A couple of weeks ago I was participating in a seminar with a financial planner friend. Our presentation discussed how to best approach financial concerns in retirement, and how to make money last through retirement. My part was to talk a bit about the legal planning necessary for retirement, including the basics of estate planning, like a will, living will, financial and medical powers of attorney, and also the role of trusts in estate planning. The seminar covered basic information and was not intended to be a comprehensive look at anything, or provide specific legal advice. After the … [Read more...]
Not All Estate Plans Are the Same – Make Sure You Have the Right Tool for the Job
I recently was having a conversation with my friend who told me about a time right after he moved to Colorado. It went something like this: “I was so blown away at the scene I witnessed while walking out of my church in Lafayette after a snowstorm. I had just moved to Colorado and was new to the area and checking out new churches. This church was the largest I had come across so I figured it was due time to check it out. Walking out of the church felt like a scene out of a movie: at the exact same time, everyone was clearing snow off of their vehicles so they could drive home. The … [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...]
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...]
Estate Planning for the Blended Family: Planning to Keep a New Spouse and All the Kids Happy
The 1970’s TV show “The Brady Bunch” depicts a blended family - a family where the spouses have remarried and kids are not all from just the married couple. The theme song goes like this: “Here's the story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls It's the story of a man named Brady, who was busy with three boys of his own. They were four men living all together, yet they were all alone. 'Til the one day when the lady met this fellow, and they knew that it was much more than a hunch, that this … [Read more...]
Why Emergency Estate Planning is a Bad Idea
Among the reasons that I chose estate planning as a practice area is that there are fewer emergencies, so I can have more predictable work hours, and have less intrusions on the time that I spend with my family away from work. I like to see my family from time to time, like on the weekends, or in the evenings, so I don’t schedule many appointments during those times…only when necessary and no other time will work. I sometimes joke that if there is such a thing as an estate planning emergency, then it is too late, and there is not much I can do to help. However, I do understand that … [Read more...]
[ANSWERED] How Often Should You Update Your Will?
Almost every person I meet asks me how often they should review, update, or revisit their will. I am happy to answer this question, explaining as follows: “You should update your will every few years, or whenever you have a major life change.” Please read the following sentences in as sarcastic of a voice as you can: I know this is quite the definitive statement, and leaves nothing open for interpretation. Certainly the phrase “every few years” is absolutely definitive, and cannot be misinterpreted. Back to normal now, sarcasm is done: What do You Mean by, “Every Few … [Read more...]
Four Fundamental Estate Planning Documents: Part 4 – The Living Will
When I talk with clients about estate planning, I often need to start with the basics, giving them a good solid foundation. I am not sure I have done that yet on my blogs, so I am excited to do a four part series where I talk about the basic, foundational documents of every estate plan. Hopefully this will set a good foundation for you. In my opinion, any estate plan should have these four basic, fundamental, foundational documents: A Will A Financial Power of Attorney A Medical Power of Attorney A Living Will (also called an Advance Directive) This blog will talk about a … [Read more...]
Four Fundamental Estate Planning Documents: Part 1 – The Will
When I talk with clients about estate planning, I often need to start with the basics, giving them a good solid foundation. I am not sure I have done that yet on my blogs, so I am excited to do a four part series where I talk about the basic, foundational documents of every estate plan. Hopefully this will set a good foundation for you. In my opinion, any estate plan should have these four basic, fundamental, foundational documents: A Will A Financial Power of Attorney A Medical Power of Attorney A Living Will (also called an Advanced Directive) This blog will talk about … [Read more...]
Asset Protection: The Difference Between Irrevocable Trusts and Revocable Trusts
A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with a financial planner who has referred business to me for several years. This financial planner told me we need to provide asset protections in a trust for a potential client he planned to refer to me, and referenced using a revocable trust. We have these types of conversations all the time, as we have a basic understanding and how to work together. This type of conversation went beyond the basics of estate planning, sort of like this blog post is a bit higher level than a basic discussion of estate planning - this is a more specialized … [Read more...]