Your Will May be Fake

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Many people are getting scammed when they seek assistance in writing their wills. A lot of solicitors can draft wills; however, these solicitors are not properly trained nor qualified to do so. In fact, there are many will-writers who don’t need to be regulated by Law Society before they offer their services.
According to a Liberal Democrat spokesperson for regulatory reform, enterprise, and business, Lorely Burt, “It’s no exaggeration that will-writing has now become a hunting ground for dishonest, incompetent, and fly-by-night operators.” Some offer a low fee but would keep adding extra charges for extra services and some involve outright scamming.

Since will-writers are not regulated, some problems also arise out of incompetence. For instance, an old lady wants to exclude her son from inheritance since he stole from her in the past. She made a will for her estate to be given to her care givers instead. But since she just used a will-writer who advertised in the local paper, her will was challenged by her son. And since it has been witnessed and drafted incorrectly, the will was declared invalid – effectively, she has no will and her son actually inherited everything after all.

Therefore, be very careful in looking for assistance to draft your will. To be safe, seek help from qualified estate planning attorneys. You can find many of them in online directories all over the web.

Tags: attorneys, directories, draft, Estate Planning, Law Society, Liberal Democrat, Lorely Burt, online, scamming, solicitors, web, will, will-writers, Wills
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Introduction to Planned Giving

Friday, June 19th, 2009

A term that’s commonly used to describe donating to charity during one’s lifetime or after death is called “planned giving.”  This is done while meeting your current needs as well as providing for your heirs.  Also, it’s typically done with estate planning.

From the perspective of the donor, planned giving may be attractive for many reasons.  First, it allows you to give larger gifts out of your existing assets.  And it may also reduce your estate taxes or capital gains, earn higher investment yield, or give you an income stream for life, depending on how you set it up.  These planned gifts normally appeal to people who are not sure how much assets they’ll need during their lifetimes, and at the same time, want to benefit charitable organizations.

Planned gifts may be used to start a private foundation, create a support organization, establish your own fund at any community foundation, or give to a specific nonprofit organization.  The most common planned giving vehicles are beneficiary designations, charitable requests, charitable lead trusts, charitable remainder trusts, and gift annuities.

For more information on these programs, consult an attorney or professional advisor.  You can find them in any attorney listings or directories online.

Tags: assets, attorney, attorney listings, capital gains, charitable organizations, directories, Estate Planning, estate taes, gifts, online, planned gifts, Planned Giving
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