Texas Estate Planning

Why Is a Will So Important?

A 2020 Gallup poll found that less than half of Americans have a will or have made plans regarding how they would like their money and estate handled in the case of their death. The poll also showed that Americans ages 65 and up are the most likely to have a will.

Yahoo News’ recent article entitled “How To Write A Will: The Importance Of A Will And Living Will” says that no matter your age, it’s important to have a will to be in control of what happens with your own assets. A will is a legal document that establishes a person's wishes regarding the distribution of their assets — money, real estate, etc. — and the care of any minor children.

Without a will, state law may control who gets your “probate” assets and when. Having a will can save an enormous amount of time and money in estate administration and the process of having a guardian appointed for your minor children, if needed.

There’s a big difference between a will and a living will. A living will is a document that lets you state in advance how you want to be treated under certain medical situations, if you’re unable to make those decisions for yourself at a later time.

These differ by state law. However, they generally cover end-of-life decision-making and treatment options. General medical decisions unrelated to end of life care are typically covered in a health care power of attorney. Some states combine these two documents into one directive.

Unlike a living will, which specifically provides instructions for medical care during your lifetime, a will lets you to decide in advance who you want to receive your assets upon your death, and who you want to be in charge of handling the administration of your estate. If you have minor children, a will also allows you to nominate a guardian for them.

When creating a will, think about the “what,” the “who” and the “how.” To do so, ask yourself the following questions:

• What assets do you have?
• To whom do you want to leave them?
• Who do you want to be in charge of making sure that happens?
• Who do you want to be responsible for your minor children?
• How do you want the assets transferred?

Aretha Franklin’s Niece Resign as Executor

Sabrina Owens, the niece of soul singer Aretha Franklin, recently announced her resignation as executor in court filings, stating: “Given my aunt’s love of family and desire for privacy, this is not what she would have wanted for us, nor is it what I want … I hope that my departure will allow the business of the estate to continue, calm the rift in my family and allow me to return to my personal life.” 

Rolling Stone’s recent article entitled “Aretha Franklin’s Niece Resigns as Estate Executor” reminds us that Franklin died in August of 2018, and, because she reportedly was intestate, Michigan law states that her assets are to be distributed equally among her four sons. Her sons agreed upon Owens as executor, but new family politics came up last May after three wills allegedly authored by Franklin were discovered in a notebook under some couch cushions. 

“That is when relationships began to deteriorate with the heirs,” Owens wrote of the discovery of the wills. She added that she accepted the executor role on the condition that “no fractured relationships develop within the family” and that the family “did not end up in court disputes over disagreements with the Estate.” Both, Owens wrote, have happened. 

Owens’ resignation, however, will not become effective immediately. Instead, she will keep serving as executor for the immediate future. It’s also unknown who will be appointed executor after she does leave. 

Franklin’s youngest son, Kecalf, has attempted to gain control, since one of the documents from 2014 appears to state that Franklin wanted him to take on that role (in August, a probate judge approved Kecalf’s request to have a handwriting expert analyze the documents that were found). 

Although Kecalf has the support of his brother Edward, his plan is opposed by Franklin’s third son, Ted White, as well as the guardian for her eldest son, Clarence, who has special needs. 

A hearing on the future of the estate is scheduled for early this spring. 

The ongoing battles surrounding Franklin’s estate continue, as it gets ready for two significant posthumous projects: one is a biopic movie starring Jennifer Hudson, “Respect.” The other is an installment in the biographical anthology series, “Genius,” with Cynthia Erivo playing Franklin (both are currently in production). 

In the last year, Owens, as executor, oversaw the release of the documentary, ‘Amazing Grace,” while at the same time managing the estate’s complicated finances, including $6.3 million owed to the IRS in back taxes. 

Reference: Rolling Stone (Feb. 3, 2020) “Aretha Franklin’s Niece Resigns as Estate Executor” 

Am I Making One of the Five Common Estate Planning Mistakes?

You don’t have to be super-wealthy to see the benefits from a well-prepared estate plan. However, you must make sure the plan is updated regularly, so these kinds of mistakes don’t occur and hurt the people you love most, reports Kiplinger in its article entitled “Is Anything Wrong with Your Estate Plan? Here are 5 Common Mistakes.”

An estate plan contains legal documents that will provide clarity about how you’d like your wishes executed, both during your life and after you die. There are three key documents:

• A will
• A durable power of attorney for financial matters
• A health care power of attorney or similar document

In the last two of these documents, you appoint someone you trust to help make decisions involving your finances or health, in case you can’t while you’re still living. Let’s look at five common mistakes in estate planning:

# 1: No Estate Plan Whatsoever. A will has specific information about who will receive your money, property and other property. It’s important for people, even with minimal assets. If you don’t have a will, state law will determine who will receive your assets. Dying without a will (or “intestate”) entails your family going through a time-consuming and expensive process that can be avoided by simply having a will.

A will can also include several other important pieces of information that can have a significant impact on your heirs, such as naming a guardian for your minor children and an executor to carry out the business of closing your estate and distributing your assets. Without a will, these decisions will be made by a probate court.

# 2: Forgetting to Name or Naming the Wrong Beneficiaries.Some of your assets, like retirement accounts and life insurance policies, aren’t normally controlled by your will. They pass directly without probate to the beneficiaries you designate. To ensure that the intended person inherits these assets, a specific person or trust must be designated as the beneficiary for each account.

# 3: Wrong Joint Title. Married couples can own assets jointly, but they may not know that there are different types of joint ownership, such as the following:

• Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS) means that, if one joint owner passes away, then the surviving joint owners (their spouse or partner) automatically inherits the deceased owner’s part of the asset. This transfer of ownership bypasses a will entirely.
• Tenancy in Common (TIC) means that each joint owner has a separately transferrable share of the asset. Each owner’s will says who gets the share at their death.

# 4: Not Funding a Revocable Living Trust. A living trust lets you put assets in a trust with the ability to freely move assets in and out of it, while you’re alive. At death, assets continue to be held in trust or are distributed to beneficiaries, which is set by the terms of the trust. The most common error made with a revocable living trust is failure to retitle or transfer ownership of assets to the trust. This critical task is often overlooked after the effort of drafting the trust document is done. A trust is of no use if it doesn’t own any assets.

# 5: The Right Time to Name a Trust as a Beneficiary of an IRA. The new SECURE Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2020 gets rid of what’s known as the stretch IRA. This allowed non-spouses who inherited retirement accounts to stretch out disbursements over their lifetimes. It let assets in retirement accounts continue their tax-deferred growth over many years. However, the new Act requires a full payout from the inherited IRA within 10 years of the death of the original account holder, in most cases, when a non-spouse individual is the beneficiary.

Therefore, it may not be a good idea to name a trust as the beneficiary of a retirement account. It’s possible that either distributions from the IRA may not be allowed when a beneficiary would like to take one, or distributions will be forced to take place at a bad time and the beneficiary will be hit with unnecessary taxes. Talk to an experienced estate planning attorney and review your estate plans to make certain that the new SECURE Act provisions don’t create unintended consequences.

Reference:Kiplinger (Feb. 20, 2020) “Is Anything Wrong with Your Estate Plan? Here are 5 Common Mistakes”

You Can Complete Your Estate Plan During the Coronavirus Quarantine

The coronavirus lockdown is happening in many states, following the lead of California, Illinois, Florida and New York. Kiplinger’srecent article entitled “How to Get Your Estate Plan Done While Under Coronavirus Quarantine”says that these isolation orders create unique issues with your ability to effectively establish or modify your estate plan.

The core documents for an estate plan are intended to oversee the management and distribution of your assets, after you pass or in the event you are incapacitated. Each document has requirements that must be met to be legally effective. Let’s look at some of these documents. Note that there’s proposed federal legislation that would permit remote online notarization, and Illinois and New York have passed orders to allow notarization utilizing audio visual technology.

Will. Every state has its own legal requirements for a will to be valid, and most require disinterested witnesses. Some states, like California, permit a will, otherwise requiring the signature of witnesses, to be valid with clear and convincing evidence of your intent for the will to be valid. An affidavit indicating that the will was signed as a result of the emergency conditions caused by the COVID-19 virus should satisfy this requirement.

Power of Attorney. This document designates an individual to make financial decisions regarding your assets and financial responsibilities, if you’re unable to do so. This can include issues regarding retirement benefits, life and medical insurance and the ability to continue payments to persons financially dependent on you. The durable general power of attorney is typically notarized.

Advance Health Care Directive. This document states whether you want your life extended by life support systems and if you want extraordinary measures to be taken. It may state that you wish to have a DNR (Do Not resuscitate) in place.

HIPAA Authorization. Some states have their own medical privacy laws with separate requirements, and most powers of attorney provide that the designated persons can act, if you’re unable to do so. Financial institutions typically require confirming letters from your doctor that you’re unable to act on your own behalf. To be certain that this agent can act on your behalf if needed, they should be given written access to see your medical information.

With the pandemic, these requirements can be fluid and may change quickly. Be sure to work with an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference:Kiplinger (March 30, 2020) “How to Get Your Estate Plan Done While Under Coronavirus Quarantine”

Things Prince Can Teach You about Estate Planning

Despite a net worth of millions of dollars the musician Prince never had a will drafted or any other form of estate planning documents that anyone knows about. His fans can learn a lot about estate planning from that failure to plan, as Forbes discusses in "5 Things Prince's Family, And You, Should Know About Estate Planning."

The important lessons to be learned include:

• Intestate – People who pass away without having a will are called "intestate," which means the court has to appoint someone to oversee the estate and then all assets will be divided according to a statutory scheme.
• Public – Not having an estate plan means the estate will be open to the public and details about the deceased's assets will also be public.
• Costs – Normally, not having a will leads to extra costs and fees as experts need to be hired to shepherd the estate through the probate process.
• No Choice – If a person has an estate plan, he or she can determine how the assets of the estate are divided and distributed to loved ones. However, in the absence of a will the court has no choice but to divide the assets according to what the statute books mandate.
• Plan Now – Prince most likely did not expect to pass away when he did. Perhaps he thought he had plenty of time to get an estate plan at a later date. However, as his death illustrates, you never know when you will pass away. For that reason it is important to plan for your estate now even if you do not think you need to.

Contact a qualified estate planning attorney and do not make the same mistake.

Reference: Forbes (May 18, 2016) "5 Things Prince's Family, And You, Should Know About Estate Planning."

Search on for Missing Irish Heir

Kathleen Hilda Ryan passed away in Greenwhich, United Kingdom in 2013 with an estate valued at $788,000. She had inherited the bulk of it from her sister, Joan. No will or other estate planning documents could be found. 

Kathleen had no children of her own and no living siblings. 

In fact, as far as anyone knows, she had no living relatives at all. However, it is believed that her aunt, Lizzie, emigrated from Ireland to New York at some point. 

Thus, the search is on for what happened to Lizzie and whether she had any children. 

If any of Lizzie's children are found, then they would inherit the estate. If no one is found in 30 years, then the estate will become the property of the British Crown. 

Many people have submitted claims to being the descendants of Lizzie, but thus far no one has been able to prove it. 

Irish Central reported the story in an article titled "Is your ancestor Lizzie Ryan from Westmeath? You could inherit $788,000."

In the United States, the law is basically the same with one big exception. If no relative is found the estate does not go to the British Crown, but rather it passes to the state in which the estate property is located. 

Thus, unless you want your estate to become the property of state government, it is very important that you have some kind of estate plan, especially if you do not have any close relatives who can be easily found.

Of course, if you are descended from a Lizzie Ryan who emigrated from Ireland to New York in the mid-1900s, you might want to stake a claim to the estate of Kathleen Hilda Ryan while you can.

Reference: Irish Central (May 16, 2015) "Is your ancestor Lizzie Ryan from Westmeath? You could inherit $788,000."

 

State Estate Taxes Are Lurking In The Shadows

Although the Federal government may cast a big shadow in terms of estate taxes, don't forget those state laws lurking in the shadows. If you are building your estate plan, be sure to find out which state estate taxes apply to you. MarketWatch recently provided some advice in an article titled “Protecting your estate in a high-tax state.” Ironically, the estate tax scare at the federal level is less of a concern at present. The IRS has issued the estate and gift tax exemptions for 2014 and the new unified exemption/credit will be pegged at a cool $5.34 million. Unfortunately, the states did not get the same memo. The states are still different and vary considerably. Certain states have their own forms of gift tax, estate tax, inheritance tax, and so on. There are even more subtle taxes such as those on real property. Even if you live in one state, you might just be affected by the laws of another state if you own the wrong kind of property or conduct business there. Where you choose to retire could also upset your estate tax planning apple cart. In addition, you may be inheriting from family members who are residents in a tax-happy jurisdiction. Consequently, it is important to follow the Boy Scout motto and always “Be Prepared.’ Reference: MarketWatch (October 28, 2013) “Protecting your estate in a high-tax state”