Estate planning isn’t always serious business.  Perhaps you’re familiar with this well known joke:

When a shy and homely young man found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a woman with which to enjoy it.  So one evening he went out to a singles bar where he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  Her face, her form, her hair, her smile. . . all were perfection. “I may look like just an ordinary guy,” he told her, “but my father is on his deathbed, and when he dies I will inherit 50 million dollars. Marry me and you can have half.”  Impressed, the woman went home with him that very evening, only to disappear the next morning. . . Three days later she became his stepmother.

It’s important to remember the lighter side of life.  But it’s also important to remember that each successful joke is funny because it has a grain of truth to it.  Our recent blog, Don’t Get Married Without Your Estate Planning Attorney, addresses the grain of truth found in this particular joke.

Many people mistakenly think that estate planning is morbid or sad.  It is not at all, it doesn’t have to be if you plan early enough.  It is important, however. Imagine how your kids will enjoy this particular joke a whole lot more if they know you have a plan in place protecting their best interests.  Lighten your life a little bit by taking care of this one essential thing.

We have a lot of posts on our blog about retirement issues; planning for it, saving for it, protecting it. But what if retirement could be not just an ending, but a new beginning? What if retirement was your opportunity to decide anew “what you want to be when you grow up?”

Many new retirees are doing just this, turning retirement into an opportunity to do the thing they’ve always wanted but were afraid to try. Choosing a second “encore career” is attractive to retirees for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it takes the pressure off of their retirement savings.

Due to healthier lifestyles and better healthcare, many people who reach retirement age aren’t so much ready for retirement as ready for change. After years of working their way up in a career that helped pay the mortgage and put the kids through school, they yearn to spend their Golden Years doing something more personal. For some people that means doing something philanthropic, many others see it as an opportunity to do something creative.

Even with a lifetime of experience behind them (much of which will prove helpful in a second career), there will always be a transition period into any new venture. Kerry Hannon’s article in U.S. News and World Report entitled 6 Tips On Planning A Second Career addresses just that issue. In the article, Hannon gives practical advice that may have been forgotten after years of working in the same company, advice such as “connect with a network”; as well as more specialized advice such as “upgrade your education or skills.”

One thing is for sure, retirement doesn’t have to be the same thing for all people anymore. Whereas for some it will mean a condo on the beach in Florida, more and more people are choosing to use it as an excuse to rediscover the profitability of their joys.

What will the future hold for you?

The end of summer is upon us, with many people closing up the summer cottage, and—with wistful backward glances—returning to the hubbub of everyday life. But those happy summer memories, and looking forward to next summer, will keep us going through the winter. And so, to conclude our series on real estate protection and investments, we offer you this article by Sylvia Hsieh on how to keep that treasured vacation property in the family for future generations.

Hsieh accurately points out in her article that in order to keep a property intact and available to ALL your children and grandchildren, care must be taken now to avoid confusion and arguments later. One of the best ways to keep a property available for many beneficiaries is to hold it in trust, with one person (or group of people) serving as trustee, managing the property according to your instructions. This is not the only option, however, and our office can tell you if a trust is right for you, or if your family might benefit from holding property in an LLC or FLP instead.

One of the most important points Hsieh makes in her article is that this issue isn’t an issue exclusive to wealthy families. Your vacation home doesn’t have to be a mansion in the Hamptons. Many middle-class families have a small cabin, a piece of undeveloped property in the woods, or even a timeshare, which serves as the setting for countless happy family vacation memories.

Your children and grandchildren can continue the traditions you’ve begun if you take care to protect your investment now. Let our office help you preserve your vacation property for future generations—and future memories.

This week’s blog series has focused on real estate and how your estate planning attorney can help you leverage and protect it. But we know that many homeowners right now aren’t concerned so much with protecting their property, but protecting themselves—from the effects of falling home prices. If you are one of these homeowners, this post is for you.

Craig Gustafson describes in his article how one San Diego, CA resident found relief by asking county officials to reassess the value of his property in order to lower his taxes. The result will save him $1000 annually. This trend of reassessing property is taking hold not only in California, but all over the country (although not all residents will be as lucky as Michael Ortiz).

Before you run to your phone to call your assessor, Deborah Gates asks us in her article to remember that lowered assessments can have far-reaching results not only for you, but for your entire community. One of those effects includes a lower assessable base from which counties can draw income, which could result in a rise in county taxes. Another effect, which is more personal, is that when your house is valued at a lower price, you lose the credit you have to your name, and which banks are willing to let you borrow against.

If after reading both of these articles, you still feel that a new assessment is the right step for you, Elizabeth Brokamp has some advice that can make the assessment process go a little more smoothly. Brokamp includes some excellent tips in her article, but one thing she leaves out is that you can ask for help from professionals who know the process. This is one of those situations when experience can make all the difference.

However, if all these articles only tell us one thing, it should be that assessing your property is anything but a quick and simple fix. Before taking action it is always helpful to get the advice of the advisors you know and trust, including your estate planning attorney. Remember, although the property is yours, you don’t have to do it alone.

One of the main ways that wealthy families accumulate and keep wealth is through real estate. Despite the year-to-year ups and downs of the real estate market, the value of real property continues to grow over the long term.

Real estate is often considered a comparatively easy way to maintain and grow wealth because it doesn’t require the kind of daily attention—or stress!—that a business demands. Depending on the type of property, real estate typically requires duties that are annual or month-to-month, such as maintaining the physical structures, paying property taxes, making insurance payments, getting updates from property managers, and the like.

What real estate investors might be slow to realize is that property ownership carries with it significant liability risks. Unless the precautionary measures are taken, one small misstep can result in the loss of all your real estate holdings. Imagine it, one person slips and falls in front of one of your properties, and suddenly ALL of your holdings are at risk.

Preventing this kind of mess is not as difficult as you might think—for example, putting each of your properties in its own separate legal entity is one technique that can be used to protect all of your properties (and yourself) from lawsuits. Our firm can help you with this and other asset protection techniques.

We know how important it is to keep your family and your finances safe, and we are dedicated to helping you achieve that security. Call our office and let us tell you how we can put our expertise to use for your benefit.

Real estate plays an extremely large role in the estate planning process. As mentioned in previous posts, your home (or other real estate holdings) often forms the bulk of your assets, and figures largely in the creation of your family’s estate plan. But real estate can serve as far more than just the cornerstone of your estate plan, especially if you have property aside from your family home.

In the current downswing of the real estate market, many people are finding that holding on to unproductive property is becoming a financial hardship. And yet they are reluctant to sell the property at a loss. Enid Ablowitz, in her article Giving the Gift of Real Estate, has some excellent suggestions on how to get the most out of property that no longer serves your family or your business, including giving the property as a charitable donation, transferring the property into a charitable “lead” trust, and keeping the property in a retained life estate.

Ablowitz suggests in her article that unproductive property can be turned into an asset when used as a charitable gift. In fact, Ablowitz writes, “When there is charitable intent, there are many scenarios where a gift of property can also be tax-wise.”

If you think you might like to look further into leveraging your property—for charitable purposes or otherwise—your estate planning attorney can help. Our office can answer your questions about the tax advantages of making a charitable donation of property, or alternatively of keeping the property, but holding it in a separate protective entity such as an LLP or FLP.

When considering your estate, your property is likely your greatest asset. Let our firm help you decide how to make the most of your property, whether you choose to leverage it now or keep it safe for the future.

Many of our clients come to us with questions about Elder Law, and we are happy to be able to share information not only for our elderly clients (about Medicare or Long Term care) but for their children and loved ones as well (about care giving or the plight of the Sandwich Generation.) However, a recent article in the Irish Times served as a reminder that sometimes we learn best when dry facts and figures are presented in context, and one of the most engaging ways to learn is through quality fiction or memoir.

Quality novels or biographies about the aging or care taking process are not nearly as difficult to find as they may once have been. A search on Amazon.com yields a number of books about care giving, living with Alzheimer’s or dementia, and saying goodbye to elderly parents. Many Baby Boomers have found themselves taking on unanticipated roles as their parents grow older, not knowing the best way to care for them (or in some cases say goodbye), and many of them have chosen to share their experiences through publication.

One of the most highly rated memoirs to be found is Mothering Mother by Carol D. O’Dell. (A preview of which can be found here.) Other highly rated memoirs include Dancing with Rose by Lauren Kessler, and Still Alice by Lisa Genova. All of these books serve not only to relate the experience of caring for a loved one, but also to reach out to others who are caring for their parents, and feel alone in doing so.

As we age, and as we watch those we love age, we need many different kinds of support. Having a knowledgeable attorney to answer legal questions is only part of the equation, a role our firm is honored to serve. But we know that emotional support is needed as well, and a community of others who have been through it before, and can offer sympathy and encouragement. We hope that the books listed above can help.

The biggest enemy in estate planning is not the IRS, nor the state, nor conniving relatives. The biggest enemy is procrastination. We know we need to do an estate plan, but we say to ourselves, “I’ll do it next month” or “I’ll do it next year.”

We do this for a number of reasons, and it may help to understand those reasons as a means of getting past procrastination.

1. Denial of death is one of the strongest human defense mechanisms. Most of us associate estate planning with “death planning” (which it certainly is not), and who wants to think about that?
2. Expense. Estate planning is like elective surgery. You don’t have to do it. Of course, if you don’t make your own estate plan you’re stuck with the plan the IRS and the state have for you. But still you don’t have to. And who likes to spend money if they don’t have to?
3. Laziness. We know that if we do our estate plans, we’ll have to gather together documents, and fill out forms, and visit an attorney’s office. Who feels they have time for all that?
4. Not wanting to face family issues. Estate planning often touches on sensitive family matters: children who aren’t mature enough to handle an inheritance, untrustworthy in-laws, elderly persons who are losing mental capacity. Many people quite naturally don’t want deal with such emotional questions.

Of course, the problem with all evasive thinking is that the issue you are evading does not go away. When we avoid going to the dentist because we don’t enjoy it, it doesn’t mean we won’t get cavities. In fact, eventually, we will pay a much higher price, financially and physically, for our evasive thinking. But we continue to do it. Why? Because the long-term pain is far away in the future, and the procrastination pays immediate emotional benefits. Instead of visiting an estate planning attorney and paying for an estate plan, we can play golf and buy a new big screen TV.

It’s fun, maybe, but it’s not smart.

Call our office; we’ll help you get past procrastination, to reach the peace of mind that comes from knowing your plan is in place. We promise to make it as painless as possible.

We all like to be prepared in new situations, whether it be starting a new job or going to the first meeting of the gardening club. Aside from making for a more comfortable experience, your time is valuable, and the more prepared you are, the more you can take away from an experience. A visit to the estate planning attorney is no exception. If you are going to spend your valuable time on a venture, wouldn’t you like to get the most out of it?

Every firm will be a bit different, but here are a few universal tips on how to be prepared and get the most out of your first visit to an estate planning attorney.

1. Bring your financial statements. A large part of what an estate planning attorney does is to help you protect your assets. In order to do this, she needs to know what assets there are and what your general financial situation is. Having actual numbers, rather than vague ideas, is a huge help.
2. Know how the deed to your home is held. For most people, their home is their largest asset. How title is held, and in what the state of ownership, will have a large part in deciding what your best course of action will be.
3. Have some preliminary thoughts about who you may to be your executor and health care agent. This may change once you know more about what these roles entail, but having one or two people as a starting point will speed the process considerably.
4. Bring contact information for financial advisors with whom you work on a regular basis. Having your attorney work directly with your financial advisors, if any, is integral to having an airtight estate plan and financial plan. Not to mention that it makes things much easier on you to not have to act as a go-between.
5. If you’re married, or planning with a partner, come to the meeting together. Planning as a couple really needs to be done as a couple. “I’ll have to talk it over with my partner” only means you’re likely to have to have the same meeting all over again. If you’ll both be signing documents, you both should be there for the initial meeting.
6. Bring a list of questions to ask the attorney. Even if you only have one or two, and you think they’re naïve, bring your list of questions. Your questions tell an attorney a lot about what your goals are, and will help you get a good read on what the attorney is like as a person and professional.

On 08-08-08, at 8pm Beijing time, the XXIX Olympic Games were ushered in with a lavish opening ceremony. The list of events is filled with old favorites and some of the more modern additions, but upon perusal of the list it became clear that some events were missing from the roster. Most noticeably, the Olympic Events in Estate Planning. For your convenience, we will list the events (along with brief descriptions) here:

1. The Distance and Sprint Handshake: These opening events can be deceptively simple, but the medal invariably goes to the athlete who thinks strategically, weighing the benefits of the firm vs. the gentle grip and the quick vs. the confident and lengthy shake. (Extra points awarded by the judges for athletes who remember names.)
2. Conversational Tennis: Played with two teams of single or double players, one conversational “ball”, and a net (most recently taking the form of a desk). First serve is traditionally awarded to the visiting team, who sends the ball over the net with a question. The home team (or attorney) returns the serve with an answer. This game gets more interesting the longer it continues, especially when the teams will occasionally swap strategies, with the home team posing a question to the visitors!
3. Speed Signing: This event requires speed and agility, and depending on the length and intricacy of the estate plan, more than a little endurance!
4. Synchronized Signing: Similar to speed signing, but played in teams of two or more. This is an intricately choreographed event requiring precise timing and the ability to virtually read your teammates’ minds. This event has the potential to quickly degrade into fountain pen fencing when attempted by amateurs.
5. Document Weight Lifting: This final event requires brute strength and a fine sense of balance to carry your entire completed estate plan over the finish line.

**Qualifying Event** Phone Dialing: Requires quick and flexible fingers, and no small amount of determination.

**Completion of this event is required for participation in all other events.