Building Legacies that Last Estate Planning and Elder Law

Entire Family Signed up for Cryogenics

MP900407501[1]A Wisconsin man signed his entire family up to have their bodies frozen when they pass away, in the hopes that they can be brought back to life at a later date.

There have always been people who dream about living forever. There is something about the idea of not knowing what will happen after we pass away that captures the imagination.

We all want to know how the story ends. We all pay attention to different stories. Whatever story we follow, such as business, politics, sports or a long running TV series, we would like to know how it ends.

The inevitability of death creates a barrier to that.

It is a barrier that some people are trying to get around, as the Daily Mail reports in “Father spends $140,000 to sign his whole family up to be frozen in cooling chambers when they die, in the hope they can be woken up in the future, to have a ‘second chance at life’.”

A man in Wisconsin has signed up for himself, his wife and their three sons to all be cryogenically frozen after they pass away. Their hope is that someday scientists will be able to unfreeze them, bring them back to life and cure whatever it was they died from.

Most experts would say this is an impossibility because the freezing process damages the brain. However, those who support cryogenics have faith that future scientists can fix that.

Whatever your opinion of cryogenics and its potential effectiveness, you probably should think of death as still inevitable. You are going to pass away.

Even if you are brought back to life in a thousand years, the people you left behind in the interim could benefit from you having an estate plan.

Reference: Daily Mail (Dec.18, 2017) “Father spends $140,000 to sign his whole family up to be frozen in cooling chambers when they die, in the hope they can be woken up in the future, to have a ‘second chance at life’.”

 

You Might Need More Than One Will

Attractive Mixed Race CouplePeople who have substantial assets in more than one nation, might need more than one will to have an effective estate plan.

Ordinarily people only have one will. They cannot have more than one. If they create a second will, then the first will is no longer valid.

This principle is central to estate law.

The last will a person drew up and executed, is the only will that should be used in the absence of extraordinary circumstances to settle an estate.

However, it is not always technically true.

There are people who might need more than one will. If you have assets in more than one country and are a citizen of both countries, then you might need a valid will in each country, as the Financial Review explains in “Double trouble for dual nationals.”

The problem is that some countries have strict laws about who can inherit certain property. There are laws about how much of an estate must be given to a spouse and to children.

Most countries do not allow deviation from these laws, even for people who do not live there full time and who have a valid will in another nation.

Even if your will is valid in the U.S., it is possible that another country where you hold assets could invalidate it for the property you hold in that country.

If your estate might be subject to the laws of more than one nation, make sure that your estate plan is valid in all the nations where you own property. If that does not seem possible, then have separate estate plans for the property in each nation. You may want to see an estate planning attorney in Bethesda, MD.

Reference: Financial Review (Sep. 20, 2017) “Double trouble for dual nationals.”

 

Entitlement Reform Might Be Next

It is looking increasingly likely that next year Congress will take up reform to entitlement programs. Bigstock-Elder-Couple-With-Bills-3557267[1]

The U.S. has some political junkies who follow everything that goes on in Washington D.C. all the time. However, for the vast majority of Americans, politics is preferably just done every four years.

Presidential elections are held, a winner is declared, and most Americans go on with their lives not thinking too much about politics.

Things are different now. None of us can escape political talk. It is everywhere.

Many people would probably appreciate a break next year, until October before the mid-term election campaigns heat up.

But it appears that Republicans may propose cuts to some of the most popular government programs, according to Financial Advisor in "GOP Laying Groundwork To Cut Future Social Security, Medicare, Welfare Outlays."

Republicans are talking about making cuts to programs for the elderly, such as Social Security and Medicare. It is likely that any proposed cuts would be delayed and not effect current retirees.  However, they will still be controversial for Americans who plan to rely on the programs in the future.

Cutting Social Security and Medicare is considered to be like touching the third rail in American politics. These are not popular proposals. Going through with this plan, guarantees that we will not be getting a relief from politics in 2018.

Reference: Financial Advisor (Dec. 6, 2017) "GOP Laying Groundwork To Cut Future Social Security, Medicare, Welfare Outlays."

 

Tax Reform and People with Disabilities

Pexels-photo-265702Republican tax plans have some people with disabilities worried. For parents and grandparents of those people with disabilities, it suggests that a special needs trust is more important than ever.

The ramifications of the new Republican tax reform for individual Americans are still being assessed.

Some people will pay lower taxes, but a few will likely see their taxes increase. One group concerned about the new law was people with disabilities.

Not only will those with disabilities enjoy the standard deduction doubling under the Republican plan, but their taxes might decrease even further due to another provision. The plan includes a provision to lower the itemized deduction threshold for health care expenses in tax years 2017 and 2018. The new tax law lowers the deductibility threshold from 10% to 7.5% of adjusted gross income.

Not until 2019 will the threshold increase return back to 10% where it was pegged in 2016.

Accordingly, the fears expressed by The Hill in "Restructured tax code would unduly burden people with disabilities" did not come to pass.

There is something parents and grandparents of the disabled, as well as the disabled themselves, can do and that is create a special needs trust. These trusts do not ease anyone's tax burden but do allow people with special needs to have more income to help cover any increased taxes.

If you would like to learn more about special needs trusts, then talk to an estate planning attorney Bethesda Maryland for the details about setting one up.

The process is complicated and needs to be done in a particular way in order to work but an experienced attorney can help you with that.

Reference: The Hill (Nov. 24, 2017) "Restructured tax code would unduly burden people with disabilitie

Assisted Reproduction and Technology

Bigstock-Extended-Family-Outside-Modern-13915094[1]Estate laws have not kept pace with all of the latest technological ways that help people have children today. That means that you should have an estate plan that covers them.

The average family today looks a lot different than just a few years ago. Many couples do not stay married for life today and not all of a couples’ children are biologically their own.

Americans today live in all sorts of blended families rearing children from multiple marriages.

Estate law has generally kept pace with these changes. However, it often requires careful estate planning.

In the past couple of decades, things have become even more complicated as medical science has developed new ways for people to have children through such things as surrogacies and frozen embryos.

The law has not kept pace with all of these developments, according to Private Wealth in “Yours, Mine, Ours And ‘ART’.”

When children become part of a family through technological means, it is not always clear what their legal inheritance rights are. Different states have different rules.

For example, if a child is born after someone passes away through implantation of a frozen embryo, should that child have a right to a portion of the estate of the deceased? The default answer is different in different states.

What this means is that people who have or who might have children with technological assistance, need to be sure their estate plans take the laws of their state into account. That makes it more important than ever to have the assistance of an estate planning attorney.

Reference: Private Wealth (Sep. 13, 2017) “Yours, Mine, Ours And ‘ART’

David Cassidy’s Will

David Cassidy is the latest deceased celebrity to have cut one of his children out of his will. 458px-The_Partridge_Family_David_Cassidy_1972 (1)

David Cassidy was once a well-known figure, who starred on the TV show "The Partridge Family" and had many adoring teenage fans of his music.

Many people still recognize his name.  However, it has been a long time since Cassidy was able to profit from his former fame.

He recently passed away with an estate valued at only $150,000, which is a low amount for someone who once made as much money as Cassidy did.

The details of his will have been made public.

Cassidy chose to cut out his daughter, so she will not receive an inheritance from him, according to the Los Angeles Times in "David Cassidy cut daughter Katie Cassidy out of his will."

It had previously been acknowledged by David Cassidy that he had never had much of a relationship with his daughter. She was raised by her mother and stepfather and rarely saw her father.

David regretted this and the two reconciled before he passed away.  However, Katie was specifically excluded from her father's will.

David's son and brothers will instead inherit his modest estate. We probably do not need to have financial concerns for Katie, because she is famous in her own right as an actress on the TV show "Arrow."

Katie Cassidy likely does not need the inheritance.

This is becoming something of a trend in recent celebrity estates. Many have chosen to disinherit some of their children for various reasons.

A fight over the estate is unlikely in this case.

Reference: Los Angeles Times (Dec. 7, 2017) "David Cassidy cut daughter Katie Cassidy out of his will."