Estate Planning Weekly

There are generally two types of Powers of Attorney. It is important that you know the difference and know which one you do, or should, have.

www.myestateplanmeeting.com

Depending upon when and how your Will was drafted, you may have accidentally disinherited your youngest child.

https://www.myestateplanmeeting.com

Hiring an Estate Planning Attorney should be a good experience. These are three considerations to keep in mind to help make sure that you have a good experience.

You and the estate planning attorney that you hire should be compatible with each other. I want to work with clients that I get along with and you should want to work with an attorney that you get along with.

Many people think of attorneys as adversarial...and they aren't wrong, they can be. However, the attorney-client relationship shouldn't be adversarial. 

When I meet with a potential client an we don't click, there are no hard feelings. I'm not the attorney for everyone and not everyone is the client for me.

If we don't click I am happy to refer any potential client to an estate planning colleague.

I am not a jack of all trades. I practice Estate Planning, Estate Administration, Probate; three related practice areas. 

I limit myself to these practice areas to make sure I know what I am doing for my clients. 

Ask any attorney that you meet with how much of their practice is focused on Estate Planning. Hiring an attorney that does everything, may mean that they don't do any one thing really well.

All of my Estate Planning work is done on a Flat Fee Basis. Before I start work for an estate planning client they know exactly what my fee is.

I do not bill by the hour for estate planning work. I am able to do this because estate planning is all that I do. I know that it take to get the work done. I don't have to rely on billing my clients by the hour.

If you like to find out if I'm the right Estate Planning Attorney for you, or if you have any estate planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.

Qualified retirement accounts are generally protected from creditors and bankruptcy. However, that protection usually only applies to you and your spouse. 

When you leave a retirement account to a non-spouse, the protection from creditors and bankruptcy generally disappears. Some states do extend these protections to inherited retirement accounts...Oregon is not one of them. There is a simple solution to this issue.

This a special trust designed to serve as a firewall between creditors and inherited retirement accounts. Using a trust like with will allow an independent trustee to stop creditors from getting to the retirement accounts. 

You can learn more about planning with retirement accounts here.

You can do the same type of planning for retirement accounts using your revocable living trust. This requires that we setup separate trusts inside of your revocable living trust for each of the people you want to name as beneficiaries of your retirement plans. It also requires the addition of "conduit provision" for the payment of required minimum distributions.

If you have any questions about protecting retirement accounts, or any other estate planning questions, please schedule your Complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.

Worried about leaving money to an heir that couldn't handle it? Someone with drug, alcohol, or gambling problems? Here are two ways to deal with those heirs in your Estate Plan.

Some of my clients decide that their heir is beyond help, and they simply don't leave them anything. This is the most extreme option. However, depending upon the circumstances it is sometime the best solution. 

This options saves other heirs or family members from having to manage an inheritance for the problem heir.

A Spendthrift Trust is a trust that gives the problem heir ZERO control over their inheritance. They are still the beneficiary of the trust, just without any control.

Instead, another person is made trustee and given complete authority and control over how the inheritance is distributed. 

Creating a Spendthrift Trust for a problem heir makes sure that their inheritance is there to help them, but not there to support their additions.

For a Spendthrift Trust to work, you must have a reliable, and willing, trustee. 

These are just two options available. Depending upon the circumstance one of these options might work great, or one of several other options might be better.

If you'd like to learn more about leaving an inheritance to a problem heir or have any other Estate Planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.

You've heard that adding a Joint Owner or Pay On Death designation to your bank account is much easier than creating an Estate Plan. Right...and wrong. There are several reasons that "planning" this way can cause trouble. Here are a few ways issues can arise.

Your estate is responsible for payment of your final expenses. This can include medical bills, funeral expenses, burial / cremation costs, etc. 

With Joint Ownership or Pay On Death ("POD") accounts, your assets with transfer immediately as the time of your death by operation of law. If all of your assets are then out of your estate, nothing is left to pay your final expenses.

You think that you have found a trust person to add as a joint owner of your accounts. You've made an agreement with them that when you pass they will split everything up between your children.

This is a twofold issue:

1. That trusted person might decide to keep everything for themselves. Or maybe not everything, but they may decide they are owed a "finders fee."
2. That trusted person, even if they wanted to, may not be able to disburse everything that you have left. If the amount they need to give to your children is more than the annual gift exclusion amount they would either have to do the gifting over more than one year, or would have to deal with gift tax issues.  

Adding anyone as a joint owner of an account or other property could trigger gift taxes for you. 

For instance, if you added your child as a joint owner of your $500,000.00, that could be considered a $250,000.00 gift. A $250,000.00 gift is a taxable event that you would have to address.

If you'd like to learn more about Joint Ownership and POD's or have any other Estate Planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.

Unlike the Showtime Rotisserie, Estate Plans are not "Set It & Forget It." These are 4 times when you need to consider updating your Estate Plan.

Did you have your first child or grandchild? Did you get married or divorced?

You get the idea; anytime there are additions or subtractions from your family could mean it's time for an Estate Plan Update.

As your family changes, so should your Estate Plan. Sometimes this can happen in interesting ways.

I recently worked with a client that had disinherited a daughter in her old Estate Plan. That old plan also disinherited her daughter's children which hadn't been born yet. My client was happy to find out that we could update her Estate Plan to include her daughter's children as heirs while still disinheriting the daughter. 

What may have work when you didn't have much in the way of assets might not work now. 

You've worked hard and accumulated some assets. Now it's time to make sure that your old estate plan isn't going to cause unnecessary tax consequences. 

It surprising how fast you can reach the Oregon threshold for estate taxes if you own a home.

I recommend that everyone have their Estate Plan reviewed every three years. If your plan was put together on a typewriter or printed on a dot matrix printer, it's time for a review.

Even if you haven't had changes in your family or wealth, the laws are always changing. What worked under the laws when you made your Estate Plan may not work as well under new laws.

I've seen it, my colleagues have seen it, and the court have seen it. Handwritten changes are not the way to go. Most likely any handwritten change to your Estate Plan will not be honored.

DON'T MAKE HANDWRITTEN CHANGES TO YOUR ESTATE PLAN. If you want to make changes to how your assets are distributed, or other changes,  meet with a professional and get it done right.

If you'd like to learn more or have any other Estate Planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.

Leaving your final wishes to someone else can be a daunting prospect. Your Personal Representative or Successor Trustee could steal it all, but it is very unlikely if you plan correctly.

Technically...They Could Take It All

Just a likely they could rob a bank. In reality is Personal Representative and Successor Trustees don't steal from estates. Most often your estate is protected because you picked a trustworthy person.

In Oregon, the Probate Court will keep an eye on your estate.

Beneficiaries will also keep a close eye on the Personal Representative or Successor Trustee. If they smell anything fishy, they have options for correcting the situation.

The Powers They Do Have

Personal Representatives and Successor Trustees have lots of power. Their power comes from your Will or Trust and the State Laws.

Generally, they can do most anything that achieves your wishes and desires. However, they can't do anything illegal.

Personal Representatives and Successor Trustees Have Similar Duties

There are really four main duties for both Personal Representative and Successor Trustees.

1. Gather all of your assets.
2. Pay creditors.
3. Disburse your assets pursuant to your wishes, or the State Laws if you don't have an Estate Plan.
4. Close your Estate.

If you'd like to learn more or have any other Estate Planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session - https://www.nwlplanning.com/schedule-consulatation/

There are many reasons that everyone needs an Estate Plan. These are the first three reasons that come to the top of my mind because they seem to really resonate with my clients.

Having an Estate Plan can get you more sleep and night and reduce those stress wrinkles.

Knowing that you've:

1. Named the right guardians for your children.
2. Appointed someone to care for your financial affairs.
3. Expressed your wishes related to healthcare decisions and appointed a trusted agent to carry them out.

These along with many other decisions made in your Estate Plan will keep you from worry.

Without an Estate Plan, you leave decisions to the legislature and the courts.

Naming the right people to fill the roles of Successor Trustee, Healthcare Agent and Guardians for your children is something you should do. However, if you don't, these decision are left to a court to decide. In the case of Guardians for you children, this can lead to fighting among family member and the appointment of a guardian you would never want.

Division of your assets is left to the State Statutes. This could lead to those you never intended to provide for inheriting the bulk of your assets.

If you become mentally or physically impaired, you'll need someone to manage your day-to-day affairs. If you're injured and can't make your on medical decisions, you'll need someone to make those decisions for you. 

With a comprehensive Estate Plan you'll appoint those people and give them the direction and guidance to make the deicsions you would want.

If you'd like to learn more or have any other Estate Planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.

In an ideal world we would always agree with our spouse...that is not the world that we live in. When it comes to the very important decision of choosing guardians for your children - you are not alone if you and your spouse don't agree. I don't have a magic formula for making the correct decision, but here are three strategies that should make the decision easier.

Instead of thinking that you are naming a guardian that will handle everything, think of it as naming people to two positions.

The first is the role of physical custodian. These are the people that your children will live with, learn from, and love. Here you need to think about who shares your values and is capable of instilling them in your children.

The second role is the financial role. These people will manage the money and assets you leave for your children. While it's important that they have your children's best interest at heart, they are not the people that will raise your children.

My clients often have it set in their minds that they must name a couple as guardians. That is not completely necessary. You should consider single people as well.

Further, even if you do name a couple, there is no guarantee that they will always be a couple. Things happen. People get divorced and people die.

It is important that you like the people you name as guardians for you children. It is even more important that your children like the people you names a guardians.

The guardians you name must be people that your children know, like, and trust. Keep the relationships your children have with potential guardians in the forefront of your mind when making your decision.

If you'd like to learn more about Naming Guardians for Your Minor Children or have any other Estate Planning questions, please schedule a complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.