Sasik + Moon

We All Need a Yearly Checkup: Your Estate Plan Does Too You don’t have an estate plan? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is impossible to know what tomorrow will bring, so it is important to put plans in place to provide for yourself and your loved ones if something should happen to you. Although people often find it difficult to think about being too ill to care for their family or themselves or passing away, this discomfort is minor compared to what your f...amily may have to endure if you do not have an estate plan in place. Next up: 1. Does your estate plan need to be reviewed? Make sure it has a clean bill of health. 2. Changes in life circumstances 3. Changes in the law 4. Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit sasikmoon.com

We All Need a Yearly Checkup: Your Estate Plan Does Too One of the main reasons for getting an annual physical is to detect and treat problems before an illness or health condition becomes serious. Likewise, it is important for your estate plan to get a regular check up to address changes in your life circumstances or in the law to ensure that optimal plans are in place to provide for you and your family’s future needs before any problems arise. Like an undetected medical condition, an out-of-date estate plan can have devastating, unintended consequences. sasikmoon.com

Estate Planning is Like Building a Snowman Step 5: Add some personalitythe ethical will or letter of instruction No snowman is complete without the coals and carrot used to create its face and add a little personality. You can use an ethical will, sometimes called a letter of instruction or legacy letter, to infuse your estate plan with your personality. An ethical will provides a way to communicate important knowledge, experiences, and values you have acquired over the co...urse of your life to your family and loved ones. The contents of the ethical will are likely to vary widely from individual to individual because each of us is unique and has lived a life unlike anyone else, so the wisdom each person finds valuable and wants to pass on to his or her loved ones is different. The ethical will is not a legally binding document, but it may be one of the most precious gifts you can give to those you will eventually leave behindas well as future generations of your family who otherwise would not have a chance to know you. Don’t Give Us the Cold ShoulderCall Us Today Without a complete estate plan, you are skating on thin ice. Make sure your estate plan has more than a snowball’s chance in the tropics of accomplishing your wishes. As experienced estate planning attorneys, we can help you create a comprehensive plan without being snowed under by all of the details necessary to address your unique circumstances. Don’t wait for a cold day in Julycall us today to set up a meeting! sasikmoon.com

Estate Planning is Like Building a Snowman. Step 4: Extend a handthe funeral instructions for your loved ones Next, branches are inserted to act as the snowman’s arms. You can give your family one last hug by making your wishes for your funeral or memorial service known using a remembrance and services memorandum. Most people would rather avoid thinking about their own funeral, but if you don’t make these plans and arrangements in advance, the burden will fall on your grie...ving family after you pass away. You can use a remembrance and services memorandum to list people who should be notified after you pass away, provide information you would like to be included in your obituary, give instructions for handling your remains, and specify what you would like to be included in your funeral or memorial serviceor to indicate that you prefer that no service be held. Don’t just assume your family knows what you want, as there is a good chance they do not. If several family members have conflicting opinions about what you would have wanted, avoidable disputes could arise, causing additional heartache, delay and potential expense. Taking the time to write down your wishes can be one of the most caring things you can do for your loved ones. sasikmoon.com

Estate Planning is Like Building a Snowman Step 3: Cap it offthe financial power of attorney The third step in building a snowman is adding the snowball representing the head. Although it is typically smaller than the snowman’s middle and lower sections, it is no less important. In an estate plan, another essential document is a financial power of attorney. It authorizes someone you choose to make financial decisions for you if you are unconscious, too ill to make or comm...unicate them yourself, or otherwise unavailable to do so. If you do not have a financial power of attorney, your family, including your spouse in some instances, will likely have to go to court to be granted the authority to handle your financial affairs. The person the court appoints to this role may not be the person you would have chosen to handle your financial matters. You can do your family and loved ones a huge favor by making sure you have named an agent to step into this role, avoiding unnecessary delays or disputes. See more

Estate Planning is Like Building a Snowman Step 2: Form a solid corethe medical power of attorney Additional strength and stability are provided by the snowman’s middle snowball. You can similarly solidify your estate plan by executing a medical power of attorney that names a trusted agent who can make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot make them for yourself or are unable to communicate them to the relevant health care providers. Your agent is bound, to the grea...test extent possible, to make the decisions you would have made if you had been able to make them yourself. By appointing someone you trust to act on your behalf and making sure they have important information, such as your preferred providers, medical conditions, treatment and medical history, medications, allergies, and religious beliefs, you can gain substantial peace of mind. A comprehensive estate plan describes not only what happens to your money and property when you die, but also how your care should be handled during your lifetime. sasikmoon.com

Estate Planning is Like Building a Snowman Step 1: Shape a strong foundationthe trust The foundation of a snowman is the large snowball at the bottom that acts as its base. Likewise, a trust is the foundation of your estate plan. It enables you to name a trusted individual as co-trustee or successor trustee to carry out your wishes upon your death and to manage your affairs if you become so ill you cannot do it yourself. Using a trust, you can specify that distributions from... the trust be made to your beneficiaries for specific purposes, e.g., college tuition or health care expenses, or at a certain age. Trusts are often used to ensure that your money and property benefit your own family, rather than, e.g., the new family of a spouse who eventually remarries. In addition, trusts provide a means to pass on your money and property to your family and loved ones without the inevitable delays and costs that accompany the probate proceedings required when you use a will. Trusts also provide your family with more privacy than a willas your will becomes part of a public record once it is admitted to probate and can be viewed by anyone. Certain types of trusts can also be used to protect your money and property not only from being accessible to satisfy the claims of your future creditors (including a divorcing spouse), but also those of your beneficiaries. These are only some of the benefits that a trust can provide as the bedrock of your estate plan. sasikmoon.com

Estate Planning is Like Building a Snowman A complete estate plan must include certain essential parts. In fact, it is similar to building a snowman in some respects. The traditional snowman has several critical components: bottom, middle, and top snowballs, as well as arms and a face. If any of these are left out, the snowman can look a little odd! The consequences of an incomplete estate plan are much more serious, however. If you leave out important documents when you create your estate plan, it is unlikely to accomplish all of your goals, and the benefits you thought you were gaining could melt away. next up: Step 1: Shape a strong foundationthe trust

Common Mistakes with DIY Estate Plans Thanks for reading our posts about common DIY mistakes. As always know that: We Can Help!!!... A DIY estate plan can lead to a false sense of security because it may not achieve what you think it does. If your DIY will is not valid, your property and money will go to heirs specified by state lawwho may not be the people you would have chosen. An unfunded trust will be ineffective. Banks may not accept a generic power of attorney you found on the internet. Laws affecting your estate plan may change. These are just some of the mistakes or unforeseen issues that could cost your family dearly. An experienced estate planning attorney is aware of any trends in the law that could dramatically affect your estate plan and has the expertise needed to help you design and create a comprehensive plan. Call us today so we can help provide you and your family with the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you have an estate plan that accomplishes your goals and will avoid unnecessary attorneys’ fees, headaches, or conflict for your grieving family when you pass away. sasikmoon.com

Common Mistakes with DIY Estate Plans Assets may be left out of your estate plan. Many people do not realize that a trust is frequently a better estate planning tool than a will because it avoids expensive, time-consuming, and public court proceedings (i.e., the probate process) that would otherwise be necessary to transfer your money and property to your heirs after you pass away. Even if you have created a DIY trust, if you do not fund it, that is, transfer title of your mo...ney and property into the name of the trust, it will be ineffective, and your loved ones will still have to endure the probate process to finish what you started. Further, if you do initially transfer title of all your assets to the trust, it is likely you will acquire additional property or financial accounts over the years that must go through probate if title is not transferred to the trust. Regular meetings with an estate planning attorney can help ensure that your plan accomplishes your goals and that your grieving family members are not left with major headaches after you die. sasikmoon.com

Common Mistakes with DIY Estate Plans DIYers frequently make mistakes in executing the plan. Under the law, there are certain requirements that must be met for wills and other estate planning documents to be legally valid. For example, a will typically requires the signatures of two witnesses, but state law differs regarding what is necessary for a will to be validly witnessed. Some states require not only that the will be signed by the will maker and the witnesses, but also ...that they all must sign the will in each other’s presence. In other states, witnesses are not required to be in the same room when the will maker signs the will, and they can even sign it later if the will maker tells them his or her signature is valid. Similarly, for a valid power of attorney, some states require only the signature of the principal (the person who is granting the power of attorney) to be notarized, but some states require the signatures of both the principal and the agent (the person who will act on behalf of the principal) to be notarized. In other states, one or more witnesses are requiredand these requirements may also differ depending upon the type of power of attorney (financial vs. medical) you are trying to execute. If you seek the help of an estate planning attorney, you can rest assured that all of the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, and that your intentions will not be defeated because of mistakes made during the execution of your documents. sasikmoon.com

Common Mistakes with DIY Estate Plans Your DIY estate plan may not account for changing life circumstances and different scenarios that could arise. For example, if you create a will in which you leave everything to your two children, what happens if one of those children dies before you? Will that child’s share go entirely to his or her siblingor will it go to the child’s offspring? What if one of your children accumulates a lot of debt? Is it okay with you if the money or ...property the indebted child inherits is vulnerable to claims of the child’s creditors? What if your will states your daughter will receive the family home as her only inheritance, but it is sold shortly before you die? Will she inherit nothing? As opposed to a computer program, an experienced estate planning attorney will help you think through the potential changes and contingencies that could have an impact on your estate plan and design a plan that prevents unintended results that could frustrate your estate planning goals. sasikmoon.com

Common Mistakes with DIY Estate Plans A DIY estate plan could contain inaccurate, incomplete, or contradictory information. For example, if you create a will using an online questionnaire, there is the possibility that you may select the wrong option or leave out important information that could prevent your will from accomplishing your goals. In addition, some online services allow users to insert additional information not addressed by their questionnaire that could contradict other parts of the will. sasikmoon.com