The Six Things You Should NOT Include In Your Will

A will is one of the most basic estate planning tools. While relying solely on a will is rarely a suitable option for most people, just about every estate plan includes this key document in one form or another.

A will is used to designate how you want your assets distributed to your surviving loved ones upon your death. If you die without a will, state law governs how your assets are distributed, which may or may not be in line with your wishes.

That said, not all assets can (or should) be included in your will. For this reason, it’s important for you to understand which assets you should put in your will and which assets you should include in other planning documents like trusts.

While you should always consult with an experienced planning professional like us when creating your will, here are a few of the different types of assets that should not be included in your will.

Estate Planning Must-Haves for Single Parents

If you are a single parent, life for you right now probably couldn’t get any busier. You are likely being pulled between work, school activities, and home — and the inevitable emergencies that fill the lives of single parents everywhere.

Being a single parent is a huge responsibility, even if you do share time with a parenting partner, and especially so if you don’t. Regardless, as a single parent, your children’s lives are now largely in your hands. So what would happen to them if something happened to you? Who would take care of them? Who would pay for their housing and food? Who would pay for their education? These are questions you need to get answered, and the best way to do that is through estate planning.

Having an estate plan that covers the care of your children in case you should be in a severe accident, fall ill, or die provides peace of mind for the single parent. It is worth knowing that everything and everyone you love is taken care of.

Here are the must-haves that can protect your children if something were to ever happen to you:

Probate: What It Is & How To Avoid It — Part 2

Unless you’ve created an estate plan that works to keep your family out of court, when you die (or become incapacitated) many of your assets must go through probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be time-consuming, costly, and open to the public, and because of this, avoiding probate — and keeping your family out of court — is often a central goal of estate planning.

To spare your loved one’s the time, cost, and stress inherent to probate, yesterday in part one of this series, we explained how the probate process works and what it would entail for your loved ones. Here in part two, we’ll discuss the major drawbacks of probate for your family, and outline the different ways you can help them avoid probate with wise legal planning.

What Your Last Will & Testament Will (and Will Not) Do - Part 2

Yesterday, in part one, we looked at the different things having a will in place allows you to do. Here, in part two, we detail all of the things that your will does not do, along with identifying the specific estate planning tools and strategies that you should have in place to make up for the potential blind spots that exist in an estate plan that consists of only a will.

If you have yet to create your will, or you haven’t reviewed your existing will recently, contact our Personal Family Lawyer® to get this vital first step in your estate planning handled right away.

Three Simple Mistakes That Can Derail Your Estate Plan

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 or does not take tax consequences into account. And if these mistakes or tax consequences 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 we see when reviewing DIY and low-cost estate plans:

What You Need to Know About Collecting Life Insurance Proceeds

If you're looking to collect life insurance proceeds as the policy’s beneficiary, the process is fairly simple. However, during the emotional period immediately following a loved one’s death, it can feel as if your entire world is falling apart, so it’s helpful to understand exactly what steps you need to take to access the insurance funds as quickly and easily as possible.

Not to mention, if you’ve been dependent on the person who died for financial support and/or you are responsible for paying for the funeral or other expenses, the need to access insurance money can be downright urgent. Plus, unlike other assets, an estate’s executor typically isn’t involved with collecting life insurance proceeds, since benefits pass directly to a beneficiary, so this is something you will need to handle yourself.

With this in mind, we’ve outlined the typical procedure for claiming and collecting life insurance proceeds, along with discussing how beneficiaries can deal with common hiccups in the process. However, because all life insurance policies are different and some involve more complexities than others, simply contact our Personal Family Lawyer® if you need any support or guidance.

Life InsuranceStephen PennerMarch 31, 2023Life Insurance, Insurance, Beneficiary Designations

10 Common Estate Planning Mistakes Your Family Can't Afford to Make - Part 2

Part of creating any family involves, for every responsible adult, creating a financial plan and a legal plan. Whether your family is new or old, maintaining stability and security are a part of how you protect those you love most. Everyone needs to manage their finances well. And everyone needs an estate plan that avoids the most common pitfalls made by those who are not well informed.

Estate planning is definitely not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Even if you think your particular situation is simple, that turns out to almost never be the case. To demonstrate just how complicated estate planning can be, last week in part one, we highlighted the first five of 10 of the most common estate-planning mistakes, and here we wrap up the list with the remaining five mistakes.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerMarch 20, 2023Beneficiary Designations, Trusts, Guardianships, Trustees

Just Married?: 6 Estate Planning Essentials for Newlyweds – Part 1

If you are a newlywed or are about to tie the knot, add “estate planning” to your do list. And yes, we imagine that at this happiest time of your life, planning for your potential incapacity and eventual death is probably the farthest thing from your mind right now, but getting it handled as part of your wedding planning will be one of the greatest gifts you can give your soon-to-be spouse.

First, be aware of the impact of doing nothing. If you were to become hospitalized for any reason prior to your marriage day, the person you love most in the world would not have the legal authority to make your medical decisions and may not even have the authority to see you in the hospital. Your beloved would have no access to your bank accounts and could even be put into a position of not having any access or residency rights to your home abruptly in the event of your death.

If the idea of these potential realities is terrifying to you, call us today to get a “pre-marriage” plan in place, and then, after your marriage, we can update it.

Indeed, once your marriage is official, your relationship becomes entirely different from both a legal and financial perspective. With this in mind, if you’ve recently said “I do” or have plans to do so in the near future, here are six essential items you need to address in your plan.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerFebruary 8, 2023Marriage, Trusts, Wills, Community Property, Beneficiary Designations

4 Common Mistakes Made On Life Insurance Beneficiary Designations

Investing in life insurance is a foundational part of estate planning, and when done right it’s a primary way to say “I love you” to your loved ones after you are gone. However, when naming your policy’s beneficiaries, several mistakes can lead to potentially dire consequences for the people you’re investing to protect and support.

The following four mistakes are among the most common we see clients make when selecting life insurance beneficiaries. If you’ve made any of these errors, contact us immediately, so we can support you to change your beneficiary designations on your policy and ensure the proceeds provide the maximum benefit for those you love most.

01 - Failing To Name A Beneficiary

Although it would seem common sense, whether intentional or not, far too many people fail to name any beneficiary on their life insurance policies or inadvertently name their “estate” as beneficiary. Both of these errors will mean your insurance proceeds must go through the court process known as probate.

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