The Petrosewicz Law Firm Estate Planning Blog

How a Letter to Your Executor Conveys Your Wishes

A detailed, informative letter can be invaluable to your executor to make your wishes known, says the article “Why You Should Write a Letter to Your Executor—and What to Say in It” from The Wall Street Journal. Your last will and testament does have many directions. However, there may be things you want your executor to know that may not be included in your will. This is especially important if death is sudden. The letter, which you should sign and date, can help prevent potential disputes, by minimizing any confusion around your intentions, priorities and goals.

Here are some things to consider when drafting a letter to your executor.

Your thoughts about wealth. Share your story about how you came to the assets that you are leaving in your will. How was your wealth created, what do you value and what are your long-term goals for your wealth? Do you want family members to invest the assets, so they grow over generations, or do you want them used for college education costs for grandchildren?

Describe key players in the family. It is best if your executor knows the members of your family.  However, they may not know the family dynamics or history. Giving them your insights, may help them anticipate issues. Does one child tend to take over and speak for everyone, without being asked? Are there substance abuse issues in the family that need to be considered? Present your executor with your concerns, so they can be mindful of how the family works (or doesn’t) as a unit.

What matters to you? This is especially important, if you don’t want your heirs to be dependent upon their inheritance, instead of becoming self-reliant. Share your values to encourage their earned success. Make it clear if you want to protect the family wealth, so it can be used to empower future generations and for family members to be responsible for their own financial well-being.

Give your executor the power to made decisions, even when that means saying no. Considering the size of your wealth and the family members who are your heirs, you probably have a good idea of who would do what with their inheritance. If you don’t want your wealth to be used for a start-up by a son who always bets on the wrong horse, say so in the letter to your executor. If you are hopeful that a daughter will use her inheritance for a down payment on a home for her family, you should also express that.

Some wishes for your wealth can be expressed through the use of trusts and other wealth planning tools. Your estate planning attorney will help create a plan that incorporates asset protection, tax planning and tools to distribute wealth in the way that you wish. An experienced estate planning attorney has worked with many families and understands the challenges and pitfalls that are presented any time wealth is transferred from one generation to the next.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: The Wall Street Journal (April 8, 2020) “Why You Should Write a Letter to Your Executor—and What to Say in It”

Will Your Estate Plan Work Now?

The demise of the stretch IRA is causing many IRA owners and their advisors to take a look at how their estate plans will work under the new law. An article from Financial Advisor titled “Navigating The New Estate Planning Realities” offers several different planning alternatives.

Take larger IRA distributions during your lifetime. If possible, take the IRA distributions and reinvest them in a Roth IRA or other assets that will receive a stepped-up income tax basis on the death of the account owner. The idea is to take out significant additional penalty-free amounts from IRAs during your lifetime, so you will hopefully be taxed at a lower rate than you would be otherwise, with the net after-tax funds then reinvested in either a Roth IRA or other assets that will receive a stepped-up income tax basis when you die.

Paying all or part of the IRA portion of the estate to lower-income tax bracket beneficiaries. The theory here is that if we have to learn to live with the new tax law, at least we can attempt to minimize the tax pain by doing estate planning with a focus on tax planning. If a person has four children, two in high-income tax brackets and two who are in lower tax brackets, leave the IRA portion of the assets to the children in the lower tax brackets and assets with a stepped-up basis to the higher earners.

Withdrawing additional funds early and using the after-tax amount to purchase income-tax-free life or long-term care insurance. Rather than withdrawing all of the IRA funds early, freeze the current value of the IRA, by withdrawing only the account growth or the RMD portion, whichever is greater. Note that this won’t work if the withdrawals push the person’s income into the next higher tax bracket. All or a portion of the after-tax withdrawals then go into an income-tax-free life insurance policy, including second-to-die life insurance that pays only upon the death of both spouses.

Paying IRA benefits to an income tax-exempt charitable remainder trust. This involves designating an income-tax exempt charitable remainder trust as the beneficiary of the IRA proceeds. Let’s say a $100,000 IRA is made payable to a charitable remainder unitrust that pays three adult children or their survivors 7.5% of the value of the trust corpus (determined annually) each year, until the last child dies. Assume this occurs over the course of 30 years, and that the trust grows at the same 7.5% rate for the next twenty years. The children would net nearly $400,000. Note that the principal of the trust may not be accessed, until it’s paid out to the children, according to the designated schedule.

Every situation is different, so it is important to sit down with your estate planning attorney and review your entire estate, tax liabilities under the new law and how different scenarios will work to both minimize taxes during your lifetime and for your heirs. It’s possible that your situation benefits from a combination of all four strategies.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Financial Advisor (Feb. 11, 2020) “Navigating The New Estate Planning Realities,”

Blended Families Need More Thoughtful Estate Plans

Estate planning for blended families is like playing chess in three dimensions: even those who are very good at chess can struggle with so many moving parts in so many dimensions. Preparing an estate plan requires careful consideration of family dynamics, and those are multiplied in blended families. This is another reason why estate plans need to be tailored for each family’s circumstances, as described in the article “Blended families have unique considerations in estate planning” from The News Enterprise.

The last will and testament is often considered the key document in an estate plan. But while the will is very important, it has certain limitations and a few commonly used estate planning strategies can result in unpleasant endings, if this is the only document used.

Spouses often leave everything to each other as the primary beneficiary on death, with all of their children as contingent beneficiaries. This is based on the assumption that the second spouse will remain in the family home, then will distribute any proceeds equally between the children, if and when they move or die. However, the will can be changed at any time before death, as long as the person making the will has mental capacity. If when the first spouse dies, the relationship with the surviving children is not strong, it is possible that the surviving spouse may have their will changed.

If stepchildren don’t have a strong connection with the surviving spouse, which occurs frequently when the second marriage occurs after the children are adults, things can go wrong. Their mutual grief at the passing of the first spouse does not always draw stepchildren and stepparents together. Often, it divides them.

The couple may also select different successor beneficiaries. The husband may name his wife first, then only his children in his will, while the wife may name her husband and then her children in her will. This creates a “survival race.” The surviving spouse receives the property and the children of the spouse who passed won’t know when or if they will receive any assets.

Some couples plan on using trusts for property distribution upon death. This can be more successful, if planned properly. It can also be just as bad as a will.

Trust provisions can be categorized according to the level of control the surviving spouse has after the death of the first spouse. A trust can be structured to lock down half of the trust assets on the death of the first spouse. The surviving spouse remains as a beneficiary but does not have the ability to change the ultimate distribution of the decedent’s portion. This allows the survivor the financial support they need, giving flexibility for the survivor to change their beneficiaries for their remaining share.

Not all blended families actually “blend,” but for those who do, a candid discussion with all, possibly in the office of the estate planning attorney, to plan for the future, is one way to ensure that the family remains a family, when both parents are gone.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: The News Enterprise (November 4, 2019) “Blended families have unique considerations in estate planning”

What’s Better, A Living Trust or a Will?

Everyone knows what a last will and testament is. However, a will is not always the best way to distribute your assets, explains the Times Herald-Record in the article “Living trusts are better choice than wills.” Most people think that by having a will alone, they will make it clear who they want to receive their assets when they die. However, wills are used by the court in a proceeding called “probate,” if the only estate plan you have is a will. The court proceeding is to establish that the will is valid. Depending upon where you live, probate can take a year before assets are distributed to beneficiaries.

Certain family members must receive notifications, when a will is submitted to probate. Some people will receive notices, even if they are not mentioned in the will. This can lead to all kinds of awkward situations, especially from estranged or unknown relatives. The person who is the executor of the will is required to locate these relatives, and until they are found and notified, the probate process comes to a standstill.

There are instances where a judge will allow a legal notice to be published in a local newspaper, after valid attempts to find relatives aren’t successful. If there is a disabled beneficiary, a minor beneficiary, a relative or beneficiary who can’t be located, or a relative who has been incarcerated, the judge often appoints lawyers to represent these parties’ interests and the estate pays for the attorney’s fees.

Depending on the situation, the executor may be required to furnish a family tree, or a friend of the decedent must sign an affidavit attesting that the person never had any children.

Thinking of disinheriting a child? Anyone who is disinherited in a will is legally permitted to contest the will. That can lead to years of expensive litigation, including discovery demands, depositions, motions and possibly a trial. Like most litigation, will contests usually end in a settlement. The disinherited relative often gets a share of the inheritance, even when the decedent didn’t want them to get anything.

For many families, a living trust is a better alternative. They also serve as disability planning, naming people who will manage the assets of the trust, in case of incapacity. They are private documents, so their information does not become public knowledge, like the details of a will.

A qualified estate planning attorney will help you determine what estate planning tools will work best to achieve your goals, while maintaining your privacy and ensuring that assets pass to heirs in a discrete manner.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Times Herald-Record (Oct. 26, 2019) “Living trusts are better choice than wills”

If You’re Going to Die, You Need an Estate Plan

If you switch the term “estate” for “stuff,” maybe you’ll have a better idea of why you need to have an estate plan. It’s so you can have a legally enforceable plan for your stuff. Estate planning is not just for millionaires and billionaires, says the Hawaii Reporter in the article “Wills and Trusts for the Rest of Us.” After all, it’s not just millionaires and billionaires who die.

There are questions that everyone needs to have an answer to:

• Who do I want to make medical and financial decisions for me, when I can no longer do so for myself?
• Who do I want to care for my minor children or my dependent elderly parents, when I am gone?
• Who do I want to have my earthly possessions, no matter how many or how few?

Even if all you have is a car and some furniture, you will want to decide who gets those and not leave it up to a stranger.

Having a will properly prepared by an estate planning attorney is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. If you have dependents, whether they are children or adults, you need to have a plan in place for their care in the event you pass away before they do. That plan is the most basic part of an estate plan: a will.

Without it, your dependents will become wards of the state. The state will decide what happens to your children or adult dependents.

Trusts are not just for rich kids. A revocable living trust is a document used as a secure and easy way to have your “stuff” move from you to your beneficiaries, without them having to be subject to probate. With a trust, you get to decide who gets what through the trust, and can even control when they receive an inheritance. You can make the distribution dependent upon completing an important task, like finishing college, or reaching a certain age.

A home or a car can also be placed in a trust, with an heir named as the beneficiary of that trust. You can continue to use all of the things that are in a trust, while you are living. However, whatever is placed in a trust will automatically transfer to the person you name as a beneficiary of the trust.

For medical and financial decisions, everyone over the age of 18 needs a Power of Attorney designating a person to make decisions for them, in case of incapacity. For medical decisions, you should have a healthcare Power of Attorney. You should also have a document stating your wishes, in the case of a critical illness or injury that clarifies what kind of end-of-life care you want. This is known as a Living Will in some states and an Advance Directive in others.

An estate planning attorney can help you create a plan for what you want to happen in the case of incapacity and in the case of death. One is reasonably likely to occur and the other is a definite. Being prepared is the best thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones, no matter how much “stuff” you have.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Hawaii Reporter (September 28, 2019) “Wills and Trusts for the Rest of Us.”

Have Your Will Done? That’s Not An Estate Plan

A last will and testament is an important part of an estate plan, and every adult should have one. However, there is only so much that a will can do, according to the article “Estate planning involves more than a will” from The News-Enterprise.

First, let’s look at what a will does. During your lifetime, you have the right to transfer property. If you have a Power of Attorney, or POA, it gives someone you name the authority to transfer your property or manage your affairs, while you are alive. In most states, this document expires upon your death.

When you die, a will is used to transfer your property, according to your wishes. If you do not have a will, the court must determine who receives the property, as determined by your state’s law. However, only certain property passes through a will.

Individually owned property that does not have a designated beneficiary must be transferred though the process of probate. This includes real property, like house or a land, if there is no right of survivorship provision within the deed. The deed to the property determines the type of ownership each person has.

Generally, when more than one person owns real property, such as a husband and wife, each owner owns only a portion of the property. When one owner dies, the remaining owner’s portion must be passed through probate to the beneficiaries of the decedent.

Assets that do not have a designated beneficiary do not pass through probate, but are paid directly to the beneficiary. These are usually life insurance policies, retirement accounts, investment and/or bank accounts. Your will does not control these assets.

Beneficiaries through the will only receive whatever property is left over, after all reasonable expenses and debts are paid.

If you wish to ensure that beneficiaries receive assets over time, that can be done through a trust. The trust can be the beneficiary of a payable-on-death account. A revocable trust avoids property going through the probate process and can be established with your directions for distribution.

A will is a good start to an estate plan, but it is not the whole plan. Speak with an estate planning attorney about your situation, and they will be able to create a plan that addresses distribution of your assets, as well as protect you from incapacity.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: The News-Enterprise (September 30, 2019) “Estate planning involves more than a will”

How to Choose an Estate Planning Attorney

Estate planning is a critical part of financial planning, but it is something that many Americans prefer to procrastinate about. However, drafting a will, health care proxy, and power of attorney are too important to leave to chance, says Next Avenue in the article “How to Find a Good Estate Planner.” An experienced estate planning attorney can help prevent critical mistakes and help you adjust your plan as circumstances change.

Here are a few tips:

Look for an estate planning attorney. An attorney who practices real estate law is not going to be up on all of the latest changes to estate and tax laws.

Next, determine if the attorney deals with families who are in similar situations to yours. An attorney who works with family-owned businesses, for instances, will be more helpful in creating an estate plan that includes tax and succession planning.

Experience matters in this area of the law. The laws of your state are just one of the many parts that the attorney needs to know by heart. The estate planning attorney who has been practicing for many years, will have a better sense of how families work, what problems crop up and how to avoid them.

Ask about costs. Don’t be shy. You want to be clear from the start what you should expect to be spending on an estate plan. The attorney should be comfortable having this discussion with you and your spouse or family member. Remember that the attorney will be able to understand the scope of work, only after they speak with you about your situation. What may seem simple to you, may be more complicated than you think.

If a trust is added, the fees are likely to increase. A trust can be used to avoid or minimize estate taxes, avoid probate, save on time and court fees and create conditions for the distribution of assets after you die.

Don’t neglect to have the attorney create a Power of Attorney form and any other advance directives you need. These vary by state, and you don’t want them to get too old, or they may become out of date.

Recognize that this is an ongoing relationship. Make sure that you are comfortable with the attorney, how the practice is run and the people who work there—receptionist, paralegals and other associates at the firm are all people you may be working with at one point or another during the process. You will be sharing very personal information with the entire team, so be sure it’s a good fit.

This is also not a one-and-done event. Having an estate plan is a lot like having a home—it requires maintenance. Every four years or so, or when large events occur in your life, you’ll need to have your will reviewed.

Your estate planning attorney should become a trusted advisor who works hand in hand with your accountant and financial advisor. Together, they should all be looking out for you and your family.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Next Avenue (September 10, 2019) “How to Find a Good Estate Planner”

Ignoring Beneficiary Designations Is a Risky Business

Ignore beneficiary forms at your and your heirs’ own peril, especially when there are minor children, is the message from TAPintoChatham.com’s recent article “Are You Read to Deal with Your Beneficiary Forms?” The knee-jerk reaction is to name the spouse as a primary beneficiary and then name the minor children as contingent beneficiaries. However, this is not always the best way to deal with retirement assets.

Remember that retirement assets are different from taxable accounts. When distributions are made from retirement accounts, they are treated as Ordinary Income (OI) and are subject to the OI tax rate. Retirement plans have beneficiary forms, which overrule whatever your will documents may state. Because they have beneficiary forms, these accounts pass outside of your estate and are governed by their own rules and regulations.

Here are a few options for beneficiary designations when there are minors:

Naming your spouse as the primary beneficiary and minor children as the contingent beneficiaries can be problematic. This is the usual response (see above), but there is a problem. If the minor children inherit a retirement asset, they will need a guardian of the estate for that asset. If only a guardian of the person is named in the will, this person cannot control the child’s money. Therefore, the court will appoint a Guardian Ad Litem to represent the child’s interest for this asset. That could be a paid stranger appointed by the court, until the child reaches the age of majority, usually 18 in most states.

Elect a guardian in the retirement plan beneficiary form. Some custodians have a section of their beneficiary form to choose a guardian for minor. Most forms, unfortunately, do not provide this option.

Make your estate the contingent beneficiary of the retirement account. While this would solve the problem of not having a guardian for the minor children, because it would kick the retirement plan into the estate, it may lead to adverse tax consequences. An estate does not have a measuring life, so the retirement asset would need to be fully distributed in five years.

Leave the assets to the minor children in a trust. This is the most effective means of leaving retirement assets to minor children without terrible tax consequences or needing to have the court appoint a stranger to oversee the child’s funds. Your attorney would either create a separate trust for the minor child or build a conduit trust under your will or a revocable trust to hold this specific asset. You would then change your beneficiary form to make said trust or sub-trusts for each minor child the contingent beneficiary of your retirement plan. This way you control who the guardian is for this asset for your minor child and are tax efficient.

Whichever way you decide to go, speak with an experienced estate planning attorney to determine which is the best plan for your family.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: TAPintoChatham.com (Sep. 8, 2109) “Are You Read to Deal with Your Beneficiary Forms?”

Living Together Isn’t as Simple as You Think

For couples over 50, one reason for the popularity of living together unmarried is that many in this generation have experienced one or more difficult divorces, so they’re not always willing to remarry, says Next Avenue in the article “The Legal Dangers of Living Together.” However, like many aspects of estate planning, what seems like a simple solution can become quite complex. Unmarried couples can face a variety of problematic and emotionally challenging issues, because estate planning laws are written to favor married couples.

Consider what happens when an unmarried couple does not plan for the possibility of one partner losing the ability to manage his or her health care because of a serious health issue.

If a spouse is rushed to the hospital unconscious and there is no health care power of attorney giving the other spouse the right to make medical decisions on his or her behalf, a husband or wife will likely be permitted to make them anyway.

However, an unmarried couple will not have any right to make medical decisions on behalf of their partner. The hospital is not likely to bend the rules, because if a blood relative of the person challenged the medical facility’s decision, they are wide open to liability issues.

Money is also a problem in the absence of marriage. If one partner becomes incapacitated and estate planning has not been done, without both partners having power of attorney, an illness could upend their life together. With one partner incapacitated, bank accounts will be frozen, and the well partner will have no right to access any assets. A court action might be required, but what if a family member objects?

Without appropriate advance planning, courts are generally forced to rely on blood kin to take both financial and medical decision-making roles. An unmarried partner would have no rights. If the home was owned by the ill partner, the unmarried partner may find themselves having to find new housing. If the well partner depended upon the ill partner for their support, then they will have also lost their financial security.

Unmarried couples need to execute key estate planning documents, while both are healthy and competent. These documents include a durable power of attorney, a medical power of attorney and a living will, which applies to end of life decisions. A living trust could be used to avoid the problem of finances for the well partner.

Another document needed for unmarried couples is a HIPAA release. HIPAA is a federal health privacy law that prevents medical facilities and health care professionals from sharing a patient’s medical information with anyone not designated on the person’s HIPAA release form. Unmarried couples should ask an estate planning attorney for these forms to be sure they are the most current.

If one of the partners dies and there is no will, the estate is known as intestate. Assets are distributed according to the laws of the state, and there is no legal recognition of an unmarried partner. They won’t be legally entitled to inherit any of the assets.

If a married partner dies without a will in a community property state, the surviving spouse is automatically entitled to inherit as much as half the value of the deceased spouse’s assets.

Beneficiary designations usually control the distribution of assets including life insurance policies, retirement accounts and employer-sponsored group life insurance policies. If the partners have not named each other on beneficiary designations, then the surviving partner will be left with nothing.

The lesson for couples hoping to avoid any legal complications by not getting married, is that they may be creating far more problems than are solved as they age together. An experienced estate planning attorney will be able to make sure that all the correct planning is in place to protect both partners, even without the benefit of marriage.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Next Avenue (Aug. 28, 2019) “The Legal Dangers of Living Together.”

What Is a Pour-Over Will?

If the goal of estate planning is to avoid probate, it seems counterintuitive that one would sign a will, but the pour-over will is an essential part of some estate plans, reports the Times Herald-Record’s article “Pour-over will a safety net for a living trust.”

If a person dies with assets in their name alone, those assets go through probate. The pour-over will names the trust as the beneficiary of probate assets, so the trust controls who receives the inheritance. The pour-over will works as a backup plan to the trust, and it also revokes past wills and codicils.

Living trusts became more widely used after a 1991 AARP study concluded that families should be using trusts rather than wills, and that wills were obsolete. Trusts were suddenly not just for the wealthy. Middle class people started using trusts rather than wills, to save time and money and avoid estate battles among family members. Trusts also served to keep financial and personal affairs private. Wills that are probated are public documents that anyone can review.

Even a simple probate lasts about a year, before beneficiaries receive inheritances. A trust can be settled in months. Regarding the cost of probate, it is estimated that between 2—4% of the cost of settling an estate can be saved by using a trust instead of a will.

When a will is probated, family members receive a notice, which allows them to contest the will. When assets are in a trust, there is no notification. This avoids delay, costs and the aggravation of a will contest.

Wills are not a bad thing, and they do serve a purpose. However, this specific legal document comes with certain legal requirements.

The will was actually invented more than 500 years ago, by King Henry VIII of England. Many people still think that wills are the best estate planning document, but they may be unaware of the government oversight and potential complications when a will is probated.

There are other ways to avoid probate on death. First, when a beneficiary is added to assets like bank accounts, IRAs, life insurance policies, or stock funds, those assets transfer directly to the beneficiary upon the death of the owner. Second, when an asset is owned JTWROS, or as “joint tenants with the right of survivorship,” the ownership interest transfers to the surviving owners.

Speak with an experienced estate planning attorney to talk about how probate may impact your heirs and see if they believe the use of a trust and a pour-over will would make the most sense for your family.

The Petrosewicz Law Firm can assist you with your estate planning and trust needs.  Contact us today at (281) 344-9455 or [email protected].  

Reference: Times Herald-Record (Sep. 13, 2019) “Pour-over will a safety net for a living trust.”