Bielski Law Office, Ltd.

Law Students Help Vets with Estate Counseling

The University of Nebraska's College of Law is sending its students to help military veterans with matters related to estate planning, giving law students practical experience while helping a population in need. Over recent weeks, fourteen veterans have received free counseling on drafting wills and naming powers of attorney through the Veterans Advanced Directive Clinic.

This recent article in the Lincoln Journal Star was picked up by the Associated Press, which syndicated it around the world. In “University of Nebraska law students help veterans with estate planning, wills and more,” Ryan Sullivan, a professor at the law college who is involved with its clinics, explains that the Advanced Directive Clinic helps law students eager to put their studies to the test by matching them up with clients who need assistance, and helps veterans get free legal help with end-of-life documents.

These newly-created documents are immediately scanned into the Veterans Affairs' database, so that they can be accessed by doctors across the United States.

Sullivan remarked that the vets have done so much for the country through their service. He thought this was a good way to teach law students about the sacrifices the veterans have made and to give them help that they need.

One of the law students in the Advanced Directive Clinic said that the veterans who were helped expressed relief to have this settled. They don’t have to worry about what might happen in the future if they didn't have a will or other necessary documents.

The College of Law's professor of clinical practice Kevin Ruser said the success of the first law clinic for veterans could mean more clinics in partnership with the VA. With ten veterans on a waiting list, the initial group of three students who worked at the clinic this summer could easily grow to five students later this year. Each law student would handle three clients.

These law students have been a great help to these veterans with the basics, but more complex issues need the expertise of practicing attorneys who specialize in estate planning. Contact an estate planning attorney to discuss your circumstances.

Reference: Associated Press (Lincoln Journal Star) (August 1, 2015) “University of Nebraska law students help veterans with estate planning, wills and more”

Problems Posed by Probate

For those who have specific goals for their assets once they leave this world, an estate plan becomes an essential component of their financial plan. There are many benefits to having an estate plan, including ensuring that your wishes will be carried out and making the process of administering your estate much less of a burden on your heirs. One of the more important – and frequently misunderstood – benefits of estate planning is the ability to avoid probate. Probate is the legal process of distributing your estate after you die, and it can be both expensive and time-consuming. The fees from probate are deducted from the estate, leaving less for your heirs than you otherwise intended. Furthermore, since probate is conducted through the courts, administering your estate can be a lengthy process and, depending on the complexity of your estate, could take years to be finalized.

The Des Moines Register reminds us in “Unpacking the Perils of Probate” that if your estate is subject to probate, then it will become public record. If you want privacy – even after you pass away – and want knowledge of the contents of your estate to stay with your heirs, then make plans in advance for your assets to avoid probate.

With headlines of celebrity estates and the errors of the rich and famous, some people maintain that a will is all they need for their assets to be administered outside of probate. This is not true. A will “tells” a probate judge how you want your assets distributed through probate. To prevent your assets from going through the probate process, there are several steps you can take. Talk to a qualified estate planning attorney about them.

Designate Beneficiaries: Remember that life insurance policies and retirement accounts have beneficiary designations that direct who receives these benefits when you die. The will can’t touch them. The article explains that assets covered by a beneficiary designation don’t pass through probate. The designated beneficiary typically trumps what’s in your will. You should make sure you review these designations regularly. If there’s no beneficiary designated, that account may be subject to probate.

Set up a Trust: If you have quite a few assets that aren’t covered by beneficiary designations, you can create a living trust to avoid probate. A trust can allow for more control when your assets are distributed after you pass. This is a very good benefit for those with minor children, if you don’t want them to receive their inheritance in one lump sum. Trusts are more expensive to set up than just a will, so talk with an estate planning attorney to see if one makes sense for you.

No one wants to burden loved ones after we die. To be sure your estate plan is ready to save them money as well as migraines, work with an estate planning attorney to avoid probate.

Reference: The Des Moines Register (August 3, 2015) “Unpacking the Perils of Probate”

How Hard Is Your Money Working?

Your money should always work for you, but when you're retired, it needs to work even harder. Help safeguard your retirement by placing demands on your hard-earned cash.

A recent article published in MoneyWatch, “Seven demands retirees should place on their money,”lists these important money demands:

• Growth: Make sure you still have a growth component in your portfolio. You don't want to be faced with trying to live on an income that no longer covers your costs.
• Safety: Keep your money in a safe place in the care of a reputable custodian who is not part of the investment company. Two words of warning: Bernie Madoff.
• Tax Efficiency: Remember what Mom used to always say, “It's not about how much money you make, but how much money you keep.” She was right - after-tax cash flow is a must.
• A Healthy Long-Lasting Income: Ask your financial planner to conduct a cash-flow analysis to see how your money shakes out in five, ten, twenty and thirty years. Get help creating a plan that takes taxes, healthcare costs and inflation into consideration and one that increases the probability that you’ll receive an income for the rest of your life.
• Control: Have some control over the access to your investments. What if there's an emergency?
• Access: Set some money aside for an emergency fund or rainy day fund, in case you have an unforeseen expense.
• Effective Estate Planning: Make sure that your estate plan lets your loved ones inherit your estate in the least-taxed, most cost-efficient way.

Make your money work hard! Speak with a qualified estate planning attorney.

Reference: MoneyWatch (August 3, 2015) “Seven demands retirees should place on their money”

Financial Help for Caregivers

Becoming a caregiver can result in many challenges; communicating with doctors, managing your time and your parents’ health, and just as importantly, their financial welfare. According to the National Caregiver’s Library website, (www.caregiverslibrary.org,) “caregiving involves more than just medical problems. Helping your loved one manage his or her finances can ensure that he or she will be able to pay for needed care and live more comfortably.”

A recent article on fiftyplusadvocate.com, “Financial planning tips for caregivers” noted that according to the National Alliance for Caregiving, more than 66 million family caregivers in the U.S. – about 40% of the country’s adult population – provide critical societal and financial contributions toward maintaining a loved one’s well-being.

If you are a member of this group, there are a lot of traps when serving as a caregiver, so talk with a seasoned Elder Law attorney. Elder Law attorneys are estate planning attorneys with additional knowledge about Medicare and Medicaid, insurance and legal affairs that impact seniors.

The National Caregiver’s Library website lists several suggestions for caregivers. These include budgeting and making sure the family knows the location of important documents, as well as taking an accurate assessment of your loved one’s financial situation. One more: being able to obtain access to bank accounts in an emergency.

Caregivers should be certain that a Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy are in place where appropriate.

The article says that the best time to begin your financial planning as a caregiver really depends on the health of the individual, but you don’t want to have to do that planning in a crisis. Best to start early as it’s usually difficult to face end of life issues. Start planning by age 70 or earlier, especially if there are medical issues.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” the article advises.

Finally, some good advice for caregivers that has nothing to do with money. Rather, you should take breaks from caregiving duties and do something for yourself, even if it’s an hour a day. Try to avoid burn-out and take a walk, read a book, or have coffee with friends.

Reference: fiftyplusadvocate.com (August 3, 2015) “Financial planning tips for caregivers”

Giving Up a Million Dollar Inheritance?

If you stand to inherit millions of dollars, the first thought to cross your mind is most likely not going to be that you should give it up. That will not cross most people's minds at all. However, in some cases, giving up the inheritance is the wisest course of action.

If you are the beneficiary of a wealthy person's IRA, you might be the heir to millions of dollars. Most people would be foolish to give up any claim to that IRA, legally known as "disclaiming" it.

But what if you are already wealthy?

If you are already in a high income tax bracket, when you inherit an IRA you will have to take a required minimum disbursement every year and pay income tax on it at your tax rate.

On the other hand, what if another family member, such as a child, could inherit the IRA instead and pay a lower tax rate? In that case, it would make financial sense for you to disclaim the IRA.

This consideration was explained by Kiplinger's Retirement Report in a recent article titled "Surprising Reasons You Might Want to Give Up a Multi-Million-Dollar Inheritance."

The article mentions a few other reasons you might consider disclaiming an IRA, such as for estate tax purposes or out of a sense of charity.

The key is to disclaim an inheritance correctly, if that is the decision you make.

For example, you will need to do so in writing within a small window of time. Also, you cannot take any benefit from the IRA, or any other inheritance you might want to disclaim, before you disclaim it.

As the article also mentions, you should talk to an estate planning attorney about disclaiming an inheritance. He or she can help ensure that you are doing the right thing in disclaiming and, if yes, that you are doing so properly.

Reference: Kiplinger's Retirement Report (August, 2015) "Surprising Reasons You Might Want to Give Up a Multi-Million-Dollar Inheritance."

Estate Planning Roadblocks

The road to a successful estate plan can be a tricky one. Laws create a path that has many steep inclines and sharp curves. The biggest roadblocks to a successful estate plan, however, are not written in statute books or government regulations. They exist in the mind.

A good estate plan is the result of collaboration between an estate planning attorney and a client who together can anticipate any potential roadblocks that get in the way.

The professional estate planning attorney is there to navigate past any laws without crashing and to offer the wisdom of experience.

The client, however, has the bigger roadblocks to overcome because those roadblocks exist only in the client's mind.

Recently, Financial Planning wrote about those client roadblocks in "3 Biggest Barriers to Successful Estate Planning."

While you will want to read the original article, here are the highlights:

• Procrastination - It is important to get past the idea that you can always create an estate plan later. If you do not, then you might put it off so long that it is too late.
• Indecision - Rather than make important decisions, many people who are unsure about what to do, do nothing. Estate plans require that difficult decisions be made. If you are unsure, ask your attorney if he or she has any insight.
• Inattention - Even after finishing an estate plan, it is important to keep paying attention to it. Things change. It is important that lack of attention does not cause your estate plan to fail to change with your life circumstances.

Contact an experienced estate planning attorney who can help you avoid common mistakes made by others.

Reference: Financial Planning (August 6, 2015) "3 Biggest Barriers to Successful Estate Planning."

Thinking of Saving on a Will? Think Again

Today it is easy to save money while having a will drafted as a plethora of online services offer downloadable forms and many cut rate providers offer to draft cheap wills. This is causing problems for families in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In the old days people who wished to have a will drawn up had very few options other than going to an attorney. There were a few books that offered legal forms, most of which people generally understood to be shoddy.

For the most part, the only realistic option was to hire an attorney, often a specialist, to have a will drawn up. Things are very different today.

Now, people can spend a few minutes online, pay a relatively small fee and create their own will. People can also go to all sorts of individuals who claim to be professionals in financial planning or retirement planning who will draft wills for their customers.

As these options are cheaper than hiring an attorney, many people choose them. Unfortunately, doing so is almost always a bad idea.

Fenland Citizen recently published an article titled "Cheap and nasty wills causing problems."

The article notes one example in London where a cheap will caused a problem.

It seems a gentleman had a will drafted that gave half of a piece of property to another family member. However, the property was owned in joint tenancy by the man and his wife.

Thus, when he passed away, the entire house became the wife's property as a matter of law. Now, the family member who was supposed to inherit half the property is suing the will drafter.

That is just one example.

The same type of thing happens every day in probate courts in the United States.

When you try to save money by getting a cheap will, it often costs more money in the long run because the will turns out to be defective in some way.

Contact an experienced estate planning attorney and do not leave your estate plan to chance.

Reference: Fenland Citizen (August 2, 2015) "Cheap and nasty wills causing problems"

Death by Hacker

To make things easier to process, all sorts of important and previously time-consuming tasks are now being put online, including the process of declaring an individual officially dead. That raises the question of whether or not computer hackers can infiltrate the system to have someone declared dead. As it turns out, it is easy for them to do.

Last year in Australia, a hospital's computer system was hacked and 200 living patients were declared dead. That got the attention of computer security experts, as the process of officially declaring a person deceased has been put increasingly online and making it a vulnerable point.

One such expert recently gave a presentation at a convention of hackers in Las Vegas titled "I Will Kill You."

His research revealed that in most places having someone declared dead requires a report from a doctor and a funeral director. Many doctors have not registered with the appropriate agencies, so all that a hacker needs to do is co-opt the doctor's identity and register in his or her name.

It is even easier for the hacker to pretend to be a funeral director.

ABC News reported this story in a recent story titled "Def Con: Hackers can virtually kill people, manipulate records, Australian security expert says."

This raises some interesting problems for estates.

Once a person is declared dead, that can trigger life insurance payouts, retirement plan handoffs, bank account transfers and more. These are often important pieces of an estate plan.

If a hacker has illegally had a person declared dead and managed to have important accounts paid out to him or herself, then the delicate balance of an estate plan can crumble.

Of course, this is not currently a widespread, real world problem.

On the other hand, this is something to keep in mind if you stop receiving account statements. You might want to check and make sure you have not been declared legally dead by a hacker.

Reference: ABC News (August 8, 2015) "Def Con: Hackers can virtually kill people, manipulate records, Australian security expert says."

Proposed Settlement in Lawsuit against Lanza Estate

The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School have sparked numerous lawsuits, most of which are nowhere near completion. However, one might reach a conclusion soon. The lawsuit filed by 16 of the victims' families against the shooter's mother, Nancy Lanza, is pending a judge's approval of a proposed settlement.

You might recall that before Adam Lanza senselessly went on a rampage in Newton, Connecticut, he killed his own mother in her home. She was his first victim. That, however, did not stop the families of some of his other victims from suing her estate.

Lanza used his mother Nancy's rifle during the shootings at the school. The theory behind the lawsuit against her estate is that she failed to properly secure the rifle from getting into the hands of her disturbed son.

A settlement has been reached between lawyers for her estate and lawyers for the victims' families under which the families would equally split her $1.5 million homeowner's insurance proceeds.

The Associated Press reported this story in a recent article titled "Correction: Newton Shooting - Lawsuits Story."

For the settlement to be considered final, a judge needs to approve it.

Setting aside any politics and emotions about the Sandy Hook tragedy, this case raises an interesting question. Is it fair to hold the victim of a shooting's estate responsible for the actions of another person?

Lawyers for the suing families suggest that this lawsuit is mostly symbolic as a warning to gun owners that they need to keep their weapons stored securely.

Reference: Associated Press (August 5, 2015) "Correction: Newton Shooting - Lawsuits Story."