Living Trust Planning | Estate Planning Attorney

Tag: estate plan

  • 4 Ways to Use AI to Make Life Easier for You and Your Family

    4 Ways to Use AI to Make Life Easier for You and Your Family

    Whether you’re turning on the news or scrolling through Instagram, it’s hard not to hear about AI technology, so this week I wanted to take some time to cover what the buzz is about and how you can use this technology to make your own life easier. 

    AI (artificial intelligence) language models like ChatGPT and Jasper in particular are enjoying the spotlight this year. Essentially, these are online software programs that have the ability to interpret natural language and provide human-like responses. In a nutshell, that means you can type in questions or commands as if you were writing a message to a real person, and the software will produce an equally human-like response. 

    What has the world buzzing over these programs is their ability to understand and interpret the text you enter into them in the same way a real person would, including an ability to modify its response based on your follow-up questions or commands.

    If you think AI technology seems a bit too “sci-fi” for daily use, I’m happy to share that there are a number of ways you can use an AI language model to make your family’s life easier right now, from saving you time, helping you communicate, and even helping you plan that much-needed vacation. 

    Here are three everyday applications for AI that you’ll want to start using today.

    1. Get Help Writing a Tricky Email

    I think it’s safe to say that we all have times in our lives when we have to deliver an uncomfortable message via email, text, or phone. Maybe you’re resigning from a job, critiquing someone’s work, or delivering bad news. Whatever the situation might be, it can be stressful to try and deliver a message in a way that clearly delivers your message with the right tone for that situation.

    Instead of staring blankly at your email or anxiously picking up the phone, try drafting out your message in an AI language model like ChatGPT or Jasper first. 

    For example, I typed the following into ChatGPT to get a prompt for approaching an employee about a performance issue:

    “Imagine you need to give negative feedback to an employee. This employee is friendly and hard-working but makes many spelling mistakes in the company’s meeting minutes. You want the employee to know that you value having them on your team, but that their accuracy needs to be improved. Write an email that I could send to this employee.”

    ChatGPT provided the following sample email that I can use:

    “Dear [Employee Name],

    I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to provide you with some feedback regarding the meeting minutes you have been responsible for drafting. First and foremost, I want to express how much we appreciate your hard work and dedication to the team. You are a valued member of our team, and we are lucky to have you.

    However, I have noticed that there have been a number of spelling mistakes in the meeting minutes recently. While I understand that mistakes can happen, accuracy is critical when it comes to recording important decisions and actions taken in meetings. I wanted to bring this to your attention so that we can work together to improve the accuracy of the meeting minutes.

    I would like to suggest that you take some extra time to review your work before submitting it to ensure that it is error-free. You might also consider using spell-check or grammar-check tools to assist you in catching any mistakes.

    Please know that we have confidence in your ability to improve in this area, and we are committed to supporting you in any way we can. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.

    Thank you again for your hard work and dedication to our team.”

    Not only did the software draft a natural-sounding email, but it suggested ways the employee could remedy the situation. What’s more, you can ask the AI to further modify and refine its previous responses. For instance, you could ask it to rewrite the email with a more empathetic or casual tone, or to shorten the length of the message. 

    Gone are the wasted hours trying to craft the perfect email for a challenging situation!

    Even if you need to communicate with someone over the phone, using an AI language model can help get the conversation off on the right foot by providing you with an outline for how to start the conversation or outlining the points you want to cover. 

    2. Find the Best Flight Prices Faster

    If you’ve ever planned a family vacation, you know how time-consuming searching for flights can be. What seems like an easy enough task on the surface can easily become a days-long marathon of comparing airlines, prices, layovers, seasons, and the difference in travel time if you fly from one city versus another.

    Now, thanks to an integration with KAYAK, you can ask ChatGPT questions about your travel plans and ChatGPT will sort through your travel options for you.

    For example, you could ask, “What’s the cheapest flight from Fargo to Orlando?” and the software will provide you with the best options that meet your request.

    Want a direct flight? You can alter your request by adding, “Show me direct flights only” to further narrow down your options. No need to worry about manners, you can simply be direct and to-the-point with your requests.

    Want to compare prices depending on what day of the week? You can ask the software, “What is the cheapest day to fly to Orlando from Fargo in June?” 

    The KAYAK integration is currently only available for paid ChatGPT subscribers, but plans are underway to make it available in the software’s free version. If you’re anxious to do some traveling and want to try out ChatGPTs KAYAK integration, paid subscriptions are billable based on how much you use the software and include a free five-dollar credit to get you started.

    3. Create a Better Resume and Cover Letter

    Whether you’re actively looking for a job or wondering how you could improve your resume to increase your chances of a promotion, having a great resume can mean the difference between getting an interview and being passed up. But it can be difficult to write a resume or cover letter that truly conveys the value of what you bring to the workplace without sounding overly self-promoting. Thankfully, using an AI language model like ChatGPT can help flesh out your resume and create a cover letter that will stand out to a company’s hiring manager. 

    For example, let’s imagine I’m a receptionist for a medical clinic and want to apply for a similar position at another clinic. I’ve written a resume, but I don’t feel confident that it highlights my skills in the role. In this situation, I pasted my skills from my resume into ChatGPT and entered the following instruction:

    “Improve this job description for my resume: 

    • Take patient phone calls and respond to messages
    • Schedule appointments based on the provider’s availability
    • Help team members with questions
    • Follow-up with patients to reschedule canceled appointments”

    ChatGPT provided the following improved bullet points:

    • Responding to patient inquiries via phone, email, and messages with a friendly and professional demeanor, while providing accurate and helpful information.
    • Coordinating and scheduling appointments based on the availability of healthcare providers, while ensuring that patient needs were prioritized.
    • Supporting and collaborating with team members by answering questions and providing guidance when needed.
    • Conducting timely follow-ups with patients to reschedule canceled appointments and ensure their continued care.

    The output from ChatGPT conveys my responsibilities as a receptionist in a more interesting and descriptive way, while also highlighting my skills by showing my focus on patient care and teamwork. 

    By using an AI language model such as this, you can either start your resume or cover letter from scratch or get tips for how to improve a resume you already have. You can also use the software to customize the same cover letter for different companies, saving countless hours in your job search.

    4. Get Help with Your Kids’ Homework 

    If you have kids, you know that helping them with their homework can sometimes feel just as tough for you as it does for them. The good news is that you can use an AI language model to walk through homework problems to make them easier for your child – and you – to understand.

    All you need to do is type the math problem into the software program and ask for an explanation. For example, I entered the following into ChatGPT:

    “Explain how to do this math problem to a 4th grader: 1/2 X 2/3 =”

    ChatGPT responded with the following:

    “Certainly! We want to find out what happens when we multiply these two fractions together. To do that, we need to multiply the numerators (which are the numbers on top) and then multiply the denominators (which are the numbers on the bottom).

    So 1/2 X 2/3 would look like this:

    To multiply the numerators, we just multiply the numbers on top:  1 X 2 = 2

    And to multiply the denominators, we just multiply the numbers on the bottom: 2 X 3 = 6

    So the answer is 2/6!

    But we can simplify this fraction by dividing both the numerator and the denominator by the greatest common factor, which is 2. If we divide 2/6 by 2, we get 1/3. So the final answer is 1/3!

    That means if we had one whole thing that we cut into two equal pieces, and then we shaded in one of those pieces, and then we took that one piece and cut it into three equal pieces, and then we shaded in two of those pieces, we would end up with 1/3 of the whole thing.”

    Pretty helpful, right? Now that was a pretty simple example, but you can even ask more complicated math questions or questions for other subjects as well.

    Not only can this help you and your child better understand their homework, but can help eliminate the frustration you two may feel over the daily homework struggle.

    More Than Legal Advice – Your Trusted Advisor

    By using AI technology, you can save time, communicate more effectively, and plan vacations with ease. I’ll use AI and other technology in my own practice to create more efficiencies and better service, so I can use my heart and humanity to serve you. I’m here to do the parts of lawyering that can never be replaced by a machine and be a trusted advisor for my clients and their families. I know that life can be hectic and stressful, and I’m here to provide resources that can make your life easier now and in the future. 

    In that vein, I love learning about new technologies and the ways they can improve our lives. But I also know that technology – no matter how good – can never replace the care and humanity that real people have to offer. To me, the best part about technology is that by saving us time, it frees us up to spend more time connecting with one another. 

    That’s why when it comes to your legal planning, I offer a Family Wealth Planning Session where I not only discuss how the law affects you and your loved ones, but I truly get curious with you about your life, your goals, and the legacy you want to leave behind, so you can rest assured knowing that your estate plan will work perfectly for you. By using the best technology and systems to do my work, I’m able to be more available to my clients when they need me most.

    If you’re interested in learning more about how I serve my clients differently than most lawyers or have questions about estate planning, please reach out to be today at (650) 600-1735.  I’m not just your family’s legal advisor. I’m a trusted advisor for life.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • Leaving Your Pet in Your Will Won’t Protect Them – Do This Instead

    Leaving Your Pet in Your Will Won’t Protect Them – Do This Instead

    If you’re a pet owner, you know the special bond that exists between you and your pets, and to many pet owners, our furry friends aren’t just a pet – they’re a loved and important part of our families. So if you’re thinking about how best to provide for your family after you die or if you become incapacitated, it makes sense for your beloved pet to be a part of the plan.

    You want your pet to continue to have the kind of love and care you provided during your life, but estate planning for furry friends requires a little more thought than you might expect. 

    To understand why, it’s important to know two things:

    • A pet is considered property under the law.
    • When someone receives a gift of property through a will, that person can do whatever they want with that property, including your pet.

    A Will Won’t Cut It

    While you see them as part of the family, under the law, a pet is considered personal property, just like your money, furniture, and clothes. Because of this, you can’t actually leave money or possessions to your pet directly through your will or trust. Even if you try to leave money directly to your pet in your will, the money will instead skip your pet and pass to the beneficiaries you named to receive the remainder of your possessions. Or, if you didn’t name anyone else, the court will give your possessions, including your pet, to your next of kin, as determined under the law.

    Worst of all, the person that receives your pet and money for its care through your will has no legal obligation to use that money for your pet’s care or to even keep your pet at all. That’s why it’s so critically important to work with an estate planning attorney who knows the proper way to plan for your pet, so that when you die or if you become incapacitated, your beloved companion won’t end up in an animal shelter or given away to anyone you wouldn’t want raising your beloved familiar.

    A Will Provides No Guarantees For Their Future

    Because you can’t leave money to your pet directly, your first thought might be to leave your pet and money for its care to someone you trust through your will instead. While this is an option, it’s not guaranteed to work.

    That’s because the person you name as the beneficiary of your pet in your will has no legal obligation to use the funds you leave for your pet’s care for that purpose. Even if you leave detailed instructions for your pet’s care, there is no law holding the beneficiary to accept the responsibility of caring for your pet or stopping them from changing their mind in the future after the court probate process is finished.  

    You might be thinking that the person you’d leave your pet to loves them and would never think of abandoning them. But even if this person is committed to caring for your pet, it’s simply impossible to predict what circumstances might occur in the future that could make it impossible for them to provide for your pet for your pet’s full lifetime.

    For example, when you die, the new caregiver might:

    • Live in an apartment or condo that doesn’t allow pets
    • Suffer from an unforeseen illness that makes it difficult to care for your pet
    • Have an allergy to your pet you knew nothing about
    • Become so busy with work or family that they just don’t have the time to make a lifelong commitment to your pet’s care

    A Will Isn’t Fast Enough

    The other issue a will creates for your pet is that a will is required by law to go through the court process known as probate before any of your property can be distributed to the people you’ve named, and of course, it only operates in the event of your death, not your incapacity. 

    The probate process itself can take months or even years to complete. During that time, your pet could be passed around between family members and friends, who may even argue over who should care for it. In the worst-case scenario, no one may even think to check in on your pet regularly while the court process is unfolding.

    Plus, a will only goes into effect upon your death, so if you’re incapacitated by accident or illness, it would do nothing to protect your companion. This leaves your pet in limbo and vulnerable to being re-homed to someone you wouldn’t have chosen or wanted to care for your pet. In the worst scenario, your pet could be surrendered to a shelter by the time everything gets figured out.

    Provide Long-Lasting Care for Your Pet Through a Pet Trust

    In order to be completely confident that your pet is properly taken care of and that the money you leave for its care is used exactly as intended, ask us to help you create a pet trust.

    By creating a pet trust, you can lay out detailed, legally binding rules for how your pet’s chosen caregiver (the trustee) can use the funds you leave for your furry friend. And unlike a will, a pet trust doesn’t go through probate, so it goes into effect immediately in the event you become incapacitated or pass away, whereas a will requires the court process called probate to take place before any decisions can officially be made about your pet.

    Additionally, in a pet trust, you can name backup trustees who will receive your pet and any funds left for them if the first person you chose as trustee declines to take your pet or isn’t able to care for them in the future. To add even more certainty to your pet’s future, you can name multiple trustees for your pet. In this way, you’d have two people invested in the care of your pet who can see that the money you leave for its care is used wisely. 

    Finally, all of the care decisions and financial distributions for the care of your pet will happen in the privacy of our office, in the event of your death or incapacity. We’ll guide your decision-makers about how and why you made your decisions, and how they need to care for your pet to receive distributions. You’ll literally have a lawyer ensuring the care of your pet happens as you would want it. While that may seem excessive for some, we have many clients who care that much about the well-being of their pets and want to ensure their care is handled as they want.

    Do Right By Your Pet

    Don’t leave your beloved pet’s future up to chance. Let us help you create a pet trust that will provide for your furry friend’s long-term care and be there for your pet and your decision-makers when you cannot be.

    At our firm, we can help you create a legally binding pet trust that outlines detailed rules for how your pet’s chosen caregiver can use the funds you leave for their care. Unlike a will, a pet trust doesn’t go through probate, which means it goes into effect immediately if you become incapacitated or pass away. We’ll be there for the people you love when you cannot.

    Contact us today at (650) 600-1735 to schedule a consultation and ensure you’re doing right by your pet.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • 3 Simple Mistakes That Can Derail Your Estate Plan

    3 Simple Mistakes That Can Derail Your Estate Plan

    If you’re tempted to use a DIY estate planning service or have already created a plan you aren’t 100% confident in, be sure to read how these three simple mistakes can derail your estate plan and leave your family with an expensive mess.

    We regularly meet with clients who ask us to review an estate plan that they created online or with an attorney who isn’t experienced with estate planning. You see, these clients usually think they found a faster and cheaper solution to estate planning, but once the plan is signed and done, they’re often left wondering whether this “cheap” plan will actually accomplish their goals, or if it will leave their family with a big mess instead. What I see time and again when I review these estate plans are poorly designed plans with simple but devastating mistakes. What’s more, these clients wouldn’t even realize their plan had these mistakes if they hadn’t met with us! 

    While it might seem simple enough to put together a trust online or have your tax attorney prepare your will, it can be very difficult to create an estate plan that works without the proper training and experience. What might seem like minor details to the inexperienced eye can often have major effects on your plan’s final outcome. 

    More often than not, clients who meet with us to review a DIY plan find out that instead of saving money on their estate plan, they’ve actually cost themselves much more by buying a plan that has mistakes. And if these mistakes aren’t caught by you while you’re alive and well, your loved ones will be the ones paying the price to resolve them after you’re gone.

    Here are the three biggest mistakes I see when reviewing DIY and low-cost estate plans:

    Leaving Assets Outright to Loved Ones 

    One of the simplest mistakes you can make in estate planning is distributing your assets directly to your beneficiaries upon your death. This is a bad idea for several reasons:

    • The assets have no protection from your beneficiaries’ creditors once they leave your estate.
    • The money can be squandered and used however the beneficiary wants.
    • If the beneficiary is a minor, a court will decide who manages the assets and how they’ll be used.

    Instead of gifting your assets directly to your beneficiaries, distribute your assets into a trust for the beneficiaries’ benefit. When creating a trust, you can choose who will manage your assets for your beneficiaries while also sheltering those assets from your beneficiaries’ creditors or their own poor money-management skills.

    Setting up a trust to hold your assets is especially important if you have minor children. Minors cannot own money on their own, which means they can’t receive any assets from you directly on your death. Instead, a court will need to appoint a trustee or conservator to manage the assets you leave for your children. There’s a high chance that the person the court appoints will not be the person you would have chosen yourself. And if the court appoints a professional trustee, your assets will be reduced by expensive trust administration fees.

    A court-appointed trustee will distribute the assets to your children outright when they reach the age of 18, but this only puts the assets at risk. Few young adults have the maturity or knowledge to manage a large sum of money responsibly so that it can grow and support them over time. Even if your adult child is responsible or has guidance from someone you trust, those assets are still susceptible to any lawsuits, divorces, and unforeseen financial troubles your child may experience in the future. 

    Instead of leaving assets outright to a minor or young adult, leaving your assets in a trust, established for the child’s benefit, allows you to choose the person who will manage the assets you leave for them, helps the assets grow through careful financial management, and protects the assets from your child’s lack of experience and future risk.

    Not Creating a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust

    Creating a trust to hold your assets can provide years of asset protection for your loved ones, but that protection only exists so long as the assets are held in the name of the trust. The second big mistake I see are trusts that direct the assets to be taken out of the trust’s protection and given to your child or beneficiary at a specific age. You might not see the problem with this scenario at first, but even if your child or beneficiary is mature enough to manage a sum of money, doing this still leaves those assets susceptible to future legal and financial risks.

    Instead, everyone should consider creating a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust to hold their beneficiaries’ assets indefinitely. This gives the assets lifelong protection while still providing financial support to your beneficiaries.

    Unfortunately, most lawyers don’t understand how to use trusts to establish this kind of protection for the inheritance you’re leaving behind, and some may even try to dissuade you from using a trust at all unless you have a very large estate. Even if you’re leaving behind a small number of assets, protecting those assets and helping them grow can make a huge difference in the future well-being of your loved ones. 

    Forgetting to Update Beneficiary Designations

    This final mistake is so simple yet so easily forgotten when creating a DIY plan or using an inexperienced estate planner: forgetting to update your insurance policies and retirement beneficiary designations so they match your estate plan. While your will and trust are important parts of your estate plan, it’s vital to update your insurance policies and retirement accounts to pay out to your trust instead of directly to your beneficiaries. 

    Leaving the names of your beneficiaries on your insurance and retirement accounts instead of the name of your trust ensures the largest assets you own won’t be a part of the plan you just created. Instead, the assets will be distributed directly to the beneficiaries listed on the account, to do with however they want, even if you had other plans for protecting the funds under your trust. We’ve even seen cases where the beneficiaries named on a life insurance or retirement account are so outdated that the person named on the account isn’t even a part of the client’s life anymore!

    Estate Planning That Works

    In order to make sure your estate plan truly works the way you intend it to, it’s essential that all of your assets are reviewed and accounted for to make sure that any accounts you have reflect the name of your trust or other estate plan method. That’s why we always create an inventory of your assets and follow up with you to make sure your assets are updated into the name of your trust. We can even update your assets for you, so you can rest assured that every piece of your plan works together. 

    If you’re thinking about using a DIY estate planning service or had an estate plan created by an attorney in a different practice area,  it’s crucial to check your plan for these three simple but major mistakes. Otherwise, your estate plan might end up causing more problems than it solves, leaving your family in court and conflict.

    That’s why we offer to review your current estate plan during a Family Wealth Planning Session. During this session, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss your concerns, learn how your current plan will (or won’t) work for you, and if you don’t feel confident in your current estate plan, we’ll create a new comprehensive plan for you that will provide the protection and support your family needs for years to come.

    Don’t let a simple estate planning mistake derail your plans for your family. Schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session. Your loved ones will thank you for it!

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • Estate Planning Before You Travel: Why It’s Critically Important

    Estate Planning Before You Travel: Why It’s Critically Important

    Vacations can be the perfect opportunity to relax, disconnect from work and responsibilities, and enjoy your spouse, partner, kids’ or friend’s company. But before you head off on your next getaway, there’s something else you should consider doing that might not sound quite as fun—creating an estate plan. While it may not sound like the most thrilling way to spend a day, here are some reasons why you need to think about your estate plans before you travel. 

    • An estate plan ensures any medical decisions needed while away from home will be handled according to your wishes, and with as much ease as possible, no matter what the rules are where something happens. If you fall ill or become injured and can’t make medical decisions for yourself, your estate plan will ensure that decisions will be made by the person you choose, and with your indicated desires for your care at the forefront.
    • Without an estate plan in place, your family or friends could have a heavy lift to get you back home, locate your assets, keep your bills paid, and even ensure your children get taken care of by the right people in the right way.
    • Lastly, an estate plan ensures that any debts or liabilities are taken care of properly in case something happens while on vacation. This can help prevent creditors from trying to collect from surviving family members after the fact — something no one wants to deal with during such a difficult time. 

    Yes, Even Married Couples Need an Estate Plan

    You might think that because you’re married, you don’t need an estate plan. Or you might even think your will is enough and would just handle everything. But that’s generally not the case.

    Even if you’re married, you still need medical powers of attorney, making it clear that you want your spouse making medical decisions for you, or even potentially adding in additional decision-makers. You still want a living will to give clarity on how you want medical decisions made for you. 

    Finally, if you have dependent children, you want to ensure you’ve made it as easy as possible for their care needs to be continued by the people you want, in the way you want. Without a plan in place, decisions around their care could be tied up for months, including access to the financial assets their caregivers would need to ensure they have what they need along the way.

    The Benefits of Working With an Attorney 

    While you can create an estate plan without legal assistance, there are serious risks to the people you love, if your plan isn’t completed, not updated after it’s been done once, or not completed properly. The only real guarantee for the people you love to have as much ease as possible, is if you work with an experienced attorney specializing in estate planning, and particularly Life & Legacy Planning. We understand what needs to go into a thorough and complete estate plan — as well as the potential pitfalls or issues that could arise due to your unique personal and family dynamics — so you can rest assured knowing everything is being taken care of properly before you embark on your trip. 

    We can advise you on other important documents such as Wills, Trusts, powers of attorney (POA), health care directives (HCD), and guardianship paperwork (for minor children) so you can make informed decisions based on what you want to have happen if you become incapacitated or die. All these items should be considered when creating an effective estate plan — especially when one or both parties will be traveling outside their home country at any point. 

    Don’t Let a Lack of Planning Dampen Your Vacation Spirits! 

    Taking a few simple, yet critically important, steps now can save you and your family considerable headaches down the road if anything were ever to happen while on the road—not only do we want you to enjoy each moment spent together, but we want peace of mind knowing that whatever comes your way is handled according to your wishes! 

    We can help put a plan together now so that you don’t forget about this important task before packing up for your next adventure. Making sure all your affairs are in order will ensure nothing stands in the way between you and enjoying time together! Contact us today to get started.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • Your Rights as the Parent of a Young Adult – What You Need to Know When a Medical Crisis Hits

    Your Rights as the Parent of a Young Adult – What You Need to Know When a Medical Crisis Hits

    As a parent, you’re quite accustomed to managing your children’s legal and medical affairs, as circumstances require. If your child requires urgent medical attention while away from you, a simple phone call authorizing care can do the trick. But what happens when those “children” turn 18, now adults in the eyes of the law, and need urgent medical attention far from home?

    The simple fact is that the day your child turns 18, he or she becomes an adult and has the legal rights of an adult. This means that you lose your prior held rights to make medical and financial decisions for your child unless your child executes legal documents giving you those rights back. Without the proper legal documents, accessing medical information and even being informed about your adult child’s medical condition can be difficult and in some cases, impossible.

    When sending kids off to college, it’s crucial to consider the legal implications of an accident or medical emergency on your ability to stay informed and participate in important decision-making for your young adult child. Medical professionals are responsible for following the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which ensures medical privacy protection for all adults. Once your child turns 18, they are (from a legal perspective) no more attached to you than a stranger, making communication about medical issues is tricky if your child is incapacitated and not able to grant permission on their own.

    In most states, these three legal documents can make all the difference when a medical crisis strikes and your young adult child is far from home. When utilized together, they can ensure a parent or trusted adult be kept in the loop about care and treatment when a child over the age of 18 experiences a medical event while they’re away at college, traveling, or living far from home. As with most legal documents, the law varies from state to state, so be sure to seek out the counsel with us to determine which forms suit your situation best.

    HIPAA

    Essentially like a permission slip, this authorization allows your adult child to specify who is allowed access to their personal medical information. Specific information can be specifically withheld, such as drug use, sexual activity, and mental health issues so that additional privacy can be protected if desired.

    Medical Power Of Attorney

    Designates an agent to make medical decisions for the young adult. This could be you, as the parent, or another trusted adult. Each state has different laws governing medical power of attorney, requiring different forms. Be sure to check with us to be sure you’re following the laws of your state and the state where your child resides.

    Durable Financial Power Of Attorney

    Allows the parent or another trusted adult to take care of personal business if the adult child cannot do so. This form would allow the parent to take care of such important tasks such as signing tax returns, paying bills, and accessing bank accounts for the incapacitated adult child. A durable power of attorney is powerful and gives broad access to sensitive financial and legal decision-making and should only be given to a trusted relative or friend.

    The milestones come quickly once children graduate high school and enter the big, wide world away from home. As your family navigates these significant rites of passage, consult us to determine the steps necessary to ensure excellent communication and peace of mind when a medical emergency arises. Consider including your young adult children in the process. We’re here to help your family establish the legal and medical protections needed to live your desired lives. Contact us today to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session for your family and get the right documents in place for your kids.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • Keep the Government and Lawsuit Happy Opportunists Away from Your Children’s Inheritance

    Keep the Government and Lawsuit Happy Opportunists Away from Your Children’s Inheritance

    If you have a current estate plan, I’ll bet you plan to leave your assets to your children outright and unprotected by age 35, or maybe a little later. Go take a look at your estate plan, and see what it does right now. And, if you don’t have an estate plan, and you have kids or other people you care about, contact us today and let’s get that handled for you. 

    If you do have a plan and it distributes your assets outright to your kids — even in stages, over time, some at 25, then half of what’s left at 30, and balance at 35 (or something along those lines), you’ve overlooked an incredibly valuable gift you can give your children (and the rest of your descendants for generations); a gift that only you can give them. And a gift that, once you’ve died and left them their inheritance outright, is lost and cannot be reclaimed. 

    Leave your kids a nest egg protected from lawsuits, divorce, and estate taxes.

    While you may think to yourself, “my kids’ inheritance doesn’t need to be protected. They aren’t going to get sued.” You may be right, but you may also be overlooking one of the most common “lawsuits” that causes inheritances to be lost everyday, and that’s divorce. If you want to protect the money you’re leaving to your children from their future divorces, even if you love their spouses or expect you will, in the future, you can easily do so using a protected trust. 

    And, if your child is ever involved in a lawsuit, for example, a simple car accident, or if a business transaction goes bad, what you leave to your child can be protected from all future lawsuits or claims against them. 

    The best part is that if your child has their own taxable estate when they die, your planning now could save your family 40 cents on every dollar (or more) handed down from one generation to the next. 

    Save your family up to 40 cents on every dollar — currently — at each generation.

    As of 2023, the current federal estate tax rate is 40% — meaning that every dollar passed on over the estate tax exemption rate is taxed at 40%. And it has been as high as 55%. On top of that, many states have estate taxes as well.

    This all adds up fast, and can decimate your family’s financial legacy over time. For every million dollars you leave outright to your children, if your children have a taxable estate when they die, could result in  your grandchildren receiving only $550,000, with $450,000 going to the government … unnecessarily. 

    So, if you want to know that everything you’ve worked so hard to create will stay in your family for generations to come and not be lost to outsiders, leaving your assets to your children protected in a trust we call a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust, instead of outright, is the way to go. And, it can be easily built into your existing estate plan or trust. You just need to ask us to help you get a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust added to your plan. 

    But how will my kids get to use what I leave to them?

    Here’s the best part about leaving your assets to your children in a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust. Not only is what you leave protected, but your children control what you leave them when you decide they’re ready.

    After your death, the assets you leave behind will pass to your children (and your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on for successive generations) in a Trust that your child can control,  as the Trustee of the Trust. You can decide when your child is mature enough to act as a Trustee.

    As the Trustee of the Trust, your child decides how what you’ve left is invested and what to do with the Trust assets. And your child will even be able to determine the amount of control vs. the amount of asset protection he or she wants based on his or her specific circumstances.

    Is this still important if I don’t have much money?

    If you only leave your children a small amount of money, this is still incredibly valuable for protection, if you’re leaving assets that will be invested and grown, and not just spent right away on consumables. Some might say it’s even more important because your family has less to lose to taxes, lawsuits, and divorce each generation. And the impact of such losses is much greater. 

    A mere $10,000 protected now can become millions for the people you love for generations to come.

    Imagine that you leave just $10,000 to your child in a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust, and instead of spending that $10,000 or losing it in a divorce, they invest that $10,000 in creating their own business inside their trust, and then grow that business into a million dollar or multi-million dollar venture because of how you chose to leave your child that $10,000 gift … and it’s fully protected for generations.

    Secure the future of your family today by speaking to us. We review estate plans and inherited funds with you, ensuring that all legalities are in place so generations can enjoy the benefits according to your wishes. Get peace of mind now – contact us today to get started.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • Will Your Estate Plan Work When Your Family Needs It?

    Will Your Estate Plan Work When Your Family Needs It?

    Like most people, you likely think estate planning is just one more task to check off your life’s endless “to-do” list.

    You can shop around and find a lawyer to create planning documents for you or create your own DIY plan using online documents. Then, you’ll put those documents into a drawer, mentally check estate planning off your to-do list, and forget about them.

    The problem is, estate planning is more than just a one-and-done type of deal.

    It’ll be worthless if your plan isn’t regularly updated when your assets, family situation, and laws change. Failing to update your plan can create problems that can leave your family worse off than if you’ve never created a plan.

    The following story illustrates the consequences of not updating your plan, which happened to the founder and CEO of New Law Business Model, Ali Katz. Indeed, this experience was one of the leading catalysts for her to create the new, family-centered model of estate planning we use with all of our clients.

    A Game Changing Realization

    When Ali was in law school, her father-in-law died. He’d done his estate planning—or at least thought he had. He paid a Florida law firm roughly $3,000 to prepare an estate plan for him, so his family wouldn’t be stuck with the hassles and expense of probate court or drawn into needless conflict with his ex-wife.

    And yet, after his death, that’s exactly what did happen. His family was forced to go to court to claim assets that were supposed to pass directly to them. And on top of that, they had to deal with his ex-wife and her attorneys.

    Ali couldn’t understand it. If her father-in-law paid $3,000 for an estate plan, why were his loved ones dealing with the court and his ex-wife? His planning documents were not updated, and his assets were not even correctly titled.

    Ali’s father-in-law created a Trust so that his assets would pass directly to his family when he died, and they wouldn’t have to endure probate. But some of his assets had never been transferred into the name of his Trust from the beginning. And since there was no updated inventory of his assets, there was no way for his family to even confirm everything he had when he died. To this day, one of his accounts is still stuck in the Florida Department of Unclaimed Property.

    Ali thought for sure this must be malpractice. But after working for one of the best law firms in the country and interviewing other top estate-planning lawyers across the country, she confirmed what happened to her father-in-law wasn’t malpractice at all. It was common practice.

    This inspired Ali to take action. When she started her own law firm, she did so with the intention and commitment that she would ensure her clients’ plans would work when their families needed it and create a service model built around that mission.

    Will Your Plan Work When Your Family Needs It?

    We hear similar stories from our clients all the time. In fact, outside of not creating any plan, one of the most common planning mistakes we encounter is when we get called by the loved ones of someone who has become incapacitated or died with a plan that no longer works. Yet by that point, it’s too late, and the loved ones left behind are forced to deal with the aftermath.

    We recommend you review your plan annually to ensure it’s up to date and immediately amend it following events like divorce, deaths, births, and inheritances. This is so important we’ve created proprietary systems designed to ensure these updates are made for all of our clients. You don’t need to worry about whether you’ve overlooked anything as your family, the law, and your assets change over time.

    Furthermore, because your plan is designed to protect and provide for your loved ones in the event of your death or incapacity, we aren’t just here to serve you—we’re here to serve your entire family. We take the time to get to know your family members and include them in the planning process so everyone affected by your plan is well aware of your latest planning strategies and why you made the choices you did.

    Unfortunately, many estate planning firms only engage with a part of the family when creating estate plans, leaving the spouse and other loved ones primarily out of the loop. The planning process works best when your loved ones are educated and engaged. We can even facilitate regular family meetings to keep everyone up-to-date.

    Built-In Systems To Keep Your Plan Current

    Our legal services are designed to make estate planning as streamlined and worry-free as possible for you and your family. Unlike the lawyers who worked with Ali’s father-in-law, we don’t just create legal documents and put the onus on you to ensure they stay updated and function as intended—we take care of that on our end.

    For example, our built-in systems and processes would’ve prevented two of the biggest mistakes made by the lawyers who created her father-in-law’s plan. These mistakes include: 1) not keeping his assets properly inventoried and 2) not correctly titling assets held by his Trust.

    Maintaining a regularly updated inventory of all your assets is one of the most vital parts of keeping your plan current. We’ll not only help you create a comprehensive asset inventory, we’ll make sure the list stays consistently updated throughout your lifetime.

    Start creating an inventory of everything you own to ensure your loved ones know what you have, where it is, and how to access it if something happens to you. From there, meet with us to incorporate your inventory into a comprehensive set of planning strategies that we’ll keep updated throughout your lifetime.

    To properly title assets held by a Trust, it’s not enough to list the assets you want to cover when you create a Trust. You have to transfer the legal title of certain assets—real estate, bank accounts, securities, brokerage accounts—to the Trust, known as “funding” the Trust, for them to be appropriately disbursed.

    While most lawyers will create a Trust for you, only some will ensure your assets are properly funded. We’ll not only make sure your assets are properly titled when you initially create your Trust, we’ll also ensure that any new assets you acquire throughout your life are inventoried and properly funded to your Trust. This will keep your assets from being lost and prevent your family from being inadvertently forced into court because your plan was never fully completed.

    For The Love Of Your Family

    Our planning services go far beyond simply creating documents and then never seeing you again. We’ll develop a relationship with your family that lasts not only for your lifetime but for the lifetime of your children and their children if that’s your wish.

    We’ll support you in not only creating a plan that keeps your family out of court and out of conflict in the event of your death or incapacity, but we’ll also ensure your plan is regularly updated to make sure that it works and is there for your family when you cannot be. Contact us today to get started.

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

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