March 2, 2018

When a Relative Passes Away Without a Will

If a close loved one has recently passed away without having a will, you need to know what to do so that the estate can be properly distributed.

Every day people in the U.S. pass away without any form of estate plan. Surveys show that approximately half of Americans do not even have a will when they pass away.

When one of those decedents is a close relative of yours, you might be the person the family thinks should be in charge of handling everything and making sure the decedent’s assets are distributed to other family members.

However, that is not a simple process, as the Napa Valley Register discussed in "Mom died with no will. Now what?"

You cannot just start handing property out to other people. This is especially true if the property in question is something like real estate or a car. You need the necessary legal authority to transfer those assets.

For that authority you will need to go to probate court and ask a judge to appoint you as the personal representative of the estate. Once you secure that designation, you have the legal authority to determine what assets comprise the decedent’s estate and then distribute them.

However, you cannot distribute assets anyway you wish. Your state's laws of intestate succession will determine to whom the assets should be distributed.

That sounds complicated and it is. The first step you should take if you find yourself in this position, is to hire an estate attorney who can assist you.

Reference: Napa Valley Register (Feb. 1, 2018) "Mom died with no will. Now what?"

January 4, 2018

David Cassidy’s Will

David Cassidy is the latest deceased celebrity to have cut one of his children out of his will.

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."

December 28, 2017October 25, 2023

Incapacity Planning

It is important that you make plans for what will happen to your family and your possessions after you pass away. It is also important to plan for what will happen to them, if you are incapacitated.

You might be aware that you need a will or a trust, so you can make sure your family is taken care of after you pass away. Getting a will or trust also lets you determine what happens to your property after you pass away.

If you have not done so, you really should see an estate planning attorney to get a will or trust as soon as possible, just in case.

While you are at the attorney’s office, you should also get plans for what might happen if you become incapacitated, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in “Make plans in case you are incapacitated.”

The issue is that if you are incapacitated, someone else needs the legal authority to act on your behalf.

Someone will need to be able to handle your bills and to make medical decisions for you, should it be necessary.

If you do not plan ahead, it can be a difficult process for someone else to get the legal authority.

Someone will have to hire an attorney and go to court to get a judge’s permission to act as your guardian.

Fortunately, planning for what will happen if you become incapacitated is not difficult.

You just need a general durable power of attorney and a health care power of attorney.

The estate planning attorney can prepare both of them for you.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (Dec. 12, 2017) “Make plans in case you are incapacitated.”

December 13, 2017

Duke’s Will to Be Unsealed

The Duke of Windsor's will has been sealed since his death in 1972. The will of the man once known as King Edward VIII has been ordered unsealed, so copyrights can be determined for a television show.

It is considered one of the biggest acts of romantic love in modern history. King Edward VIII of England abdicated the throne in 1936, so he could marry a divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson.

His title changed from the king to the Duke of Windsor. He passed away in 1972.

The contents of his will were quickly sealed by the court and have never been made public, despite great public and historical interest in them. People are curious whether the will might shed any light on the man's decision to abdicate.

A court in the U.K. has now ruled that the will is to be unsealed as the Daily Mail reports in "Duke of Windsor's will to be unsealed at last… but only so The Crown's writers can get their facts straight."

The Duke's will is only to be unsealed for a limited purpose.

The writers of the Netflix show The Crown would like to use the duke's letters in their show. However, they first need to know who owns the copyrights to those letters, so they can get the necessary permissions to use them.

It is not likely the will's other details will be made public.

For a former king's will to be sealed, is probably a simple matter.

For other people, it is much more difficult since wills are generally a matter of public knowledge.

People who would like to keep their estates private, should see an estate planning attorney for more information about how to do that.

Reference: Daily Mail (Nov. 15, 2017) "Duke of Windsor's will to be unsealed at last… but only so The Crown's writers can get their facts straight."

October 13, 2017

Cutting a Child Out

Wealthy parents often have extremely high expectations for their children. They want their children to go to school, get a good job, raise a family and do all of the things that made the parents so successful.

However, sometimes a child just does not live up to those expectations.

Sometimes there is a black sheep who does everything the parents would not want him or her to do.

If the problems are severe enough, then the parents might even stop contact with the child and seek to cut him or her out of their estates.

The latter is often a bad idea, as the Globe and Mail discusses in "Think twice, wealthy family, before cutting the black sheep out of your will."
One big thing to consider is that a child who receives nothing has no incentive to not cause problems.

A no-contest clause can prevent someone who does receive an inheritance from challenging an estate plan that they do not like, but it cannot prevent someone from doing so who is set to receive nothing or very little from an estate.

This can make cutting a child out of an estate plan a very expensive proposition. This is because the child has no reason to not launch legal fights.

A black sheep child can also be more easily controlled by using an estate plan to incentivize that child into desired behaviors.

An estate planning attorney can help you create a trust, for example, that only distributes money to the child when certain actions are taken by the child.

Reference: Globe and Mail (Sep. 19, 2017) "Think twice, wealthy family, before cutting the black sheep out of your will."

June 20, 2017

Fight Over Barry White’s Estate

When someone says that you should trust them to handle an estate and be fair to you, it is not usually a good idea to agree to that idea, without first seeing the estate plan so you know what you are supposed to receive.

Barry White passed away in 2003. To date, his estate has stayed out of the news.

For a celebrity estate it has been a smooth estate administration by all appearances. However, Darryl White, Barry's son, has now filed a lawsuit opening up the estate to public scrutiny.

Darryl claims that when his father passed away, his widow told Darryl that she would make sure he got his fair share of the estate, as long as he agreed not to challenge the estate. For his part, Darryl claims he never even saw his father's will to know what he was supposed to receive.

He received regular payments until 2015, when they suddenly stopped. He believes the money is now being wasted by his stepmother.

Darryl has filed suit and is demanding to see the will to know what it is he should be receiving.

TMZ reported on this story in "Barry White's Son Sues My Dad's Widow Can't Get Enough of His Dough."

In one sense, this is not an unusual story.

It is very common for children to have fights with a step-parent over an estate. On the other hand, this is an extremely unusual story.

It is not at all common for a child to trust the step-parent enough to agree to her terms, without at least seeing the estate plan and knowing what the child is supposed to inherit.

If nothing else, this case illustrates why it is an obviously bad idea for the child to agree to that.

Reference: TMZ (May 24, 2017) "Barry White's Son Sues My Dad's Widow Can't Get Enough of His Dough."

May 15, 2017

The Danger of Wills

It is easier to get wills today than it ever has been, since forms can be downloaded and filled out on your own. However, that ease has led to many people not understanding the potential dangers of wills.

That everyone should have an estate plan is a principle which most people understand when the reasons are explained to them. Estate plans, even as simple as a will, at the very least can help prevent families from fighting over estates.

Since you do not know when you will pass away, you should go ahead and get an estate plan.

While most Americans still do not have a will, a greater percentage of Americans have them than ever before. It is easy and cheap to get wills today, since you can purchase downloadable forms from several different services.

However, there are some hidden dangers in doing that, as The New York Times explained in "Wills Can Avert Family Warfare, but Have Their Own Hidden Traps."

The biggest issue is that the probate process is different in every state.

Submitting a will to probate for administration, in some states, is very expensive and can take a long time. That suggests that probate avoidance strategies should be used, which could lead some people to utilize a trust instead of a will as their primary estate planning vehicle.

Trusts, however, are more expensive to get than wills and in some states probate is relatively quick and inexpensive. Consequently, trusts may only be needed for people with larger estates.

There are other probate avoidance strategies that can be used, but they also have their drawbacks. For example, retitling an asset as joint property with a child, which is a common tactic, can make the asset vulnerable to the child's creditors.

The best thing to do is to hire an experienced estate planning attorney in your state, so that attorney can help you with the best estate planning strategy for your state and your estate.

Reference: New York Times (April 21, 2017) "Wills Can Avert Family Warfare, but Have Their Own Hidden Traps."

April 17, 2017

An Estate Battle over Support for Donald Trump

In an extremely unusual case, the children of Phyllis Schlafly are involved in a bitter dispute over her estate that appears to have started, when Schlafly decided to support Donald Trump for President.

Throughout the late 20th century, Phyllis Schlafly was a well-known and powerful force in Republican politics. She is often credited with personally defeating the Equal Rights Amendment, when it appeared to be on the verge of passing.

Although she had faded away from the public eye in recent years, Schlafly remained an important figure in Republican circles until she passed away in 2016. When she endorsed Donald Trump for President during the 2016 primaries, it might not have mattered to the general public, but it did matter in the Republican operative world.

It also appears to have mattered to her children and her estate, as the Daily Mail reports in "Children of late conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly at war over their inheritance and have been fighting since she threw her support behind Donald Trump."

Schlafly's endorsement of Trump created a rift between her sons, who supported the decision, and her daughter, who opposed it. The daughter claims that the decision was influenced by Republican political operative Ed Martin.

Since Schlafly passed away, Martin has been creating political action committees in her name to support Trump and the daughter has attempted to stop him. She also claims that Martin and her brothers unduly influenced their mother to change her will in their favor and to make it more difficult for the daughter to challenge the will.

This is disputed by the sons.

Reference: Daily Mail (March 23, 2017) "Children of late conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly at war over their inheritance and have been fighting since she threw her support behind Donald Trump."

January 6, 2017

Estate Planning With no Estate Tax

The federal estate tax might soon be a thing of the past. That does not mean that you will no longer need a will.

On January 20, 2017, the Republican Party will control the Presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The party will quickly act on its long-stated goal of eliminating the federal estate tax.

If it does so, do not be tempted to think that you no longer need an estate plan. There are reasons to get one that have nothing to do with avoiding the estate tax.

At the very least, you still want to have a will as Forbes discusses in "Five Reasons You Need a Will (Even If the Estate Tax Is Repealed)!"

The reasons include:

In a will, you appoint an executor who is in charge of administering your affairs. The executor can make sure that all of your debts are paid and that your assets are handled appropriately.
If you have minor children, a will is used to designate who you want to have guardianship of those children in case something happens to you.
In a will, you can give specific bequests to people. That means if you want one of your children to have a specific piece of personal property for sentimental reasons, a will is the place that you do that.
While getting a will you can also get advanced medical directives that will determine how you should be cared for, if you are incapacitated and not able to communicate with doctors at the time.
A will is more efficient than allowing the courts to handle your affairs without your directions. Having a will is cheaper and faster than going to court. It also protects your estate by making sure that your property does not go to people you do not want to have it.

Reference: Forbes (Dec. 8, 2016) "Five Reasons You Need a Will (Even If the Estate Tax Is Repealed)!"

November 25, 2016February 27, 2023

What You Should Have in Your Estate Plan

There are a few things that every single estate plan needs to have regardless of the exact legal instruments that you end up using as your primary estate planning tools.

Estate plans can take a variety of shapes. Some estate plans are small and simple. Other estate plans are large and contain many complex legal instruments. However, there are a few things every single estate plan needs to have.

Recently, the Catholic Register discussed what is necessary for all Canadian estate plans in “The must-haves of estate planning.” In the U.S. most of the same things are also necessary. They include:

Someone needs to be appointed as the executor of your will. Even if the primary instrument to distribute your property is a trust, your plan should still include a pour-over will for which you need to appoint someone trustworthy as an executor.
Your estate plan needs to include some basic tax planning, especially if you live in a state that has an estate tax of its own. Both Maryland and the District of Columbia do, so you need some basic tax planning in both these states.
If you have any dependents, then your estate plan needs to provide for their care. While you have some flexibility in your estate, you cannot simply disinherit a spouse or a minor child. Maryland and the District of Columbia, like other states, allow disinherited spouses to claim an elective share of the estate, regardless of an intent to disinherit.
Your estate plan should also include powers of attorney so you can appoint someone to look after your interests if you become incapacitated.

If you have an experienced estate planning attorney create your estate plan, then it will contain all of these things and much more that will make your estate plan as effective as it can possibly be. Schedule a consultation with Profit Law Firm to get the peace of mind that comes with proper estate planning.

Reference: Catholic Register (Nov. 6, 2016) “The must-haves of estate planning.”

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Tag: Will