Writing Your Tulsa Estate Planning Blog

Everyone in Washington knows that Social Security needs to be reformed. However, that reform is unlikely to come anytime soon.

The future for Social Security is inevitable.

If nothing is done, then sometime in the 2030s the Social Security Trust Fund will run out of money.

That does not mean that retired people will stop receiving benefits, but it does mean there will be automatic benefit cuts as the program will only be able to pay out as much as it is then receiving.

This eventuality has been known for several years now. Most people would like to fix it sooner rather than later.

However, reforms to Social Security are not expected soon, as Forbes discusses in “When Can You Expect Social Security Reform?”

The problem is that the Republicans and Democrats are very far apart on how they would like to fix the program.

Republicans would like to raise the retirement age as part of any fix. Many of them would also like to privatize the program.

Both of those ideas are staunchly opposed by Democrats, who would instead like to find further funding, so Social Security benefits can be increased.

This stalemate is not going to end in the near future.

That means it is unlikely the parties will compromise to come up with a fix.

Do not expect them to do so, until the very last minute when a compromise must be reached or benefits will be cut automatically.

Reference: Forbes (August 29, 2017) “When Can You Expect Social Security Reform?”

Today you can not only purchase a will online and download a form to fill out, you can even find websites that will let you create a free will and sign it digitally. You should not use these services.

There is stiff competition for cheap online wills.

There are all sorts of websites that offer wills at various prices and even for free. There might be hundreds of these sites, if not more.

They regularly pop up and try to beat each other in search engine rankings.

One new trend is for sites to have wills that are completely digital. You can answer some questions to have the will made.

You then sign the will digitally and think you have a will, as Jewish Link of New Jersey discusses in “Why You Really Don’t Want an Online Will.”

The problem?

If you use one these sites, you really do not have a will.

You have nothing at all but lost time.

In order to be valid in court, wills must be executed in specific ways.

That means you need to sign the will in front of witnesses, who also need to sign the will.

In some states, a notary public must also be present to certify that you and the witnesses signed the will.

If these steps are not taken, then the will cannot be entered into probate court.
Online wills are not worth your time.

Even if they do not make the basic error above, you cannot trust them to not make other mistakes.

Wills need to be carefully crafted legal documents. You should see an estate planning attorney to get one.

Reference: Jewish Link of New Jersey (August 24, 2017) “Why You Really Don’t Want an Online Will.”

People who do not have very many assets, still need to get estate plans. However, the best plans for them may not be the same as the best plans for wealthier people.

Much of the estate planning advice you can find online is written with the idea that the person receiving the advice has some wealth built up.

It is estate planning for people who are rich or those who will become rich.

However, most people in the U.S. are not rich.

Millions of people have very little wealth built up, but they still need to plan for the assets they do have and that they want to protect.

That can be different than what the wealthy need to do, as the Napa Valley Register points out in “New dad wonders about estate planning.”

One thing people with limited assets should understand, is that they might not need a trust to avoid probate.

Most states have a law that provides for the simple transfer of assets, if the estate is below a certain total amount. In such instances, even a will does not have to be entered into probate.

The amount varies from state to state, so you will want to check with an estate planning attorney in your state.

Nevertheless, just because you might not need to worry about probate, does not mean you should not get an estate plan.

If you have minor children, for example, then you will definitely want a will so you can choose who would be your child’s guardian, if anything happens to you.

Estate planning attorneys work with all kinds of clients from every income level. Do not think that a lack of assets disqualifies you from seeking their services.

Reference: Napa Valley Register (August 24, 2017) “New dad wonders about estate planning.”

Some of the biggest estate planning mistakes that people make are not technically estate planning, but they can have a big effect on an estate.

When people are planning for their estates, they want to make sure they do not make any mistakes.

It is important that the plans can be carried so assets are distributed in the way they wanted and so taxes, court costs and attorneys’ fees do not eat up a large portion of the estate.

Avoiding those types of mistakes is important in estate planning.

However, a potentially bigger mistake is not planning for end-of-life care while planning for an estate, as Forbes points out in “The Biggest Estate Planning Mistake People Make.”

Some end-of-life documents you should get from your estate planning attorney include:

• A Durable Power of Attorney — With this document you can appoint someone else to handle your financial responsibilities, if you are ever unable to do so due to incapacitation. This is important if you want to make sure that your bills get paid on time, for example.

• A Health Care Power of Attorney — This document lets you appoint someone else to make medical decisions for you, if you are unable to do so. When doctors need to know what decision to make about your care, this is the person they will ask.

• A Living Will — This document allows you to give advanced directives to medical professionals about what procedures to give you or to withhold in the event you are incapacitated, terminally ill and unable to communicate your wishes.

Reference: Forbes (August 16, 2017) “The Biggest Estate Planning Mistake People Make.”

Many people get trusts as their primary estate planning instrument because of the estate tax, but trusts do have many other benefits.

With Congress taking up tax reform soon, one thing that many people are following is President Trump’s desire to eliminate the estate tax.

It is important for many people because the estate tax can take a sizeable portion out of an estate. Many people have designed their estate plans around not having to pay the tax.

If the estate tax is repealed, then people might have good reason to change their estate plans and they might decide to get rid of their trusts.

That is one of the main reasons people get trusts. They are a way to avoid the estate tax.

However, do not plan on scrapping your trust yet, since there are other reasons to get trusts than the estate tax, as Elder Law Answers discusses in “Are Trusts Still Useful If the Estate Tax Is Repealed?”

One of the best things about trusts is that they do not have to go through the probate process, which can be very expensive and time-consuming, depending on the state in which you live.

Trusts can also be kept private so your estate plan is not shared with the general public, as is often the case with wills.

Trusts can be used to pass your assets to beneficiaries in a controlled way and only after certain conditions are met. The truth is that trusts are an extremely versatile estate planning tool and beneficial with or without an estate tax.

It is too soon to know if the estate tax will be repealed.

If it does happen, do not let it fool you into thinking you no longer need a trust.

Reference: Elder Law Answers (June 30, 2017) “Are Trusts Still Useful If the Estate Tax Is Repealed?”

If you are expecting your first child, there are a few things that you need to do before the due date to make sure that you are financially prepared.
Having your first child is an exciting time in anyone’s life.

People make all kinds of plans about the child. Names are picked out. Nurseries are built. Detailed plans about how to get to the hospital on the big day are decided. Plans to have grandparents come out to help take care of the new baby are often made.

All of those things are important.

In the frenzy of making those plans, people often forget that they need to make some financial arrangements before the baby is born, as Business Insider points out in “The first 3 things to do with your money before you have a baby are easy to overlook.”

Things that you should do include:

•Make sure that you understand health insurance and how to get your new child on your plan as soon as you possibly can. If your employer provides your insurance, then speak to your HR representative about what you will need to do.

•Make sure that you have plenty of access to cash. Children often require parents to spend cash in emergencies. You will need to have liquid assets, so you can do that. A financial advisor should be able to assist you in getting those liquid assets.

•Think about who you would want to be the guardian of your child, if anything should happen to you. You should then go to an estate planning attorney and get a will, so the person you want to be guardian will be appointed by the court.

Reference: Business Insider (August 22, 2017) “The first 3 things to do with your money before you have a baby are easy to overlook.”

If you have a trust, you might find by looking carefully at the estate planning documents that you do not really need to put assets into the trust while you are alive. Don’t let that fool you.

When you get a living trust, the estate planning attorney who drafted the trust will tell you that you need to fund the trust. That simply means that you need to transfer your assets to the trust.

This can be difficult at times, because you have to figure out what goes into the trust and what should stay out of it for various reasons.

The estate planning attorney can help you in making those determinations. Unfortunately, instead of asking for that help, many people end up not funding their trusts.

They see that they were also given a pour-over will at the same time as they got the trust.

That is a will that says any assets in an estate should be transferred to the trust, after the owner of the assets passes away.

Since the assets will be transferred later by the pour-over will, people think there is no reason to do it now.

That is a mistake, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in “Importance of funding a trust.”

The biggest problem is that one of the main reasons to get a living trust is to avoid having your estate go through probate court after you pass away.

However, if you rely on the pour-over will to fund your trust, then the place your trust gets funded is in probate court.

It is the probate court that will have to direct assets to a trust. By not funding the trust on your own, you defeat one of the primary reasons that you got the trust in the first place.

If you have difficulty funding your trust, then talk to your estate planning attorney about what you need to do.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (August 17, 2017) “Importance of funding a trust.”

You do not have much reason to fear the federal estate tax, because few estates end up paying it. Even if your estate could be affected by it, there are ways to minimize the tax and possibly to avoid it completely.

The estate tax is one of those things that gets a lot more attention than it probably should. The political parties are willing to go to war over any potential changes to the federal estate tax and there is a lot written about it when they do.

However, the American public in general does not need to worry about it too much.

The estate tax only realistically affects about 1% of American families.
The overwhelming majority of estates do not have enough assets to even begin to worry about having to pay it.

Even for those who have enough assets, there are things you can do to avoid paying any estate tax as the Marco Eagle discusses in “Tax Secrets: Slay the estate tax monster.”

If you go to an experienced estate planning attorney, you will most likely be presented with several different options to minimize any estate tax burden on your estate.

The estate tax can often be avoided completely.

It is all a matter of how you structure your estate plan and what other things you want to accomplish with your plans.

Some states also have estate taxes, so merely avoiding the federal estate tax will not necessarily help you avoid all estate taxes.

Nevertheless, estate planning attorneys can also help you with states’ taxes, should that be necessary.

Reference: Marco News (August 20, 2017) “Tax Secrets: Slay the estate tax monster.”

Everyone needs to prepare for Alzheimer’s Disease. They should do so long before they think that they might get it, because it is not just the elderly who suffer from the disease.

The typical view of people with Alzheimer’s Disease is of an elderly person in a nursing home who cannot remember very much. That is probably true for the average Alzheimer’s patient.

Most people who get the disease are elderly and many of them do have to go to a nursing home.

However, those are not the only people who get it.

Although the reasons are not understood, there are some people who get the disease long before they reach retirement age.

It is called Early-Onset Alzheimer’s, as the Massillon Independent reports in “Alzheimer’s not limited to elderly.”

Because it is possible for you to get the disease and it could happen much sooner than you think, you need to prepare for it. You need to do something now that you will have difficulty doing after you get the disease.

You need to plan for your estate.

That does not just mean you should plan for who gets your possessions, which you should do, it also means that you should plan for who will help you, when you can no longer handle things on your own.

You need a general durable power of attorney, so someone can handle your finances.

You also need a health care power of attorney, so someone can make medical decisions when you are unable to do so.

Both of those legal documents are routinely provided by estate planning attorneys.

It is not likely that you get Alzheimer’s before you retire. However, you should always prepare as if you will want to be on the safe side.

Reference: Massillon Independent (August 22, 2017) “Alzheimer’s not limited to elderly.”

If you would like to stay in your current home when you are elderly, then you might need to make changes to it now to make it a comfortable place for an elderly person to live.

Most homes in the U.S. were not built with elderly people in mind. This is especially true for older homes.

Houses in the U.S. often have too many stairs for elderly people. Bathrooms can be too small for a person in a wheelchair to easily use. Cabinets and countertops can be too high to reach.

These are just a few examples with homes that can be a problem for elderly people, as Tulsa World reports in “Transition your home for aging in place.”

Therefore, if you are planning to stay in your own home during your elder years or if you are a younger person moving an elderly relative in with you, then you need to make sure your home is appropriate for the elderly.

You might need to make some changes to your home.

In many places, there are experts on elder living who can assist you by coming to your home and telling you what changes you should make.

Even if you do not live in an area where that service is available, a little common sense will go a long way in helping you figure out how to adapt your home for an elderly resident.

Ideally, of course, you should adapt your home for an elderly resident before it is necessary to do so.

That will give you time to make the right changes or to find a good contractor to make the changes for you.

Reference: Tulsa World (August 22, 2017) “Transition your home for aging in place.”