Will Your Estate Plan Actually Work When Your Family Needs It?

If you’re like most people, you likely think estate planning is just one more task to check off of your life’s endless “to-do” list.

You may shop around and find a lawyer to create planning documents for you, or you might try creating your own DIY plan using online documents. Then, you’ll put those documents into a drawer, mentally check estate planning off your to-do list, and forget about them.

The problem is, estate planning is not a one-and-done type of deal.

In fact, if it’s not regularly updated when your assets, family situation, and the laws change, your estate plan will be worthless. What’s more, failing to update your plan can create its own set of problems that can leave your family worse off than if you’d never created a plan at all.

Protect Your Family From Wealth's Dark Side with a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust

When you create your estate plan, the idea that one of your adult children would ever use their inheritance to bankroll a cult is probably something you’d never dream of, much less anticipate. Yet that’s exactly what 40-year-old Clare Bronfman, heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Seagram’s fortune, did with hers. In the end, her inheritance — and the power that came with it — led her down a dark path that seems almost too outlandish to be true.

In May of 2019, Clare pled guilty to felony charges of harboring an illegal alien and fraudulent use of a deceased person’s identity as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The charges stem from her role as an executive board member of Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ee-um), a group that prosecutors described as a “deeply manipulative pyramid scheme” that forced some of its members to endure slave-like conditions and even have sex with the group’s leader and founder, Keith Raniere.

Had she gone to trial for her involvement with Nxivm, Clare would have faced up to 25 years in prison. But given her plea, on September 30, 2020, she was only sentenced to 6 years, 9 months in prison. Following Clare’s plea, Raniere, 58, was found guilty in June on seven felony counts, including racketeering and sex trafficking. On October 27, 2020, Raniere was sentenced to 120 years incarceration in federal prison and a $1.75 million fine. His conviction comes following a six-week trial that exposed the world to Nxivm’s sordid inner workings and put wealth’s dark side on full display.

Online Wills? When You Should, When You Shouldn't, and Where to Do It

With all of the media about “digital wills” and “online estate planning” it could be tempting to think you can do your estate planning yourself, online. And, maybe you can. But, if you do, you need to know the potential pitfalls. Online estate planning could be a big trap for the unwary and actually leave your family worse off than if you had done nothing at all.

First and foremost, before you do any of your own online estate planning, it’s critical to understand your family dynamics, the nature of your assets, and what the state would say should happen to your assets if something happens to you. You see, whether or not you do estate planning, the state does have a plan for your assets if you become incapacitated or when you die. You need to know what that plan is, so you know whether or not you want to change it.

A good start on getting educated is this one hour training with estate planning attorney Ali Katz, which clarifies what you can and should do yourself, for free, online. The easy-to-watch training gives you access to a free online tool that you can use to create the one thing that would be most important for your family: a “treasure map” listing everything you own, where it is, and how your loved ones can access it. This tool is free to use, and creating your own personal resource map will be a valuable resource for the people you love.

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:

Six Tips For Finding a Lost Old 401(k)

Unfortunately, for many it is now true that the days of working for a single employer for decades until you retire are over. Today, you are much more likely to change jobs multiple times during your career. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, today’s workers have held an average of 12 jobs by the time they reach their 50s.

Since people change jobs so frequently, it is easy to see you might lose track of an old 401(k) or retirement account, especially if you only worked in a position for a short time. In fact, forgetting plans is quite common: it’s estimated that roughly 900,000 workers lose track of their 401(k) plans each year. And when you forget to cash out your 401(k) upon leaving a job, your former employer might no longer have control of your account.

Even if the company you worked for is still up and running, businesses terminate 401(k) plans all the time, especially during economic downturns. The company is required by law to contact you if they terminate the plan, but if they can’t locate you, the money can be transferred to a bank, rolled into an IRA, or even sent to the state’s unclaimed property fund.

If you’re looking to increase your retirement savings, one way to start is to make sure you haven’t lost or forgotten about any old accounts. Here are six tips for tracking down a missing 401(k).

Finance, Estate PlanningStephen PennerJune 6, 2023Family Wealth Inventory, Retirement, 401(K)s

Why Seniors and Their Families Should Be Wary of Reverse Mortgages - Part 2

In the first part of this series, we discussed the dangers of reverse mortgages for senior homeowners. Here, we’ll look at how these complex loans can negatively impact your family and estate plan.

For decades, reverse mortgages have been touted as an easy way for seniors to access extra money during retirement. Indeed, there was a time not too long ago when it was nearly impossible to watch TV without seeing at least one commercial extolling the benefits of these unique mortgages.

Yet, reverse mortgages turned out to be a financial disaster for many senior homeowners and their families. Tens of thousands of retirees lost their homes to foreclosure after defaulting on what was promised to be a “risk-free” way to convert the equity in their homes into cash.

Moreover, reverse mortgages were aggressively marketed mainly to low-income homeowners, who possessed minimal financial assets outside of the equity in their homes—the very people most likely to default. And though the federal government has recently enacted new laws to better protect seniors, reverse mortgages are still being hyped as a safe way for retirees to obtain much-needed cash.

Estate Planning, FinanceStephen PennerJune 6, 2023Reverse Mortgages, Your Home

How to Plan a "Pet Trust" to Protect Your Pet After Your Death

In our previous article, “What Happens to Your Pets When You Die?,” we talked about what to take into consideration when you’re planning for your pet’s care, in the event of your incapacity or your death. This week, we’re going to give you the steps to take in creating a pet trust to provide for your companion animal, or animals, if you cannot be there for them.

A WILL IS NOT ENOUGH

You might think that merely including a letter laying out the specifics of your pet’s care with your will is sufficient to provide care for your companion animals. However, you need to remember that the directions in your will won’t take effect until the estate is administered.

In the meantime, what happens to your pet? If there’s no provision for their immediate care, you may as well have just made an informal agreement, which is not enforceable.

Estate PlanningStephen PennerJune 5, 2023Pet Trusts

What Happens to Your Pets When You Die?

If you have pets, our guess is that you love them as your friends and treat them as a part of your family, but we’re also guessing that you have not provided any written or, better yet, legally documented instructions about what should happen to them, if you become incapacitated or when you die. If you have done that already, then read this article with an eye to ensuring you’ve checked all the right boxes for the beings you love. If you haven’t, read on because it’s time to take action, and we can make it easy for you to do the right thing by the pets you love.

Let’s start by looking at what happens if you become incapacitated or when you die, if you’ve done nothing to ensure the well-being and care of your pets. It may be that if you do nothing, one or more of your friends and family will step forward to take care of your pets. But, will the person who steps forward be the person you would choose? And, will they be able to easily afford to care for your pet, in the way you do?

Estate PlanningStephen PennerJune 2, 2023Pet Trusts

Frequently Asked Questions About Long-Term Care Insurance

Our nation’s population is aging at a faster rate than ever before, and collectively we are living much longer than in the past. In fact, by 2034, seniors (age 65 and older) will outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history, according to Census Bureau projections.

With the booming aging population, more and more seniors will require long-term healthcare services, whether at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home. However, such long-term care can be extremely expensive, especially when it’s needed for extended periods.

Moreover, many people mistakenly believe that their health insurance or the government will pay for their long-term care needs. But the fact is, traditional health insurance doesn’t cover long-term care. And though Medicare does pay for some long-term care, it’s typically limited (covering a maximum of 100 days), difficult to qualify for, and requires you to deplete nearly all of your assets before being eligible (unless you use proactive planning to shield your assets, which we can support you with if that’s important to you and your family).

Estate Planning, FinanceStephen PennerJune 2, 2023Long-Term Care Insurance

Three Vital Estate Planning Documents for High School Graduates

At this time of year, young people across the country are about to reach a key milestone: high school graduation. If you have a child claiming their diploma, now is the time to prepare them for life after leaving the nest.

Graduating high school is a significant accomplishment. However, it comes with serious responsibilities that your child probably isn't thinking much about right now. Once your child turns 18, they become a legal adult, and specific areas of their lives that were once under your control will, by law, be solely their responsibility.

While your child will now be a legal adult, you still have essential parental duties. Yet, if you don't support your child to step into adulthood with legal documents in place to help both of you, it can be challenging and costly for you to help them in the event of an emergency.

A WILL IS NOT ENOUGH

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A WILL IS NOT ENOUGH

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