inheritance

Use your Estate Plan to share what you love with those who share the passion

 in Estate Plan  tagged inheritance / Personal Property Memorandum

Do you find peace on long hikes, slow bike rides or gardening? Do you love books or films, collect coins or stamps? What hobbies are you passionate about?

Whatever those loves, you likely shared them with some of the people close to you.

Those friends you hike with, bike with, or enjoyed the intricacies of coins with… These are people with whom your friendships are special.

As you create you Will, after going over your financial assets consider using your Estate Plan to go beyond — to pass your belongings to the great people you shared those hobbies with.

You can use it to say thank you to the people who have touched your life—by sharing something of that hobby or passion with.

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Law Offices of Joseph C. Girard Wins $23 Million Verdict in Elder Abuse Case & Fraud Against Contractor & Attorney Who Enforced Sale of Family Home

 in Children / Special Needs / Trusts  tagged inheritance

Disabled son deeded property built by his parents in 1948 to unscrupulous contractor

The Los Angeles-based Law Offices of Joseph C. Girard and LA Elder Law, specializing in elder financial abuse legal matters, obtained a $23 million jury verdict on behalf of their clients Jeanne Haworth and Kathleen McGinty against a contractor who maliciously entered into an agreement to renovate a family home. He and his attorney manipulated the owner into deeding the property to raise funds for work that was never needed.

The jury found that the contractor, Noam Bouzaglou, acted with recklessness, oppression and malice toward the McGinty family, and awarded the trust $23 million in punitive damages for the contractor’s abusive conduct. The Court also returned the family home back to the trust. The jury also found that the attorney, Andrew Stern, acted in concert with the contractor, was professionally negligent and engaged in fraudulent conduct.

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When families disagree about elder care, try mediation before litigation

 in Caregiver  tagged Baby Boomers / care-giving / inheritance

Siblings trying to come together to help mom or dad through the aging process will often run into more road blocks than they expect; and quite often these road blocks are internal. Can mom stay home for a few more years, or does she need round the clock help? Should the sister who lives down the street from dad get financial reimbursement for driving him to doctor’s appointments and the grocery store four times a week? How do you tell mom you think it’s too dangerous for her to drive by herself anymore?

These kinds of questions (and more) can end up leading to huge family fights, and in some severe cases, to litigation. This article in Smart Money suggests that when siblings can’t agree on elder care for aging parents, there is an alternative to litigation: An Elder Mediator.

Elder Mediators are mediators who specialize in elder law, caregiving, and elder decision-making issues. These mediators can “help families work through concerns — and fights — involving caregiving, inheritance, living arrangements, estate planning and related issues.”

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Don’t overlook memories as an important part of an Estate Plan

 in Estate Plan  tagged heirloom / Heirs / inheritance / memories / Personal Property Memorandum

When thinking about an Estate Plan most people think primarily about their large financial assets: Real property, bank accounts, investment accounts, family businesses, etc.

Often though, the most heart-wrenching family rifts and disputes are not over the money, but over the little things that have little or no monetary value.

Your parents’ wedding rings, grandma’s heirloom candlesticks, mirror, or locket… These are the items that end up costing families more in harsh words, hurt feelings, and legal fees than any expensive property or valuable bank account.

These are the items that have a high emotional value — but many parents or grandparents don’t consider this when making out their Wills or Trusts.

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Trusts to protect and pass on artwork, antiques, and other valuable assets

 in Trusts  tagged antiques / artwork / inheritance

Some assets — such as real property, stocks and savings — are fairly straightforward when it comes to bequeathal to heirs. Other assets — such as valuable artwork or antiques — are not so easy.

How do you will an asset to a loved one when there is no deed of ownership? And just as importantly, how do these paperless assets figure into the size and administration of your “taxable estate”?

According to this article by Bonnie Kraham — Protecting Your Future: Knowing the value of artwork is a must — how you dispose of these assets can be extremely important to the administration and taxation of your Estate. One particularly dangerous method is referred to as “the empty hook” method, wherein “When the collector dies, the beneficiaries simply remove the artwork (from the hooks) in accordance with name tags on the items for the intended recipients. Thus, the Estate is left with “empty hooks” of what may be part of a sizable taxable estate for estate tax purposes.”

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To Tell or Not to Tell About Inheritance; Sharing Your Estate Plan with Your Heirs

 in Estate Plan / Special Needs  tagged inheritance

The subject of inheritance is one that most people studiously avoid for a number of different reasons: superstition, fear, lack of knowledge, or a desire for secrecy.

Many adults were raised to believe that money was a private affair, and that talking about it was inappropriate; but beyond that, many people simply fear that if they talk about their estate plan with their heirs they will meet with resistance, disagreement, or in a worst-case scenario—their heirs will try to counter the estate plan with legal action of their own.

While in some families and circumstances these fears are justified, in most circumstances being silent about your estate plan can have disastrous consequences.

A refusal to talk about money or your estate plans with you children means that they will have a difficult time following your wishes in regards to your medical treatment or protection of your assets should disaster strike. Most adult children are actually eager to fulfill their parents’ last wishes, regardless of how it may or may not impact their own inheritance.

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Who Owns Credit Card Debt After the Death of a Parent?

 in Estate Plan / Wills  tagged Baby Boomers / Credit Card / debt / Heirs / inheritance

Administering the Estate of a deceased loved one can be complicated and emotional under the best of circumstances, but Executors who take on this overwhelming task may find themselves facing more than just the demands of relatives and heirs.

They may also find themselves facing the illegitimate demands of creditors. This article on The New Old Age New York Times Blog — Credit Card Debt That Outlives Mom — warns readers to “Be wary of collection agencies that try to convince you that you are responsible for payment on a card owned solely by a deceased parent.”

After the death of a parent, children and heirs often receive calls from debt collectors looking for someone — anyone! — to pay off the debts of the deceased, even if the heirs have no obligation to do so.

In most situations relatives are not required to pay the debts of the deceased from their own assets.

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