Did you know there is such a thing as a "Living Probate"?
If you don't have the basic estate plan in place, and someone else needs to step in to take care of you, then they may need a Court order to get access to your bank accounts. Think about it: we don't want the banks to give just anyone access to our money without our permission. Without a basic estate plan in place, the bank doesn't know who to give permission to access our money. So the bank wants a Court order. That's where a conservatorship comes in.
What is a Conservatorship?
- Expensive. The court filing fees, the cost of the bond, attorneys fees for the conservator, attorneys fees for the conservatee, conservator fees, etc. And who pays? The conservatee - the person who needs care. All the money comes out of money that could otherwise be used to care for the conservatee, draining their assets.
- Complicated. There are lots of rules, and the initial petition for conservatorship has multiple forms. If
- Time-consuming. It can take months for the Court to establish a conservatorship. And you're constantly going to Court to file accountings, status hearings, and
- Public. Like all court records, everything is public record. There is no privacy in Probate Court. Worse, you have to give notice to all relatives of the conservatorship action, which may cause more family drama.
The Story
John was in his early 60s, divorced and living alone. He was full of life, still very healthy and independent. He didn't have much in assets and didn't own his house, preferring to live in a senior apartment. He had a modest retirement account but no other significant assets. John never thought to hire an attorney to prepare an estate plan.
Unexpectedly, John got a heart attack. After the heart attack, John can't communicate, couldn't manage his finances, and now needed lots of help with day-to-day living.
Fortunately, John's daughter lived nearby and willing to help John.
The Problem
John's daughter couldn't access John's bank accounts or his retirement accounts. She couldn't help John help pay his bills without filing for an expensive and time consuming conservatorship action.
The Solution
If John planned ahead and got the essential estate planning documents together, his daughter could skip the expensive conservatorship action.
Estate planning is like health insurance, you need to have it in place before you need it. If you don't have your estate plan in place before you need it, it's too late. We can prepare an estate plan for everyone, and planning ahead can literally save thousands of dollars.
For John, though, it's too late to establish an estate plan to avoid the conservatorship. John doesn't have the capacity to understand or sign documents. We can assist John's daughter in filing the uncontested conservatorship action with the Probate Court.
Planning ahead
If you are fortunate enough to be reading this, it's not too late to put in place an estate plan that avoids a conservatorship. We have plans for everyone, and you don't need to own millions of dollars to need an estate plan. Your estate plan can grow with you, and we can update the plan as needed to reflect your current goals, needs, and values.
We are quite familiar with potential challenges, ensuring your estate plan has protective language to keep your family out of court. We've seen so many plans that don't include that protective language, and that plan fails right when their family needs it the most.
Let's set up a plan in place that keeps your family out of court.