Estate Planning Practice Blog

Save the Date Cards.

Funny how save the date cards have become prevalent these days. Save the date,  we are getting married! Save the date, it's a party! Save the date,  etcetera etcetera.

Yesterday at a presentation for the Lakewood Chamber Women in Business Council, a colleague spoke about her challenges in dealing with her mom as she aged, became ill and later passed away. She spoke about saving the date. I will explain in a minute.

Cathy, the Chief Operations Officer for Memorial Healthcare IPA, spoke from the heart about her experience. Her daughter was in the audience and it made for a very tearful presentation among us women listening.

One of the last things that Cathy spoke about was making sure everyone has their affairs in order as soon as possible because there is no save the date. No save the date as this is when you will fall, become ill or pass away. She was right and put it in perspective in a very poignant way.

As an estate planning attorney, I agree. You can't save the date. It's important to make sure things are in place as you wish and work with your team of professionals to get what you need done. Get the attorney on board for your estate plan, get your life insurance professional on board for your life insurance policies, get your financial planner on board for financial planning -- get us all on board.

It's that important. You only live once.

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day

Bob Kraft, an attorney from Texas, has posted regarding World Autism Awareness Day.

For excellent and up-to-date information on autism, please visit Autism Speaks. They are recognized as the authority for information on autism on the internet.

Autism is a topic on the forefront of many parents either as a reality or on their minds as they raise their children. Newsweek also reported on this topic in a recent issue.

What is autism doing on an estate planning blog? Well, parents of autistic children should have their estate plans in place for more reasons than just one --

1. Nominate guardians for their children in case something happens to them. See our recent post on this issue and its importance here.

2. Consider whether your autistic child should be protected with a special needs trust either as a separate trust or part of your own living trust. Your estate planning attorney can discuss the pros and cons of a special needs trust based on your situation.

3. Put in place a care plan for your autistic child's needs and other important information for caregivers or alternate guardians in case something happens to you.

If something happens to you, your child may not understand either due to their young age or special needs.  Consult with an estate planning attorney to see how you can get your estate plan put in place to protect your children.

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

Your 18 Year Old Daughter on Spring Break?

A question asked by one attorney to another recently:

I have an 18 year old daughter headed to a Spring Break designation with her best friend and her parents. What documents does she need to bring with her to ensure that if something happens, decisions can be made by her friend's parents?

The answer:

If your child is now age 18, your child is now legally an adult and your ability as his or her parent is restricted to terms of making any decisions without permission.

This means that every 18 year old should have a durable power of attorney and advance health care directive documents in place naming their choice of agents (hopefully that would be Mom and Dad) to make financial and medical decisions for them in the event they are unable to do so.

For the Spring Break soirée, the child could also have  a limited duration power of attorney and advance health care directive naming her friend's parents to make decisions for her in the event something happens.

It's hard to imagine, but at age 18, making decisions now fall upon your children alone and your access as their parent is limited including making medical decisions, access or get info about banking, school loans, financial aid, and grades (to name a few examples) without legal permission. Think of it as a reverse permission slip!

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

Nominating Guardians for Minor Children - The Part You Don't See.

One of the most important things a parent can do is make their nominations for guardians in writing for their minor children in the event something should happen to them.

In California, you can nominate a guardian in a variety of ways with a nomination in a Will being the most common. That being said, our firm recommends that nominations for guardians be included in a Will for most parents.

This is important to remember and we are constantly reminded everyday as we fight contested guardianship battles.

Just yesterday, TLD attorney Monica Goel successfully handled a contested guardianship in our local courts. A mother of a thirteen year old child nominated her very close friends to be her daughter's guardian should something happen to her in her Will. Something did happen and she died.

The close friends filed a petition for temporary guardianship based on the mother's wishes for the minor, which was vigorously contested by the minor child's great-uncle and second cousin. Since the mother's wishes were clear, the court hung its hat on honoring decedent's nomination and wishes.

This is the part that parents don't see because something has happened to them. Don't let this happen to your children.

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

Spouses: Make Sure You Have Beneficiaries for Your Accounts.

If you and your spouse keep separate financial accounts and/or retirement accounts (for whatever reason), please make sure you have a beneficiary designated for these accounts.

Nearly every financial product, whether it be life insurance, annuity, IRA, brokerage account and even your basic run-of-the-mill savings account at a credit union has a payable on death provision available for you to indicate who should get the funds in that account when you die.

This is even more important between spouses especially if you want your spouse to get the funds after you die. (Well, it really isn't more important, but it is just more painful when a surviving spouse has to deal with this when it could have been taken care of.) You would be surprised how many men have accounts opened up and fail to designate a beneficiary and leave their widow at the mercy of the financial institutions.  Or maybe I am just the one who gets surprised when it happens to clients.

Sometimes you may not want your spouse to be the beneficiary, but in some states you may not have a choice especially in a community property state. If it is a separate property account, it is still a good idea to have beneficiaries named to make your wishes known when you die. If it is not separate property or you think you have a community property interest in that account, some states have procedures to petition for your share. In California, it is called a Spousal Property Petition.

As always, if you have questions about naming beneficiaries, talk to an estate planning attorney or other advisor for guidance.

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

What To Do In The Event of a Death of a Loved One

If a loved one has died recently, please know that you can seek the advice of an attorney to help you navigate the issues involving how to handle their affairs and start the proper administration of their estate whether it be a probate proceeding or trust administration. If you are not in charge of handling their affairs, you can still seek the advice of an attorney to see if you have rights or wish to object to how their estate is being handled.

Tredway, Lumsdaine & Doyle has prepared a very informative report on "What To Do In The Event of a Death of a Loved One."  If you would like a courtesy copy of this report in pdf format, please email Jennifer  with your request.

One of the first telephone calls that you should make is to Social Security Administration if the decedent was collecting any sort of benefits. Remember that any Social Security benefits paid to the decedent after their date of death must be returned to Social Security.