Gray Divorce is a concept where older couples divorce late in life. This can be done for personal reasons; however, many wish to use divorce as a tool to get an unwell spouse onto public benefits. While this can work under certain circumstances, we discuss why in most this is unadvisable. Divorce can also have unintended consequences. Such as, the capable now ex-spouse having no authority over medical decisions or the estate of the unwell spouse.

The wealth distribution also needs to be considered after a divorce. If the assets are evenly split, the capable spouse may be left with a residence and no cash or vice versa. Agencies will look at the divorce with scrutiny if the asset split is much more favorable to the capable spouse. In this podcast, we discuss alternatives and possible scenarios where a gray divorce might make sense.

Family Real Estate Assistance

It is somewhat common for family members to want to assist their loved ones with real estate purchases. Whether this is help with a down payment, outright gifting of a property, or some kind of loan. For estate and tax purposes; however, it is important to be clear about the type of help you are giving. Family real estate assistance can be an amazing gift if done right but good documentation is needed for this. We discuss potential mistakes and consequences for not creating this documentation in this podcast.

Today we are joined by friend of the firm (and fellow Tucson attorney), Jeffrey Neff from Neff Law, PLLC.

Today we are taking a look at the Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter & Sanctuary. Cats have a special place in many of our hearts. Several of our staff own cats and one of our attorneys, Jordan S. Young, even volunteers for the Hermitage. We discuss the Hermitage in this podcast because many of our clients discuss ways they would like to provide for the care of their pets after they pass. The Hermitage has a program specifically for this, so we believe taking a look at the Hermitage may give you some helpful ideas on how to incorporate your furry friends into your estate plans.

This week we are joined by Michelle and Tiffany from the Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter & Sanctuary.

AI and Deeds

We have had many clients over the past couple of years wonder if Artificial Intelligence could create deeds and other documents for them. While AI can create documents, we do not often recommend using it for this purpose. AI lacks nuance and expertise. It can also make errors that are easy to overlook. In this podcast we discuss artificial intelligence’s role in creating deeds. We also touch on a human attorney’s role in the preparation of a deed and the positives they bring to the table.

Today we are joined by friend of the firm (and fellow Tucson attorney), Jeffrey Neff from Neff Law, PLLC.

Today we thought we would provide an example of how charitable giving works. We are joined by Alyce Sadongei the executive director of Mission Garden. Mission Garden is a favorite charity of Fleming & Curti, PLC.

In this podcast, Alyce Sadongei and Robert B. Fleming discuss how a charitable organization operates and how gifts are likely to be used. You may feel tempted to leave a charitable gift with a caveat that it be used in a specific way. Charities would love to respect your wishes; however, restricting them may impinge on or distract from their mission.

We speak about the importance of how charitable giving works best in organizations so that maybe you will feel more comfortable with a general gift. Getting to know a charity that really resonates with the soul is crucial for this.

Retirement accounts offer one of the most effective ways to make charitable gifts. Actually, two of the most effective ways.

Charitable giving using Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) can be very tax efficient during your life, especially if you are over age 70 (70 1/2, actually, but let’s not quibble). And if you have reached your “required beginning date” for mandatory distributions, the power of lifetime gifts from your IRA is enhanced even further.

IRAs and other kinds of retirement accounts also offer one of the most efficient ways to make gifts upon your death. Join us for a discussion of some of the specifics. And keep an open mind about how you might increase your charitable giving using these marvelous instruments.

This entire month we have been focusing on charitable giving as part of your estate plan. Check out our podcasts on other kinds of charitable planning ideas, and the specifics of one local Tucson charity, Mission Garden. In our next episode, we’ll talk with Mission Garden’s Executive Director about your favorite charity’s favorite way to receive donations.

Making charitable gifts is important to a lot of our clients. It’s a great way to make an impact on your local community. And it’s important to the operation of a robust local charitable economy, especially in times of shortages.

We’ve been talking a lot about making charitable gifts this month. Think of it as our own personal Charitable Giving Month. Your favorite charity might promote some of the ideas we describe, and we’d like to help you understand what they’re talking about.

While we suggest giving to charities for the sake of charity, sometimes you can enjoy some tax benefits at the same time. Depending on the asset you would like to give, this can be easy… but some assets (like cryptocurrency, or business interests) may be more complicated to donate.

Join us in a discussion of the types of assets you may want to give (or leave) to charities for better tax outcomes. Making charitable gifts is a wonderful use of your assets and firms like Fleming & Curti, PLC can help guide you through the process.

We have discussed charitable giving in past podcasts and newsletters. In today’s podcast episode we want to share about some — OK, let’s start with one — of our personal favorite local charities.

Join us while we talk about the Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace and their signature project: Mission Garden. We talk with Alyce Sadongei, the Executive Director of the Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace/Mission Garden. she describes the living museum of Tucson’s agricultural heritage.

Have you visited Mission Garden yourself? We recommend that you go to the base of “A” Mountain and take a look at the living agricultural park/museum/historical representation. We are pretty sure that you will be astonished by your first visit — we know that we were.

Local charities provide the same tax benefits as national charities but can be much more satisfying to the soul. They can also have a bigger impact on Tucson and Tucsonans.

At Fleming & Curti, PLC, we think that charitable giving is important. And we have our own personal favorite projects that we support — and urge others to join us in supporting.

Some clients express interest in corporate or independent trustees serving as their successors in trusts they have or want to establish. In this podcast we discuss our experiences serving as a corporate trustee. We describe some of the services we offer as well as examples of the type of work we get into.

Today we are joined by friend of the firm, Bridget Swartz from Mission Management and Trust Co. Mission Management is a local corporate trust company that we deal with on a regular basis. We have nothing but positive things to say about Bridget and Mission Management!

Probates in other states can vary greatly from Arizona’s process. This means that advice you receive in Arizona may not apply in states like New York or Texas. For example: some states treat married couples’ assets as community property and others do not. Moving from state to state may also complicate this process. Certain documents may even be invalidated by moving.

While we may not be licensed to practice law in other states, we have experience with out of state probates. In this podcast we discuss some of these experiences. We also emphasize the importance of seeking legal advice within the state you reside.