Estate Planning Practice Blog

Access to Medical Records and HIPAA...

You have a right and even an obligation to know anything you want about your medical condition from those who provide you with medical care.

Your doctor is required to give you answers, or at least the paperwork regarding your medical care. It is part of the regulations promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA).

You may have to pay reasonable copying fees for obtaining your medical records though.

A properly prepared Advance Health Care Directive will have a HIPAA provision allowing your appointed health care agent (usually a loved one) to have the same access to your medical records as you. This can be useful if you are suddenly incapacitated and decisions need to be made regarding your care.

Real Estate Home Values at zillow.com

Fascinating website shows home values and your street on a satellite image: check out zillow.com.

It may not be accurate for your area at all, but it is sure interesting to see your neighbor's square footage. 

Do You Like Your Son in Law or Daughter in Law?

Say your answer, honestly, is no. You admit it. You do not like who your child married. I say it is rather common, actually. Some of my clients do not care for their sons or daughters -in law. They tell me that if they were to die that they don't want "them" to get any part of their money. Sometimes they feel that way if they do like their sons and daughters -in law. Life is funny in that way sometimes.

It's a honest sentiment. You cannot fault someone for feeling that way about their money falling into the hands of someone who is not their own flesh and blood.

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not in this situation personally. My kid is not even two years old yet.  [Whew.]

Did you know that in California if someone receives an inheritance it is separate property of that person? It does not belong to their spouse. No sirrrreeeee.

Sure, that person who inherited the money can share it with their spouse. It happens all the time. You cannot prevent that. But you can have solace knowing that your children may very well shelter their inheritance and keep it their separate property.

It is easy to shelter that money in a marriage -- just open up a separate checking, savings or brokerage account preferably at a different financial institution from where the marital checking, savings and brokerage accounts reside. And keep it separate. In that case, the court will not consider it a community asset subject to division if your child divorces their spouse.

Good to know, eh?

We The People or Paralegal Services for Creating Living Trusts.

We The People is a rather large franchise in California and other states that offers paralegal assisted document preparation involving legal matters. Price is the biggest selling point.  In the window of the local franchise, a large poster looms with the words: Living Trusts $450.

Perfect!

That's a great price actually.

It includes a Living Trust. That's it.

It does not include a certification of trust, a synopsis of your trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney or an advance health care directive. Or even a visitation authorization if you are not married for your loved ones not related to you. It does not also include real property transfers into your Living Trust. It does not include executing or notarizing your Living Trust at no extra charge. It does not also include a review of your other assets to determine the best vehicle for your estate.

It simply includes a Living Trust.

My fee isn't exponentially higher and you get all of the above and more.  I arrange for a notary at no extra charge. I prepare a grant deed and take care of the recording for one real property. I tell you how to transfer other assets into your Living Trust. You also get an annual newsletter from my office. You get protection from my malpractice insurance. You get legal advice. You get issue spotting to include tax issues and community property issues involving your estate. You get me on the phone or email when you have questions. You have copies on file in my office if you lose your originals. You also get my experience with handling probate matters. You get my compassion. You get my understanding of what it is like to go through probate. You get my respect. You get two or three meetings with me. In other words, you get a lot more bang for your buck.

You get a whole lot more.

So, you ask, what is my fee? It does vary based on your situation. Generally, the range I am comfortable quoting on this blog without any further facts from you is between $900 to $1250. It can be more or less. I do not like to do work that does not need to be done so I will always calculate my costs based on my hourly rate and work with you to come up with a fair price.

So what.

Say you just want a Living Trust. You pay $450. Now what? Do you know what to do next? Do you know how to prepare and record a grant deed to transfer title to your Living Trust? Are you confident that there's nothing else that needs to be reviewed or addressed in your estate planning matters?

Do you have a business card for your loved ones to call if something does happen to you? Can they call that local franchise for assistance with trust administration if you pass away?

I know the answer. Do you?

Everything Including the Kitchen Sink in a Prenup?

Jeffrey Lalloway, Esq., a prominent Orange County divorce attorney, has a neat post in his blog about clauses in prenuptial agreements. Stay thin? Drug testing? You bet!

Remember, though, if you have enough assets for a prenup, you have enough assets for estate planning as explained in my post here just before Valentine's Day.

More on Grandmother's China...

Two days ago, I posted about dividing china sets when someone dies... read it here.  Joel Schoenmeyer, Esq., from the Chicago area, blogged about this being in The Onion in his Death and Taxes blog.

Ironic? Not really because, folks, this stuff truly happens in real life.

Can You Take Your House Out of Your Living Trust?

Good question.

Yes, you can take assets out of your Living Trust so long as you have capacity.

If you are incapacitated, you cannot take assets out of your Living Trust. But a successor trustee will be able to act on your behalf to manage your assets including your home. This also includes taking assets out of your Living Trust.

So this means if you execute a transfer grant deed to transfer your house from your name alone into your Living Trust... you can still refinance, sell or do whatever else you want to with your house. This is because you are the trustee for your Living Trust.

I know, it can get confusing, but the light will come on and you will suddenly understand.

The person who sets up a Living Trust is called the settlor and the trustee. The settlor is the person who is creating and funding the trust. The trustee is the person who is managing the trust assets.  If you are alive and well, you will serve as the settlor and trustee. If you pass away, the successor trustee will take over management of your Living Trust and distribute your assets according to the terms of the trust.

A Living Trust is also called a revocable trust. It also referred to an inter-vivos trust. Inter-vivos is a fancy Latin phrase for living.

If you have an irrevocable trust, the rules change completely. See your attorney for more details about irrevocable trusts.

Survey: How Many Attorneys Have Estate Planning Documents?

As an attorney and as someone who has experienced the emotional pain of probate, I truly understand the value of properly prepared estate planning documents. I hired an another attorney to prepare my estate planning documents a few years ago.  You have heard of the old adage, an attorney who represents him or her self has a fool for a client.

How many of you as attorneys or other professionals have their own estate planning documents in place? I am curious.

Please post a comment, anonymous or otherwise, and confess:

A. I have documents in place!  [Pat yourself on the back.]
B. I know, I know, I need to have them drawn up for me. [At least you know you need to do it.]
C. What? What's estate planning? [Uh oh.]

Eight Dollar Dish or Dividing China Sets in Probate.

Back to my lawyerly joke a day a calendar -- the page for February 14, 2006, was a quote from Harry Burns in the movie When Harry Met Sally:

Right now everything is great, everyone is happy, everyone is in love, and that is wonderful! But you gotta know that sooner or later you're gonna be screaming at each other about who's gonna get this dish. This eight-dollar dish will cost you a thousand dollars in phone calls to the legal firm of That's Mine, This Is Yours.

Reading this again as I tore off the page for today's date reminded me of my probate matter involving siblings who cannot agree on who is getting Mom's china.

Turns out that Mom had two complete sets of china. One feuding sibling has half of the first set and the other feuding sibling has the other half. As for the second set, again the same feuding sibling has half of the set and the other feuding sibling has the other half.

Neither has a complete set and they both have half of both sets. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Confidential to Moms: take note, this could happen to your children upon your demise. Put it in your Will which loving child of yours is to get which china set.

Supreme Court Blog

Ever wish you could follow what is going on with the United States Supreme Court? Check out the scotusblog. 

[SCOTUS means the Supreme Court Of The United States. Don't you wish we had nifty acronyms for ourselves as well? I used to be called JSaw after the JLo fame.  Thank god that's so over with now.]