Writing Your Tulsa Estate Planning Blog

Reverse mortgages used to have a much deserved terrible reputation. Today, however, they are much better and have become a viable option for many people.

Many elderly people find themselves in need of money to meet unexpected expenses. Sometimes, they just did not anticipate how much they would need to live on in retirement.

While some are able to get a standard loan, that is not an option for many people. Why? It is because they cannot afford to make payments every month.

To solve this problem, reverse mortgages were created.

Elder law attorneys almost universally have derided reverse mortgages. They were seen as nothing more than ways to rip off the elderly.

However, the laws have changed and reverse mortgages are not as bad as they used to be, as Inforum points out in “Changes in reverse mortgages make them safer, less expensive.”

A reverse mortgage allows an elderly person to use the equity they have built up in their home. The borrower can get money now as a line of credit, regular payments or even a lump sum. The money does not have to be paid back, until the borrower moves out of the house permanently, sells the house or passes away. The lender is paid back the money loaned plus interest by selling the house. If there is anything left after the lender is made whole, the remainder goes to the borrower or his heirs.

Legal protections make these loans better than they used to be, including provisions that borrowers must receive counseling by an approved provider before signing a reverse mortgage.

Nevertheless, the contracts are complex. It is, therefore, best to see an elder law attorney before signing a reverse mortgage.

Reference: Inforum (Feb. 27, 2017) “Changes in reverse mortgages make them safer, less expensive.”

One of the issues that right-to-die advocates have had to address is, under what conditions a person should be able to choose to no longer receive medical treatment. A case in New Jersey illustrates how tricky that can be.

For a long time, people have argued for the right to refuse medical treatment they do not want, even if it would preserve their lives. Every state in the U.S. allows this, to some extent or another, through the use of living wills.

These documents allow people to declare in advance that if they are terminally ill with no chance of recovery, doctors should not give them life-prolonging treatments. Living wills are not very controversial. They became extremely popular after the Terry Schiavo case a few years ago.

However, right-to-die advocates have attempted to push the envelope even further and allow more people to decide when they no longer want to live. Elder law advocates have especially tried to make it easier for the elderly to refuse treatments that they do not want.

A recent case in New Jersey might be the most extreme example of pushing the envelope thus far.

CNN reported on it in “Woman with eating disorder dies after court grants her that right.”

Last summer, a 29-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital. She suffered from a severe eating disorder and weighed only 60 pounds at the time. She suffered from heart failure after tearing medical tubes out on her own.

According to her court appointed guardian, the woman did not want to be forced to use a feeding tube, because she feared she might get fat. The guardian argued that she should be allowed to refuse the treatment and enter palliative care where she would not be force fed.

The court agreed and the woman has passed away.

Reference: CNN (Feb. 22, 2017) “Woman with eating disorder dies after court grants her that right.”

There is a common misconception that only certain types of people actually need wills. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You may have heard that not everyone needs a will. It is a common thought considering that the majority of American adults do not have wills. People often assume they do not need wills because they do not have very many assets and just want those assets to pass to their spouse and children. Some people think that wills are only really needed by the very wealthy and the very old.

Recently, the Norman Transcript tried to answer this misconception in “Wills: Who needs them?”

As it turns out, the answer to the question posed in the article’s title is “everyone.”

There is not a single category of adult who cannot benefit from having at least a will, although most people should have more estate planning documents than just a will. If you have minor children, then it is even more important that you have an estate plan to make sure your children are taken care of by someone you would approve of and that there are assets to provide for the children.

However, it is not just parents of minor children who need a will.

Anyone with any property, who wants to have a say in what happens to it after they pass away, needs to get a will.

Since you are most likely in the category of “everyone,” visit an estate planning attorney and get a will, if you do not already have one.

Reference: Norman Transcript (Feb. 24, 2017) “Wills: Who needs them?”

Most Americans do not have wills. They should get one, but they should not stop their estate planning with just a will.
The estate planning news has recently been full of stories about a new survey that showed that 58% of American adults do not have wills. The survey found that it was even worse for parents of minor children. Some 64% of them do not have wills. They have more reasons than anyone else have a will.

This has resulted in many articles about how Americans need to get wills and why their excuses for not getting them are misguided. That is all true.

Americans do need to get wills and they do need to stop making the same excuses, as the AARP points out in “Haven’t Done A Will Yet?”
However, estate planning should not stop with just a will.
A will is only one of the documents you can get by going to an experienced estate planning attorney. For example, you might learn that a trust is a better primary estate planning tool for you to use in your particular situation. Through an attorney, you can also get other important legal documents, including a health care power of attorney, a general durable power of attorney and a living will.
These and other legal documents will make sure that your financial affairs are managed properly, if you ever become unable to handle your own affairs.
Do get a will if you do not already have one. However, do not stop there. Make sure that you have a more thorough estate plan by consulting with a qualified estate planning attorney.
Reference: AARP (Feb. 24, 2017) “Haven’t Done A Will Yet?”

There are many reasons why you should have an estate plan. One of them stands out above the others. Getting an estate plan will spare your family a lot of pain later.

One of the last things that most people would ever want to do is to cause pain for their loved ones. However, it is something that many people do inadvertently all the time.

The majority of American adults are in danger of doing it, simply because they do not have estate plans, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal explains in “Estate planning can save your family plenty of money and heartache later.”

Not having an estate plan, means your family will ultimately have to deal with everything you leave behind, including what happens with your assets. They will have to sort out your belongings and decide where everything should go.

They will also have to pay for the probate process to make sure that it is all done legally.

When your family has to pay and make decisions about your estate because you did not, it can cause them considerable pain and money.

Spare your family that pain and get an estate plan.

Reference: Las Vegas Review-Journal (Feb. 27, 2017) “Estate planning can save your family plenty of money and heartache later.”

Most older Americans have wills, but most younger Americans do not. It does not matter how old you are, however, you should have a will.

Survey after survey shows that the majority of Americans do not have an estate plan, or even a will. The New York Times recently reported on a new survey that shows only 42% of Americans have a will in “Why You Should Get Around to Drawing Up a Will.”

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of people over the age of 72 have a will. The bad news is that only one in five people between the ages of 18 and 36 have wills.

The problem is that younger adults often have a very big reasons why it is more important for them to have a will than it is for retired people. Younger adults are far more likely to have minor children that need backup parents appointed, if they are orphaned.

It is only through creating an estate plan that parents can give directions about who should care for their children and how that should be done. An estate plan is also the best way to make sure the children’s immediate and long-term financial needs are met.

Even young adults without children should have at least a will, since it is the only way to make sure that their assets go to the people they choose after they pass away.

As the article points out, many people believe you do not need to have an estate planning attorney to create a will. It is possible to create your own will using many do-it-yourself options.

Be advised, though, that the article also points out that both The New York Times and Consumer Reports have looked into do-it-yourself will services and found them lacking for all but the simplest of wills.

No matter how old you are, do yourself and your family a favor and contact an estate planning attorney, if you do not already have a will.

Reference: New York Times (Feb. 8, 2017) “Why You Should Get Around to Drawing Up a Will.”

Audrey Hepburn’s estate planning mistake has led to a long legal fight between her sons. It appears that they have finally reached an agreement.

Audrey Hepburn starred in some of the most beloved movies of all time. She came to symbolize beauty and grace in mid-century Hollywood.

When she passed away in 1993, she left behind a gigantic amount of memorabilia from her acting career, including some of the costumes and jewelry that she wore in her iconic roles. These items have obvious value to collectors, but so far no one has gotten their hands on them.

Why?

The items have been the source of a long dispute between her two sons.

Hepburn specified in her estate plan that everything she owned should be split between those sons equally, but she left no instructions regarding just how that was to be accomplished.

Which son should get which item?

Her memorabilia has been contested in court for the last two years, but the sons may have finally reached an agreement, according to the Daily Mail in “Audrey Hepburn’s sons agree to split their late mother’s treasure trove of belongings, including costumes, jewelry, scripts and awards, after two-year legal dispute.”

The sons have agreed to submit the question to mediation and use that process to determine the distribution of particular pieces of memorabilia. However, this will not be the end of all battles concerning Hepburn’s estate, since a charitable fund she founded is now suing one of the sons for interference with its affairs.

Hepburn’s mistake was not including some way for her son’s to resolve any disputes about who gets what in her estate plan. She could have made provisions for a mediator to resolve the disputes. That would have saved a lot of headaches and legal bills for her family.

Reference: Daily Mail (March 9, 2017) “Audrey Hepburn’s sons agree to split their late mother’s treasure trove of belongings, including costumes, jewelry, scripts and awards, after two-year legal dispute.”

A federal regulation is designed to make it easy for people to get pricing information from funeral homes, but the rule is often ignored.

A long time ago, funeral homes colluded with each other to not give detailed information about their prices to potential customers. As a result, families could not shop around for the best price for funeral services.

After losing a lawsuit to the federal government, funeral homes stopped mandating that their association members engage in this practice. However, that did not stop individual funeral homes from refusing to give detailed pricing information.

In 1984 the Federal Trade Commission decided to act by passing a regulation known as the Funeral Rule. It requires that funeral homes give potential customers, appearing in person, a written, detailed price list. Funeral homes are also required to give clear pricing information when asked to do so over the phone.

Despite this rule, people still find it difficult to get accurate funeral prices, according to NPR in “Despite Decades-Old Law, Funeral Prices Are Still Unclear.”

Federal investigators have found that one in four funeral homes they check, violate the funeral rule.

This is an important issue for many elders and their families who would like to plan in advance for how much a funeral will cost. Without clear and accurate prices given in advance, families are often later stuck with large bills they did not anticipate when they bury a loved one.

When you are speaking to a funeral home, you should be given information on the home’s prices. If you are not, ask for it and make sure that you understand the prices you are shown.

Reference: NPR (Feb. 8, 2017) “Despite Decades-Old Law, Funeral Prices Are Still Unclear.”

A now closed clinic in Ohio is being sued by former patients for falsely telling patients they had Alzheimer’s disease and treating them for the disease they did not have.

When people get older they naturally begin to get a bit more absent-minded. They sometimes forget little things such as where they left their keys more often than they previously did.

Many people fear the worst. They fear that their forgetfulness is a sign that they are coming down with Alzheimer’s disease.

While no one wants to be diagnosed with the disease, it can come as something of a relief to get properly diagnosed so that people know what is wrong with them.

However, what if you were told you had Alzheimer’s and really did not? That is what many former patients of an Ohio clinic, that is now closed, allege in lawsuits.

The clinic told them they had the disease and accepted their payments for treatment. It was later revealed that these diagnoses were false and it appears that the clinic’s director did not have a license to practice medicine in Ohio.

FOX News reported this story in “Clinic falsely told dozens they had Alzheimer’s, suits say.”

If these allegations turn out to be true, this is a brazen and disturbing case of elder abuse. One of the people affected even committed suicide.

People are right to worry whether they have a debilitating disease.

If you ever have any concerns that you (or a loved one) are being taken advantage of in a similar way, contact an elder law attorney.

When creating an estate plan, you will want to consider how to leave assets for the benefit of your spouse. There are several ways to do so.

Unless you and your spouse have a valid legal agreement otherwise, you will not be able to disinherit him or her in all but the most unusual circumstances. In every state, a spouse is entitled to a spousal elective share of a deceased partner’s estate, although the exact amount of the share varies between states.

Consequently, if you make no provisions in your estate plan for your spouse, your spouse can elect to take his or her share and the court will alter your plans. Therefore, when you are creating your estate plan, you need to consider how to leave an inheritance for your spouse, even if you would rather not.

There are several different ways to do so, as The Times Herald discusses in “Options for leaving an inheritance to a spouse.”

The biggest decision is whether to use a will or a trust.

With a will, you can leave assets for your spouse to receive outright as free of any restrictions or control. However, there are disadvantages, especially if you want to avoid probate and ensure that the spouse will leave any remaining assets to heirs of your choice, when the spouse passes away.

With a funded living trust, probate may not be required. There are also ways to make sure that any remaining assets are given to people of your choosing. There are several different types of trusts that can be used to include testamentary trusts under a will, once the estate clears probate.

An estate planning attorney can go over your options and help you to determine the best option for you.

Reference: The Times Herald (Feb. 20, 2017) “Options for leaving an inheritance to a spouse.”