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Tag: DC

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Why You Need an Estate Attorney

Th (2)When a loved one passes away, it is a good idea to get the assistance of an estate attorney, if for no other reason than to deal with all of the paperwork. 

The government has many things it is very particular about.  However, you are not likely to notice one of those things very much. That is that property all needs to be traceable to a particular owner or owners.

This is important to the government for tax purposes. However, as you do not generally get all your property at one time, it is not always that noticeable. It is not a lot of paperwork for most individual pieces of property.

When someone passes away, things change. Then there is a lot of property that needs to change ownership and there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done at once, as U.S. News & World Report discusses in "How to Deal With the Paperwork Scramble After a Spouse Dies."

It is easy to get overwhelmed and make costly mistakes when there is that much paperwork to fill out and file in such a short period of time. Those mistakes require even more paperwork and time to fix. People who are grieving and who do not know all the things that need to be done, make these mistakes all the time.

There is a good way to avoid most mistakes. Hire an estate attorney who can help with the process. The attorney knows what needs to be done and has staff to help with the paperwork.

Reference: U.S. News & World Report (June 19, 2018) "How to Deal With the Paperwork Scramble After a Spouse Dies."

 

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Funding a Trust

Irish-handsAfter creating a trust, you need to fund it. That does not have to be a difficult process.

One of the many problems of “discount” trusts, either from a trust service or an online document service, is that they never get around to funding the trust. When the settlor passes away, the trust does not work as intended, because there are no assets in it to be distributed according to the terms of the trust. The time and money spent creating the trust were all wasted.

Trusts must be funded. That does not mean just putting money in them. It means transferring the title of property to the trust, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in “How to transfer assets to a trust.”

Transferring title of property differs for different types of assets. However, it does not need to be difficult for any asset type. It is mostly a matter of filling out the right paperwork and getting that paperwork to the proper authority. For example, when you purchased your home, the title was transferred to you and registered with your local Register of Deeds. You just need to do the same thing for the trust this time.

There is someone who can help you make sure that your trust is properly funded. That is an estate planning attorney who knows how to transfer title in different asset types. This is one reason why it is better to hire an attorney to create a trust, instead of using a cheaper service. It helps make sure that your trust gets funded and will be effective when it is needed.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (May 31, 2018) “How to transfer assets to a trust.” 

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Use a Trust to Avoid Disputes

If you know that your family is likely to fight over your estate, you can limit the fight greatly, by using a trust instead of a will. Couple on sofa angry with each other

Many family fights over estates are predictable. People know when their family members do not get along and are likely to fight over their inheritances. They know that “unequal” inheritances are more likely to trigger trouble, too.

When it comes to estate planning, it is important to understand that those fights quite often result in protracted court cases over the estate. This is especially true, if the main instrument used to distribute the estate is a will that has to go through probate by its very legal nature. Some of this mayhem may be avoided by using a trust instead as the Times Herald-Record discusses in “Trusts avoid inheritance disputes among family members.”

Since trusts do not go through probate, there is no open probate case for family members to easily file a claim. That in and of itself makes a trust much less likely to lead to litigation. It is also easier to use the trust document itself to create language making family fights less likely. Even if there are fights, an independent trustee can often referee those fights and thus avoid any litigation.

It is nearly impossible to completely guarantee that no family fight will ever occur over an estate. An estate planning attorney can help make those fights much less likely, by creating a good trust.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (April 5, 2018) “Trusts avoid inheritance disputes among family members.”

 

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Tell Someone about Your Advanced Medical Directives

MP900448483If you have a health care power of attorney and living will, you should make sure that someone you trust knows where to find them.

It is very easy to get advanced medical directives today. You can often get living wills and health care powers of attorney as part of the process of admission to a hospital. If you tell a doctor about your wishes, it is often good enough for the doctor to make a note of them in his or her notes. However, getting those documents at a hospital or by telling a doctor can be a problem.

The system of medical records used in the U.S. does not make it easy for doctors to know that you have expressed your wishes ahead of time, especially when they actually need the information as The New York Times reports in "You've Detailed Your Last Wishes, but Doctors May Not See Them."

There is a potential way to mitigate the possibility that this problem will happen to you. Get your living will and your health care power of attorney ahead of time, by going to an estate planning attorney. These documents are routinely created as part of the estate planning process.

Once you have created the documents, you should store them in a secure place.  However, do not stop there. Make sure that someone you trust knows where to find the documents. That person can then get them when needed, to the doctors providing care for you.

This is not a perfect plan that will work all of the time, but it is better than relying on the current system of medical records.

Reference: New York Times (March 27, 2018) "You've Detailed Your Last Wishes, but Doctors May Not See Them."

 

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Digital Asset Availability Limitations

MP900442500Gaining access to the digital accounts of deceased loved ones is slowly becoming easier. That means that people need to think about what type of access they want to grant as part of their estate planning.

Even just a few years ago, it was almost impossible to gain access to the digital accounts of the deceased. Even when ordered to allow access by judges, tech companies would point to their terms of service and deny that access. This created many problems for families and estate administrators who needed access to those accounts for a variety of reasons.  In Maryland, the legislature passed a law which became effective on October 1, 2016.  The law allows Maryland residents to name a fiduciary, during incapacity and upon death, to access the resident's online accounts. DC has not yet enacted such legislation.  For details on how to manage your digital assets, see an estate attorney.

In response to this problem, state legislators have slowly been passing new laws to gain access to digital accounts.  As a result, some tech companies are beginning to change their policies to account for this. However, when it comes to your estate planning, do you want someone to have access to your digital accounts after you pass away? If yes, for how long should they have that access?

This subject was recently considered by the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog in "Digital Assets Estate Planning — Alternatives to Perpetual Access."

The problem? The longer a digital account remains open without someone monitoring it, the more likely it is to be hacked by someone who can use the information in it for criminal, fraudulent or other nefarious purposes. Cases of this happening are becoming much more frequent. It sometimes means that estate administrators must deal with all of the problems associated with identity theft in addition to their more traditional duties.

Given these potential abuses, you might want to direct in your estate planning that your accounts be closed completely, after the period of time necessary to wrap up your affairs.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (April 6, 2018) "Digital Assets Estate Planning — Alternatives to Perpetual Access."