Estate Planning Attorney Pasadena

For Estate Planning, There is No Fix –It-And-Forget-It

It’s hard to believe that people who spend a lifetime working hard to accumulate wealth spend little or no time planning for what will happen to it after they pass, especially if children are in the picture. Yet a recent Consumer Reports survey tells us that 86% of people have not reviewed or updated our estate documents in the past five years.

A lot can happen in five years – your life, the law and your assets will change — and your estate plan needs to reflect the changes in your life or those of your beneficiaries. Here’s what needs to be evaluated at least once a year with the help of a Personal Family Lawyer®:

Title to your assets. The most important part of your legal planning isn’t necessarily the legal documents your lawyer prepared (though they are important), it’s how your assets are titled. If your assets are not titled right (and stay that way), your estate plan won’t work and the documents aren’t worth the paper they are written on. This must be reviewed every year.

Your will and trust(s). These legal documents determine who gets your assets and who will take care of making sure that it happens the way you want. People marry, divorce and fall out with family members all the time. Children are born and sometimes, tragically, die. Property is bought and sold. In other words, life changes and so should your will and trust, to reflect the changes in your life.
Your health care directive. Your health care directive names someone to serve as your agent in case you are unable to make your own health care decisions. Is the person you originally named still willing and able to serve? If for some reason they were not able to serve when needed, have you named a back-up?

Your financial power of attorney. This is the person who will handle your finances in case you are unable to do so, and there should be a back-up named for this function as well. If you are over the age of 65 and have a number of different bank and brokerage accounts, it may make sense to consolidate those accounts to make managing your finances easier.

Your guardian nominations. As your children grow, the people you named to raise them may not continue to make sense. And, you absolutely need to have named guardians for the immediate term, so your kids are never taken into protective custody by strangers, and those folks can change frequently as the people in your kids’ lives will likely change regularly.
If you would like to create or update your estate plan, call our office today to schedule time for us to sit down and talk. We normally charge $750 for a Family Wealth Planning Session, but because this planning is so important, I’ve made space for the next two people who mention this article to have a complete planning session at no charge. Call today and mention this article.

6 Cases When a Trust is Better Than a Will in {Name of Your City/State]

A will is one of the most basic estate planning documents, and everyone should have one to make sure that there is no question about what would happen to your assets and kids if something happens to you. But there are some cases when having a trust in addition to a will is imperative; here are six of them:

Avoiding probate or conservatorship. A trust will bypass the probate process, saving the people you love time and money. To carry out instructions in a will, a probate must be opened in the county court of Los Angeles, CA and that means your family is stuck dealing with the Court if you get hospitalized or after you die.

Providing for a person with special needs. If you have a child or another dependent with special needs, a trust commonly known as a Special Needs Trust can protect assets for a special needs person without jeopardizing their qualification for government benefits. A will allows you to transfer assets to a special needs person, but will not protect those assets.
Privacy. Since a will undergoes probate in Los Angeles, CA, it becomes public record.

A trust is private.

Blended families. If you are part of a blended family, a trust can give you the flexibility you will want to make sure that children from prior marriages are provided for in the way you want.
Out-of-state property. If you own property in another state besides California, you can more easily transfer ownership via a trust than a will. Transferring out-of-state property in a will usually means additional legal expenses because you could have probate in multiple states and that is no fund for the people you love.

Asset protection. If you want to protect the assets you leave your loved ones from creditors (including bankruptcy and divorce) a trust is the way to do it. It’s a gift you can give your loved ones that they could not easily (or at all) give themselves.

If you would like to learn more about the use of trusts in Pasadena, CA to pass on what you care about to the people you love, call our office today to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk. We normally charge $750 for a Family Wealth Planning Session, but because this planning is so important, I’ve made space for the next two people who mention this article to have a complete planning session at no charge. Call today and mention this article.

5 Key Decisions to Make With Your Spouse Before You Retire

Retirement decision-making for boomers is very different than it was for our parents, when it was usually just one spouse (Dad) who retired, with Mom sometimes reminding him that, “I married you for better or worse, but not for lunch!”

Now both working spouses must make a decision together on their retirement, and each may have very different ideas of what that retirement will look like. Here are 5 key decisions you need to make as a couple before you retire:

Timing. Financial needs and whether or not you enjoy your work are usually the main determining factors in when to retire. Couples also need to consider how they can maximize Social Security benefits.

Finances. If one spouse has been handling the family finances, it’s time for both to understand their financial situation and how retirement may impact it.

Lifestyle. One spouse may want to travel more in retirement, while another just wants to putter around the house. One may want to move, while the other wants to stay put. You need to reach a decision together on your retirement lifestyle.

Healthcare. Both spouses need to have good healthcare coverage, either from Medicare and supplemental plans or, if you will continue to work in retirement, from an employer’s plan.

Long-term care. Studies show that most of us will need some long-term care during our lifetimes. Your Personal Family Lawyer® can help you examine the options for long-term care coverage and put a plan together that suits your needs.

If you would like to learn more about retirement planning, call our office today to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk. We normally charge $750 for a Family Wealth Planning Session, but because this planning is so important, I’ve made space for the next two people who mention this article to have a complete planning session at no charge. Call today and mention this article.