Klitzman Law Group, PLLC

Is It Important to Have a Power of Attorney?

“While we are alive, we can clearly make our own decisions. Unfortunately, one day you may find yourself in a situation where you cannot make your own decisions. Such situations occur most often in accidents, illnesses (physical or mental) and simple aging situations.”

If you have a will, you have a document to tell others what you want to happen with your property after you die. However, if you are incapacitated and cannot make decisions about your finances or health, you need a Power of Attorney, says Ohio News Time in the article “Do I Really Need a Power of Attorney?”

A Power of Attorney (POA) names another person, referred to as an “agent,” to make decisions on another person’s behalf, known as the “principal.” The agent may need to manage the person’s finances, including paying a mortgage, utility bills and handling other money matters.

If there is no POA, the family faces a series of challenges. They will need to go to court and apply to become their loved one’s guardian. This process becomes expensive and time consuming. Anyone applying to become a guardian needs to be vetted by the court and any large decisions made for the ward must be approved by the court. The court is not required to make a family member a guardian, so it is possible for a person the family doesn’t even know to suddenly be empowered to handle their loved one’s finances.

It’s far easier to have a POA created when you have your estate created. When you update your estate plan, you’ll also want to review and update your POA.

A POA should never be a standard form, since few people’s lives fit into a standard format. For instance, you may want a POA to permit your agent to conduct all of your financial matters, but not to sell your home. You may want to name a specific person just to handle the sale of your home, if you are not able to return to living at home but will need to permanently stay in a long-term care facility. The POA is tailored to reflect your wishes and can be as broad or as narrow as you want.

It is also important to name “successor” agents. If the first person you name cannot or does not want to serve in this capacity, naming a successor agent will make the transition easier. In the event the successor does not want to serve, it may not be a bad idea to have a back-up to the back-up.

Speak with the people you are naming to serve as POA to ensure that they know what their responsibilities will be and confirm their willingness to serve. It is also important to be realistic: if they are the same age as you, will they be able to serve? It may be better to name an adult child to take on this role.

In addition to the POA, everyone should have a Health Care Power of Attorney. This permits a named person, also known as an agent, to discuss your health with doctors and other providers and make decisions about your care. You’ll also want a HIPAA Release, so a person you wish has access to medical records.

The POA is often considered a simple add-on to an estate plan. However, it is actually a very important document to protect you while you are living. Without it, your spouse or adult children will have many more barriers to be involved in your care and make decisions on your behalf.

Reference: Ohio News Time (Oct. 15, 2021) “Do I Really Need a Power of Attorney?”

How Do You File Taxes If Your Spouse Dies?

“About 1.5 million Americans become widows and widowers in a normal year, but the pandemic has boosted that significantly. The National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University estimates that about 380,000 of more than 700,000 people in the U.S. who have died from Covid were married.”

About two-thirds of surviving spouses are women. While some are able to avoid major mistakes, taxes are a source of frustration, rife with potential problems. Deadlines are especially challenging, according to the article “The Death of a Spouse is Hard. Taxes Makes It Harder” from The Wall Street Journal.

The combination of emotional upheaval and needing to make complex decisions is overwhelming. Some widows need cash and are forced to sell the family home within two years to get an exemption of $500,000 on the sale proceeds. If you miss the deadline, the exemption shrinks to $250,000.

Others will convert traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs in the year their spouse dies, to capture lowered taxes on the conversion.

However, in all cases, spouses need to check withholding or estimated taxes, especially if the spouse who died was the one who made payments to the IRS. Underpayment penalties add up fast.

Here are some key things to watch for:

Filing an estate tax return. The current estate and gift-tax exemption is $11.7 million per person, so most people don’t need to pay federal estate tax. Executors don’t need to file a return if the decedent’s estate is below exemption levels. However, they should. Here’s why: filing an estate tax return will allow the surviving spouse to have the partner’s unused exemption and add it to their own. Claiming the unused exemption could have larger implications in the future when exemptions change.

Estate taxes are normally due nine months after the date of death. The IRS allows executors to claim the unused exemption for the spouse up to two years after the date of death, but the estate tax must be filed within the time period.

The year a spouse dies is the last year a couple may file jointly. Afterwards, the survivor files as a single person or if there are dependent children, as a surviving widow or widower. Be careful about the shift from joint to single filer. The surviving spouse’s tax rate may stay the same or rise when their income drops. There’s an expression for this, as it occurs so often: the widow’s penalty.

Surviving spouses may roll over inherited retirement accounts into their own names. However, if there is a significant age difference, this may not be the best strategy. New widows and widowers should consider their options carefully.

Filers must send the IRS 90% of their total tax for the year by December 31. This amount is often divided unequally between spouses. If the partner who died paid most of the withholding for estimated taxes, the survivor may need to make changes or risk underpayment penalties when taxes are paid in April. This is especially likely to occur if the spouse died early in the year.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 29, 2021) “The Death of a Spouse is Hard. Taxes Makes It Harder”

How Much can You Inherit and Not Pay Taxes?

“Unless you spend your winters in Aspen and your summers in the Hamptons, you probably don’t have to worry about paying federal estate taxes on an inheritance. In 2021, the federal estate tax doesn’t kick in unless an estate exceeds $11.7 million.”

Even with the new proposed rules from Biden’s lowered exception, estates under $6 million won’t have to worry about federal estate taxes for a few years—although state estate tax exemptions may be lower. However, what about inheritances and what about inherited IRAs? This is explored in a recent article titled “Minimizing Taxes When You Inherit Money” from Kiplinger.

If you inherit an IRA from a parent, taxes on required withdrawals could leave you with a far smaller legacy than you anticipated. For many couples, IRAs are the largest assets passed to the next generation. In some cases they may be worth more than the family home. Americans held more than $13 trillion in IRAs in the second quarter of 2021. Many of you reading this are likely to inherit an IRA.

Before the SECURE Act changed how IRAs are distributed, people who inherited IRAs and other tax-deferred accounts transferred their assets into a beneficiary IRA account and took withdrawals over their life expectancy. This allowed money to continue to grow tax free for decades. Withdrawals were taxed as ordinary income.

The SECURE Act made it mandatory for anyone who inherited an IRA (with some exceptions) to decide between two options: take the money in a lump sum and lose a huge part of it to taxes or transfer the money to an inherited or beneficiary IRA and deplete it within ten years of the date of death of the original owner.

The exceptions are a surviving spouse, who may roll the money into their own IRA and allow it to grow, tax deferred, until they reach age 72, when they need to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). If the IRA was a Roth, there are no RMDs, and any withdrawals are tax free. The surviving spouse can also transfer money into an inherited IRA and take distributions on their life expectancy.

If you’re not eligible for the exceptions, any IRA you inherit will come with a big tax bill. If the inherited IRA is a Roth, you still have to empty it out in ten years. However, there are no taxes due as long as the Roth was funded at least five years before the original owner died.

Rushing to cash out an inherited IRA will slash the value of the IRA significantly because of the taxes due on the IRA. You might find yourself bumped up into a higher tax bracket. It’s generally better to transfer the money to an inherited IRA to spread distributions out over a ten-year period.

The rules don’t require you to empty the account in any particular order. Therefore, you could conceivably wait ten years and then empty the account. However, you will then have a huge tax bill.

Other assets are less constrained, at least as far as taxes go. Real estate and investment accounts benefit from the step-up in cost basis. Let’s say your mother paid $50 for a share of stock and it was worth $250 on the day she died. Your “basis” would be $250. If you sell the stock immediately, you won’t owe any taxes. If you hold onto to it, you’ll only owe taxes (or claim a loss) on the difference between $250 and the sale price. Proposals to curb the step-up have been bandied about for years. However, to date they have not succeeded.

The step-up in basis also applies to the family home and other inherited property. If you keep inherited investments or property, you’ll owe taxes on the difference between the value of the assets on the day of the original owner’s death and the day you sell.

Estate planning and tax planning should go hand-in-hand. If you are expecting a significant inheritance, a conversation with aging parents may be helpful to protect the family’s assets and preclude any expensive surprises.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 29, 2021) “Minimizing Taxes When You Inherit Money”

What Is the First Thing an Executor of a Will Should do?

“At some point in your life, there’s a good chance you’ll be tasked with acting as the executor of an estate. The designation is both an honor and an obligation.”

Serving as an executor can be like having a second job. The size of the estate and your relationship to the deceased can make it a bit overwhelming, especially for adult children handling the estate of their last surviving parent. Those executors typically distribute not only financial assets, but decades of personal property, says the article “What to Do When You’re the Executor” from Yahoo! Finance. If the family is prone to arguments, or the estate is large, or both, the job of the executor can be even more challenging.

The first thing to do is obtain the death certificate. Depending on your state, the funeral home or state’s records department in the location where the death occurred will have them. Get five to ten originals, with the raised seal. You’ll need them to gain control of assets.

Next, file the will and the death certificate with the county probate court. The deadline for filing the will varies by state. However, it can range from ten to ninety days to six months to one year after the date of death. If probate is necessary, you’ll also need to obtain a “Letter of Testamentary.” This court-created document says you are the legally authorized person to manage the estate. Until you have this letter, you cannot move forward with any of the assets.

Build your team of professional advisors. An experienced estate planning attorney will help navigate probate court. You may also need a CPA and a financial planner. If possible, contact the estate planning attorney who drew up the will, because they are probably familiar with the will, the estate and possibly with the deceased.

Inventory assets. After death is when we learn a lot about those we loved. Were they hyper-organized, keeping records in an easily understood system? Did they file insurance policies under “Insurance Policies,” under the name of the insurance company, or leave papers in a stack in no order whatsoever? Go through every box and file cabinet to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Protect personal property. If the estate included a home, you must make sure that mortgage and tax payments are made. If you don’t know who had keys to the house, investing in the services of a locksmith and a new set of locks and keys could save you from unscrupulous family members who believe certain items belong to them. If a car is sitting in the garage, it will need to be cared for and the title of ownership will need to be dealt with.

Obtain a federal EIN number from the IRS and use it to open an estate bank account. Until the estate is settled, the executor needs to pay bills and make deposits. A separate bank account prevents co-mingling funds, makes it easier to track transactions and is useful, if there are any challenges to your decisions as executor.

Pay any outstanding debts. The executor may be personally liable if debts from the estate are not paid before the estate assets are distributed. You’re also responsible for filing state and federal tax returns for the last year the person was alive, as well as a federal tax return for the estate.

To head off potential animosity, stay in touch with beneficiaries. Let them know what you are doing, especially if the process is taking a while. Keep excellent records to reflect your activities.

Distributing assets may require court approval, depending on where the decedent lived. If the will contains specific directions for personal items, you’ll be in better shape than if there are no directions. If not, review the inventory of assets to see how things can be equitably distributed. Don’t underestimate the emotional response to this part of the process. Families have battled over items of little monetary value.

It’s a good idea to get a release from beneficiaries acknowledging they have received their inheritance. An estate planning attorney can help with preparing the language to help minimize any challenges in the future.

Reference: Yahoo! Finance (Oct. 29, 2021) “What to Do When You’re the Executor”

Why Is an Estate Plan Important?

“While no one wants to think about his or her own death, planning for the inevitable is an important part of protecting your assets and those you love.”

There are a number of legal steps necessary to prepare your estate and your family for the future, including the use of a living trust. What is a living trust, and what kind of protection does it offer? The article “An important part of protecting your assets and those you love” from The Times explains how this estate planning tool works.

A living trust is a legal entity created to make it easier to transfer assets like real estate property and other assets after death. Assets held within trusts pass directly to beneficiaries according to the terms of the trust. They do not go through probate. Once a trust is created, it must be funded, which places assets within the protection of the trust. These can include bank accounts, investments, real estate, vehicles, jewelry and other personal property of value.

A living trust is managed by a designated trustee. You can be the trustee of your trust while you are living, and your spouse or partner may be a co-trustee. Every trust should also have a successor trustee to serve as your representative. This person will manage the trust and distribute assets after you die.

Living trusts are useful in real estate ownership, regardless of the size or number of properties owned. Any real estate property is subject to probate upon death if it is not placed inside a trust or other arrangements not taken if available under state law (e.g., transfer-on-death deeds). Dealing with real estate after death is challenging for heirs and executors.

Probate can take a long time. During that time, a building needs to be maintained, property taxes must be paid and insurance coverage needs to continue. Making changes to the property or even renting it out during probate may require permission from the court. If an expensive repair needs to be made, like a heating system or a new roof, and the estate is still in probate, someone has to make sure the repairs are done and pay for them.

Certain assets pass directly to beneficiaries. These include life insurance proceeds, Pay on Death (POD) bank accounts and retirement accounts, like IRAs and 401(k)s. Others, like the family home and personal property, could be bound up in probate for months, or years.

A living trust does more than bypass probate. It allows you to declare how you want your assets to be distributed and when. If you don’t want your children to receive a lot of money in one lump sum at a young age, it can break out the distribution over decades. A trust can also set life goals, like graduating from college, before funds are released.

A living trust and last will and testament are different legal documents and achieve different ends. The living trust is in effect, even when the grantor (person who creates the trust) is living. The will goes into effect only when the grantor dies.

Only assets subject to probate are controlled by a will, while assets in a trust skip probate. Trusts are private documents, while the will becomes part of the public record once it is filed with the court. Anyone can see the entire document, which may not be what you intended.

Assets without a surviving joint owner pass through probate. If you fail to designate a beneficiary to receive an asset, then it also will be subject to probate.

Just as every person is different, every person’s estate plan is different. Talk with an estate planning attorney to learn what options are available and what is best for your family.

Reference: The Times (Oct. 29, 2021) “An important part of protecting your assets and those you love”

What Is the Social Security Increase for 2022?

“A large 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment is coming to Social Security beneficiaries in 2022. That means the average monthly retirement benefit will go up by $92 per month. Exactly how much more money you will see may depend on the amount of Medicare Part B premiums.”

The Social Security Administration has announced a record-high COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for 2022, and recipients are eager to calculate just what this means for their monthly Social Security benefit. How to estimate the increase is the focus of the article “Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will give average retirees $92 more a month in 2022. How to estimate how much you’ll get” from CNBC.

The COLA for 2022 for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will be 5.9%. More than 64 million Americans will see their benefits increase in January, as will about 8 million recipients of SSI benefits.

The annual adjustment is based on inflation. While this is the highest increase since 1982, consumer prices have gone up as well, so the extra may not go very far. Experts say the average increase will be about $92—from $1,565 in 2021 to $1,657 in 2022. However, every beneficiary will see a different size of increase, mainly due to Medicare Part B premiums.

Payments for Medicare Part B are usually deducted directly from monthly benefits. Not everyone has Medicare Part B coverage, especially if they are still covered under an employer health plan or if they haven’t yet reached Medicare eligibility, age 65 for many.

The standard Medicare Part B premium is projected to be up by ten dollars from $148.50 to $158.60 per month, but rates have not been officially announced.

For those who are not covered by Medicare Part B, multiply the monthly benefit by 1.059 to approximate benefits for next year.

If you are covered by Medicare Part B, subtract $10 from the same calculation to get close to what your monthly payment for 2022 might be.

But—there’s always a “but”—people with incomes above certain levels will pay more for Medicare Part B. This is because of the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, or IRMAA. A new table for Medicare Part B premiums for 2022 has not yet been released.

Social Security and SSI beneficiaries will be notified by mail in December, and the information will also be available on the My Social Security website.

New benefits for 2022 won’t be calculated for those covered by Medicare until after premiums for next year are announced. Those changes will be available, once they’ve been completed at Medicare.gov.

Reference: CNBC (Oct. 22, 2021) “Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will give average retirees $92 more a month in 2022. How to estimate how much you’ll get”

How Do I Align Retirement Planning with Planning for a Special Needs Child?

“As parents of children with special needs age, they should revisit the decisions they made—sometimes many years ago—regarding guardianship, beneficiarie, and other aspects of their child’s care.”

Neglecting to update an estate plan is always problematic. However, failing to update an estate plan when the family includes a special needs child can lead to disaster. An article from Barron’s titled “Retirement Planning? Don’t Forget to Review Plans for Special Needs Children” explains how this can be prevented before problems arise.

Decisions made in the past may no longer be appropriate, or even permitted. A grandparent may have been named as a guardian ten years ago and may have moved to another part of the country or died. A retirement plan based on selling the family home and downsizing to a small apartment may no longer be feasible. Healthcare insurance choices may be limited after retirement. In other words, life changes and estate plans need to change also.

Children with special needs who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid may not have more than $2,000 of assets in their name. If they are listed as beneficiaries on retirement plans or life insurance proceeds, they will become ineligible for these benefits. Money should never be left directly to a child with special needs, but it can be left through a Special Needs Trust. Parents may not realize how critical this is, or they may overlook changing beneficiary designations. Either way, the results can be financially devastating.

Talk with grandparents and any relatives who might want to leave something to a special needs child. Chances are they have no idea how an inheritance can impact a special needs family member.

Laws concerning funding a Special Needs Trust have changed. The ten-year rule on required distributions no longer applies to beneficiaries of qualifying Special Needs Trusts, so the SNT may be a beneficiary of a qualified retirement plan. A Roth IRA may be the best way to leave assets to an SNT, as there are no taxes due on withdrawals.

Life insurance is often used to care for a special needs family member. A second-to-die life insurance policy can be used to insure both parents and pay to the SNT on the death of the second parent, when the money is needed most. If one parent doesn’t qualify because of health issues, their underwriting may be balanced by the good health of another parent, which may keep premiums reasonable. Make sure the laws of your state and financial institution permit the proceeds to be directed to an SNT.

An ABLE account is a tax-advantaged savings plan for individuals with disabilities. The account can be opened for an individual at any age, as long as the disability onset occurred before age 26. Talk with an estate planning attorney to ensure the individual will qualify for this type of account. The 2021 annual contribution limit is $15,000. However, there are many exceptions, so don’t do this without professional help. For instance, SSI may be suspended, if the account balance rises about $100,000. Be sure the amount in the ABLE account won’t put means-tested programs at risk.

Reference: Barron’s (Oct. 23, 2021) “Retirement Planning? Don’t Forget to Review Plans for Special Needs Children”

Should You Put Your House in Your Child’s Name?

“In a nutshell, it might be better for your mom to put the home in a living trust that allows her to control the home while she is alive and allows you to inherit the home through the trust upon her death.”

One of the ways families build wealth across generations is through home ownership. Parents who can afford to give a property to children who either sell the home and distribute profits or keep it in the family have a definite advantage over generations of renters. How to transfer the home is not always straightforward. A recent article from The Washington Post titled “Don’t put your kids on the title of your home. There’s a better way for them to inherit the property” explains how to do this.

In this article, the mother placed an adult child on the deed to a home purchased some five years ago. The mom wants to sell the house and buy a smaller one nearby. The adult child has never lived in the home. The mother wants to do an 80/20 split of profits from the sale, with the child receiving the majority amount. This would push the child into a higher tax bracket, although the child says she could use the income.

The mother, despite her good will, has made a classic estate planning mistake. Was she trying to avoid probate at death, or to give the child some or all of the property?

As the homeowner, the mother may exclude the first $250,000 in profits from federal income taxes, if she was the sole owner. If she were married, that number would be up to $500,000. However, she’s not the sole owner.

When a person dies, heirs inherit real estate at its current market value. If the home was purchased for $100,000 and its worth is $500,000 when the owner dies, a child who inherits the home outright and then sells it immediately will receive about $400,000 in profits. If the house was inherited after death and then sold shortly thereafter, the IRS would say the property value is $500,000.

If someone inherits a home worth $500,000 and then sells it for $500,000, there is no profit because of the stepped-up value of the home assigned at the time of the owner’s death. However, if the estate in total is worth less than $11.7 million, estate taxes are not a concern.

Here’s the twist: if the mother and child are co-owners of the home and the mother dies, the child inherits only one-half the value of the home (and receives the stepped-up basis for the half but won’t benefit from the stepped-up basis) If the child sells the home, they won’t pay taxes on the share inherited from the mother but would pay taxes on the child’s share of the home.

If the mom bought the house for $100,000 and the mother and child are co-owners, the child would inherit the mother’s half of the property at the stepped-up basis of $500,000. When the home was sold, the mother’s half is shielded from taxes, but the child’s profit is calculated based on the difference between the purchase and sales price, or $400,000, of which their share is $200,000. They would owe taxes on the $200,000, instead of inheriting the home tax-free.

There are many estate planning and real estate tax rules making this more complicated. However, one better alternative is for the mom to put the home in a living trust, so she controls the home while she is alive, and the child can inherit the home through the trust upon her death. Talk with an estate planning attorney about how to create a living trust and how it would work to benefit both of you.

Reference: The Washington Post (Oct. 20, 2021) “Don’t put your kids on the title of your home. There’s a better way for them to inherit the property.”

Before They’re Gone—Estate Planning Strategies

“If you have not already been inundated with invitations to webinars, articles and newsletters regarding the estate planning you should consider doing before new legislation passes, you undoubtedly will receive these over the next few months.”

As Congress continues to hammer out the details on impending legislation, there are certain laws still in effect concerning estate planning. The article “Last Call for SLATs, GTRATs, and the Use of the Enhanced Gift Tax Exemption?” from Mondaq says now is the time to review and update your estate plan, just in case any beneficial strategies may disappear by year’s end.

Here are the top five estate planning items to consider:

Expect Exemptions to Take a Dive. Estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions are $11.7 million per person and are now scheduled to increase by an inflationary indexed amount through 2025. Even if there are no legislative changes, on January 1, 2026, this number drops to $5 million, indexed for inflation. Under proposed legislation, it will revert to $6,020,000 and will continue to be indexed for inflation. This is a “use it or lose it” exemption.

Married Couples Have Options Different Than Solos. Married persons who don’t want to gift large amounts to descendants have the option to gift the exemption amount to their spouse using a SLAT—Spousal Lifetime Access Trust. The spouses can both create these trusts for each other, but the IRS is watching, so certain precautions must be taken. The trusts should not be identical in nature and should not be created at the same time to avoid application of the “reciprocal trust” doctrine, which would render both trusts moot. Under proposed legislation, SLATs will be includable in your estate at death, but SLATs created and funded before the legislation is enacted will be grandfathered in. If this is something of interest, don’t delay.

GRATs and other Grantor Trusts May be Gone. They simply won’t be of any use, since proposed legislation has them includable in your estate at death. Existing GRATs and other grantor trusts will be grandfathered in from the new rules. Again, if this is of interest, the time to act is now.

IRA Rules May Change. People who own Individual Retirement Accounts with values above $10 million, combined with income of more than $450,000, may not be able to make contributions to traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and defined contribution plans under the proposed legislation. Individuals with large IRA balances may be required to withdraw funds from retirement plans, regardless of age. A minimum distribution may be an amount equal to 50% of the amount by which the combined IRA value is higher than the $10 million threshold.

Rules Change for Singles Too. A single person who doesn’t want to make a large gift and lose control and access may create and gift an exemption amount to a trust in a jurisdiction with “domestic asset protection trust” legislation and still be a beneficiary of such a trust. This trust must be fully funded before the new legislation is enacted, since once the law passes, such a trust will be includable in the person’s estate. Check with your estate planning attorney to see if your state allows this strategy.

Reference: Mondaq (Sep. 24. 2021) “Last Call for SLATs, GTRATs, and the Use of the Enhanced Gift Tax Exemption?”

What a Will Won’t Accomplish

“That last will and testament you have tucked away? It may not be the last word on what happens to your stuff after you are gone. Instead, that legal document’s directives for doling out your wealth may be overruled by other paperwork and relevant laws.”

Everyone needs a will. A last will and testament is how an executor is named to manage your estate, how a guardian is named to care for any minor children and how you give directions for distribution of property. However, not all property passes via your will. You’ll want to know what a will can and cannot do, as well as how assets are distributed outside of a will. This was the topic of “The Legal Limits of Your Will” from AARP Magazine.

Retirement and Pension Accounts

The beneficiaries named on retirement accounts, including 401(k)s, pensions, and IRAs, receive these assets directly. Some states have laws about requiring spouses to receive some or all assets. However, if you don’t keep these beneficiary names updated, the wrong person may receive the asset, like it or not. Don’t expect anyone to willingly give up a surprise windfall. If a primary beneficiary has died and no contingency beneficiary was named, the recipient may also be determined by default terms, which may not be what you have in mind.

Life Insurance Policies.

The beneficiary designations on an insurance policy determine who will receive proceeds upon your death. Laws vary by state, so check with an estate planning attorney to learn what would happen if you died without updating life insurance policies. A simpler strategy is to create a list of all of your financial accounts, determine how they are distributed and update names as necessary.

Note there are exceptions to all rules. If your divorce agreement includes a provision naming your ex as the sole beneficiary, you may not have an option to make a change.

Financial Accounts

Adding another person to your bank account through various means—Payable on Death (POD), Transfer on Death (TOD), or Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship (JTWROS)—may generally override a will, but may not be acceptable for all accounts, or to all financial institutions. There are unanticipated consequences of transferring assets this way, including the simplest: once transferred, assets are immediately vulnerable to creditors, divorce proceedings, etc.

Trusts

Trusts are used in estate planning to remove assets from a personal estate and place them in safekeeping for beneficiaries. Once the assets are properly transferred into the trust, their distribution and use are defined by the trust document. The flexibility and variety of trusts makes this a key estate planning tool, regardless of the value of the assets in the estate.

Reference: AARP Magazine (Sep. 29, 2021) “The Legal Limits of Your Will”