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I answer a lot of phone calls. Many of the calls are for people who want my help with their will, trust, or estate planning, but other calls are not about that. Because I have the word “estate” in the description of what area of law I practice, I also get a lot of calls for real estate law. The word “estate” in common between these two areas of law can cause people searching for a real estate matter to confuse my area of law with what they need. Most times, when people call and ask about an area of law in which I do not practice, I will tell them I am the wrong type of attorney, and I … [Read more...]
The Most Miles I’ve Traveled In a Single Day as a Mobile Estate Planner
I drive a lot. I drive to meet clients at their home, or at an office near them in the Denver Metro and beyond, and I put about 30,000 miles per year on my car. I don’t mind doing this at all, as I enjoy working with clients and I want to make things convenient for them, but there is a lot of revving involved as a mobile estate planning attorney. A few years ago I purchased an electric car, so I don’t spend nearly as much on gas as I previously did, but I now have to worry about the amount of miles I drive in a given day. Just the other day, I drove to Colorado Springs and back and had … [Read more...]
Will I Go To Jail If I Don’t Handle My Mom or Dad’s Estate Plan The Right Way?
The short answer is probably not. I know people get really concerned about doing everything the right way, and I fully understand how people want to do things the right way, especially when it comes to legal matters, but jail usually isn’t the punishment if you happen to make some missteps in handling your Mom or Dad’s estate plan. There are a couple of ways you might end up in jail, but only if you move beyond making a mistake, and move more into nefarious or malevolent actions. Most people are not nefarious or malevolent in what they are doing for a parent’s estate plan. You may be … [Read more...]
3 Times I was Not Able to Help Someone Plan Their Estate Plan
I try to help as many people as I can. I find that I can help most people. Sometimes I am not the best person to help someone - as is the case with people who came to me for help with an estate plan, but they were worth $150 Million. That number far exceeds the current Federal estate tax limit, and I really don’t handle taxable estates, so I referred them to my friends who handle taxable estates. I didn’t want to be trying to do an estate plan for someone with that high of a net worth as my first try because I didn’t want to make a mistake that would possibly cost them $70 Million in … [Read more...]
How Do You Execute a Living Trust In Colorado After A Death?
A trust is a very useful and helpful estate planning document. The trust itself contains the instructions for what to do with assets owned by the trust, usually in the form of a written trust agreement. The written trust agreement should have the names of beneficiaries who are to receive the assets of the trust, whether the named beneficiaries are people, charities, or other entities. The trust agreement may also contain instructions on how assets should be distributed. Many trusts distribute assets outright, free of trust, but other trusts have conditions or restrictions on how the assets … [Read more...]
Why Coloradans Need To Start Early to Protect Your Assets from Medicaid
I frequently get calls from people who tell me that they want to put their assets into a trust to protect the assets from Medicaid. The people who call often tell me that they read somewhere on the Internet that they could put their assets into a trust and qualify for Medicaid assistance. I become the one that needs to tell them that while the concept is true, the Internet often does not tell the whole story. I will then talk to them about the timing involved in setting up a trust to protect assets from Medicaid, and I often end up telling most people that it is likely too late to protect … [Read more...]
How to Update Your Estate Plan as Your Life Changes
My oldest daughter graduated from high school this month and she heads off to college in the fall. I am not quite sure how that happened! I still remember bringing her home from the hospital, carrying her in a car seat up to our apartment, and the car seat down on the floor. I know I have been there for the past 18 years, and I clearly recall taking her to basketball games, choir and band concerts, and supporting her in school work, so I was involved, but it is amazing how the time has passed so quickly. I am excited to see how the future plays out for my daughter, but she is no longer my … [Read more...]
Can You Change a Living Trust After A First Spouse’s Death?
This is a question mostly related to estate planning for couples. When couples plan their estate, the question of what happens after a first spouse dies becomes quite important. For most couples, the surviving spouse wants to be able to change the terms of an estate plan. Often, that may be related to preserving assets, or transferring assets to children or other beneficiaries prior to the surviving spouse’s death. Many couples want to preserve the freedom and ability of a surviving spouse to make changes, but that is not always the case. In the case of blended families, or people on … [Read more...]
How To Protect Your Assets in a Trust if your Kid’s Have Debt
In my last blog post, I talked about how a living trust does not protect assets from creditors in Colorado. If you want to protect your own assets, you need to use an irrevocable trust. However, if you want to protect assets for your children, you can provide that type of asset protection in your revocable trust. Your revocable trust can be changed, amended, or revoked by you while you are alive. After your death, the trust cannot be changed, and it becomes irrevocable. You are setting up a revocable trust for you, but the same trust can be irrevocable for your children. Since the … [Read more...]
Is a Living Trust Protected From Creditors in Colorado?
The short answer to this question is: No. I seem to keep trying to write the shortest blog post ever, but somehow the complexities of legal questions don’t seem to allow for that to be the case. A living trust does not offer creditor protection under Colorado law, even if someone thinks they are super clever to get around the law. I have had clients want to name their trusts something other than their own name (so as to hide assets). I have had other people put assets into a trust thinking there was no way someone would ever think to look into a trust, but those ideas simply are not … [Read more...]
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