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
Posted in Wills | No Comments »

Online Wills are Essential

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

In your life online, you would normally create passwords and never share them with anyone nor write them down.  That should be alright when you’re alive, but this protection of sensitive information regarding your personal savings, insurance, or asset details can wreak a lot of havoc for your heirs when you die.

With increasing parts of our lives being stored online - password-restricted bank accounts, confidential messages, automatic bill-pay arrangements, and even photos - piecing together all personal information may cause your heirs major headaches.  For instance, if your online savings account is separate from your other regular bank accounts, this account may be overlooked in disbursing your finances to the beneficiaries since all statement notifications arrive exclusively through e-mail.

The chairman of estate-planning department in Springfield Massachussets and an attorney, Hyman Darling, said, “Many times we spend several days trying to locate the information.  Very often, these accounts would not be known for some time.”

But of course, creating a will where the decedent included all details about existing assets would help a lot.  However, it would still not solve the problem of knowing the passwords of certain accounts.  As Michael Palermo (another estate planning attorney) said, “Without these log-in information, the survivors need to ask assistance from the court to gain account access from the company running the online account.  And sometimes, this is not always easy.”  Therefore, it’s important to include these passwords in your will or entrust them to a trusted relative while you’re still alive.  

Tags: account, attorney, Estate Planning, Hyman Darling, Michael Palermo, online, passwords, will
Posted in Wills | No Comments »

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
Posted in Planned Giving | No Comments »

Succession Planning is Necessary

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

If you own a part or all of a closely-held business, you’ll have to put value to that business whether you like it or not. Otherwise, the IRS will.

Many things can happen, like selling or gifting a family business to the children, divorce (where valuation can become a very expensive legal battle), or death (where valuation is require for estate tax purposes). If there is a wrong valuation of your business, it can rob you of your hard-earned dollars. And your family will be affected as well. What’s worse, there’s even a possibility that you’re business might just be sold to taxes.

Make no mistake; it’s very easy to transfer business ownership to your kids. Just follow these simple steps:

1. *Recapitalize your company by converting majority of the old voting common stock into non-voting stock.
2. *Get an appraiser to value your non-voting stock.
3. *Take appropriate discounts – the law allows three separate discounts: minority discount, lack of marketability discount and non-voting stock costs less than voting stock discount.
4. *Elect S Corporation even if you’re now a C corporation.
5. *Transfer to your children only the non-voting stock.

A lawyer and a certified public accountant can help you with this process. You can find these professionals through referrals or lawyer listings online.

Tags: business, Divorce, IRS, lawyer, lawyer listings, online, referrals
Posted in Divorce | No Comments »

Illinois Driving Relief after DUI Conviction

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

If you’re convicted of DUI in Illinois, your driving privileges and driver’s license will be revoked. And if you’re like many individuals, it’s crucial for you to obtain driving relief by fully reinstating your driver’s license or at least through a restricted driving permit.

To obtain these, you have to appear before the Secretary of State in Illinois. But your success in this hearing would depend on your preparation, as well as your lawyer’s.

Take note that the penalties of a DUI conviction in Illinois are as follows:

1. 1^st offense – your driver’s license may be revoked for one year.
2. 2^nd offense – your driver’s license will be revoked for five years or more.
3. 3^rd offense – your license will be revoked for at least 10 years.
4. 4^th offense – you will have a revoked driver’s license for life!

You will not automatically get a reinstatement of you driver’s license after your revocation period. You will have another formal or informal hearing depending on your driving record. Nevertheless, it’s very possible to win even at your first hearing. Always talk to an experienced lawyer to assist you in your license-reinstatement case. These lawyers can be found in any lawyer directory online.

Tags: conviction, driving privileges, dui, Illinois, lawyer, lawyers, license, online, reinstatement
Posted in dui, dui illinois | No Comments »