Klitzman Law Group, PLLC

Planned Giving

One of the ways that you can leave a good legacy behind, is to provide money to charity in your estate plan.

Your worth is likely more than the sum total of your assets. You have worth that does not have any direct monetary value. Your capacity to like and love your friends and family cannot be given a monetary value, for example. However, in estate planning, it can often seem like the only thing you will have left at the time you pass away, are assets that have monetary value and need to be given to other people.

You cannot give away your capacity to love after death. However, that does not mean your other value has to be left out of your estate plan completely. You can use your estate plan for planned charitable giving, as the Nashua Telegraph discusses in "Planning to give and leaving a lasting legacy."

Planned giving is simply making provisions in your estate plan that a certain amount of money or a percentage of your estate's assets should be given to charity. It is a popular option for people. It is popular not only with the wealthy, but also with people of more modest means who want to leave something behind for good causes.

There are several different ways you can make charitable donations a part of your estate. Some are as simple as a few lines written into a will and others are for more complicated, including setting up special trusts for the purpose. An estate planning attorney can help you choose the best way to do so.

Reference: Nashua Telegraph (May 20, 2018) "Planning to give and leaving a lasting legacy."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts

What are Digital Assets?

It is important to include your digital assets in your estate plan.  However, you need to know what they are.

In the last few years, digital assets have received considerable attention in estate planning. There have been lawsuits filed over access to them, after someone passes away. There have also been legislative attempts to provide greater access to them for estate administrators.

Estate plans now almost have to include plans for what to do with digital assets. However,  many people are still confused about what digital assets even are. There are actually four different basic categories of digital assets people might need to consider, as the Xenia Daily Gazette points out in "Estate Planning and Digital Assets," including:

• Things that exist only digitally but that have some monetary value. This can include things like domain names for websites and cryptocurrencies.
• Another category includes digital accounts that provide access to things that have value in the real world. If you access your bank account online, the information about that access is a digital asset.
• Another potential asset includes messages meant to communicate digitally with others, including emails or social media posts.
• Finally, there is another category of digital assets that includes things like photos and videos stored digitally.

Reference: Xenia Daily Gazette (May 21, 2018) "Estate Planning and Digital Assets."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning

Your Executor Is Important

One of the simplest things that you can do to help prevent your estate from facing difficulties, is to make the right choice about who your executor should be.

People who get wills, normally put a lot of thought into how they would like their property to be distributed after they pass away. It is very important to them, that their wishes are carried out and everything goes to the appropriate heirs. However, often relatively little thought is put into who should make sure it all happens.

The person in charge is the executor. Instead of thinking about whether the person they are choosing is the right person, many people just pick a close friend or relative. This can be a very big mistake, if the person does not know what they are doing, as Forbes points out in "Choosing an Executor for Your Estate."

The executor of your estate will have a lot of work to do. There are often important tax decisions that need to be made quickly. The executor needs to determine what assets you have at the time you pass away.  However, they cannot just give those assets to the people you want to have them.

First, they need to go to probate court and be officially appointed to administer the estate. They will then need to determine, if you had any debt when you passed away. That debt normally needs to be paid out of your assets, before any property can be distributed.

Your executor needs to be someone who not only has the time to serve in the capacity, but also can handle administrative and financial tasks well. Put some thought into this important decision.

Reference: Forbes (May 16, 2018) "Choosing an Executor for Your Estate."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Wills, Executor

Why You Need an Estate Plan

If you think that you do not need an estate plan because you do not have very many assets, then you do not understand that estate planning is not just about your property.

There are millions of Americans who do not have very many assets that need to be distributed after they pass away. It is not the case that they are all poor. Many of them are just younger people who have not yet lived long enough to accumulate assets.

People often think they do not really need estate plans, if they are young and with limited assets. In some sense they are correct.  If people do not own any real estate and do not have any other valuable property, it will not be too difficult for their families to handle their estates. However, estate planning is about more than that, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in "Everyone can benefit from an estate plan."

Almost all estate plans today also include some legal documents that are traditionally considered elder law documents. Despite the term "elder law", even young people need these documents because they are really about planning for disability.

That is planning for the possibility that you could have an accident or illness that does not kill you.  However, it can leave you legally incapacitated, even if it is only on a temporary basis. These documents include a health care power of attorney, so someone else has the authority to make health care decisions on your behalf.  It also includes a general durable power of attorney, so someone else can handle your finances, if you are unable to do so.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (May 17, 2018) "Everyone can benefit from an estate plan."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Power of Attorney, Elder Law

 

Why You Need an Estate Planning Attorney

You might think that you do not need professional assistance for your estate plan because you know who you want to get what. There is more to estate planning than that.

It is actually easy to create an estate plan for yourself. You can simply write your own will, directing who should get what pieces of property.  If you execute that will properly with witnesses and signatures, your will can be probated.

If you are not certain that is the best idea and would like a little bit more help, download some prepared forms to fill out from an online service at a low cost. The ease of doing that might make you think that an estate planning attorney is not necessary.  However, there are other reasons to see an attorney, as the Huntsville Item points out in "Do you really need an estate planning attorney?"

Those other reasons include:

• The estate planning attorney knows about property law and how different types of property are handled differently by courts. If you do not get this correct in your will, your estate can face difficulties.
• There are different types of estate planning documents that do different things. Estate planning attorneys can help you pick the right ones for your unique circumstances.
• Estate taxes are still a concern at the federal level for many people and in several states. A professional is needed to properly plan around them.
• The attorney can also help craft your estate plan in a way that compliments your other financial goals, often including paying less in taxes.

Reference: The Huntsville Item (May 21, 2018) "Do you really need an estate planning attorney?"

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Wills

Elder Law Month

There are many legal services available to seniors. May is a good month for them to get informed about their options, since it is Elder Law Month.

 There are many elderly people in the U.S. who suffer from legal problems without knowing there might be assistance and remedies available to them. For example, many elderly people are the victims of financial abuse.  However, they do not know their legal options. Instead of doing something to stop the abuse, they allow it to continue due to lack of knowledge.

That is a problem. No elderly person should have to suffer from abuse of any kind. Now is a good time for the elderly to get informed about their legal options for all sorts of things, as News 4 San Antonio points out in "Protecting senior citizens from abuse and providing legal services."

May is National Elder Law Month. In many localities, attorneys and senior advocates offer free seminars during the month, so people can learn about relevant services available in their areas. If there are no informational events going on in your area, you can still learn about your options by visiting with an elder law attorney.

The attorney will not only know about legal services for elderly people but other things as well. Most attorneys who specialize in elder law, keep informed about other services for the elderly in their communities, so they can help their clients with an appropriate referral, when needed.

If you have not seen an elder law attorney before, you should do so. You are likely to be surprised by the many things you did not know, and you can learn about benefits.

Reference: News 4 San Antonio (May 14, 2018) "Protecting senior citizens from abuse and providing legal services."

Suggested Key Words: Elder Law, Elder Abuse

Leaving Something for Charities in the Best Possible Way

Planning to leave something to charity in your estate plan? It is best to let them know ahead of time.

When people make their estate plans, they normally make sure their families are taken care of first. After doing that, there is often still money or other assets left over. Some people also give that to their families.  However, many others prefer to provide for their favorite charities.

This helps the charity and can also leave an enduring legacy for the giver. However, there are good and bad ways to give to charities. The specifics of what ways are good and bad, often vary between different charities.

The best way to find out how to give to any specific charity, is to talk to that charity. There are other benefits to doing that, as Mountain Xpress points out in "Local nonprofits work with donors for planned giving."

Many charities have specific language they like donors to use, when giving gifts in their wills or trusts. This helps the charity know how they can use the gifts legally. Donors can also benefit from this,  since the charity might have different funds set up for its different charitable activities. Donors can direct that their gifts be used for the specific funds they choose to support.

Some charities even offer “benefits” now to people who promise to make a gift to the charity after they pass away. However, if you do not let the charity know about your plans, then you cannot get those benefits.

Talk to an estate planning attorney, if you would like to leave something behind for charity. The attorney can also help with talking to the charity.

Reference: Mountain Xpress (May 12, 2018) "Local nonprofits work with donors for planned giving."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Charity

 

Do Not Give Your Children Everything Now

Some older people like to give everything to their children, while the parents are still alive. This is usually not a very good idea.

Many parents know that when they pass away without an estate plan, everything they own will likely go to their children. That is likely to be what the parent wants to happen anyway. However, before the children inherit the estate, it must to go through the probate process. That can be expensive and time-consuming in many states.

This leads some parents to give everything to their children, while the parents are still alive, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in "Best not to transfer assets to children while parent still alive."

The most obvious problem with doing something like this, is that when ownership of something is transferred, the new owner has full legal rights to control that something. Once it becomes the child's property, the child gets to make all the decisions concerning that property and they do not have to follow the wishes of the parent. It also means that if the child owes money to someone, the property can be subject to the claims of the creditor. Finally, there are all kinds of potential tax concerns, when giving property to another person.

You do not need to give everything away now to avoid probate. You can go to an estate planning attorney to get a trust, so your estate will avoid probate and all the drawbacks of transferring ownership, while you are alive.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (May 10, 2018) "Best not to transfer assets to children while parent still alive."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Probate, Trusts

 

Parents Need Estate Plans

It is vital that you get an estate plan to avoid a costly mess for your estate, if you have minor children and something happens to you.

If you are a parent with minor children who does not have an estate plan, the law might seem straightforward about who will inherit your estate when you pass away. If you are not married, the laws of intestate succession state that your estate will be divided equally between your children.

That is exactly the way in which many parents would choose to have their estate pass, supporting the thought that you do not need a formal estate plan. However, if those children who inherit everything are minors, then things get much more complicated as My San Antonio points out in "Minor intestate heirs pose expensive problems."

The problem is that it is not simple for minors to inherit anything. Courts are not going to direct that minors be given large sums of money and property to do with as they please. Someone needs to be appointed to manage the inheritance, for the benefit of the children. Every state has its own rules about how to appoint that person.  However, those rules do not take into account what the parent might have wanted.

It is much better to create an estate plan that appoints someone to manage any inheritance your minor children might receive. This will allow the person appointed to be someone you choose and trust.

Reference: My San Antonio (May 11, 2018) "Minor intestate heirs pose expensive problems."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Intestate

 

The Risks of Joint Ownership

It is still common for parents to add one or more children to the title of their home as joint owners. It is still a very bad idea to do so.

A common estate planning technique is for people to make their children joint owners of the parent's home. This is often done by well-meaning people who know just enough about estate administration to be dangerous.

By adding a child to a deed as a joint owner, the house will not have to go through probate when the parent dies. People do this as a way of avoiding probate. However, it is dangerous to do so.

When the child is added to the deed, they become an owner of the home with an equal share. That means if the child has creditors, then they can seek to make claims against the home. That is not the only reason it is a bad idea, as The Columbus Dispatch discusses in "Adding child to house title has risks."

One potential problem is that if more than one child is added to the deed of the home, the property might not pass as the parents intended, if one of the children predeceases their parents. The surviving child would become the sole owner, when the parents pass away. This would leave nothing for any children or other heirs of the child who passed away first. There are also many potential tax problems that can result from adding someone to the deed of a home.

It is much better to see an estate planning attorney to get a will or a trust to distribute your home to your children, after you pass away. A qualified estate planning attorney can help you evaluate the best options for your circumstances.

Reference: The Columbus Dispatch (May 13, 2018) "Adding child to house title has risks."

Suggested Key Words: Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts