Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Estate Planning: Drafting flexibility into the living trust

Excerpt from LCN: (click for entire article)

Life is not static and neither should be anyone’s living trust.

Adjustments have to be made when compelling circumstances arise which necessitate alternative approaches. 

For that reason a well drafted living trust should provide contingency planning alternatives. 

Unforeseen circumstances could relate to the settlors themselves, to the trust assets, or to the beneficiaries. 

Let us consider some possible scenarios and how a trust could be drafted to provide suitable alternative solutions.

First, the settlor's own circumstances could dramatically change.

THE TGB ELDERLAW ATTORNEY: Understanding Trusts

Patti's Comments:  This is a wonderful article that makes trusts understandable for all!

Excerpt from Time Goes By: (click for entire article)

Okay folks, I finally got up the nerve to address trusts and how to use them to avoid probate. I offer this with a warning that applies to a lot of things in life: Just because you can do something does not mean that you should.

Remember my last post where I suggested that when it comes to estate planning you first need a plan. A trust may or may not be part of your plan. If it is, here is how it works.

We all know about contracts. A contract is a legal transaction between two people. At Walmart, I make a contract with the Walmart corporation by offering a dollar for a can of soup. The clerk accepts the offer, Walmart gets my dollar and I walk out with the soup. I have completed a contract. Lawyers study contracts for a year to get a handle on this.

Estate Planning for Special Needs Children: Peace of Mind for Parents

Excerpt from Windels Marx: (click for entire article)

I was recently re-visiting an article about estate planning for families with special needs children that appeared in October 2008 in the Wall Street Journal entitled "An Estate Plan Built for Special Needs." The article, like so many others, highlights the statistics: that more than 41 million Americans, or almost 15% of Americans age 5 or over have some type of disability, according to 2007 census data. With so many disabled children, whether the disability is a learning disability, an autistic spectrum disorder, mental retardation, cerebral palsy or some other disability, what do parents do to be sure their children are taken care of after they are gone? What do parents do to lessen their anxiety about the future of their children? How do parents make sure that their special needs children will not become a financial burden on their other children or relatives?

Fortunately, parents can take some simple steps to make sure that their special needs children have both financial and personal security after their deaths. As a trusts and estates attorney who specializes in this area of the law, I often prepare "Supplemental Needs Trusts" for families with children with special needs. These trusts are designed to provide for "extras" for the special needs child, while still allowing him or her to qualify for available government benefits, such as Medicaid and SSI. For instance, the trust can pay for medical or dental care not covered by Medicaid, entertainment, vacations and so forth. The trusts can be created in the Wills of the parents or grandparents, in which case they come into existence after the parent or grandparent passes away.

Protecting Assets for a Child With a Disability

Excerpt from ABA Bifocal: (click for entire article)

Estate planning and lifetime planning for parents of a child with a disability present special challenges. The goals of the parents are to utilize their assets in such a way as to enrich their child’s life while, at the same time, preserving the child’s public benefits.

Estate Planning Options

Parents of a child with a disability have four options with respect to estate planning:

• Disinherit the child;
• Distribute the assets directly to the child;
• Distribute the assets to a sibling with the understanding that the sibling will use the assets for the benefit of the child with a disability; or
• Distribute the assets to a trust for the benefit of the child with a disability.

Letters to the editor: May 7

Excerpt from Investment News: (click for entire article)

As a practitioner in the special-needs field, I was glad to see coverage in InvestmentNews (“Advisers have to take lead in special-needs planning,” April 9) on this important yet overlooked area of planning.

The number of families that need to consider the issues of lifetime planning for a relative with special needs is increasing, and there is a need for advice by trained planning professionals.

Having been a practicing attorney before shifting into the financial planning aspects of working with those with special needs, I have a comprehensive understanding both of the legal and financial aspects of special-needs planning.

A Look At The Special Needs Trust

Excerpt from Preserve Your Estate: (click for entire article)

There are many of us who have friends, relatives or colleagues who have some type of incapacitating mental, physical or developmental disability. In older times, the families of disabled people used to keep their circumstances a secret; the disability of a family member was a forbidden subject and was not discussed very openly. To make matters worse, very few competent professional advisers existed to offer their help to plan for the special needs of disabled people.

So, the disheartened families of such people were left on their own and they had limited options to ensure proper care for their disabled relatives after their primary care provider grew too old or died. And since there was a certain stigma attached, the needs of the disabled were not advocated and there were limited resources available.

These days estate planning attorneys can provide solutions, and one of the them is called the “special needs trust.” A special needs trust is a trust which provides for a disabled person’s supplemental needs, other than basic health, shelter and sustenance expenses that the beneficiary may be entitled to receive under government programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income.

Planning for Your Special Needs Loved One

Excerpt from The Arc Alliance: (click for entire article)

If Congress and the   President do not reach an agreement in 2012 to extend or modify the existing   Federal Estate Tax Threshold of 5 million dollars per person and 10 million   dollars per couple, the threshold will reduce to 1 million dollars per person   on January 1, 2013. In light of recent Washington gridlock and the fact that  most life insurance and retirement plans are included in the Federal Estate   Tax calculations, 2012 is a critical year to review your Estate Plan and to adopt relatively easy strategies to address the potential serious consequences of this situation. A list of the critical documents   to review and consider is set forth below. Will-   The document which directs the disposition of property not held in joint   names or which pass by a beneficiary designation.  The   Will identifies the individuals charged with administering your estate,   provides a financial structure and guardianship for minor children, and seeks   to avoid unnecessary federal and state death taxes. Trusts –   The mechanism by which property is held for the benefit of designated individuals.  Several types of Trusts may be used in typical estate plans.

A Grimm Case of Intestate Succession

Excerpt from Law and the Multiverse: (click for entire article)

Today’s episode of Grimm (“Happily Ever Aftermath“) involves a murder apparently motivated by money, specifically an inheritance.  But, as any law student who has taken a trusts & estates course can tell you, the devil is in the details.  Spoilers ahead!

I. The Set-Up

The episode is a twist on the story of Cinderella.  In this case, Lucinda has married her handsome (and wealthy) prince, who then proceeds to lose it all to a Ponzi scheme.  He appeals to Lucinda’s stepmother for money, who turns him down.  Shortly afterward, the stepmother is found murdered.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the stepmother’s will gives everything to her own daughters and nothing to Lucinda.  But soon one of the stepsisters is also killed, and we are told that, if both stepsisters die then Lucinda will inherit everything, “will or no will.”

The U.S. Government Wants To Make Sure You've Written Your Social Media Will

Excerpt from The Consumerist: (click for entire article)

The United States government is hip to social networking, and because it knows all about the Facebook and the Twittering, it wants you to be prepared with a social will in the event of your demise. After all, there have been reports of the families of deceased people having trouble gaining access to those kinds of accounts.

In a new post today on the USA.gov blog titled, "How and Why You Should Write a Social Media Will," the government lays it all out. It suggests creating a statement as to how you want your online identity to be handled, sort of like a traditional will.

Choosing a person you can trust as an online executor is the first step. That person will then close any accounts you designate — email addresses, social media profiles, blogs and whatever else.

See also What happens to your Blog after your death

Hiring estate-planning attorney a smart idea for end-of-life care

Excerpt from Tulsa World: (click for entire article)

It's bad enough thinking about death or dying, but paying a lawyer to help you ponder the inevitable?  Ugh.

Still, you owe it to yourself and to your family to assemble the documents that will smooth your way at the end of life and secure the well-being of those you leave behind.  These documents include a will; a financial and a medical power of attorney, which let others make decisions for you when you cannot; an advance medical directive, which spells ot your preferred end-of-life care;and in some cases a revocable living trust, which lets your estate avoid probate.