Very informative article in Business Insider says, “I’ve worked with more than 1,200 families as a Certified Financial Planner, and I see people make the same estate-planning mistakes over and over again. Not having a will is a major problem. After that, though, you also need guardianship documents for minor children, updated beneficiaries, and a properly funded trust.”
MSN‘s article states the message my son and I have been trying to convey for years, but even more so now. The article starts, “If you live in the United States and really want to be prepared for coronavirus, experts say you need a fully executed power of attorney, which designates a trusted person to take over your finances should you become incapacitated. . . . A financial power of attorney is the most useful document because of the possibility that you could be put out of commission for weeks if you fall ill and are unable to take care of your financial affairs. It is followed closely by healthcare directives, which express your wishes about medical care and who gets to make decisions for you, and a will, which distributes your assets after you die.
Arizona residents can get these important documents by purchasing our Peace of Mind bundle or our Gold estate plan.
Wall St. Journal’s article says “The search term ‘getting a will’ has risen sharply since March 8, according to Google Trends. . . . Many young families have nothing in place to protect their assets if they die. Approximately 60% of Americans don’t have a will, according to a study commissioned last year by Brookdale Senior Living . . . But for young parents and healthy people with simple estates, the ease of online estate planning can be beneficial.”
We offer online estate planning. See the contents of our three estate plans.
CNBC’s article says, “Over the last two weeks, online will companies have seen an explosion in users. . . . you can go through the entire process at home . . . . as online wills grow in popularity, a chorus of lawyers increasingly caution against using them. A quick Google search will bring up articles on the dangers of do-it-yourself wills or stories of online wills that were thrown out in court. . . . However, as online wills grow in popularity, a chorus of lawyers increasingly caution against using them. A quick Google search will bring up articles on the dangers of do-it-yourself wills or stories of online wills that were thrown out in court.”
FYI: See the contents and prices of our three estate planning packages, including the Peace of Mind bundle. All three plans allow you to sign the documents in your home.
Forbes says: “Instead of worrying, realize that there are opportunities in this crisis. You can make some moves now that will enhance your tax and estate planning. . . . Be sure your estate plan is updated to reflect the current situation. You need a medical care power of attorney that names an agent who can act for you in an emergency.
Interesting article in the Motley Fool that says the four things you need to have are:
Read the article for more about each of these important documents.
P.S. Items 1, 3 & 4 are included in our comprehensive estate plan with a trust and our Peach of Mind Bundle. See the contents of the two estate plan packages.
In an article in Barrons on
“Here Are Some Key Things to Know. Financial advisors and estate attorneys say they are seeing a flurry of inquiries from people seeking to update or draft wills and take other estate-planning measures amid the coronavirus crisis.
‘Seeing in the news that so many people are passing away worldwide and here in the U.S., people are getting a little scared,’ says Alain Roman, an estate-planning attorney in Miami, who is now working with clients mostly over the telephone and online. ‘It’s getting them thinking about having a plan in place in case something happens to them.’ . . .
Jamison Taylor, managing attorney at RISM LLC, a law firm in Washington, D.C., recommends that everyone have at least these three basics: a will, a power of attorney, and a medical directive of some sort. These documents will allow for the distribution of assets according to one’s wishes, the ability to make financial decisions on one’s behalf, and guidance for medical professionals on treatment and care.
“It is important that every adult have in place a living will, health proxy and HIPAA release. What key steps should you take now? Why might your existing documents be dangerously wrong and how can you fix them? How has the current environment changed how these documents will be used? How might you update your documents to address these new conditions? What other practical steps can you easily take to protect yourself, and your loved ones?
Think of Others: If you have elderly parents or other loved ones, these may be vital steps for them to take. . . .
Be Sure Your Documents are Current: You should make sure that you, and elderly or ill loved ones, have current legal documents: living wills, healthcare proxies, HIPAA releases, powers of attorney and wills”
Attorney H. Dennis Beaver’s timely article in the Kipliner magazine starts “Estate planning attorneys are getting mobbed with questions. So, here is some timely advice from three attorneys on what families and business owners should be doing to prepare in case the unimaginable happens.”
The article affirms what we as estate planning attorneys believe, which is that these uncertain times make it imperative that people sign estate plan documents that protect their most valuable assets, their loved ones.
Chambliss: “If you have it to give, you certainly can, but there may be consequences should you apply for Medicaid long-term care coverage within five years after each gift. The $15,000 figure is the amount of the current gift tax exclusion (for 2018), meaning that any person who gives away $15,000 or less to any one individual in one particular year does not have to report the gift to the IRS, and you can give this amount to as many people as you like. If you give away more than $15,000 to any one person in a single year (other than your spouse), you will have to file a gift tax return. However, this does not necessarily mean you’ll pay a gift tax. You’ll have to pay a tax only if your reportable gifts total more than $11.18 million (2018 figure) during your lifetime.”
Market Watch: “Creating an estate plan is a gift to the people you leave behind. By expressing your wishes, you’re trying to guide your loved ones at a difficult, emotional time. All too often, though, well-meaning people do things destined to create discord, rancor and resentment among their heirs. What looks good on paper may play out disastrously in real life, says estate and trust attorney Marve Ann Alaimo, partner at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur in Naples, Florida. “People want to think everybody will be nice and do right,” Alaimo says. “Human nature is not always that way.” You can reduce the chances of family discord by doing these four things:”
NEWS: “One of Prince’s many nicknames was The Purple One. It was reportedly his favourite colour, and after the success of Purple Rain its use defined his image and his legacy. Now, it is set to do so in perpetuity, as the late singer’s estate looks to claim ownership over the use of “the colour purple” in films and live and recorded music. Paisley Park Enterprises, his company, filed an application earlier this month with the US Patent and Trademark Office to do just that.“
FOX: “The daughter of the late legendary football star and sportscaster “Dandy Don” Meredith dealt with abuse and neglect after her stepmother took guardianship of her trust following Meredith’s death, relatives said. Meredith, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, “Monday Night Football” commentator and TV pitchman who often referred to himself as “Jeff and Hazel’s baby boy,” set up a trust to ensure lifetime care for his youngest child, Heather, now 49, who was born with physical and intellectual disabilities.”
JDSUPRA: “Divorce is a fact of life in America. It should come as no surprise that it can be a difficult process and can cause other aspects of a person’s life to be ignored while it is happening. It is important, though, that a divorcing individual involve his or her estate planning attorney in the divorce process to make sure that any settlement agreement and estate plan comport with post-divorce reality. In many cases, a divorce will automatically eliminate a former spouse from receiving any benefits under the other spouse’s will or revocable trust. This may not be the case in all states, though. Moreover, the divorce may not affect assets that have beneficiary designations, such as life insurance and retirement benefits (and, more commonly now, bank and brokerage accounts). Thus, a careful review of all of an individual’s assets is essential.”
The Washington Post: “First things first: Quadruple-check your ticket after Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing. Then do it again. Do they match the winning numbers (5-28-62-65-70, with a Mega Ball number of 5)? No? Skip to here. Yes? Lock the deadbolt and read on. Congratulations! So, you’ve done it. Beaten the odds — one in 302,575,350 — and won the largest Mega Millions jackpot in history. And it’s yours alone, so you’re almost certainly about to enjoy an astronomical spike in wealth. Now what? Before you shout from the rooftops or broadcast your excitement on social media, take a deep breath and keep some practical advice in mind. To sign or not to sign the back of the lottery ticket? There are plenty of people who will advise you to sign the back of the lottery ticket right away — including lottery officials in South Carolina, where Tuesday’s winning ticket was sold. After all, what would happen if, heaven forbid, you lost the ticket? Or worse yet, if an unscrupulous person in your life took the unsigned ticket and claimed it as his or hers?”
FOX: “Walt Disney World and Disneyland have allegedly been outed as one of the most popular places for families to scatter their loved one’s ashes. According to The Wall Street Journal, custodians at the famous theme parks are claiming that not only do guests bring their family’s ashes to scatter – they do so often enough to prompt a special code word for it: HEPA cleanup, referring to an ultrafine vacuum cleaner.”
Fox: “A bride-to-be in England is having a difficult time finding a dressmaker willing to create her dream wedding dress that she’d like to be festooned with locks of her dead mother’s hair, reports said. The woman made a sketch of the floor-length ball gown and requested that “the bodice around the midsection of the dress to have a lacy, floral design made with the hair.”
Bloomberg: “A Russian billionaire fighting one of the largest divorce payouts in U.K. history lost a Moscow court case where he was trying to prove that his marriage had been dissolved 16 years earlier. Farkhad Akhmedov was ordered to pay his wife Tatiana Akhmedova more than 450 million pounds ($586 million) following a London trial that he refused to participate in on the grounds that he was already divorced in Russia. Now the Moscow City Court has rejected an appeal by the businessman seeking to prove the existence of that divorce.”
BBC: “A man in China whose wife killed herself and their two children after he allegedly faked his own death for an insurance payout has given himself up to police. The 34-year-old was presumed dead after a car he borrowed was found in a river, though his body was never recovered. He did not tell his wife his alleged plan and she believed he had died. She drowned herself and their children three weeks later, after posting a suicide note online. The man, who police said was surnamed He, turned himself in to police in Xinhua county in Hunan province last Friday.”
The Guardian: “Rupert Murdoch’s six children could each receive as much as $2bn (£1.5bn) from the sale of his 21st Century Fox global entertainment empire to Disney. Murdoch is in the final stages of completing the $71.3bn sale of 21st Century Fox, which includes the Hollywood studio behind hits from Deadpool to X-Men and a 39% stake in Sky. The family trust, which the 87-year old Murdoch controls, owns a 17% stake in Fox worth a little over $12bn. The beneficiaries of the trust, in which Murdoch has no financial interest, are his children Prudence, James, Lachlan and Elisabeth. Grace and Chloe, his daughters with his former wife Wendi Deng Murdoch, whom he divorced five years ago, are also beneficiaries but have no voting interest in it.”
Financial Advisor: “Paul Allen’s family office will live long and prosper. The billionaire’s vast holdings at Vulcan Inc. — with real estate, art, sports teams and venture capital stakes — would take years to unravel, if that’s even what he wanted. Allen, who died Monday, had no spouse or children to divide his empire. But there are many others with interests at stake, including family, staff and charities, as well as potential investors eager to snap up pieces.”
Time Magazine: “A high school student mixed her cremated grandfather’s ashes into homemade sugar cookies and shared them with several classmates, police in Northern California said Wednesday. The student and a friend baked the cookies and shared them with at least nine classmates at their public charter high school near Sacramento on Oct. 4, said Davis Police Lt. Paul Doroshov. He said the Da Vinci Charter Academy students told some of their classmates that the cookies contained human ashes.”
Moneyweb: “The increased Value-Added Tax (VAT) rate – announced in the 2018 National Budget – dominated headlines for weeks thereafter, but this is not the only tax change affecting consumers and investors. Many tax changes also affect estate planning and the cost of estate administration. I asked Brenthurst’s Fiduciary Services Expert, Rozanne Heystek-Potgieter, for her top tips to navigate this. We compiled a list of six important issues to consider when navigating the complex field of deceased estate administration. More importantly, we have included tips on how to prepare for the inevitable and re-evaluate your existing will, the liquidity of your estate and estate planning goals in general.”
Elite Daily: “The upcoming royal wedding of Princess Eugenie and long-time boyfriend Jack Brooksbank has the whole world talking, and it’s for good reason. Princess Eugenie and Brooksbank are fairly low key and lead relatively normal lives compared to their fellow royal family members, which makes their love story surprisingly relatable. However, because they’re such a low-key couple, there are tons of unanswered questions about their Oct. 12 wedding. For instance, do Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have a prenup? It’s not a totally off-base question, but it’s also sort of complicated. The soon-to-be married couple has been together seven years, but with the royal family, nothing is off the table. (Except bright nail polish, of course.) The thing is, the royal family is high-profile on a worldwide scale. They’re basically like the Kardashians, but British and with crowns, titles, and dress codes. Marrying into the fam is a pretty big deal, and just like celebrities sign prenuptial arrangements, you might expect the royal family to follow suit. But surprisingly, that’s not the case.”
FOX: “A devout Buffalo Bills fan took one final dig at his team, requesting six players as pallbearers in his obituary this week, so that “they can let him down one last time.” Lee Merkel, 83, died on Sunday at his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, but the native New Yorker and lifelong season ticketholder wanted to ensure he got the final laugh.”
Smith Admudsen: “You and your significant other are ready to take the next big step in your relationship: getting married. While this is an exciting event, it’s also one that should prompt you and your fiancé to have some serious conversations about the legal implications of the marriage. Here are a few considerations that might help you and your partner start your marriage with clear understandings.”
Wealth Management: “The president’s propensity for fudging the numbers runs in the family. That’s the main takeaway from The New York Times’ exhaustive look Tuesday at the myriad of methods that the president’s father, Fred Trump, used to minimize taxes while transferring his wealth—$413 million—to his children. What’s interesting is just how permissive the gift and estate tax regime is to those willing to fudge the truth, sometimes brazenly.”
Forbes: “While the celebrity buzz of the week is that Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin were secretly married earlier this week, the even bigger news is that they may not have signed a prenuptial agreement. With Justin’s net worth estimated at $265 million and Hailey’s at $2 million, that’s a tremendous imbalance of wealth. Depending on how the marriage turns out, this could result in a big payday for Hailey down the road. While Justin and Hailey may be young and in love – and throwing all caution to the wind – no one with any substantial assets should follow their lead. Here are 10 things every person should know about prenuptial agreements.”
The Telegraph: “An American couple have lost their bid to win back a painting by Impressionist master Camille Pissarro, as a French court confirmed it must be handed to the family of the Jewish collector it was looted from during the Second World War. Wealthy art collectors Bruce and Robbi Toll had launched an appeal after a court ruled in November that the painting belonged by rights to the descendants of Simon Bauer, a Jewish businessman disappropriated by the Nazis in 1943. The Tolls insisted they had no idea the painting, “La Cueillette” (“Picking Peas”), had been looted when they bought it at Christie’s in New York in 1995 for $800,000 (£616,000). But the Paris appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the original court decision stood, in a move hailed by the Bauer family.”
Forbes: “Estate planning is easy. It’s finite, calculable. What happens when you die? Who gets your stuff? How much will you owe in estate taxes and how can we prevent or prepare for it? You hire a lawyer to draft a will and possibly one or more trusts that provide for what happens when you die. It’s done. Complete. You tuck your documents away in drawer or safety deposit box and sleep well at night, knowing you have taken care of your estate plan. Death is inevitable, so planning for it—while admittedly uncomfortable for some—is relatively easy. Life, on the other hand, is hard.”