Klitzman Law Group, PLLC

The Core of Estate Planning

If you feel overwhelmed about planning your estate, it might be helpful to remember what is at the core of estate planning. It is a way to transfer assets.

Estate planning can be and do many different things. It can provide for the care of minor children. It can be a way to let people know that you love them. It can create a charitable legacy.

In fact, there are so many things estate planning can be and do that may people get overwhelmed thinking about all of them. As a result, they do not create estate plans.

At its core, however, estate planning is not that complicated. Estate planning can be as simple as transferring your assets after death.

As the Times Herald-Record explains in "Transferring assets upon death," there are four main ways to do that, including:

• Wills - In a will you state who should get your assets and appoint someone to be in charge of making sure that your wishes are carried out. Wills have to be approved by a probate court.
• Joint Ownership - If you have assets in joint ownership with another person, then by law when you pass away the joint owner becomes the sole owner of the asset.
• Beneficiary Designations - For life insurance policies, retirement accounts and savings accounts, you name a specific beneficiary to receive the assets after you pass away. A court does not need to approve the designation.
• Trusts - With a trust, you state how your assets should be handled, appoint someone to handle them and name the people for whose benefit the assets will be handled.

How do you know which approach or approaches are best for your circumstances? Contact an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (March 15, 2017) "Transferring assets upon death."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts

A Good Time to Get an Estate Plan

While you are busy doing your taxes this year, it is also a good time to think about getting an estate plan.

Every year at about this time, Americans breathe a big sigh of relief when they seal their tax returns and send them off to the IRS or hit "send" to file electronically. The sigh is even bigger, if the envelope did not include a check written to the government and the tax filer can expect to receive a refund in the next couple of months.

No one likes doing their own taxes.

When they are finally done, the last thing that most people want to do is to deal with more financial issues. However, it is a good idea to do one more thing, as CTV News points out in "The mistakes of not having a will."

When you finish doing your taxes, you should get an estate plan or update your plan, if you already have one.

To do your taxes, you had to get out many of your financial documents. You have also been thinking about how much money you have and where it is all located. Doing those things is one of the first steps to getting an estate plan.

You could put all of your financial documents away and think about other things.  However, if you later decided to do estate planning, you will have to start all over again.

Why not just go ahead and get an estate plan now, while things are still on your mind?

Reference: CTV News (March 21, 2017) "The mistakes of not having a will."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Taxes

Handling a Younger Boss

Americans are putting off retirement and continuing to work at an increasing rate. Many seniors who do retire later, chose to go back to work. One of the consequences is that it often leads to having a younger boss.

People often do not like taking directions and orders from others who are much younger. It seems to go against the natural order of things for younger people to be in charge of older people. However, that is exactly what is frequently happening in the American workplace today.

As The New York Times reports in "When the Boss Is Half Your Age," 38% of Americans have a younger boss. One of the reasons for this trend is that many employers want to hire managers who grew up with the technology used in today's workplaces, such as cell phones and email.

There is a belief that being a native to the technology, makes younger people better at understanding it and using it to their advantage.

Another reason for this phenomenon is that Americans are working longer than before and many people who have chosen retirement go back to work for one reason or another.  As a result, many senior citizens have immediate superiors at work who are much younger than they are  which can lead to problems.

Elders do not always like being told what to do by younger people, and younger bosses are often on guard against older employees who think that the old way of doing things is best.

Seniors who do have a much younger boss need to be aware that the law does protect them against discrimination due to age.  However, they should also be open to new things and be willing to do their work, as directed by their younger boss.

Reference: New York Times (March 17, 2017) "When the Boss Is Half Your Age."

Suggested Key Words: Elder Law, Employment

 

Tennessee's Cowan Rule

In most states, to completely disinherit a child in a will, parents have to mention the child and specifically disinherit him or her. Otherwise, it is presumed that the child was left out by mistake. Tennessee has an exception to the rule.

2013. Don Brock, the late CEO of Astec Industries, wrote many wills over the years. He executed new wills in 1994, 1998, 2006, 2012 and 2013. His first three wills all did different things with regard to his five adopted children.

They were given various amounts of money or cut out from receiving anything in the different wills. The last two wills did not mention the adopted children at all. They claim that was done by their stepmother, in order to preserve the assets of Astec Industries for herself.

The children filed a lawsuit against the estate, but lost in the lower courts. The Supreme Court of Tennessee has now agreed to hear their case, according to the Times Free Press in "Tennessee Supreme Court agrees to hear J. Don Brock estate challenge."

The main issue in this case is a 110-year-old decision by the Supreme Court of Tennessee that created what is known as the Cowan Rule. It limits the ability of potential heirs to challenge a will, if they were not mentioned in the previous will.

The adopted children lost in the lower courts because they were not mentioned in the 2012 will. The rule makes some sense.

Why?

Merely having the 2013 will ruled invalid would not create an inheritance for the children,  since it would just validate the 2012 will, unless it is also successfully challenged.

However, this is not how other states handle disinherited children.

In other states, it is presumed that if a child is not mentioned in a will at all, it was a mistake and the child can challenge the estate, regardless of what an older will might state.

Reference: Times Free Press (March 21, 2017) "Tennessee Supreme Court agrees to hear J. Don Brock estate challenge."

Suggested Key Words: Wills, Estate Litigation

 

Offering Condolences

When someone you know passes away, one of the most important things that you can do is to sincerely offer condolences to the deceased's loved ones.

A lot of the time when we see other people hurting, we wonder what we can do to help.  We often conclude that there is nothing we can do. It is common for this to happen, when we learn that someone has passed away and we see their family in mourning.

As humans, we lack the ability to bring the deceased back to life.

There are other things, however, we can do to help the family that do not require much time and effort as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog points out in "How Condolences Alleviate Grief."

The easiest and one of the best ways to help people mourning for a loved one, is to let them know we care and to offer our condolences. This does not require a grand gesture. It only requires a sincere statement of sympathy.

Sending a card or flowers is another way to offer condolences. Charitable donations in the name of the deceased is also a small thing that can let grieving people know you care.

This is important. Knowing that other people really do care helps those who are grieving.

It does not fix everything. It does not bring anyone back to life. Nevertheless, it does help people move on and makes it easier for them to handle other things that need to be done when a loved one passes away, such as making funeral arrangements and dealing with the estate.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (March 20, 2017) "How Condolences Alleviate Grief."

Suggested Key Words: Estates