Does Your Estate Plan Protect Your Intellectual Property?

If you own a business, you almost certainly have intellectual property. However, because your intellectual property is intangible, it can be invisible to you and those who aren’t familiar with the nature of intellectual property and its value, so it often gets overlooked, especially when it comes to estate planning. Yet, if you fail to properly document your intellectual property, your estate plan will likely not protect it — and this could cause your loved ones to miss out on what can be among your most valuable assets.

When we talk about intellectual property, we’re referring to creations of the mind, including inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, logos, brand names, and images, all of which are used in the course of a business.

Even if you’ve worked with a lawyer to set up your business entity or a CPA to file your taxes, those advisors may not be thinking about or helping you plan for what happens to your intangible business assets upon your death. Similarly, most lawyers who focus on estate planning don’t really understand the value of intellectual property and how to protect it.

Protect Your Home, Family, & Assets from the Growing Threat of Natural Disasters

Over just the last years, we’ve seen historic levels of damage caused by natural disasters in the United States. From blizzards in Texas and wildfires in California to hurricanes in Louisiana and tornados in the Midwest, few regions of the country are immune to such catastrophes. And based on the latest data from the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), things are only going to get worse.

The WMO found that climate change has helped drive a fivefold increase in the number of weather-related disasters in the last 50 years, and these calamities are getting more severe each year. As a result of climate change, weather records are being broken all the time, turning previously impossible events into deadly realities.

Despite this threat, a majority of homeowners lack the insurance coverage needed to protect their property and possessions from such calamities. Roughly 64% of homeowners don’t have enough insurance, according to a 2020 report from CoreLogic, the nation’s largest source of property and housing data. One major factor contributing to this lack of coverage is the mistaken belief that homeowners insurance offers adequate protection from natural disasters.

Does Your Family Need Umbrella Insurance?

In today’s highly litigious society you are at near-constant risk for costly lawsuits — even if you’ve done nothing wrong. This is especially true if you have substantial wealth, but even those with relatively few assets can find themselves in court facing a potentially devastating lawsuit.

If you are sued, your traditional homeowners or auto insurance will likely offer you some liability coverage, but those policies only cover you up to a certain dollar amount before they max out, and you can be held personally liable for anything beyond that limit. For this reason, you should consider adding an extra layer of protection by investing in personal liability umbrella insurance.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerApril 20, 2023Insurance, Umbrella Insurance

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.

How Naming Guardians for Your Children In Your Will Still Leaves Them at Risk

If you are a mom or dad with children under the age of 18 at home, your number-one estate planning priority should be selecting and legally documenting both long and short-term guardians for your children. Guardians are the people legally named to care for your children in the event something happens to you.

And if you’ve named guardians for your children in your will — even with the help of another lawyer — your kids could still be at risk of being taken into the care of strangers!

One of the most disturbing aspects of this situation is that you probably have no idea just how vulnerable your kids are, since this is a blind spot inherent to the estate plan of countless parents around the world. Even many lawyers aren’t fully aware of this issue — and that’s because most lawyers simply don’t understand what’s necessary for planning and ensuring the well-being and care of minor children.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerApril 19, 2023Guardianships, Kids Protection Plan®

Probate: What It Is & How To Avoid It — Part 1

Unless you’ve created a proper estate plan, when you die many of your assets must first pass through the court process known as 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 a central goal of most estate plans.

During probate, the court supervises a number of different legal actions, all of which are aimed at finalizing your affairs and settling your estate. Although we’ll discuss them more in-depth below, probate typically consists of the following processes:

Determining the validity of your will (if you have one).
Appointing an executor or administrator to manage the probate process and settle your estate.
Locating and valuing all of your assets.
Notifying & paying your creditors.
Filing & paying your taxes.
Distributing your assets to the appropriate beneficiaries.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerApril 19, 2023Probate, Taxes, Wills, Creditors

Protect Your Children's Inheritance with a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust (LAPT)

As a parent, you’re likely hoping to leave your children an inheritance. In fact, doing so may be one of the primary factors motivating your life’s work. But without taking the proper precautions, the wealth you pass on is at serious risk of being accidentally lost or squandered due to common life events, such as divorce, serious debt, devastating illness, and unfortunate accidents.

In some cases, a sudden inheritance windfall can even wind up doing your kids more harm than good.

Three Reasons Why Transferring Ownership of your Home to your Children is a Bad Idea

Whether it’s to qualify for Medicaid, avoid probate, or reduce your tax burden, transferring ownership of your home to your adult child during your lifetime may seem like a smart move. But in nearly all cases, it’s actually a huge mistake, which can lead to dire consequences for everyone involved.

With this in mind, before you sign over the title to your family’s beloved homestead, consider the following potential risks.

What to Expect from your Initial Meeting with a Personal Family Lawyer®

Whether you’ve met with an estate planning lawyer before or it’s your first time, it’s important to understand how working with our Personal Family Lawyer® is different from meeting with another typical lawyer from most other law firms.

Here we will explain what’s involved with our process, in hopes that it will inspire you to meet with our firm’s Personal Family Lawyer® and get clear on what your family needs you to have in place, so you don’t leave behind a mess if you become incapacitated or when you die. We promise to help you make the wisest, most affordable, most effective, time-saving plan for yourself and the people you love.

Preventing Family Conflict and Disputes Over Your Estate Plan

Family members do not all think the same, and the wrong question, or the unplanned for difficult situation, can emphasize disagreements and different philosophies if there is no clear and straightforward way of making a decision. No matter how well you think you know your loved ones, it’s impossible to predict exactly how they’ll behave when you die or if you become incapacitated. No one wants to believe that their family members would ever end up fighting one another in court over inheritance issues or a loved one’s life-saving medical treatment, but the fact is, we see it all the time.

Family dynamics are extremely complicated and prone to conflict even during the best of times. But when tragedy strikes a member of the household, even minor tensions and disagreements can explode into bitter conflict. And when access to money (or even quite often, sentimental items of furniture or jewelry) is on the line, the potential for discord is exponentially increased. Ultimately, there is no greater cost to families than the cost of lost relationships after the death or incapacity of a loved one.

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