Estate Planning Stratagies

There are several concerns most people have about their estate and its distribution upon death.

Unfortunately, very often these goals are never achieved, either because of poor planning or no planning at all.  You have worked a lifetime to accumulate what you have. Whenever you consider any kind of estate plan, the first and foremost must be your ability to use and enjoy what you own. Any kind of estate plan that gets in the way of that free use of your assets is simply not worth considering.

In this website we will discuss several of the most frequently used estate planning strategies and their advantages and disadvantages.

In my more than 25 years of law practice, there are certain "mistakes" that I have seen over and over. There are several reasons for people making the grevious errors in "planning" their estate, they include looking for a simplistic solution to what may be a complex problem, the belief that they need to "do-it-themselves to save money," and of course, the largest single problem which is getting advice from people that are simply not qualified or knowledgable about the subject. There is an old saying in the legal profession..."The biggest problem with the legal system is that people get their  legal advice from their barbers." So many times people choose to do it the way that mom, or gradma did, or the way their real estate agent, banker, or of course, their barber said to, only for their heirs to find out that huge amounts of costs and estate taxes could have been avoided, just having done things in a slightly different way.
 
Below is the list of those 21 most common grievous mistakes in estate planning. By clicking on the link, it will explain why they are a mistake and what can be done instead.

1.  Doing nothing.

2.  A Married couple holding Real Property in Joint Tenancy.

3. Leaving Real Property in a Will.

4. Leaving property "outright" to Minor Beneficiaries

5. Writing a Do-It-Yourself Will or Trust

6. Not using an A/B Trust for a Married Couple with an estate of $600,000 or more.

7. Not using an A/B Trust to Leave Property When Spouses Have Separate Children From Prior Marriages.

8. Having an A/B Trust in Which the Trustee Has Discretion to Terminate the Decedent's Trust During the Lifetime of the Surviving Spouse.

9. Having an Estate Primarily Composed of Real Property Without Providing for a Source of Liquidity to Pay Federal Estate Tax.

10. Not Having both a Durable Powers of Attorney for Property Management and an Advance Health Care Declaration.

11. Giving property to heirs or putting the property in "joint tenancy"  during lifetime so there is nothing to leave in a will.

12. Giving Property Away to Prevent Medi-Cal from taking it in the event of a catastrophic illness or need for skilled nursing care.

13. Using Life Insurance in an Estate to Pay Federal Federal Estate Tax.

14.  Having a Living Trust written and then failing to transfer ownership of assets to the trust.

15. Disclosing Confidential Information Necessary to Prepare a Living Trust to Persons Without a Legally Enforceable Obligation of Confidentiality.

16. Using a Will to Disinherit Close Family Members.

17. Use of Schemes that seem "Too Good to be True"....and are.

18. Having a Living Trust or Other Estate Planning Documents Prepared by a "Trust Marketing Organization" selling copies of "Boiler-Plate documents."

19. Not Fully Understanding the Implications of any Estate Planning Document Before it is Signed.

20. Neglecting to Periodically Review and Update Estate Planning Documents.

If you see yourself as having made any of the above disasterous mistakes, the good news is since you are still alive, it is not too late to correct them!

If you already have an estate plan, I offer a free, no cost or obligation review of your documents to make certain they really do meet your needs.

If you do not have an estate plan, then it's time to take action!