Never Procrastinate

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

When faced with a difficult decision, people naturally procrastinate.  For example, planning on your own demise is the most common thing that you delay until it’s too late.  Remember that wills are important even if they’re not mandatory.  Your affairs will be decided by the state if you don’t have a will when you die.  And worse, someone else will make your healthcare and financial decisions when you’re no longer able to make it on your own.

Here are some of the negative consequences when you don’t make a will:

• *Your preferences for burial instructions and life-support procedures may not be exactly followed.
• *The state may decide over your minor children’s guardianship.
• *A court-supervised probate may hold your estate which can result in costly fees.

To prevent these scenarios, you need to prepare any or all of the following: Will, Revocable Living Trust, Durable Power of Attorney (both financial and healthcare), and a Living Will.  Remember to date, sign, and notarize them for safekeeping as well as review them periodically most specially if there are changes in your family situation (death of a beneficiary, new child, divorce, or marriage).  To further eliminate conflicts, compare the trust or will beneficiaries to the ones named in your retirement plans or insurance.

Tags: decision, durable power of attorney, fees, financial, guardianship, healthcare, living will, planning, probate, revocable living trust, state, trust, will
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Understand Estate Planning

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

In spite of recent financial setbacks, a lot of people are claiming to be better off financially compared to five years ago.  That’s why when a group of financial expert asked novices in the investment arena what estate planning they have done in the past, they were surprised that there was no affirmative answer.  Most people looked perplexed and raised their eyebrows.  It seems that they’re confused whether the expert mean setting up a trust or drawing up a will.

The expert asked not to be named but he said “It’s very interesting to find out that most people have never heard of the estate planning concept.  And even those aware of it have not taken it seriously.  However, it’s going to be a very serious issue when people get richer.” 

Moreover, the director of Transcend Consulting, Kartik Jhaveri pointed out that “We’ve been trying to spread the concept so that a lot of people are aware of it, but we don’t get a lot of queries.”  Therefore, a wealth manager concluded that “People usually find estate planning difficult to grasp.  So it’s much better for us to talk about different concepts of financial planning (such as retirement planning) to explain things to people.”

Tags: estate plan, Estate Planning, financial, Kartik Jhaveri, Transcend Consulting, trust, wealth manager, will
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Make Estate Planning Your First Step after Divorce

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The last thing that people want to do after a divorce is to consult another attorney.  But regardless of your age and whether you have kids or not, it’s important to consult legal and financial experts to ensure that your financial plans and estate are updated in terms of reflecting your new circumstances.

So if you’re not working with an estate planning attorney or financial consultant during your divorce, it’s time for you to do it now.  A financial planner will look at your finances. Your expenses as a new single individual can grow unexpectedly; a financial planning professional helps you compare strategies and review your new savings and spending needs.

Also, talk with an attorney that has numerous experiences in real estate.  If you plan to remarry one day and you have kids, make sure that your specific assets will go to them (guaranteed) when you die.  This is because some cases happen when the ex-spouse may automatically gain full control of assets earmarked for your kids.  Of course you don’t want this to happen - that’s why you must plan for it legally.

If your children are still minors, it would also be wise to plan the guardianship for them.  Especially when there are wealth issues that’ll only become effective when they reach adulthood, it’s critical to establish a solid and efficient legal structure to distribute those assets.

Tags: attorney, Divorce, estate, Estate Planning, estate planning attorney, experts, financial, financial planner, legal, minors, plans
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Addressing Control of Family Trust

Monday, June 29th, 2009

When you own your own business, there are many things to think of.  Often, ensuring that your personal, business, and financial affairs are in order in case of your death takes low priority.  But if you don’t address this issue, your business ownership may pass on to the wrong people.  “And if you have young or handicapped children, you may want to ensure that their future is financially secure,” writes Max Newnham.

Nowadays, there’s a lot of confusion on how discretionary trust affects one estate.  Also, a person who controls the family trust just because they’re the trustee can’t deal with the trust assets through their will.  Moreover, if the business is owned by trust, the business control is not affected by a person’s will.

There’s common misconception that all power belongs to the trustee.  However, the true power lies in the person called the appointer.  Sure, the day-to-day control of trust is given to a trustee; however, the appointer can remove and appoint a new trustee.

In other words, business owners who bequeath shares in their trustee companies may mistakenly believe that they’ve chosen the person they want to have control of the business.  Normally, the business owner will also be the appointer; but when they pass away, it’s their personal legal representative - which is often the executor - who assumes this power.  So even if the executor is not one of the shareholders in the trustee company, they can still assume business control by appointing themselves and removing your assigned trustee.

Tags: appointer, business, discretionary trust, estate, executor, Family Trust, financial, Max Newnham, ownership, trustee, will
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