The Importance of Planning

Our Law Firm handles many “post death” matters. We help Trustees, surviving spouses, and Executors administer a loved one’s estate. Sometimes it is very easy. Other times, it is complicated, and expensive. What makes the difference? PLANNING. Consider one of our cases:
Mom and dad had a Revocable Trust from 1998. They never updated their legal documents. Mom passed first, and dad, with time, succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. Due to his incapacity, dad was legally unable to sign new documents. The two adult daughters had an extremely difficult time managing dad’s affairs due to the outdated legal documents.
After dad’s death, the Trust was to be distributed to the two daughters. One daughter unexpectedly passed away shortly after dad’s death. Her share passed to her two children, however, one of her children was disabled. That child’s inheritance would cause a termination of SSI and Medi-Cal benefits, unless a “first party” Special Needs Trust was established. Now the court had to be involved, and the process became complicated. Daughter’s other child had been estranged for many years due to drug addiction, and his whereabouts were unknown. This result was not what mom, dad, or daughter would have wanted.
Additionally, mom and dad never properly “funded” their Trust. More court intervention was needed, because several assets were not “titled” in the Trust. Their IRA designation did not have a beneficiary after the spouse, so when both passed, it paid to the “estate”, resulting in unnecessary tax liability.
It is very important to keep your estate documents updated, and your trust “funded”. Qualified estate planning/elder law attorneys, such as the McNamara Law Firm, can make the process easy.
For an appointment, please call the McNamara Law Firm at (661) 287-3260, or visit www.theMcNamaraLawFirm.com.