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

Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Mental Health Advance Directive

Excerpt from: Living with Dying (click for full article)

 

Last December, Compassion and Choices of Washington unveiled a new kind of advance directive for life planning while living with Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. This document is the first of its kind focused on these specific challenges. With a similar purpose as the living will, the Alzheimer's and Dementia directive aims to have a person's intentions known when the person isn't in a place to speak for him or herself.

The Alzheimer's directive is different from the usual advance health care directive. An advance health care directive is used to specify what medical actions should be undertaken if the patient is too ill or incapacitated to make those decisions. A typical question for those completing these documents is whether or not the patient wants aggressive medical treatment—such as a feeding tube or artificial ventilation—when the patient is dying or in a persistent vegetative state.

Vidal Sassoon Disinherits Son from $152 Million Estate

Excerpt from: Wealth Strategies Journal 2.0 (click for full article)

 

Vidal Sassoon, acclaimed hairstylist and head of a vast hair products empire, disinherited his adopted son, David Sassoon, from his $152 million estate.  Sassoon had recently released an autobiography in which he described the son as "mischievous" talked of "walking away" from him.

Sassoon left three ex-wives out of his will, as well.

See Joanne Scheffler, "Sassoon Disinherits Heir," Examiner.com (March 25, 2013).

Brooke Astor’s Son Has Fraud Conviction Upheld on Appeal

Excerpt from: Bloomberg Businessweek (click for full article)

 

The son of late New York philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor faces as long as three years in prison for defrauding his mother after a state appeals court upheld his conviction.

Anthony Marshall, 88, was convicted in October 2009 of grand larceny and other charges for changing his mother’s will while she was incompetent. He was sentenced to one to three years in prison for acts that included giving himself a $1 million raise for managing his mother’s money.

Estate Planning Lessons From 'Downton Abbey'

Excerpt from: TaxProf Blog (click for full article)

 

The show has become something of a sensation among financial planners and lawyers, who see parallels in their clients' lives. ... The most obvious take-away from Downton Abbey is to diversify investments, a lesson the earl learns after squandering much of his American wife's fortune on an investment in a Canadian railway filing for bankruptcy. ...

Here are some of the biggest lessons.

• Sell the house
• Spell out control and ownership when passing the baton
• Use trusts to protect the family fortune
• Make a will before giving birth
• Set up a medical directive

The Gift of Planning and Preparation

Excerpt from: Caregivers (click for full article)

 

Understanding and Respecting Their Wishes

Advance directives such as a durable power of attorney for health care, durable power of attorney for finances, and living will are the documents that most commonly come to mind when we think along these lines. I can’t stress how thankful I am that my mother was prepared, and I’m particularly grateful that she took care to clearly spelled out her wishes in a living will, leaving no room for interpretation.

Although I knew very well what Mom wanted – and didn’t want, without that piece of paper bearing her signature, it would have been agonizing to make those final decisions. I doubt I could have done it. As it was, the experience was more painful than words can express. But I knew without question that her wishes were being followed and with that came some level of peace.

Educate Yourself

It is important to be aware that an advance directive by itself does not ensure a patient will be treated under a “do not resuscitate” protocol. For that, a DNR form is required. A Do Not Resuscitate order (DNR) is a legal order written by a physician based upon desires expressed in an advance directive. The DNR allows the medical team to proceed according to the patient’s wishes. You may also hear the term Allow Natural Death (AND), which is gaining favor in the medical community, as it focuses on what is being done rather than what is being avoided.

Depending upon the state in which you reside, you may want to look into Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST ) or Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST). These programs also provide guidance for medical care in the event that an individual can no longer speak for himself.

Finding a long lost stock certificate

Excerpt from: NWI Times (click for full article)

 

In your case, you should first determine if the stock certificate is even valid. I would start by researching the company. Try to find out if the company is still in existence or if it has closed its doors. You might find out the company was acquired by another company.

Once you determine if the company is still in existence or that it has been acquired by another company, locate the transfer agent for the company. There are a couple of huge financial companies that administer stock plans for large companies. A lot of companies also have investor relation departments, but I’ve found it is usually easier to deal with the transfer agent directly.

If you are able to determine the stock represented by the certificate is still outstanding, you will need to determine the process for transferring it. If it jointly owned, the surviving joint owner will need to take the necessary steps to transfer the stock into his or her name. He can then keep it or sell it.

Beneficiary designations on real estate

Excerpt from: NWI Times (click for full article)

 

The beneficiary doesn’t have any ownership rights during your lifetime, but when you die, there is a smooth and easy transfer of ownership without the need for probate.

POD provisions are also available on other types of assets. For example, you can name a beneficiary on a brokerage account. The beneficiary designation is referred to as transfer on death (TOD) rather than payable on death, but the effect is essentially the same.

So if you can designate a bank account as payable on death, why can’t you arrange the title to your home to include a beneficiary designation? The simple answer is you can.

A few years ago, the folks down in Indianapolis enacted the Transfer on Death Property Act. Among other things, the act authorized the use of transfer on death deeds. A TOD deed allows a person to designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries on real estate.

Part Of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's Will, Banning Use Of Music In Ads, May Not Be Valid

Excerpt from: Forbes (click for full article)

 

The last line of the will, as his lawyers prepared it, prohibits Yauch’s image or name from being used for advertising purposes—something that celebrities commonly do. But Yauch, who had a reputation for being an iconoclast as one of the members of the most famous and accomplished alternative rock bands, greatly muddied the waters by writing in the words shown here in italics: “in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.”

From a legal perspective, this change opened a can of worms. Here’s why: In a sentence that referred to publicity rights, the words Yauch added introduced the matter of copyright. The two are very different legal animals.

Yauch was likely making a statement to the world that life is about more than profit. He attempted to exercise control over his name, image and legacy in order to make that point. The sad irony is that Yauch’s heirs may desperately need that profit to pay the legal bills that result from his final act of defiance.

Some Couples Might Need Separate Lawyers

Excerpt from: Wills, Trusts,& Estates Prof Blog (click for full article)

 

While a good number of couples will likely want to plan their estate plan together with only one lawyer, that might not be possible in some circumstances or a good idea in other circumstances. The following are a few situations where that might occur:

• If the clients have a blended family where the couple has children from a different marriage, then the both parents might want to obtain separate lawyers. To ensure that the children of each spouse receives the inheritance that their parent wanted them to receive, that parent might want to create an estate plan separate from the other spouse. In that case, the parent would need a separate lawyer.
• A client might also need a separate lawyer if the client is seeking a prenuptial agreement.
• There are also certain groups of people that might want to strongly consider obtaining separate lawyers because these people are not married or cannot get married, as in the case of LGBT couples. These couples need more attention because of their non-martial status.
• A person might also want to consider obtaining the services of a separate attorney if there is a dispute over the ownership of the assets of the couple.

Trivia Time: Little-Known Facts About Estate Planning

Excerpt from: Lawyers.com (click for full article)

 

Historically, a “will” was used to distribute of real estate after one’s death and a “testament” was used to dispose of personal property. Today those instructions are combined into a single document, called a “last will and testament.”

British Scientist James Smithson make a bequest in 1829 in his last will and testament, instructing: “I then bequeath the whole of my property… to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men.” Curiously, Smithson had never visited the United States.

The record for the longest will ever probated is held by an English woman, Frederica Evelyn Stilwell Cook. Although her estate was only valued at about $100,000, her last will and testament ran 1066 pages and 95,940 words.

In contrast, the shortest known wills are each three words long. Indian Bimla Rishi’s will read “all to son” and German Karl Tausch’s read “all to wife.”