kept her energized and on her toes.
Although integrating her law practice with campaigning has been a challenge at times, Kelli says she has been able to maintain a full client load by focusing on her clients’ needs during the workday, and returning campaign-related calls and emails from early evening till bedtime, and then again at the crack of dawn. Which can make for a very long day. Kelli firmly believes, however, that because of her background and temperament, she will make an excellent probate judge. “There will be plenty of time to catch up on sleep after the election on November 4,” says Kelli.
One of Kelli’s strengths is her ability to communicate complex legal issues in a way that makes them understandable. Her communication skills go way back. Kelli did her undergraduate work at Missouri State University, where she earned a B.A. in Communications. Between college and law school, she worked in television production for nearly ten years.
If elected, Kelli will bring a wealth of leadership and community experience to the bench. Kelli volunteers with Habitat for Humanity in Cobb County. She is a former member of the Cobb County Bar Association’s Board of Trustees, a past member of the Cobb Justice Foundation Advisory Board, past chair of the State Bar Young Lawyers Division Elder Law Committee, and is past president of the Elder Law Section of the Cobb County Bar. Kelli is active in Rotary, and headed the Marietta Rotary Boys and Girls Club Literacy Program, “Bookville.” She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for MUST Ministries, which provides education, counseling, shelter, and other services to assist those in need to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. You can find more information about Kelli at www.kelliwolkforprobatejudge.com .
Many people use revocable or living trusts in their estate plans.
Living trusts are very powerful planning tools you can use for all kinds of purposes. Trusts can avoid probate, protect your beneficiaries from their creditors or divorcing spouses and can provide for the family cottage, education for grandchildren or your favorite charities.
Many of these trusts are signed and then put away in a drawer or safety deposit box, not to be looked at again for years. This can result in an estate plan that does not work as intended.
Trusts, like any other tool in your shed, must be kept sharp. When a trust is part of your overall comprehensive estate plan, you should try to avoid the seven most common trust mistakes:
Mistake 1: Failing to title assets in the name of your trust
Mistake 2: Failing to update your trust
Mistake 3: Using form documents
Mistake 4: Choosing the wrong trustee
Mistake 5: Thinking your trust protects you from your creditors
Mistake 6: Thinking that assets in a revocable living trust escape estate taxes
Mistake 7: Forgetting your favorite charities.
If you have not put your assets into your trust, also called "funding" your trust, you have lost some of the benefits of your trust.
Any assets that are in your own name at the time of your death will need to be probated. However, any assets that are titled in the name of your trust at the time of your death will avoid probate and usually result in lower after death administration costs.
Generally, except for qualified retirement funds and certain annuities, all of your assets should be transferred into your trust during your lifetime.
A trust drafted as a qualified beneficiary for retirement funds and named as beneficiary of your qualified retirement assets preserves the "stretch out" of the distributions over the ultimate beneficiary's life expectancy.
Placing all of your assets in your trust means that all assets will be distributed according to the detailed instructions you leave in your trust. Having a trust without putting your assets into the trust is like buying a brand new car, but not filling it with gas: It looks great, but it does not go anywhere.
Your trust should be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it still meets your needs.
There are many changes that can trigger an update to your trust. There may be changes in your personal life such as births, deaths, mar riages or divorces. There may be financial changes in your life, such as job changes, retirement, the stock market going up or the stock market going down.
There also are tax and non-tax changes in the laws. Congress never fails to pass some sort of a tax act every year. There also are changes in your attorney's experience. The trusts I draft this year are better than the ones that I drafted in previous years as I learn and experience new things.
Many people attempt to draft their own trusts by using forms found on the Internet or in legal software packages. Many attorneys also will use forms-based documents. When preparing a trust, the old adage "You get what you pay for" is very often true.
The forms-based trusts usually treat everyone the same. For example, many form trusts have the provision that your successor trustees take over if you become disabled in the opinion of two physicians. Most of my clients would rather have their family making this decision instead of non-family members.
Most forms-based trusts are also only will substitutes which provide upon your death that your property is distributed outright to your beneficiaries. For many, outright distributions are not the best protection for your beneficiaries. Many trust makers provide lifetime trusts for their children.
With lifetime trusts, your children have control over and have access to the funds for their lifetimes for their needs, but there are two key protections.
Firstl the lifetime trust protects the assets you leave to your children from your children's creditors.
And second, as long as the trust assets are not commingled with your children's marital assets, the assets generally would be protected from being considered as marital assets in the event of a divorce property settlement.
Many people choose their oldest child as their successor trustee. This may not always be the wisest choice.
When choosing a trustee, make sure the person that you are choosing has the skill and talents to manage your assets. If a child has a substance abuse problem, has poor money management skills or is married to a predator, it may not be the wisest choice to name him or her as your trustee.
You also may want to name multiple co-trustees to manage your assets during your disability or after your death.
You also could name a professional trustee such as a bank or trust company to be a trustee or co-trustee during your lifetime or upon your disability or death. These professional trustees are in the business of managing assets for a reasonable fee.
If you are not leaving the assets directly to a child as a result of substance abuse problems, poor money management skills, creditor issues or otherwise, an independent professional trustee making distribution decisions is often times better for family harmony.
Most revocable living trusts are not creditor protection devices for the trust maker. Most living trusts are drafted so you have full authority to change, amend, alter or revoke the trust and you have full access to the assets in the trust. If you have full access to your trust assets, so do your creditors.
Similarly, assets included in your revocable living trust are available or countable resources for Medicaid purposes.
Properly drafted and funded trusts for both you and your spouse can, however, protect your trust assets from your spouse's creditors and vice versa. A trust can also protect the assets you leave to your children from their creditors.
Many people think if they put assets in a revocable living trust, those assets will escape estate taxes. Upon your death, any assets in a revocable living trust are considered your assets in your gross estate for estate tax purposes.
In 2008, you can leave up to $2 million estate tax-free to your beneficiaries. However, you and your spouse can double the amount of assets that can be distributed estate tax free to your beneficiaries from $2 million to $4 million by using properly drafted and funded separate revocable living trusts.
About 89% of Americans donate to charities during their lifetime. However, only about 3% of Americans provide for charities after they are gone.
If you give regularly to a church or other favorite charity during your lifetime, your donations expire with you. These organizations that have depended upon your donations during your lifetime will no longer have those donations after you are gone, unless you provide for them. You may want to consider a bequest to your favorite charities after you are gone.
SOURCE: TheTimesHerald.com in an article written by Matthew M. Wallace, an attorney and CPA with the law firm of Matthew M. Wallace, PC, in Port Huron, Michigan.
What if you are seriously injured in a car accident while driving your children to swimming lessons? What if your spouse is out of town and you are rushed to the emergency room? Who will ensure that your children are kept out of foster care? And, yes, what if you die prematurely?
Hopefully, you will live to meet your great-grandchildren. But, truth be told, you have no idea when you will die—only that it will happen sometime.
How The Kids Protection Plan Will Help You
The Kids Protection Plan will help you protect your children, values, and peace of mind. You will have:
• Created a plan in case something happens to you and/or your spouse/children’s other parent while your children are in another’s care. • Chosen and documented a first responder to immediately go to your children and care for them in the event that your permanent guardian is not immediately available or lives some distance away. • Notified your guardians and first responders as to their responsibilities and provided detailed instructions about what to do, should they be needed. • Designated long-term guardian(s) for your children, in order of preference, and created a legally binding document ranking your choices. • A wallet ID card with the names and telephone numbers of your first responders. • Provided a babysitter information sheet so they will know who to call if you don’t come home. • Documented those relatives who you do not want to serve as guardians of your children and created legally binding and confidential documentation of this choice. • Provided instructions to your guardians about the environment in which you want your children raised.
What the Kids Protection Plan Does Not Do
Completion of the Kids Protection Plan is the first step in the estate planning process. It ensures the care of your children only. It does not prevent your assets from going through the 12-18 month probate process upon your death, nor does it provide planning to avoid estate taxes, or protect your children’s inheritance from lawsuits, bankruptcy, divorce, or estate taxes in their estates.
It does not name a financial guardian to care for your assets on behalf of your children. A court can distribute your assets to a financial guardian to be held for the benefit of your children until they turn 18 years of age. Then the assets will be distributed to them outright, totally unprotected.
Don’t leave your children unprotected another day.
SOURCE FOR POST: Fellow Personal Family Lawyer Linda Sherfey
You have changes in your life, the law changes, and your assets change. If you don’t update your estate plan, then at the end of your life, your planning documents may be totally out of date and USELESS or even worse – WRONG.
Most attorneys bill on an hourly basis, which discourages you from calling their office. It’s possible that since your estate planning documents were signed, you have had a lot of changes in your life and your family. But you didn’t contact the attorney who drafted your documents because you were afraid of what it would cost. That’s understandable.
The traditional estate planning model requires you to proactively contact your attorney when things change in your life, the law changes or your assets change. But, you’re busy and keep putting it off thinking you’ll get to it later.
The traditional model focuses on estate planning documents that pass on your financial assets with minimal court involvement and estate taxes, but far too often don’t focus at all on your most valuable wealth – your intellectual, spiritual, and human assets.
I’m not in the business of putting in place estate plans that are destined to fail because they are outdated. I am here to help you and make a difference in your life! So, I’ve figured out how I could really make a difference in your life, help you create a real, tangible legacy for your loved ones, ensure your estate plan stays up to date and provide you with ongoing legal services all without charging you hourly fees. I’m really excited about it and think it’s the perfect solution to all of the problems created as a result of the old, outdated ways of the traditional lawyer … the traditional model has not served you as well as I know I can.
You can be a part of our NEW Family Wealth VIP Membership Program.
I’ve broken free of the traditional lawyer’s way of doing business and have been awarded the designation of being the only Personal Family Lawyer™ in the Marietta and Cobb County, Georgia, area.
As a Personal Family Lawyer™, I’ve committed to entirely eliminate hourly billing in my office, ensure my client’s estate plans work throughout their lifetime and give my clients affordable access to their own personal lawyer throughout life before making any financial or legal decisions.
How will I do this?
It’s called our “Family Wealth VIP Membership Program”. Here is some of what you get as a member:
No charge access to me, your own Personal Family Lawyer™, so we can talk before making another legal or financial decision – and not have to worry about being billed. Up to 50% discount on future legal services with my office. Annual review of your estate planning documents and unlimited plan amendments, so your plan always works! Annual asset check up to ensure everything you own is owned in the right way. I can put in place the best documents for you, but if your assets are owned incorrectly, your documents may fail. 25% discount on the after death administration of a trust estate or will probate administration so your family will never have to worry that they won’t know what to do after you are gone. Electronic storage of your Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Will and Disclosure of Protected Health Information so your medical professionals can access these critically important documents from anywhere in the world, whenever you need them. Annual “Priceless Conversations” that pass on your whole Family Wealth, not just your money. Through these simple conversations, which we will record for you in our office, you will build a legacy library that when left behind will be more valuable than any amount of dollar wealth you could create – it’s about who you are and what’s important to you.
These are just a few of the benefits of our Family Wealth VIP Membership program.
I am also providing a free estate plan check up for the parents (over age 65) of members. If your parents need a comprehensive estate plan after this check up, I’ll provide that at 50% off our normal rates. And, if all they need is an updated Healthcare Power of Attorney, Living Will, Medical Disclosure Release and General Durable Power of Attorney (every adult needs these documents even if they don’t own any property or have any money in the bank), I’ll do that free. These documents benefit you as much as they do your parents.
SOURCE FOR POST: Fellow Personal Family Lawyer Linda Sherfey
AV® Peer Review Rating — An AV® certification mark is a significant rating accomplishment - a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence. A lawyer must be admitted to the bar for 10 years or more to receive an AV® rating.
This blog is written and published by Stephen M. Worrall for educational purposes only, i.e. to give information and a general understanding of Georgia family law, not to provide specific legal advice. The information provided by this blog should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state. Steve Worrall is licensed to practice law in the state of Georgia only.
Your use of this blog does not establish an attorney-client relationship between you and Stephen M. Worrall. Such an attorney-client relationship can only be established by execution of a contract for legal services between GeorgiaFamilyLaw.com, The Law Firm of Mullin & Worrall, LLC, and a prospective client.
Some material contained in this blog is general in nature and may not reflect the current laws of the State of Georgia. The author of this blog does not necessarily support the views expressed in all articles contained herein and cannot guarantee their accuracy.
The inclusion of material from identified sources is for educational purposes only and is not intended to infringe on the copyrights of the identified sources.
Georgia Cities and Counties in Which We Practice
We do take and have handled cases in counties throughout the State of Georgia, but these are the ones in which we handle the majority of our cases.
Bartow County, GA Includes the cities of Cartersville, Emerson, Euharlee, Kingston, and White
Cherokee County, GA Includes the cities of Ball Ground, Canton, Holly Springs, Waleska, and Woodstock
Clayton County Includes the cities of Forest Park, Jonesboro, Lake City, Lovejoy, Morrow and Riverdale.
Cobb County, GA Includes the cities of Acworth, Austell, Kennesaw, Marietta, Powder Springs and Smyrna and the communities of Mableton, Vinings, Fair Oaks, Cumberland, Town Center, East Cobb, West Cobb, North Cobb, and South Cobb
Coweta County Includes the cities of Grantville, Haralson, Moreland, Newnan, Senoia, Sharpsburg and Turin.
DeKalb County, GA Includes the cities of Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Lithonia, Pine Lake and Stone Mountain.
Douglas County, GA Includes the city of Douglasville and the community of Lithia Springs.
Fayette County Includes the cities of Brooks, Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone and Woolsey.
Fulton County , GA Includes the cities of Alpharetta, Atlanta, College Park, East Point, Fairburn, Hapeville, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Palmetto, Roswell and Union City.
Gwinnett County, GA Includes the cities of Berkeley Lake, Buford, Dacula, Duluth, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Loganville, Norcross, Snellville, Sugar Hill and Suwanee.
Henry County Includes the cities of Hampton, Locust Grove, McDonough and Stockbridge.
ABA Section of Family Law: Tech Corner Family Law practitioner and ABA Family Law Section member Stephen M. Worrall refers to Microsoft Office OneNote as The Ideal Note-Taking Tool for Today's Lawyer in his TabletPCLawyer blog.
Alabama Family Law Blog: Checklist of Divorce Issues I've just discovered Stephen Worrall's Georgia Family Law Blog. Its a very good blog with a lot of great content, and its not all specific to the state of Georgia, so check it out.
California Divorce Blawg: Georgia Family Law Blog Stephen M. Worrall and Melissa A Mullin, are in charge at the Law Firm of Mullin & Worrall in Marietta, Georgia. In addition Worrall produces the Georgia Family Law Blog, which is a great resource for those with Georgia divorce on ther minds. For those of your who have seen me in court, visited my office, of sat in on one of my speaking presentations, you are aware of the fact that I am a big proponent of tablet pc's, and I use mind all the time. If Stephen Worrall wasn't busy enough and maintaining his Georgia blog, he also produces the Tablet PC Lawyer Blog, which I frequently visit. Take a look at both of his blogs when you can.
CKA Mediation & Arbitration Blog: Excellent Resource on Georgia Domestic and Family Law (including mediation) I recently found an interesting, informative and frequently updated blog about Georgia family law and divorce law, the Georgia Family Law Blog. Run by Stephen M. Worrall, a Marietta based domestic attorney, it contains tons of great information on Georgia domestic and family law, including mediation.
I plan to visit the site often as I hope to expand my practice into domestic mediation in the next few months.
Divorce Law Journal: Blawg Review #101 Gaining ground in my corner of the blawgosphere are divorce and family law bloggers . . . Stephen Worrall of Georgia Family Law Blog with Helping Georgia’s juvenile code grow up.
Divorce Law Journal: More on Getting a Get Thanks to Stephen Worrell at the Georgia Family Law Blog for the post Jewish women look to courts to obtain traditional divorce decree which led us to the article.
Florida Divorce & Family Law Blog: Observations from Seasoned Family Law Attorney I recently found this article on the Georgia Family Law Blog. It gives some helpful advice to divorcing couples on how to conduct yourself during a divorce. Its helpful to get advice and thoughts from a seasoned family law attorney who has been "in the trenches" for many years.
Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog - How to Choose a Guardian for your children The Georgia Wills, Trust, and Estate Planning Blog has an article on choosing the right guardian for your children where the break down the process into three steps. This three-step approach should make the process easier to accomplish without damaging the marriage.
Indiana Family Law Blog: Helping children cope with your divorce The Georgia Family Law Blog has another excellent article on helping kids deal with the challenges they face when the parents divorce. Any family law attorney worth his or her weight in salt should refer clients to this article.
Indiana Family Law Blog: How to stay happily married By way of Georgia’s most active family law blogger, we have a link to a free podcast (aka audio file to listen to on your computer or mp3 player) featuring ten marriage counselors each offering a tip on how to keep a marriage happy.
Indiana Family Law Blog: More good planning ideas The Georgia Family Law Blog has another dose of good advice for people contemplating divorce. What I particularly like about this post is that it’s not adversarial. It’s practical and looks toward the future.
Indiana Family Law Blog: The beginnings of an idea, perhaps a proposal Fellow family law blogger Steve Worrall notes that in his home county [, Cobb County, Georgia, in Marietta and metropolitan Atlanta], there is a program for engaged couples and newlyweds that addresses topics like communication, anger management, financial planning, and so on.
Inter Alia: Blawg of the Day Steve Worrall is a lawyer with the firm of Mullin and Worrall in Marietta, Georgia. His Georgia Family Law Blog provides "news and thoughts on family law issues in Georgia: divorce, alimony, child support, child custody, visitation, property division, adoption and more."
Kentucky Family Law Blog: Choosing a Guardian for Your Children The following article came to my attention through the Georgia Wills and Probate Law Blog. While not related to child custody law, I feel that it provides important considerations for those with familes that are changing due to divorce.
NC Divorce Talk Radio: YouTube and Billboards The panel also visits the issue of domestic violence and takes a look at a post from the Georgia Family Law Blog that examines the non-physical aspects of abuse in a relationship.
Ohio Estate Planning and Elder Law: Couples Face Pitfalls When Estate Planning In A Second Marriage Attorney Stephen M. Worrall writes the following in his Georgia Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning Blog. This centers upon an issue that is constantly overlooked, creating drastic and unfortunate impact upon the estates of many people! Don't overlook the importance of planning in second marriage situations.
P.I.S.S.D.: Link of the Day - Georgia Family Law Blog Marietta, Georgia attorney Stephen M. Worrall writes the Georgia Family Law blog in addition to maintaining a Web site on Georgia Family Law....
Attorney Worrall also publishes the Georgia Wills and Probate blog.... And now, late breaking news: Steve has just started a new blog about tablet computers.
Sam Hasler's Indiana Divorce & Family Law Blog: My Roundup of Law Blogs Part 3 Georgia Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements Blog: "News and Thoughts on Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements and Reconciliation Agreements in Georgia." From Stephen Worrall who also publishes Georgia Family Law Blog. Fairly new, well-written. Combine this with #14 if you leave here wanting more information on pre-nuptial agreements.
UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW: Electronic evidence used more frequently Steve Worrall, author of the outstanding Georgia Family Law Blog, has written many posts recently about the increasing frequency with which electronic evidence is being sought and used in court proceedings. A recent blog article entitled Law evolving as divorces drag in electronic evidence, is well worth the time to read, whether you're a family law subscriber to this Blog or a layperson involved in a pending divorce.
VA Family Law Blog: Abuse Warning Signs Take a moment and look at this important post from the Georgia Family Law Blog because it wisely points out that before abuse becomes domestic violence, there are warning signs. These signs may be happening in the life of someone you love or work with. The blog post was spawned by one of the too-numerous instances of death-by-spouse which happen in the U.S. each year.
Regardless of the size of your bank account, if you’ve got a child at
home who depends on you, you need to have a comprehensive Kids
Protection Plan® (KPP) in place to ensure her well-being and care in
case you can’t be there.
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This month’s leadership spotlight is on Kelli L. Wolk. Kelli is a 2008 graduate of the inaugural GAWL Leadership Academy, and also Leadership Cobb. She is currently running for the Cobb County Probate Court judgeship that opened up when her mentor and long-time probate court judge, the Hon. David Dodd, decided to retire. Kelli clerked for Judge Dodd for two years after graduating from the Georgia State University College of Law. In 2001, Kelli joined the Cobb County office of Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele, where her law practice has continued to focus on probate litigation, guardianship issues, estate planning, and general civil litigation. For the past three years, Kelli was named a Rising Star by Atlanta Magazine’s Super Lawyers, and in 2007, she was featured by Cobb Life Magazine as one of Cobb County’s Top 20 under 40. 
