Deaf, Proud, & Determined: Individuals in the Deaf Community Have Specific Estate Planning Needs

American Sign Language (ASL) is the primary language of the Deaf community and many other individuals who are hard of hearing. It is also used by some hearing people.

Among those is Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig & Wegbreit’s Gretchan Ohlig. Gretchan, a Partner at the firm, is the granddaughter of Deaf adults and her beloved grandparents were a huge presence in the years she was growing up.

“My mom’s parents were born deaf, and they had 3 hearing daughters,” says Gretchan. “ASL was my mom’s first language, and I grew up becoming a native user.”

Deaf, not Disabled

The Deaf Community is small and proud and does not perceive itself as “disabled.” Using the word disabled suggests the idea of “less than” and implies that the Deaf culture is lacking something. Removing that label eliminates any stigma that may be attached to it.

“In Deaf culture, Deafness is embraced. It is not considered an impairment,” says Gretchan. That sentiment echoes her philosophy. For people in the Deaf community, being Deaf is part of who they are. “They believe that there is nothing to be fixed,” Gretchan says.

Despite this pride and because of it, it is often necessary for hearing professionals who are fluent in ASL to serve members of the Deaf community by helping them fulfill their wishes in certain areas of life. Estate Planning is one of those areas.

“That is why it is such a privilege for me to help members of the Deaf community who turn to our firm for estate planning services,” Gretchan says.

Unique Legacy Requirements

She explains that within the Deaf community there is often fluidity in family connections. “Family lines are often blurred, and non-blood relatives are sometimes considered family.”

It is often important that an individual’s property stays within the community. That is why precise communication between Deaf individuals and their estate attorneys is imperative so that an estate plan that completely fulfills their needs is put in place.

“There can be no gray areas left to the attorney’s interpretation,” says Gretchan.

That help includes explaining complicated legal ideas to them in their language so they will feel confident in the plan we develop with and for them.

Understanding the perspective of Deaf adults is often difficult for hearing individuals because so much of their communication with one another depends upon their ability to hear. Still, some advocates speak about Deaf gain as a communication advantage afforded to those who must use means other than verbal language. The belief behind Deaf gain is that Deaf people have more meaningful and intentional connection because they cannot hear.

It is a wonderful way of looking at the world—one which Gretchan understands and respects because of the deep relationships she had with her grandparents.

With Gratitude to Pay It Forward

“They did so much for me when I was growing up,” she says. “Today I have an opportunity to give back and pay it forward through my work.”

That sense of service to our clients is what inspires our work at Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig & Wegbreit, LLC, and we are proud to be able to effectively assist individuals within the Deaf community who come to us for estate planning services.

Call us at 908-232- 2244 and experience the peace of mind of knowing we can help you create an estate plan customized to your specific wishes and unique needs.

When There’s More Than 1 Sibling, What Happens to the Inherited Family Home?

My estate shall be divided equally among my 3 children. That’s probably the most common final directive in a last Will and Testament. But what happens when most, if not all, of an estate’s assets are real property. Think: the family home.  The most common property siblings jointly inherit is a house. How do you divide that very tangible asset among 3 people?

In a best-case scenario, the siblings would agree unanimously on a fair and equitable settlement: Sell the home and split the proceeds equally. Distribute other assets so one heir retains the property or negotiates buyouts for those wanting cash.

Flaws of Nature

But human nature isn’t always so rational…or even kind…especially when there’s a decent amount of money at stake. What happens when siblings are counting on an inheritance, or their financial needs are different? What if one sibling has devoted her life to caring for their parents? What happens if there’s already acrimony among the siblings in the first place?

Unfortunately, as is often the case, specific instructions regarding the disposal of the property are not provided in the decedent’s estate planning documents. Consider these situations which pour fuel on the fire: One sibling has lived in the home taking care of the parent and wants to stay but can’t qualify for a mortgage to buy the others out. Or the caregiver may have a financial windfall from the deceased outside of the will—perhaps in jointly held property, bank certificates, or as the life insurance beneficiary. This may seem fair, and probably is, but that added benefit bestowed upon the caregiver adult child causes dissension among siblings, who then resent having to give the caregiving sibling an equal portion of the estate. And sometimes a sibling with greater wealth will have an unfair advantage to acquire the home.

Those Essential Family Conversations

There’s no better example of the need for important family conversations when parents are still healthy and fully in command of their cognitive capabilities—no better example for the requirement for estate plans with Wills or trusts in which everything is stipulated in black and white.

Even more important is this admonition: “Parents should never divide an indivisible asset in hopes that it will bring their heirs together,” says Lee Hausner, a Los Angeles-based psychologist and author of Children of Paradise: Successful Parenting for Prosperous Families, an instructional book about handling family assets. She’s seen contentious situations—even fights between siblings that turn physical.

Ideally, in these situations, the siblings must amiably turn to a Plan B. Here are the most common options for splitting an inherited home with siblings when the estate planning documents do not provide for this contingency:

Sometimes There’s No Sibling Resolution

Still, sometimes none or some of the siblings are not ready to compromise. The real nail in the coffin is when one of the siblings thinks they’re getting the short end of the stick—or their own spouse who is not a bloodline family member starts sharing poisonous ideas—and this sibling begins to make waves.

If all else fails and an agreement cannot be reached, the siblings may have to involve the court in order to force the sale of the property and terminate their co-ownership. In this case, heirs who want to sell the home file suit to force its sale against the wishes of those who want to keep it. An impasse like this is called a partition action and can be devastating to a family.

Some Prudent Counsel

There’s no denying the fact that estate planning in which parents and adult children speak openly about their plans, finances, and other important issues that could become factors is essential. Rules of thumb surrounding these talks include:

At Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig & Wegbreit, we can help you facilitate these important conversations and provide you with the thoughtful guidance on sensitive issues. This will help your heirs avoid acrimonious situations when you are gone.

Call us at 908.232.2344 to get your estate planning underway or to review it. Planning today will ensure a brighter future for your loved ones tomorrow.

 

 

How Much Can You Control Your Kids’ Lives from the Grave?

You want the best for your children, and you want them to inherit your assets when you die. But what happens when you don’t like your son- or-daughter-in-law? How can you prevent your kids’ inheritance money from being commingled with the couple’s marital assets? Can you still exert control from the grave?  Should you?

In short, you can, by establishing a trust that prevents assets from passing directly to your child, which prevents the commingling of assets. And in the event one of your kids gets divorced, this trust may preserve these assets from being considered available for alimony obligations. Such a trust is designed to keep money in the family, protecting the inheritance of your children and their descendants. Specifically, assets in the trust can only be used for your children’s or grandchildren’s health, education, maintenance, or support.

Evaluate Your Motives

You may actually be surprised at the number of people who sit in our conference room and want to block their in-laws from touching the family inheritance. The first thing we do is encourage them to evaluate their motives. Is your distrust of a son-or-daughter-in-law based on your knowledge that your son or daughter’s spouse is a spendthrift, gambles, has difficulty holding a job, or treats your child and their children abusively, or similar scenarios? In this case, a trust like this can work to safeguard your assets for your children.

But if your motives are based solely on your dislike, or a fear that your kids’ marriages will end in divorce like 50 percent of all marriages in the U.S. do, you may want to think twice. The logistics governing the administration of the trust can get thorny. For starters, best practice encourages appointing an independent Trustee to administer this trust. The result is that your children’s withdrawal rights may also be limited.

In the Name of Love

If there’s income your kids are entitled to get every year or a draw on principal, the trust requires that they must ask the Trustee’s permission for the money to be distributed. Bottom line, while you’ve created a buffer that prevents your in-law from getting to the money, you’re also making it difficult for your son or daughter to access their inheritance. Even though you’re doing this in the name of love, your kids have to penetrate this barrier you created by going to the Trustee to get monies.

And aside from the inconvenience, what does that mean for your kids? How are they going to feel about that? How will they ultimately feel about you? You may not like your son or daughter in law, but your son or daughter may adore them. And despite what you think, they might have a very good marriage. Your feelings could actually throw a monkey wrench or certainly elements of mistrust into a good marriage. Additionally, even if your kids have to ask permission to get the money, distributions made by the Trustee may well be commingled anyway. So, you can never fully control the way your inheritance money is used. You can only make it harder.

Discuss Inheritance Decisions With Your Attorney

At the end of the day, you may not be the best one to decide whether or not inheritance money should be commingled with your kids’ marital moneys. Every situation is different. When you work with one of our attorneys at Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig, and Wegbreit, LLC, you can rest assured we will make sure you evaluate all the ramifications of your decision-making before you finalize your estate plan. We will also make sure you review your plan every 5 years or so, to make sure that it’s consistent with your perspective and the inevitable changes in your family situation.

Calls us at 908-232-2244 to ensure that the decisions you make today will work well for your loved ones tomorrow.

BUYER BEWARE: DO-IT-YOURSELF ESTATE PLANNING IS RISKY

LegalZoom is a do-it-yourself (DIY) online platform that provides a cheaper alternative to legal tasks than heading to a law firm. Lured by saving money and the thought that forms governing any legal process are all the same, many clients turn to these automated legal services and relinquish all contact with an attorney.

Seems easy enough, right? But if you’re a layperson filling out these forms, it’s also equally easy to miss a step. That omission could interfere with the proper legal process that’s required at the time a form is called into play. What’s more, in the end, you may have to pony up more money than you originally saved when you were preparing the document.

It’s Personal

When you work with one of our Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig, & Wegbreit attorneys, it’s never just about the service or form you need. We create your plan based upon your unique requirements. Estate planning issues are never cookie cutter. For example, the Power of Attorney for a collegebound youngster serves a far different purpose than the language of a 70-year-old who requires a POA.

In the case of the young adult about to go off to college, the primary concern is that their parents have a HIPAA release. This is the ability to get and share medical information with the health care professionals who are caring for their youngster. Without the proper wording of a POA, protections from the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) could prevent these important conversations from taking place.

Similarly, a younger client who may have digital assets that run the gamut from social media accounts to financial Bitcoin holdings require specific language put into their POA. That language isn’t going to exist on LegalZoom, but it’s language we’ve crafted because we’ve served clients with situations like this.

Beyond the failure to fully address unique situations, downloaded POA forms often neglect to name a successor to serve as POA. They’ll name one person. And if that appointee is not available to act, the form becomes completely useless. When you retain the services of an estate attorney, you’re not just retaining an attorney to create a document and have you sign it. You’re retaining an estate attorney who has experience in these matters and is able to listen to your needs and story and craft a document most appropriate for you.

Variances State to State

Requirements for documents also differ state-to-state, even in bordering states. In New York, for example, the agent must sign the document. In New Jersey, that is not a requirement. New York requires 2 witnesses; New Jersey only 1. Downloading something from LegalZoom does not necessarily take these variances into account. This issue can become even more complicated if you have more than 1 home in different states.

To make matters even more difficult, laws are not static. They constantly change because of new laws and new statutes. To best advise their clients, lawyers keep up with these changes.

It’s Not Better Late Than Never

It’s not uncommon for clients to seek out an attorney to unravel situations that have arisen when an online document is put to the test…and flunks. One family whose dad was sick was rightly focused on getting their dad the palliative care he needed. Understandably, the entire family was emotionally spent both from worry and from developing a care plan. One of the adult children headed to LegalZoom and downloaded a basic Will. The Will dictated that everything would go to the decedent’s wife. If she died first, everything would go to the couple’s four children. The document also appointed the oldest child as Executor.

As it turned out, the dad lived a lot longer than anybody anticipated. The mom actually ended up dying beforehand which meant that everything was passed on to the four children as the LegalZoom Will dictated. Problem was, there were a couple of important things missing:

  1. The family didn’t have the important “What if” conversation about what would happen if one of the children predeceased the father. One of them—the oldest one, no less—did. This brought up the further question about who would be the new Executor and whether the remaining siblings wanted any assets to go to the deceased sibling’s children. There was considerable disagreement among the siblings.
  2. While the Will did appoint the oldest child to be the Executor, it didn’t include a provision to appoint a secondary Executor if the first was not available to serve. It also did not waive the surety bond requirement. In the case of estate administration, the surety bond protects the beneficiaries and creditors of the estate against improper distribution of assets by the Executor. The bond guarantees that the Executor will distribute the estate’s assets according to the Will or a court judgment. In this particular case, the court required the family to get a bond. The new Executor had creditor issues, so the premium for the surety bond ended up being $6000 a year.

Had this family sought legal counsel when they prepared a Will, they would have spent far less money and encountered less, if any, problem resolving the above issues. If they’d come to our firm, we would have had the conversation with them about the possibility of a child predeceasing the father. We would also have included language waiving the bond requirement. We would waive the bond because our clients are typically appointing their children as executors and these are appointees they trust. They’re not concerned that any nefarious action will take place.

If you do decide to use LegalZoom, know the risks you’re taking. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security. And remember. Your mistakes will not come to light until you become incapacitated or die. The people who are left to deal with these mistakes are your loved ones, the individuals you set out to protect in the first place.

At Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig, & Wegbreit, LLC, you can be assured we will cover all the bases in helping you develop your estate plan. We use the knowledge we’ve acquired in our years of schooling and practice to counsel you on the best ways to protect and take care of your family.

Call us at 908-232-2244 to make sure you craft an estate plan that will fully preserve and distribute your assets in accordance with your wishes and in the manner your loved ones deserve.

 

What to Do With Your Cherished Home When You Die: It’s Not as Easy as You Think

The reality is that leaving your house to your kids when you die is not always what your heirs want you to do with it. Trust us. All you have to do is ask your kids.

If you’re like most clients, you come to our firm to talk estate planning, and your focus is typically your Will or Trust, your retirement plan beneficiaries, and the tax strategies that will allow your kids to get the most out of their inheritance. All too often a discussion about what will happen to your house—even your vacation house at the Jersey shore—gets left by the wayside. There’s a good chance your emotions run deep and that you have an intense attachment to your family home. Your assumption, therefore, is that your kids have the same connection to the house that you do.

Please think again. The two operative words here are emotions and assumption. Your home surely holds wonderful, rich memories. It is likely also your single largest holding and in today’s housing market, that may very well constitute a good amount of money and a substantial investment. Word to the wise. Emotion doesn’t work with decisions that are innately investments.

As for your assumptions…you’re first assumption is that everyone gets along. But if your kids argue now about who ate the frosted flakes, how are they going to get along when the stakes are higher? Suddenly they’ll be faced with decisions about upkeep and maintenance or renting the shore house. Decisions like that can fracture families.

As importantly, your assumptions don’t take into account the natural progression of family events. You’ve cut the apron strings and enabled your kids to chart their own course and flourish. A house may be an encumbrance that undercuts your children’s vision of their future. Keeping the family home, then, may end up being a curse rather than a blessing.

Examine your feelings

There’s no question that the emotional attachment you have to your house is understandable. You’ve created memories there. Your vision is to make it part of your legacy. You want your kids to have the opportunity to live there…to have their kids go to their school. Or, if it’s your shore house, you want them to enjoy memorable summer days together and then pass the house on to your grands, so that it will stay in the family forever.

As warming as that idea is, it has the potential of becoming an at all costs proposition: It doesn’t really account for life changes that your children or grandchildren may have one day. What if work takes them all over the country even around the globe? Plus, as they create their own families, the circle widens. It can even and likely will include in-laws. Before you know it, you have 15 people who can’t get along managing a house together. There are added risks such as divorce or, even worse, death. In in lieu of family harmony you may end up with in-fighting and discord.

It’s important to understand that emotion and assumption can take you down a rocky road when you’re making decisions today that will impact your children long-term. Even though it may be difficult, try to step out of the emotion and think more pragmatically. Discuss the idea of leaving a house to your kids with your estate planning attorney. She can illustrate some worst-case scenarios that, guaranteed, are far different than the vision of the ongoing family unity you see in your mind’s eye. You may not want to hear what your attorney has to say, but the dose of reality can help you give up emotion for more pragmatic thinking.

Have those important family conversations

Estate planning isn’t, after all, one sided. This is especially true when leaving a house to your kids and all the responsibility that comes with it. Just as you discuss financial matters such as who in the family will be your Power of Attorney or Healthcare Proxy, have a frank discussion about whether they can envision themselves living or vacationing in that house. Make them understand that you want and need them to be forthright. Steel yourself against potential disappointment and be willing to let go of the motivation to have them inherit the house. Without some outside-the-box thinking on your part, it could end up as an inheritance at any and all costs. Their honesty now about the vision they have for their lives going forward may initially sting, but it’s a good preventive for problems in the future.

Create happiness. Prevent messes

Sometimes we are unable to convince clients that leaving a house to their kids may not be prudent. In these instances, creating a Will or Trust that provides a degree of flexibility for a potential sale or buyout is a viable second option. On the one hand, the parent’s hopes and intentions are honored. On the other, their kids, grandkids, even nieces or nephews who may be beneficiaries can take comfort in knowing they have an out—have the ability to make decisions that will work for them—if sharing the family home or even managing it alone does not come together smoothly.

Flexible documents include language that delineates how to get somebody out of the property if the situation doesn’t work and how to unwind the inheritance by selling the property. The language of these documents:

A dollar versus fair market value

So, is the buyout for a dollar or is it to real market value? That’s a question that can and does come up. The answer to that question is unequivocally always fair market value. Anything different or less, and it’s a gift that could subsequently interfere with their estate planning and how they distribute their assets to their loved ones. It comes down to the fact is that if they have an ownership interest in the house anything drastically short of fair market value is gifting. That’s a massive issue, especially right now with the proposals in Congress that could significantly bring about estate tax reform.

One last salve

There are plenty of situations in which the moment the Will is read, one of the kids says they clearly have no interest in the property. In this situation, as long as all the beneficiaries agree, the law will allow for there to be a distribution in lieu of the house. This means that the sibling who doesn’t want the property gets other assets from the estate and the other two siblings get the house. In other words, a clause can be written into the document that gives flexibility to the final distribution. And again, that distribution must be made in alignment with fair market value of the property at the time of distribution.

Rational decisions are key at any juncture 

The image of your children having a “What was my dad thinking?!” reaction to your Will is far from pleasant. Being well-thought out from the get-go is one way to avoid it.

Discuss these matters with your family and your estate attorney as you develop your estate plan. Make certain reason trumps pure emotion. Work with your estate attorney to include flexible language. These actions are among the ways to steer clear of the mess of family discord.

At Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig, & Wegbreit, LLC, we know how much your loved ones matter to you. They matter to us, too.

Call us at 908-232-2244 and cover all the bases to ensure your legacy will bond your family, not divide it.

If Capital Gains & Proposed Tax Law Change Could Boost Your Tax Bill a Charitable Trust Could Help

While it’s great to see significant growth in your stock portfolio and the appreciation of your investments is gratifying, the capital gains can cause you problems at tax time. Couple that with proposed estate tax changes coming out of the Biden administration and your heirs could be handed a hefty bill when they inherit your estate.

Proposed Tax Law Changes Amounts You Can Pass Tax Free to Heirs

At Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig & Wegbreit, LLC, we can provide you with tools to reduce your estate’s tax burden and gifting strategies that can help minimize your tax bill. The Biden administration, however, has proposed estate tax reform which includes removal of the stepped-up basis. These proposed reforms could potentially increase the tax burden to your estate. That’s why in the current political climate it’s more important than ever to put your head together with your financial advisor, your accountant, and your estate attorney to do some strategic estate planning. Creating an estate plan is your opportunity to provide for your loved ones. The thoughtful time you spend will not only benefit your heirs but also benefit you during your lifetime especially when it comes to estate taxes.

Reduce Your Taxable Estate With an Income Stream to Someone You Love

The good news is that a charitable remainder trust (CRT) may be an option to circumvent changes that may be ahead to significantly reduce the amount of money an individual can gift tax-free during their lifetime and at death.  In fact, the primary benefit of a CRT, allows you to reduce your taxable estate while providing an income stream to someone you love.

A CRT is a trust that is funded by an individual during their life. In addition to donating funds to a charitable organization, the CRT makes distribution to a noncharitable beneficiary, which can include the donor or another beneficiary, such as a spouse or child, for a prescribed number of years. A CRT can also offer an opportunity to move assets with a low basis (and corresponding high capital gain).

This is a particularly palatable option if you are charitably inclined and understand that your estate plan serves as a testament to who you are, the values you hold, and the legacy you want. Plus, it addresses the federal estate tax exclusion change currently on the table by limiting or eliminating the amount that will be subject to estate tax upon your death. As attractive, it also can eliminate capital gains on appreciated property, reducing income tax liability during the years of your life when you likely need it most.

Income Stream a Real Plus

Here’s how it works. The CRT makes a distribution to a noncharitable beneficiary for a fixed number of years or for the rest of their life. This means that you can give yourself or another individual an income stream of either a fixed dollar amount per year or a fixed percentage based on the value of the assets transferred to the trust. At the conclusion of the designated term, the assets that remain in the trust will be paid to the charity you have selected. In the year you create the trust and initiate the asset transfer and for the predetermined period thereafter, you will receive a charitable deduction on your income tax return. The deduction will be based on the value of the transfer, the number of years of the trust, the payout rate, and the number of beneficiaries.

Although there has been no proposal put forth to eliminate the tax benefits of utilizing a properly structured CRT, Biden’s proposed plan would impose a 28 percent limit on charitable deductions for taxpayers making over $400,0000 per year in income.  This compares to the current environment in which a high-income earner can make a $100,000 charitable gift and write off $37,000 (the highest marginal tax rate). But under Biden’s plan, the same charitable gift would be limited to a $28,000 income tax write-off, with 28 percent being the proposed limit for deductions for charitable giving for those in a higher income tax bracket. Despite this reduction in the write-off limit, however, there is still substantial savings on your income tax. Your accountant and attorney will work together to maximize the amount of charitable deduction you will be able to take on your income tax return.

Heart Centered and Money Wise

At the end of the day, by making this transfer, you have simultaneously maximized the philanthropic benefit of a charitable gift while avoiding the payment of capital gains tax on your highly appreciated assets. You have also subsequently reduced the value of your estate for your heirs which is an important consideration in light of the potential tax changes on the horizon. As importantly, you have not given up the benefit you received from the underlying asset, as you have converted it into an income stream for a period of time.

There is a long road between proposed revisions to the tax law and their enactment. But even in the current environment, capital gains on low basis assets may still be an issue that can cause you significant taxation. At Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig & Wegbreit, LLC, we have always been available to guide you on approaches that can enable you to make investment decisions that will minimize taxation for you during your lifetime as well as for your loved ones when they inherit your estate. In light of the current political environment, there is no better time to work with your accountant, your financial advisor, and your estate attorney to review your estate plan as well as gifting strategies.

Call us at (908) 232-2244 to understand the benefits of charitable giving. Learn how it can be incorporated into a well-designed estate plan that will benefit not only your heirs upon your death but also put your assets to work for you during your lifetime.

 

 

 

 

 

MORE THAN DIVVYING UP YOUR ASSETS: YOUR ESTATE PLAN BECOMES A GIFT TO YOUR FAMILY

Lessons of Intention and Preparedness That Stick

COVID-19 has taught us many lessons, including the importance of being intentional, prepared and ready to confront uncontrollable situations. New Year’s resolutions tend to do that for us, too, because they get us started on a focused beginning as we ring in another year. Should you be wondering what to include among your resolutions, consider putting a review of your estate plan at the top of the list. If you haven’t already visited your attorney to create these documents, or review them, it’s definitely time to do so—and pend your estate plan for at least five years when it will be time to re-evaluate it.

More than divvying up your assets

We’ve all heard about the importance of having a Will, but there’s more to estate planning than how to divvy up your assets. A number of our other blogs address the importance of having a fundamental estate plan in place. Two less frequently talked about but related issues include protections for your college or travel-bound 18+-year-old child and the importance of storing your account passwords in an accessible location.

If you’re the parent of an 18-year-old who’s heading back to college, you’d be wise to have your young adult sign a durable power of attorney with healthcare proxy language before taking off. By signing these documents, your children are giving you permission to act on their behalf and be their important and immediate fallback should a health or financial emergency occur.

A helicopter parent…not

You don’t have to be a helicopter parent to orchestrate this. In fact, COVID has highlighted the need for these documents. We’ve heard of too many kids, now chronologically and essentially adults, who went off to school and got sick with COVID. Their parents had difficulty gaining information about the severity of their child’s illness or finding out where their kids had been moved to quarantine. Plus, there were too many unanswered questions about how the school would plan to keep them safe going forward.

The unknown is tortuous

There’s nothing more troubling than the unknown when it comes to your kids’ wellbeing. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) works as a great safeguard to your individual privacy because it prevents individuals beyond adult patients and their health care providers from sharing information. But as a parent, it could work against you when it’s time to protect your son or daughter if they’re facing a scary health emergency.

COVID, as well as other health emergencies, could require intercession for life-saving decision-making. Your child may have a high fever and be too sick to discuss a need for surgery. Also, the treating medical professionals may need to know that your youngster reacts allergically to certain medications. Even financially, your child could be quarantined someplace in the states or abroad and unavailable to perform time-controlled financial activities like signing a lease or talking to a creditor.

Sowing privacy oats versus clear communication

The reality is, however, that although you can drive your kid to your lawyer’s office, they must cooperate. At 18, your youngsters may be feeling their oats. They may not want you to know their business, even though these documents benefit them as they would any adult who grants a trusted other the power to act on their behalf when situations require. Clear communication with your child about when and how the documents would be used is critical. Helping them understand that having a healthcare proxy and a durable power of attorney in place are safeguards not encroachments. An experienced estate planning attorney can help explain the value of these documents to your new adult and likely will ask you to leave the room in order to ensure complete understanding and consent.

Where are your passwords

Where are your passwords

Another important aspect of an effective estate plan is password accessibility. If you’re like many of us, you may misplace or forget your passwords. Passwords are not one of the first things we think about when it comes to estate planning. But nine-times-out-of-10, they are the key to where important information is located.

It’s a good idea to store your passwords in a special folder or envelope that you turn over to your estate attorney. This will make it easy to put a finger on everything when the information is needed. Also be sure to include your passwords on a spreadsheet that catalogues all your important documents and their whereabouts [e.g., Will, Durable Power of Attorney, Trusts, Living Will and Advanced Healthcare Directive, house deed and mortgage documents, investment and 401(k) accounts]. Storing extra password copies in a safety deposit box that holds important documents is also an added protection, as is providing your attorney and your appointed fiduciaries an extra key to your safety deposit box.

In the end, a gift

A new year, especially this one, comes with hope for the future. A topic like your estate may seem dark, an intrusion to holiday spirit and a counterpoint to positivity. But there’s no escaping the importance of the preparedness that comes with having an estate plan. There’s no time like the present and the symbolism of the new year’s resolution to take action. If you think about estate planning as a gift you’re giving your family, you just may decide that there’s no better way to ring in the new year.

When you turn to Phelan, Frantz, Ohlig and Wegbreit, LLC, we will partner with you on every step of your estate planning process. Call us at 908.232.2244 to set up an appointment, begin a new year with intention and be prepared for wherever life takes you and your family.

What Will Your Legacy Be?

As estate planning attorneys, we often hear, “I don’t need a Will, I don’t have any children to worry about” or “I don’t need a Will, everything will automatically pass to my spouse” from friends and acquaintances. And how wrong they are! In both circumstances, there are many things that everyone should consider and plan for, especially given that death is the one guarantee in life. Many individuals who do not have children and the corresponding feeling of moral obligation to pass all or most of their wealth to them, have the unique freedom and opportunity to think about what kind of broader legacy they may want to leave behind.

A will specifies your wishes

By executing a Will, you can leave specific instructions about where the assets you have worked hard to accumulate over your lifetime will go and appoint the person who will be in charge of making sure your wishes are followed. Maybe you want to leave your estate to charities that are important to you and provide for the work of those institutions in a way you could not while alive? Or maybe you want to provide for friends or extended family members that you love and may be able to use your gift to take advantage of opportunities they might not have otherwise, such as education?

Create Your Legacy With A Foundation

Our firm has been privileged to help many individuals in these situations think about their legacy in these ways. We also have had the honor of helping to implement plans that meet their objectives and, consequently, have profoundly changed the lives of their beneficiaries. As an example, we assisted in the creation of the Watts Foundation which was established by a couple who had no children, but wished to improve the quality of life for many in the community of Mountainside, NJ. The Watts’ established the Foundation to benefit the hometown where they had resided for most of their married life together and the legacy they created will benefit many future generations for years to come. It is such a privilege to be able to assist individuals formulate a plan that creates a legacy larger than anything they could contemplate on their own.

More Ideas for Nonparents

Further discussion regarding opportunities for leaving such a legacy can be found in the following New York Times link:  If you Don’t Have Children, What Do You Leave Behind?

If you or anyone  you know would like to explore such opportunities, contact us via our contact form on this website.

David Taylor Digital | NJ Digital Marketing