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I am often asked what is the difference between a will and a trust. I suppose I get this question a lot because a will and a trust both seem to do the same thing - distribute assets at a person’s death. While that is a similarity between the two documents, each document accomplishes the distribution in a different way. A will goes through the probate process, which is the legal process of submitting a will to the court and going through the legal channels to get assets from the deceased person to the heirs or the beneficiaires. Most people are not super keen on needing to interface with … [Read more...]
Back to Basics: How to Achieve the Basic Requirement for Your Will
There are several basic elements to a will. These are the elements required to make a will valid and have the will distribute your property at your death. I have not included an exact number for the basic requirements, because doing so would seem like just a checklist, and I want this blog to be more than that. This blog will focus on the basic elements for a will, like having your will be yours. Having your will be yours, making sure your will describes how you want to distribute your property, and picking someone who can carry out your instructions in your will properly are basic … [Read more...]
What does it mean to be a Mobile Attorney and Why Do I Do It?
I have written before about what is mobile estate planning, but I still get questions on this topic. Questions like: Why would you want to do mobile estate planning? Where do you go and what do you do? How did you get started? Why don’t more people do mobile visits like you? I can answer some of these questions, but other answers elude me, like how can I know why more attorneys don’t make visits like me. Perhaps the other attorneys are just so busy they cannot get out of the office, or perhaps they don’t want to go visit someone at their home. Since I am not someone else, I cannot say … [Read more...]
The Coronavirus and Estate Planning – Has Anything Changed?
The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has led to unprecedented actions, quaratines, closing of restaurants, limited gathering of people, and given us new phrases. Who knew what “social distancing” might mean just a few weeks ago? I certainly would not have used that term to describe staying 6 feet or more away from most people, and probably would have thought of the phrase more in terms of pulling away, or staying away from people I really did not want to associate with in a social setting. Now we have a whole new phrase to address how we are trying to prevent the spread of the virus … [Read more...]
How to Effectively Talk To Your Kids About Your Estate Plan
I know that talking to your kids about your estate plan is probably not high on your priority list. In my experience kids frequently don’t want to discuss the possibility of their parents dying, and certainly don’t want to dwell on the subject. I had a client just the other day who brought her daughter with her, and the daughter broke down crying during the discussion. I didn't mean to cause anyone to cry, but the daughter was distraught at just the thought of Mom not being around. I understand that the conversation may be unpleasant and unwanted, but it needs to happen. Here are some … [Read more...]
Simplifying Your Estate Plan Doesn’t Mean Estate Planning is Simple
I recently had a client apologize to me for laughing at and questioning my legal fee for a certain document. This struck me as quite odd. I had simply explained how a certain document could accomplish her goal, and let her know how much it would cost to create the document to accomplish what she wanted. Perhaps because I had explained a somewhat complex process in simple terms, but she scoffed at the quoted fee. She then began to look into the process involved, and wrote me an apology via email. She let me know that she had started internet research into the legal document we had discussed, … [Read more...]
What Does it Take to be The Leading Estate Planning Attorney in Broomfield?
Decades ago, as a junior high student, I recall having lessons on advertising and advertisements. My teacher talked about how in advertising a company is allowed to say something like, “We are the best” at any time, but not “We are better,” without proof. My teacher explained that “best” meant that the advertiser could be the best, along with every other advertiser, but a comparison had to be backed up by research. At the time, my 13 year old mind accepted this explanation from my teacher without question. I am not quite as sure that I believe the explanation quite as strongly now, but I … [Read more...]
What You Need to Know About the SECURE Act
On December 20, 2019, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) changed the rules concerning retirement accounts. The SECURE Act became effective January 1, 2020. The Act is the most impactful legislation affecting retirement accounts in decades. The SECURE Act has several positive changes: It increases the required beginning date (RBD) for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your individual retirement accounts from 70 ½ to 72 years of age, and it eliminates the age restriction for contributions to qualified retirement accounts. However, perhaps the most … [Read more...]
Get Your Estate Plan Done Before Your Taxes This Year
We just came out of the holiday season, which was quite busy. Whether you got invited to a lot of Christmas parties, were busy with holiday shopping, just had a million different events to go to with your children, or had big plans to celebrate the new year, the last two weeks of December are extremely busy for everyone. Now that we are in a new year, and the major end of the year holidays are behind us, it would seem that we would have more time available. Yet, there are still many distractions that get in the way of getting an estate plan done. There are always distractions from … [Read more...]
Why Simple Wills & Trusts Aren’t So Simple
Almost every client I meet says to me, “well we’re very simple. We just want something simple and want something that should be easy.” I think that what most people mean when they say “we’re simple” is they don’t have much. They’re referring to the things they own - their assets. Something like, “We just have a house and a retirement account and a couple of bank accounts.” Since their assets are simple to describe, the person believes their estate plan can be simple. While your assets themselves might be simple and probably one of your goals is to make sure that those assets get passed … [Read more...]
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