May 5, 2017June 14, 2025

The Beauty of Wills

Wills might seem like a bunch of dry legal words, but they can be quite beautiful, if done well.

The average layperson reading a legal document is unlikely to find it beautiful. No layperson has ever read, for example, a petition to the court in a personal injury case and been struck by the beauty of the document. Even plaintiff’s attorneys are unlikely to find a lot of beauty in even the most well written petitions in personal injury cases.

The fact is that most legal documents are dry, technical and unlikely to ever appear in anyone’s list of the most beautiful things they have ever read.

But, wills are different.

Wills can be beautiful, as Nasdaq points out in “A Will Can Be a Beautiful Thing.”

The potential beauty of a will is not in the actual words themselves.

That much should be obvious, because most wills are, in fact, dry, technical and boring legal documents to read. They often contain formal required language that does not change very much from will to will.

The true beauty of a will is in what lies behind the words.

A will, at its best, tells how a person wants his or her loved ones to be taken care after the person passes away.

It is an expression of caring and love.

A will shows that we have carefully thought about what will happen to the people we love, after we pass away.

That can be a beautiful thing, even if the language itself is dry and boring.

Reference: Nasdaq (April 10, 2017) “A Will Can Be a Beautiful Thing.”

May 4, 2017February 23, 2022

Avoiding Probate

One of the most common questions that people have about estate planning, is how to avoid probate. You probably cannot do so entirely, but you can make it quick and painless.

For most people, the word “probate” conjures up nightmare scenarios of protracted estate battles that cost lots of money and tear families apart. It is an ugly word for most people.

As a result, most people generally want to avoid having their estates go through probate.

In fact, one of the most frequently asked questions of estate planning attorneys is how to avoid probate, as Forbes points out in “Probate, Wills, Executors: Your Estate Planning Questions Answered.”

It is important to understand that probate is merely the type of court that a will or an estate without a will has to go through.

Most of the time, it is a relatively simple process, especially with the assistance of an estate attorney. However, there are times when it can be long and expensive, so the desire to want to avoid it are not unjustified.

The key is to have an estate plan that utilizes instruments that do not have to go through probate. The most typical of these are trusts, but there are other more complex legal instruments that can also be used. Find out more about the basics of trust and wills, click here.

However, even the most airtight probate avoidance estate plan might have to go through the probate process briefly.

All estate plans should have at least a simple pour-over will that directs any unaccounted for assets into a previously created trust.

If there are enough unaccounted for assets, they will need to go through probate. However, the process should be quick and easy.

Reference: Forbes (April 7, 2017) “Probate, Wills, Executors: Your Estate Planning Questions Answered.”

May 3, 2017

Wills Can Be Changed

Spouses will often agree to get wills. They or their heirs believe that a contract has been entered into that prevents those wills from being changed. It is not true.

It is fairly common in estate planning attorneys' offices, for a husband and wife to come in and declare that they both want similar wills drawn up. These wills are often referred to as "mirror image wills."

The most common form they take, is that each spouse gets a will leaving everything he or she owns to the surviving spouse. The second to pass away spouse, then gives everything to the children or other agreed upon heirs.

Despite their seeming simplicity, these wills are an unusually common source of litigation, as the National Law Review discusses in "Contracts to Make Wills or Trusts."

The problem starts when the surviving spouse has a change of plans and changes his or her will to divide things differently or to give the estate to different heirs.

The heirs of the original mirror image wills routinely argue in court, that the spouses entered into a contract to make the original wills. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case in almost all circumstances.

To be valid, a contract requires that a person receive some sort of compensation, called consideration, for whatever promise it is that they are contracted to perform.

In the case of mirror image wills, spouses rarely receive any form of consideration for promising not to change the will later.

It is important to understand this point, because the issue frequently comes up in estate litigation. It costs estates a lot of money, when the issue is raised.

Reference: National Law Review (April 10, 2017) "Contracts to Make Wills or Trusts."

May 2, 2017February 23, 2022

Estate Planning Prevents Family Fights

There are many reasons to plan for your estate. The most important is probably that with proper estate planning, you can help to prevent your family from fighting over your estate.

Only the most sadistic people among us, would really want their families to fight over their estates. The goal for almost everyone is for our families to get along with each other, even after we are no longer around.

However, families do often fight over estates.

Some of those fights are unavoidable, since they stem from longstanding family dynamics and family members who do not trust each other or get along with each at all.

Many of those fights are avoidable, as Wealth Management discusses in “How to Prevent Feuds Among Heirs.”

The single most important thing that needs to be done to prevent family fights over an estate, is to get an estate plan. Review the basics of getting an estate plan click here.

Sound estate plans can often cut off any reason for families to fight. Proper planning can ensure that everyone gets their fair share of the estate. The estate plan can set forth reasonable means for resolving any disputes that do come up.

However, just getting an estate plan is not enough.

The next thing that needs to be done, is to communicate with your family about what is in the estate plan. An estate planning lawyer can help you start the process of developing a plan and letting family know about it.

People who know what they are going to get and why that was the choice of the departed, are much less likely to be upset and start fights with other family members over the estate.

If you do not already have an estate plan, get one.

If you do already have one, then make sure that you review and update it regularly to ensure that it will be effective in preventing your family from fighting.

Reference: Wealth Management (April 10, 2017) “How to Prevent Feuds Among Heirs.”

May 1, 2017July 26, 2024

Family Wealth Does Not Always Last

Even great amounts of family wealth, can easily be lost by future generations who do not preserve and add to it as the original wealth generator did.

James Jewett Stillman’s greatest lasting achievement was running the bank that eventually grew into Citigroup. However, he had another legacy.

Stillman also had a large and valuable collection of art and an estate he wanted to be preserved for use by the public. If everything had gone according to plan, the art and the estate would have been preserved for generations.

However, everything did not go according to plan.

His heirs are now trying to auction off the art, because they need the money to save the estate, as Bloomberg reports in “New York Banking Royalty’s Heirs Are Unloading Art to Save the Family Estate.”

The source of the problem, in this case, appears to be that trustees who were charged with running the estate have squandered millions of dollars over the years. The estate’s funds have run so low, that the heirs have no choice but to sell something. Therefore, they have chosen to sell the art.

The immediate lesson to be learned? It is very important to choose trustees carefully and to make sure that trust documents are carefully crafted to make squandering money difficult.

However, there is also a more important lesson that wealth does not last forever, unless it is properly maintained. Had it not been the trustees who squandered the wealth in this case, it might have been the future heirs.

Reference: Bloomberg (April 4, 2017) “New York Banking Royalty’s Heirs Are Unloading Art to Save the Family Estate.”

April 28, 2017

The Mars Problem

Humans have long dreamed of visiting the planet Mars. However, to do so would cause aging problems for astronauts. However, we might be on the cusp of overcoming that by reversing the aging process itself.

One of the basic facts of human existence is that throughout our lives, our cells continuously divide.

Some cells die, but the division process ensures that new cells take the place of the dead ones. The division process is not perfect, however.

Each instance of cell division causes a small bit of deterioration in the cell and in the DNA of the cell. Over time, these bits of deterioration add up and the result is what we know as the aging process that we can see with our own eyes.

While not exactly constant, this deterioration from cell division occurs at a fixed enough rate that the maximum lifespan is the same for all humans. Scientists have been unable to change this rate of deterioration until now.

A way to reverse it might have been found, reported by the Daily Mail in "Would YOU choose to live forever? Age-reversing pill that NASA wants to give to astronauts on Mars will begin trials within six months."

If the report is true and trials bear out, then scientists have found a drug that can reverse the deterioration from cell division that causes aging.

This would have potential benefits for astronauts because space travel is extremely dangerous.

Astronauts are exposed to radiation that causes the cell deterioration to increase.

NASA is interested in this drug as a possible way to protect astronauts on a trip to Mars.

If this drug actually works, it has profound implications for more than just space travelers. It would cause great changes for all elderly people and for all estate planners.

Reference: Daily Mail (March 23, 2017) "Would YOU choose to live forever? Age-reversing pill that NASA wants to give to astronauts on Mars will begin trials within six months."

April 27, 2017

Finding the Right Nursing Home

Going into a nursing home can be a frightening experience. It can be made less scary by asking questions and choosing the right nursing home for your family.

No one wants to go into a nursing home.

When we think about what happens in them, we usually imagine nursing homes to be sterile places where people are sent off to be isolated and alone. That stereotype comes to us from the distant past. It is a bad caricature of what nursing homes are like today.

However, nursing homes do come in all sorts of different varieties with many different levels of care and interactions between staff and residents. It is important that the nursing home you choose is the right one for you.

That can be accomplished by asking appropriate questions before deciding on a nursing home, as Next Avenue points out in "18 Questions to Ask Any Nursing Home."

While the questions to ask are too numerous to list here, it is important to understand that the most fundamental questions are not about cost, although that is important. Instead, the most important questions to ask are about how patients live, what activities are available to patients and how staff helps patients with those activities.

The answers to those questions are what truly determine what quality of life will be like in a nursing home and how happy you might be there as a resident.

Before deciding on a nursing home, take a look at the questions to ask and actually ask them of the nursing homes you are considering. That way you can make sure that you are choosing the right place for you.

Reference: Next Avenue (March 15, 2017) "18 Questions to Ask Any Nursing Home."

Elder Law, Nursing Homes

April 26, 2017February 23, 2022

Absolute Minimal Estate Planning

Even if you do not think that you need an estate plan, there are a couple things that you absolutely must do.

You need to do some estate planning. Even if you think that you do not, you do.

Your possessions will not just magically go to whomever you want after you pass away, if you do not make some sort of estate plan.

While you should visit an estate planning attorney and get the most comprehensive estate plan that you can get, you might wonder what the absolute minimal amount of estate planning you can do to make sure that you have everything done that is absolutely necessary.

Recently, Fidelity discussed that in “Estate planning must dos.”

There are really two things that must be done at a minimum.

First, you need to check beneficiaries on documents such as life insurance policies and retirement accounts. These beneficiaries are legally entitled to the proceeds of the accounts after you pass away.

The second thing you absolutely must do is to title any real property you have appropriately. Of course, what is appropriate titling, depends on your individual family situation and is something you should discuss with an attorney.

Those are the two absolute basic minimal estate planning requirements.

If you do not want to do just the minimum and would prefer to do more, talk to an estate planning attorney about what more you can do. Our site provides information on the basic estate documents you need for fundamental planning.

Reference: Fidelity (March 27, 2017) “Estate planning must dos.”

April 25, 2017

The Trumps and Trusts

Trusts might be more of a topic of political conversation today, thanks to the Trump family, than at any other time since President Theodore Roosevelt waged war against the trusts of the Gilded Age. That could be a good thing.

Trusts are not often a subject of much public discussion. They are important to estate planners, but as a matter of pressing national concern they rarely register.

The last time they were considered to be a matter of nightly discussion on the national news was during the first Roosevelt administration, when President Theodore Roosevelt resolved to bring the trusts to heel.

Today, trusts are back in the news because of the Trump administration and how members of President Trump's family are using trusts to hold their assets.

A lot of digital ink has been spilled over whether the President's family is using trusts in ethically appropriate ways.

One of the more recent examples of that comes from a New York Times article on Ivanka Trump's trust titled "Despite a Trust, Ivanka Trump Still Wields Power Over Her Brand."

While the press reporting has been mostly over the concerns about the ethical considerations of the Trump family trusts, there is another possible story.

What the Trumps are teaching us is that trusts can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They can be created for different purposes and give different people various levels of control over the assets in the trusts.

Whether or not you care about the ethical considerations of the Trump trusts, pay attention to the different things they do with their trusts. It might give you some ideas about what you can do with trusts that you can make part of your estate plan.

Reference: New York Times (March 20, 2017) "Despite a Trust, Ivanka Trump Still Wields Power Over Her Brand."

April 24, 2017May 5, 2022

Planning for a First Child

New parents have many possible things to worry about. One of them does not need to be what will happen to their newborn, should anything happen to them.

First-time parents are stereotypically known to be a nervous group. That is understandable. Bringing a new life into the world that you are responsible for, is a daunting task for even the most financially secure and emotionally stable people.

It is not easy being a parent and it is anything but cheap. Parenting a child costs a lot of money in today’s world. It requires careful planning. We have some of the basics about planning for young families on the Profit Law Firm website.

Recently, Wealth Management outlined some financial planning advice for new parents in “Six Financial Planning Steps for Expecting Parents.”

All of the steps listed in the article are important and worthy of consideration for new parents. However, the last one is of particular importance, because it is the one that is most often forgotten.

New parents need to get estate plans.

It is through estate planning that parents can prepare for the worst case scenario if something happens to them, the parents, before their children reach adulthood.

It is in estate planning that guardians are nominated for minor children.

It is also through estate planning that financial arrangements are made to make sure that minor children have the resources needed for their care, if something happens to the parents.

If you are expecting a child, make sure you do not neglect to see an estate planning attorney so you do not have to worry about what will happen to your child, if something happens to you.

Reference: Wealth Management (March 31, 2017) “Six Financial Planning Steps for Expecting Parents.”

Building Legacies that Last Estate Planning and Elder Law

Author: Profit Law Firm