LEGACY PLANNER BLOG

We Can't Care More Than The Client

2013-04-24T15:49:00Z

I am mentoring a less experienced attorney who agreed to help a couple change the guardians named in their Wills. Once she saw the Will, she knew she was in over her head because the Will "pours over" into a trust. She asked to see the trust and the couple gave her an unsigned draft of a different trust, not the same parties, name or date as the one referenced in their Wills. They don't know what trusts they have or what they say. They are reluctant to look for the original trust documents or to tell her ...

Immature Heirs: After The Fact

2013-04-23T15:39:45Z

Today a man called me hoping I had some ideas. He was personal representative of an estate. His nieces are the heirs of the estate. The nieces are late teens and early twenties. Their mother died without a will or any other form of estate planning.

The caller is concerned that at least one of them won't just waste their inheritance, but will use the money to ruin her life. I didn't enquire as to the specifics, but he called it "handing her a loaded gun."

I ...

Upcoming Seminar on Social Security Planning

2013-03-12T17:26:00Z

Don't want to turn this blog into "all seminars, all the time", but one of our CFP Partners in Planning, Randy Anderson, regularly holds these educational programs on Social Security. This one is near our office in Arvada. Randy has helped educate me on benefits available to seniors, so he might be able to teach you a thing or two.

Free Webinar on Why You Should Have an Estate Plan

2013-03-11T16:29:55Z

My colleagues at Wealthcounsel are putting on a webinar.

The Family Estate Plan

Why You Should Have One, and What Happens If You Don’t

Register now for this free webinar!

March 22, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. E.D.T.

Speaker:
Randy Gardner, J.D., LL.M., MBA, CPA, CFP®

It’s a common myth ...

Helping Out Adult Kids May Mean Changes to Your Estate Plan

2012-06-25T14:48:31Z

According to this article from Investment News, studies done in the last ten years indicate that over 90% of baby boomers may be helping out their kids financially well after the kids have reached adulthood.

The article's main message concerned the effect this gifting has on retirement. However, as an attorney with a specialty in estate planning, I focused on different concerns. First, how does this pattern of lifetime gifting affect the client's estate ...

Probate is Public

2012-06-12T16:10:04Z

Came across this site the other day. It appears to be an Excel spreadsheet of all of the decedent's probate cases filed in Colorado on a particular day.

The wordpress site on which this information is kept is password-protected, but I was able to find it just with a Google search for one of the personal representative's names.

Since probate cases ...

Abuse of Power of Attorney - Can it Be Prevented?

2012-06-08T14:48:01Z

Another example of alleged abuse by an agent under a power of attorney. The Denver Post reports a man is accused of using his grandmother's money for his personal use and now she is out of money. The grandson and his wife are facing criminal charges.

Could this have been avoided? People want to trust their family, so it can be hard to prevent this type of abuse. One thing may be to require in the power of attorney document that the ...

New Edition of Our Estate Planning Book

2012-05-30T18:47:18Z

It's here!

I'm really excited to be announce that the second edition of Your Legacy: Meaningful Estate Planning arrived in our offices today. This is the book I co-authored with other estate planning attorneys to help explain estate planning choices and consequences especially for Colorado residents. We've covered the effect of the tax law changes over the last few years and added some new topics.

Let me know if you'd like to take a look at a copy. ...

Timeshares: A "Toxic Asset"?

2012-05-21T16:00:48Z

It appears to be hitting critical mass, the dissatisfaction of many timeshare owners who find that they are perpetually bound to pay annual association dues for a timeshare they no longer want. If they don't pay the dues, they get sued. And yes, we have seen our clients get sued when they try to "walk away" from their timeshare.

There are so many people trying to get out of timeshares that the scams are abundant. We have ...

Example of Asset Protection Planning That Worked?

2012-05-07T21:10:13Z

Some time ago I came across this news story about a bankruptcy in Las Vegas. What I found interesting was the allegation by creditors that the bankrupt party had "taken numerous steps to benefit himself financially, such as transferring $7 million to other companies outside the reach of the creditors ..." The defense is that these transfers were "proper and properly recorded."
...

Putting the Kids On Title to The House -- Bad Idea

2012-04-24T13:55:47Z

For several weeks now it has been my intention to write a post on some of the other areas of work we do such as business planning or asset protection. Yet it is the estate planning issues that continually provide the most interesting fodder for this blog.

Today I encountered another problem that can arise when a parent names his or her child as a co-owner of their house. I'm counseling a son who is 1/3 owner of his ...

Disinheriting A Spouse or Family Member

2012-04-17T17:02:55Z

Here's a great article on disinheriting a spouse or other family member. I was a little put off by the unnecessary and apparently unfounded speculation on why a certain millionaire disinherited his second wife. However, most of it is good advice, including how the law favors a spouse even if the will tries to disinherit him or her. The article illustrates the personal nature of estate planning that has nothing to do with ...

Off Topic? Justice for Aaron Edwards

2012-03-06T20:20:00Z

This has little to do with my areas of legal practice but much to do with doing the right thing. I encourage you to watch this video appeal from a boy who is now cared for by the taxpayers of Colorado because of the malpractice of a Florida hospital. Due to the byzantine applications of Florida's version of sovereign immunity, Aaron Edwards must literally ...

Girls Gone Wise: Free Educational Event

2012-01-30T22:18:53Z

Last year I had a great time as a speaker at an event known as Girls Gone Wise! It was so well-received and so much fun that I've been asked to do it again.

Together with Becky Byers of Summit Brokerage and Liz Bornmann of Bornmann Insurance I'll be addressing how women can plan for themselves in the areas of estate planning, investments and insurance. We eat, drink and ...

Why Probate and Trust Administration Takes Some Time

2012-01-24T00:05:01Z

I've encountered several cases lately where the personal representative of an estate or successor trustee of a trust is anxious to distribute all of the estate or trust within weeks after taking over the estate or trust after the death of the original owner.

They resist me when I tell them to "let things settle". I think sometimes they believe I'm just trying to run up the legal fees (even when I am not charging by the hour). ...

Lessons on Updating Estate Plans

2012-01-16T17:19:56Z

We hit the ground running on our Year of Updating for our clients who are in our CARePlan trust maintenance program. We had several clients come in for the January updating workshop and a number are already signed up for the February program.

All of the clients who attended the January workshop had changes they wanted to make to their planning documents. These amounted to what we call "word processing" changes because they could be expressed ...

Year-End Checklist for Small Businesses

2011-12-13T18:45:22Z

Karen Klein, one of my favorite columnists and bloggers, has an article in BusinessWeek with a year-end tax planning checklist for small businesses.

In addition to the tax issues Karen Klein raises, I would add that this is a good time for small businesses to do the following:

(1) Corporations and LLCs should review their minutes book and make sure that minutes are up to date
(2) Companies with a Buy/Sell Agreement should ...

Colorado to Work With Department of Labor

2011-12-12T18:03:01Z

This article from the Denver Post is intriguing. It says that the state of Colorado will "work with" the U.S. Department of Labor to "share information and coordinate more closely ... on the problem of worker classification." Tony Gagliardi of the National Federation of Independent Business shares the view that the current rules are confusing and not consistent among the different agencies, something I noted in this previous blog post.
...

Words of Advice When First Calling a Law Firm

2011-12-09T21:29:49Z

Here are some words of advice to people calling a law firm for the first time. When reviewing these items, keep in mind that there will often be a tension between the law firm's goals for the phone call and yours. You may want the answer to what you think is a "simple question." The law firm wants to screen its calls to determine who it can help (as a client) and who isn't a ...

Using Beneficiary Designations to Avoid Probate? Be Smart About It.

2011-10-31T14:24:03Z

There are numerous ways to avoid probate. Advisors and their clients are becoming more savvy to the use of some of these probate-avoidance devices, including transfer on death beneficiaries for bank accounts, retirement plans, etc. As I've been known to say before, avoiding probate is good, but it should not be the tail that wags the dog. In other words, make sure that avoiding probate doesn't overshadow or prevent the other goals you have, such as treating family fairly or avoiding family disputes.

I've encountered an increasing number of estates where avoiding ...