Estate Planning Practice Blog

Dorna's Summer Is Almost Over

Dorna was wrapping up her last week with our office. She will be returning to New York to start her second year of college in a few weeks.  Here is her blog post she started on Tuesday, August 8th. [She's an excellent writer, huh?]

My final Tuesday at this office thus begins and though I’d like to think that I’m irreplaceable, this seat won’t be empty for more than a weekend.

My replacement came in yesterday after a series of interviews and I showed her the ropes—and the communication devices. As a third year law student, she remarked that I will be especially prepared once I enter law school because I will know from first-hand experience what I am reading in the books. She is interested in broadening her skills and being immersed in intricate legal writing. I assured her that she would get a wide variety of that.

In his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki urges the young people of today to get experience in each part of a corporation in order to increase their financial literacy. I feel as though I have taken his advice and applied it to my own field of choice. In working with topics as diverse as probate and child support, I will be better able to make a decision about which sect of law will I would like to go into. As each part of the legal system inevitably ties into another, a broad knowledge of the groundwork further bolsters the specialized construction site of legal knowledge.

More than I will miss honing my proficiency, I do not want to part with Jenni and Michelle, who have guided me along the way this summer. Each time they screamed in frustration at discovery requests in the mail, took me to lunches with financial planners, and even allowed me to train the new assistant, I was groomed for entrance into the field. Even though I was working for them, taking some of the burden off of their shoulders, I was simultaneously making it easier for future self. I guess that’s exactly what I hoped for in an internship.

Making optimum use of the final days,

Dorna Moini

For Most, The Name Of The Game Is Probate Avoidance.

One of the goals for estate planning for most people is to avoid probate. Probate is the court involved process to transfer title of a loved one who has died to his or her beneficiaries or heirs. Probate is costly and time consuming. It can costs thousands of dollars and take many months.

There are a few ways to avoid probate.

The first way is to ensure that all of your contract based accounts like bank accounts, life insurance policies, retirement accounts have beneficiaries named. Call your financial institutions and ask if you have beneficiaries for your accounts. Review the beneficiaries and update them if needed. Upon your death, the financial institutions will transfer the assets directly to your beneficiaries so long as your beneficiaries follow their processing requirements.

The second way is to ensure that all of your assets that do not have a beneficiary named are in a trust. A trust is a legal fiction created for the private management of your assets in accordance to your wishes. Most people just need a Living Trust. If the Living Trust is properly created and funded, it will avoid probate as the successor trustee is able to privately manage your assets in the event of your passing.

The third way involves any assets in the aggregate worth less than $100,000 excluding real estate. Let's say you have beneficiaries named for most of your bank accounts and life insurance policy. Let's also say you have a Living Trust for your home. Then let's say that you forgot about that credit union savings account with your former employer that has $4,000 in it. Since all of your other assets are avoiding probate and what's left is less than $100,000, you can avail yourself to California's small estate affidavit procedure. This is a non-court procedure that allows you to request the financial institution to transfer the asset by providing a certified copy of the death certificate along with an affidavit following the requirements of California Probate Code Section 13100 (and et. seq.).

The small estate affidavit procedure is easier than it appears at first glance. Most probate and estate planning attorneys can help you with the requirements, write the letter for you and help you open a bank account with the funds as the check may be payable to the "estate of" instead of you directly as a beneficiary.

If you are not sure about what to do, seek counsel with a few probate attorneys in your area. Many offer a initial consultation at no charge.

If You Waited 10 Years, What's Another 60 Days?

Probate is a lengthy process. It's not all that cut and dried to gather all the information necessary to open an estate with the court. Sometimes there's paperwork to find, information to collect and court hurdles to clear before Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration are issued by the court.

Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration are essentially the court's way of letting everyone know that the estate has been opened and a personal representative has been appointed to manage the estate.

Once Letters have been issued, the personal representative may be in a position to sell real estate or manage other affairs on behalf of the estate.

It takes about 60 days on average to get the court to issued these Letters. Sometimes the court is busy, sometimes there is an issue that needs to be cleared or something else comes up that can delay this initial process.

There is a procedure for obtaining emergency Letters (to use a simplified term). But there truly needs to be an emergency or a good reason to petition the court to bypass the normal procedure.

Just because you are in a hurry to sell a house is a not a good enough reason especially when you've waited 10 years to even open probate following the death of your sibling. The court's response is going to be what's another 60 days when you've waited 10 years to deal with this?

Don't Tell Me You Are Going On Vacation, Please.

I have this hang up. No, I am not jealous that you are going on vacation. Trust me. Traveling is not on my list of fun things to do. I feel that the time you spend packing and unpacking negates the time you spent away on vacation. Too much work.

I, however, do not like when I am meeting with estate planning clients who decide to go with my services and in the process of setting up the second appointment -- I hear these words: Oh, I can't do it next week because I am going on vacation.

What!

Vacation!

Oh no!

There's nothing scarier from an estate planning attorney's perspective that clients are going on vacation in between estate planning meetings. I will rush your documents, schedule you in sooner, clear my calendar, meet with you Friday evening -- anything to get you to have completed documents before you leave for vacation.

I feel pretty strongly about having estate planning in place just in case as you never know when tragedy will strike. And if you are going on vacation, somehow, in my mind, there's an increased risk that something could happen to you.

Clients are undoubtedly relieved when they receive my assurance that their documents will be completed and executed before their vacation. I am happy to be of service. I just wished that they scheduled their first meeting with me a week sooner to give me more time.

In Loving Memory.

Over 4th of July weekend I hosted a lovely 50th birthday party for a very dear friend of mine. We met over ten years ago when I worked at The Aerospace Corporation. We've remained good friends over the years. She had a big bash for her 40th birthday. I don't remember being there, but there are pictures to prove it. Two years ago I offered to host the 50th birthday bash. And we did with an awesome salsa theme replete with salsa dance lessons, mojitos and delicious pulled pork.

During the course of the party, I met all of her wonderful friends and family. I spent a considerable time talking to the most amazing couple about their 3 boys, remodeling backyards and their passions in life. My husband and I had a terrific day getting to know this couple. I even told my friend after the party that they were so wonderful, kind and loving.

I received an email this morning saying that they were killed in a car accident on vacation over the last weekend in July. Their three boys survived the accident unhurt losing their parents.

I am in complete shock. Personally, I hate road trips. But, running over and over in my mind, is that this is a just a smack dab real life reason to get your affairs in order.  Families with young children need to have estate planning in place. We need to name guardians for those babes (they were 3, 5, and 8 years old), have life insurance policies for them and do everything possible to minimize their grief.

May they rest in peace. May their boys have the strength and courage to mourn their parents and live their lives knowing that their parents loved them dearly.

Yes, Sir, Estate Planning Is A Happy Time.

I say this all the time. Estate planning is a happy time. People laugh.

Well, it certainly beats handling a probate matter. It certainly beats having to fight out a guardianship proceeding because the parents did not have a Will. It certainly beats having to guess what your loved one wanted when it came to being buried or cremated.

Yes, sir, estate planning is a happy time. Let me remind you why: You are alive. You are healthy. You are well-off. You have loved ones.

What more can you ask for? Celebrate your life and get your estate planning documents in place. If you need a reminder, read this post.

Hypocrisy.

I am not a hypocrite. I talk about the importance of estate planning all day long because I know why it's important. My parents passed away when I was in my twenties eight years apart. My brother and I had to open probate for my Dad's estate. It was torture. But this is not the reason for this post.

This post is about hypocrisy.

I listened to a presentation about disaster planning the other day. It was a powerpoint presentation and extolled the virtues of disaster planning. Very detailed. At the end of the presentation, my first question to the presenter who was a business owner herself, was do you have your own disaster preparedness plan in place?

Quick pause. No. [Ah ha! This lady does not practice what she preaches.]

Okay. At least when someone asks me if I have my own estate planning in place, my answer is yes. I had an attorney prepare the documents I talk about all the time for my family.

Yes, it's that important.

Religion and Your Medical Directive.

Advance Health Care Directives are very flexible documents. In it, you can state whatever your wishes are for end-of-life care including how you feel about nutrition, hydration and anything else related to it as it may relate to your religious preferences.  You can also state your wishes for funeral and memorial services including if you wish to be buried or cremated.

If you have a strong religious preference and wish that your religious teachings or beliefs be incorporated in your Advance Health Care Directive, you can. 

It is easy to draft such Directives to be in compliance with your particular religion or denomination.

As an example, Catholics, in general, have strong feelings about these kinds of things. For example, a woman of childbearing age may want to add in her directive: If I should be pregnant, and that condition is known to my physician, then every means should be taken to preserve the life of my unborn child, including the continuation of life prolonging procedures. Some may want to add special directions such as: If my death is imminent, and I am unable or unwilling to take food naturally, then I would not want artificial nutrition or hydration used to prolong my life. Excerpted from Cultural Catholic.

Just ask your estate planning attorney to incorporate what's important to you in your Directive.

Oh, It Will Be Easy.

I hear these words all the time. Oh, it will be easy. Meaning that my estate planning will not be complicated.

As soon as I hear these words, I know it's not going to be straightforward. I treat it as one of Murphy's laws now.

I'm told it will be easy to either reduce my fee, hurry up my work or somehow be grateful that it is easy.

What's easy for me to work with in a shorter amount of time are folks who want to leave everything to their grown children. That's easy.

If you want to leave your wedding ring to a granddaughter, your car to a grandson, restrict Bobby's share in a trust until he turns 35 and can't decide which daughter should be named as successor trustee.... that's not easy. It's also not easy when there are multiple properties, a mobile home or something from out of the state in the mix. It's not hard by any means, but do not come chortling in my office with the phrase oh, it will be easy. That's for me to decide and treat accordingly.