Living Trust Planning | Estate Planning Attorney

Tag: wills and trusts

  • Awakened Planning: How to Talk About Estate Planning at Your Family Reunion

    Awakened Planning: How to Talk About Estate Planning at Your Family Reunion

    July is National Family Reunion Month and the perfect time to reconnect with family from near and far, share life’s updates, and reminisce about the wonderful memories you share together. If you’re getting together with family this month, it’s also a perfect time to talk to your loved ones about your shared goals, family resources, and the legacy you want to leave behind for the next generation. 

    You might think that estate planning is too somber a topic for a happy family reunion, but it can actually be an opportunity to bring you closer to your loved ones by giving everyone time to speak openly about their wishes for the family and can help everyone feel unified by working together toward the family’s future wellbeing.

    Not sure how to bring up estate planning in a way that makes your family feel empowered? Keep reading to learn how to navigate the conversation without scaring away party guests!

    Invite Your Loved Ones to the Conversation In Advance

    No one wants to be that party guest who won’t stop talking about a sad news story or their personal troubles. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to share the good and the bad with our loved ones, but pushing a mellow topic at a happy occasion is sure to dampen the mood and turn off the other guests.

    Instead of bringing up the topic on the spot at your reunion, reach out to your relatives in advance and let them know that you’d like to set aside some time during the reunion to talk about your family’s legacy and how you can work together to take care of each other in the future. 

    Everyone likes to feel they’re being looked after and that their input in family matters is wanted and valued. Any ongoing concerns with your family, such as an aging relative’s declining memory or your upcoming knee surgery, are great lead-ins to bring up the topic in a way that feels natural.

    If anyone is resistant to the idea of talking about estate planning, don’t push them. Instead, keep your energy warm and empathetic, and keep the invitation to the discussion open in case they change their mind.

    Be Vulnerable and Explain Why Estate Planning Is Important to You

    Assure everyone that the goal of the conversation is to make sure the family’s future security and well-being are taken care of no matter what happens – not to try and pry into anyone’s finances, health, or relationships. Instead, it’s about ensuring everyone’s wishes are clearly understood and respected, and not about finding out how much money someone stands to inherit.

    Be sure to tell your family that talking about these issues now is also a good way to avoid future conflict and expense. When family members don’t clearly understand the reasoning behind one another’s planning choices, it’s likely to breed conflict, resentment, and even costly legal battles in the future. 

    Instead, tell your loved ones that you’d like to start the conversation about estate planning early and continue it as an open dialogue with the whole family for years to come. Positioning the conversation as one about planning for the future health and well-being of your family rather than as a conversation about dividing assets at someone’s death will help your relatives will feel more at ease, and some may even be eager to be involved in the conversation.

    If you haven’t yet handled your own planning, now would be a great time to start. You can have the conversation with your loved ones by sharing about your personal experience and how handling your own estate planning has helped you to think more deeply about what matters to you, how you want to live out the rest of your life, and how you’d love to share this experience with your whole family.

    Set a Time and Place for the Conversation

    Rather than trying to find the right moment to bring up the topic, set a time and a place with your family in advance of the get-together. Be sure to schedule a specific time, but don’t feel like the meeting invite needs to sound too serious or foreboding. Asking if everyone can meet around the fire pit at 6:00 pm or meet at your house for coffee at 9:00 am is perfect.  

    I also recommend giving everyone an end time for the discussion as well. By doing this, your loved ones will know what to expect and won’t feel worried that the conversation will eat up too much of their time.

    Setting boundaries for the conversation will also help motivate members of your family to participate and stay on topic.

    To make things even easier, come to the meeting with a list of the most important points you’d like to cover and encourage your family members to do the same. But keep the list short so you don’t go over the time you’ve set aside for the discussion.

    If there are too many things to cover in the time allotted, that’s okay. Talk about the most important topics and agree as a family to get together again on a specific date either in person, on the phone, or via video chat to continue the discussion and flesh out any details that were left for later.

    Focus on Your Family’s Legacy

    While talking to your loved ones about estate planning, remember to talk about your family’s legacy and your desire to pass on your cumulative stories, memories, values, and lessons to the younger generation and beyond. A family reunion is a wonderful way to come together, and estate planning can be an amazing tool for memorializing your family’s most important assets – your human assets.

    You and your loved ones have generations of stories, traditions, and triumphs worth protecting and celebrating. Let your family know that estate planning isn’t just about planning for death – it’s also about planning ahead so you can enjoy your life to the fullest knowing that everything and everyone you love will be taken care of if you become ill or when you die. 

    For my clients, it’s also a unique opportunity to capture your family’s most valued memories and stories through a process I call the Family Wealth Legacy Interview. During the interview, I help my clients record the things that mean the most to them and the things they want to pass on that are far more valuable than money.

    What would be more precious than being able to share and watch this recording of our loved ones at future family reunions for generations to come? 

    If you would like more advice on how to talk to your family about estate planning or are interested in beginning your own estate planning journey so you can ensure your family is taken care of and share your personal planning experience with your family, give me a call at (650) 600-1735.

    It’s my passion to guide you through every stage of planning your life and legacy, and when there’s an opportunity for an entire family to come together on their estate planning goals, love and happiness are bound to follow.

    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 Pitfalls – 3 Mistakes That Could Make Your Estate Plan Worthless

    Estate Planning Pitfalls – 3 Mistakes That Could Make Your Estate Plan Worthless

    Including a trust as part of your estate plan is a smart decision. It allows you to avoid probate, maintain privacy, and distribute your assets to your loved ones while also providing them with a lifetime of asset protection, if you choose it for them. But, here’s the thing you might not know, and is critically important to remember: simply creating a trust is not enough. For your trust to work, it has to be funded properly and may need to be updated over time.

    Funding your trust means transferring ownership of your assets from your own name into the name of your trust. This can include bank accounts, investments, real estate, and other valuable possessions. 

    By funding your trust properly, you ensure your assets are managed according to the terms of your trust and will be distributed according to your wishes when you die or if you become incapacitated.

    But, if you fail to fund your trust, it becomes nothing more than an empty vessel. Your assets won’t be protected or distributed as intended, at least partially defeating the purpose of creating a trust in the first place! While your assets can still get into your trust and be governed by your trust after your death, that means that your family still goes to court to get your assets there, and that’s a costly endeavor.

    To make sure your trust works for you, avoid these funding fiascos and work with an attorney who will ensure that everything that needs to get into your trust does.

    Forgetting to Update Your Account Beneficiaries

    Many people mistakenly believe that a will or trust alone is enough to dictate how their financial accounts should be distributed after they die. However, this isn’t the case. Without proper beneficiary designations on your accounts, your wishes may not be honored and your assets could end up in the wrong hands.

    Remember, the beneficiaries you designate on your accounts supersede any instructions in your will or trust, so this step is vitally important. 

    Take a moment to review your various accounts, such as bank accounts, retirement plans, and life insurance policies. Ensure that each account has your trust named as your designated beneficiary, unless you’ve made different plans for that specific account. 

    When you’re working with a lawyer, make sure your lawyer has a plan for each one of your beneficiary-designated assets, communicates that plan to you, and that the two of you decide who will handle updating your beneficiary designations. Then, make sure you review your beneficiary designations annually. In our office, we support our clients to do all of this with well-documented asset inventories, and a regular review process built into all of our plans.

    Your Attorney Didn’t Move Your Home Into Your Trust

    For many of us, our home is our most important and valuable asset. But if your attorney doesn’t deed your home into your trust, your home won’t be included under the terms of your trust if you become incapacitated or pass away. 

    That means your home could end up going through the long and expensive probate court process in order to be managed during an illness or passed on to your loved ones after you die. If you own a $300,000 home, that means your family could lose up to $15,000 or more just to transfer your home to your trust and then distribute your home pursuant to the terms of the trust – and that’s not including any other assets that would have to go through probate.

    A knowledgeable estate planning attorney shouldn’t miss this step, but it happens. And if you’re using a DIY service online to create a trust without the help of any attorney at all, it’s bound to happen!

    That’s why it’s so important to work with a lawyer who takes the time to make sure every asset you own is in your trust before they say their farewells.

    Not Reviewing Your Plan and Accounts Every Three Years

    You might wonder how not reviewing your estate plan every few years could really make your plan worthless. Well, the good news is that failing to review your plan is unlikely to completely eliminate the benefits it provides you because an estate plan is made up of a number of moving parts, not just a will or a trust.

    But, failing to keep your financial assets up to date and aligned with your estate plan can result in huge issues for you and your family and can even make the trust you invested in worth little more than the paper it’s printed on!

    That’s because your trust can’t control any assets that don’t have the trust listed as the owner or beneficiary. By reviewing your accounts every 3 years, you can help catch any accounts that don’t have your trust listed in this way.

    For example, it’s very common for clients to open a new bank account and forget to open the account in the name of their trust or add their trust as a beneficiary.

    Thankfully, by comparing my clients’ financial accounts to their estate plan at least every 3 years, I’m able to catch simple oversights like this that could cause their assets to be completely left out of their trust.

    Make Sure All of Your Assets Are Included In Your Plan with Help From Your Personal Family Lawyer

    Getting your legal documents in place is an important step, but it’s equally important to know that the documents themselves are not magic solutions (as magical as they may seem!). Merely creating a trust or naming beneficiaries on your accounts doesn’t guarantee that your wishes will be carried out unless all of the pieces of your plan are coordinated to work together. 

    If you aren’t experienced in the area of estate planning, trying to coordinate all these pieces yourself can be a recipe for disaster.

    That’s why I work closely with my clients to not only create documents but to create a comprehensive plan that accounts for all of your assets and how each one needs to be titled to make sure your plan works for you the way you intended. 

    Plus, I offer my clients a free review of their plans and financial accounts every three years to ensure that their plans accurately reflect their lives and their wishes for their assets and loved ones.

    If you want to know more about my process for funding your trust and making sure nothing is ever left out of your plan, reach out to me at (650) 600-1735. I can’t wait to hear from you.

    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.

  • Vacation Ready: Essential Legal Preparations for a Worry-Free Getaway

    Vacation Ready: Essential Legal Preparations for a Worry-Free Getaway

    Vacations are a time to relax, unwind, and create beautiful memories with your loved ones. But before you set off on your adventure, it’s essential to ensure that your legal affairs are in order so you can fully relax during your travels. 

    Can’t imagine doing one more thing before you take some much-needed time away? 

    Don’t worry! I’m here to guide you through these important tasks so you can enjoy your vacation worry-free. Plus, these steps only take a little time to complete and can provide you with peace of mind knowing that you have made proper arrangements if the unexpected happens to you or your family while you’re away.

    Let’s dive in! (No pool puns intended!)

    1.     Create Powers of Attorney

    Whether you’re traveling overseas or just a few hours away, it’s crucial to have powers of attorney in place for both health care and financial matters before you leave. 

    A healthcare power of attorney designates someone you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated during your vacation. While no one plans to become incapacitated, a slip on the diving board, an injury while boating, or a parasite caught from local cuisine can happen.

    Similarly, a financial power of attorney empowers a trusted individual to manage your financial affairs for you. With a financial power of attorney, you can give someone the authority to manage your investments or pay your bills away while you’re gone, or just have it as a safety net in case you become incapacitated or can’t be reached while traveling. 

    By having these documents prepared ahead of time, you can ensure that no matter what hiccups you run into on your travels, your wishes for your health will be respected and your financial affairs will be handled according to your instructions, even when you’re away.

    2.    Nominate Permanent Legal Guardians for Your Kids

    As a parent, naming a permanent guardian for your children is one of the most important decisions you can make. While it’s a difficult topic to consider, designating a permanent legal guardian ensures that your children will be cared for by someone you trust if the unexpected happens while you’re on vacation. 

    It’s a good idea to take a little time to choose someone who shares your values, loves your children, and is willing to take on the responsibility of raising them. However, anyone you trust to raise your kids is a better choice than leaving the decision up to a judge who doesn’t know you or your family. 

    By documenting your chosen guardian, you make sure your children will be cared for by someone who loves them and knows them if the unthinkable happens to you, and you can always update your choice at any time in the future as your children and their relationships change over time.

    3.    Designate Short-Term Guardians for Your Kids

    In addition to naming a permanent guardian, it’s equally crucial to designate short-term legal guardians for your children. Short-term guardians step in when the permanent guardian lives far away, or in case of a short-term, immediate emergency. 

    You can give multiple people the authority to be your child’s short-term guardian, including relatives, neighbors, or nannies. When planning a vacation, it’s a good idea to name any adults who your child will be staying with while traveling with you or staying home.  

    For example, if your child is spending the week at their grandparents’ house, you should name their grandparents as short-term guardians and give them medical power of attorney for your minor child. If your child is traveling with you, naming any adult travel companions as short-term guardians and giving them medical powers of attorney is a wise choice in case a guardian or medical POA is needed for your child while on your trip.

    Discuss this arrangement with the individuals you’ve chosen and make sure they’re aware of their roles and responsibilities. By establishing short-term guardians and medical POAs, you can ensure that your children are well-cared for in the event of an emergency.

    4.    Tell the People You Trust About Your Plans

    Last but not least, make sure that the people you trust know about your travel plans and the preparations you’ve made, including where you’ll be staying and how to get in contact with you. 

    Let them know about any legal documents you’ve put in place, and how to access them if needed. Share this information with your chosen guardians, family members, and close friends. By keeping everyone in the loop, you can ensure that your wishes are known and your loved ones can act swiftly and effectively in case of an emergency. 

    You should also provide your loved ones with my contact information in case they need copies of your powers of attorney or kids’ guardianship documents or need them delivered digitally.

    Estate Planning for The Life (And Vacation) You Deserve

    As you pack your bags and prepare for your vacation, don’t overlook the importance of handling your legal affairs. Taking the time to create powers of attorney, permanent and short-term legal guardians for your children, and communicating your plans to trusted individuals can provide you with peace of mind and save your family incredible stress if there’s an emergency while you’re away.

    To ensure that these documents are prepared correctly and in accordance with your state’s laws, I encourage you to contact me at (650) 600-1735. I start by guiding all of my clients through a unique process I call the Family Wealth Planning Session. During the session, I get to know you and your family on a personal level and review exactly what you own and who you love to make sure everything and everyone is protected and cared for in the best way possible when you pass away or if you become incapacitated. 

    If we find that things wouldn’t go the way you wanted if something happened to you, I can help you create a custom estate plan that leaves no rock unturned.

    Don’t let the joy of vacation be overshadowed by the “what if’s.” Contact me today at (650) 600-1735 for a free 15-minute call to learn more. 

    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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