LEGACY PLANNER BLOG

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 ...

Don't Ask Amy About Estate Planning

2011-10-25T16:18:11Z

One of my guilty pleasures is reading the Ask Amy newspaper column by Amy Dickinson. So I was disappointed to see this column about a bride-to-be who questioned her in-law's insistence on a prenuptial agreement. Amy and the bride felt the in-laws were putting undue pressure on the groom by pointing out the absence of a prenuptial might mean the parents would not leave the groom an inheritance. Amy recognized that the parents might be concerned that the inheritance would be ...

Al Davis, The Raiders and the Value of Private Estate Planning for Business Owners

2011-10-10T13:17:16Z

With the recent death of Al Davis, there is a lot of speculation about whether his great wealth will result in great estate taxes and whether those taxes will necessitate selling some or all of Davis' ownership in the Oakland Raiders football team. Some commentators float the idea, apparently missing the point that with an unlimited marital deduction available to Davis' wife which would mean there would be no estate tax due on anything she inherits from her husband. Others report that Davis had a comprehensive plan in place that ...

Asset Protection Planning Done Wrong Goes Wrong

2011-10-03T13:40:15Z

Jay Adkisson pulls no punches in this piece in Forbes magazine on a recent decision of the Washington state supreme court. Adkisson points out a lot that went wrong in what purported to be asset protection planning but was really a game of "hide the assets."

I share Adkisson's view that this wasn't legitimate asset protection planning. I used to say that asset protection planning had to be done when the seas are calm and not when the storm is ...

Probating The Insolvent Estate

2011-09-19T17:50:31Z

It's a sign of these economic times that I encounter a number of people trying to learn about settling the estate of a loved one who died owing more money than their combined assets could pay (an insolvent estate).

I can often help by reassuring them that their own liabilities are minimal. It helps to remember that the debts of the deceased person were not your debts. You will not be responsible to pay them merely because you were the spouse or the ...

The Yin and Yang of Estate and Business Planning

2011-09-12T14:00:33Z

I first set out to be an estate planning attorney. However, not too long after making that decision I realized that I needed to be conversant in my client's business planning concerns as well. If I wasn't, i could not effectively plan their estates.

That was brought home to me again recently with a client I had served years ago for business planning came into my office again. Sometime in the last ten years, the client had transferred half of the LLC that ran his business to his mother. I'm not sure why. ...

Providing For Pets In Estate Planning

2011-08-15T19:50:55Z

Just back from a great LONG vacation.

Today Wills.Trusts & Estates Prof Blog has some current resources on pet trusts. Colorado has had a statute authorizing and clarifying pet trusts for some time now.

In many instances, my clients find that a pet trust is more complex than they have in mind. When a full-fledged pet trust seems like overkill, there can still be other planning techniques that provide for a pet. Some things to ...

Disturbing Statistics About Estate Planning And Business Succession

2011-07-22T13:35:58Z

The San Diego Source has a report helping readers digest the “2011 U.S. Trust Insights on Wealth and Worth" conducted on behalf of U.S. Trust.

Some good news came out of the report, including the fact that many of the respondents recognize that their legacy is more than their money. But the report also contains some disturbing statistics, including:

" 91 percent of those surveyed have a will and 88 percent "an estate plan", 40 percent reported that ...

Estate Plans Gone Awry

2011-07-20T13:49:23Z

The recent news has included some examples of estate plans that caused a lot of grief.

One is the tale of Steve McNair, former NFL player. Steve had bought his mother a ranch. Then he died. Problem was, the ranch had been titled in Steve's name, and he made no provisions for his mother in his estate plan (it's not clear he even had a will). So Steve's widow demanded Steve's mother pay rent. When she couldn't pay the rent, she moved out. Steve's mother took with her the ...