You may or may not be sticking to the resolutions you made on January 1st, but even if they are a vague memory, please add one more resolution to your list — “Review My Estate Plan”.
Following is a checklist to get you started:
1. Locate Your Estate Planning Documents. Check your fireproof safe, safety deposit box, or other location where you store valuable documents. Additionally, make sure that your Executor and Trustee know where your important legal documents are located.
2. Review Your Children’s Guardian Nominations. Has anything happened either in your children’s lives or your guardian’s lives that may require you to revisit your original decisions? Has the person (people) you’ve named as guardian moved, divorced, or remarried? If so, does this impact your decision? Have any changes happened that might make you rethink the people you selected as personal and financial guardians?
3. Did Any of Your Children Attain Age 18? If so, you need to make sure that they have the proper legal documents in place. While young adult children may not have significant assets requiring a comprehensive estate plan, they need to have a signed Health-Care Power of Attorney, HIPPA Waiver Authorization, and Advance Medical Directive in case they should suffer an illness, injury, or incapacity. Without these legal documents in place, you may have difficulty acting on their behalf if required.
4. Review and Think About Your Asset Distribution. Does your Will or Trust still reflect your current wishes for how and to whom you would like your property distributed? Again, life events such as births, deaths, marriage, and divorce may impact your decisions.
5. Check Your Life Insurance, Homeowner and Umbrella Policies. Does your insurance coverage still reflect an amount that would be needed to support your family if something happens to you? Has any event occurred in the past year that would require you to modify your existing insurance coverage amounts?
6. Are You Pleased with the Person Selected to be Your Executor and Trustee? Is he or she still willing to accept these fiduciary responsibilities? Has anything happened in the last year that would make you wonder whether this person is still able to perform the necessary functions? If you are in doubt, you may consider discussing this with the person you chose and make changes if necessary.
7. Update the “Intangible” Legacy You Plan to Leave Your Family. Each year you should update your “intangible” legacy. Be sure to note family member milestones, words of wisdom you would like to pass along to your children and other family members, along with significant accomplishments. Many clients feel this is the most valuable part of their estate plan….so be sure to spend time on creating or updating your “intangible” legacy.
As I share with my clients, an estate plan changes as your life changes. While every change in your life does not require you to update your estate plan, it is important to think through the past year’s events and experiences to make sure that your estate plan will still take care of your family just as you planned.
Thank you for allowing me to share with you what I believe to be one of the most important gifts we can leave our family: A Lasting Legacy. I wish you a happy, healthy, and joyous new year !!
As part of the tax cut deal announced last week, President Obama reluctantly agreed to a federal estate tax with a $5 million exemption per person and a relatively low 35% top rate for two years. The President originally wanted the tax to return to its 2009 level, with a 45% rate with a $3.5 million exemption.
The bill puts into writing the agreement reached between President Obama and Senate Republicans a week ago to extend the Bush income tax cuts and bring back the estate tax with a very high exemption. For details about what the bill says with regard to estate taxes, gift taxes and generation-skipping transfer taxes, refer to a summary of the Reid-McConnell Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, which extends the Bush tax cuts for two years.
Here’s what the proposal says regarding federal transfer taxes which may impact your personal estate plan:
Temporary estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer tax relief. The EGTRRA modified estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes, resulting in a repeal of federal transfer taxes in 2010, lowered the gift tax rate to 35 percent, and increased the gift tax exemption to $1 million during 2010. The new tax proposal sets the exemption at $5 million per person [$10 million per couple], with a top tax rate of 35 percent for estate, gift, and generation skipping transfer taxes for two (2) years, through 2012.
Until Congress acts, of course, the estate tax is set to return in 2011 with a $1 million exemption and a 55% rate. However, that’s not likely to happen.
And even if Congress miraculously reaches a resolution and passes estate tax modifications before the current session ends, by its own design, the resolution will only be good for two (2) years.
Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter, Estate Planning Matters, to stay in the loop about current issues that impact your estate planning. The Levin Law Firm works with individuals and families to develop comprehensive estate and business succession plans. Please call The Levin Law Firm to arrange a Complimentary Consultation at (610) 977-2443.
Note: If you choose to read the summary of the act, under the portability heading, reference to the “current $7 million exemption per couple” is erroneous, as there is no estate tax this year. The estate tax exemption was $3.5 million per person in 2009.
There are six (6) vital estate planning documents that every responsible adult needs. Unfortunately, over 70% of Americans do not have an up-to-date estate plan, for a variety of reasons.
While all of us are busy handling day-to-day work matters and family situations, life unfolds in unpredictable ways and unexpected events often occur which place us in unfortunate circumstances.
Estate planning is a process, not a one time event.
A comprehensive plan should include proper preparation of a Will; Durable Financial Power of Attorney; Health-Care Power of Attorney; Advance Medical Directive; HIPPA Waiver Authorization; and List of Assets.
In a nutshell, the documents set out below speak for your clients in the event of illness, injury, incapacity or death. These documents provide families with vitally important decisions about: (a) Selection of a person to manage property; (b) How clients want their assets invested and distributed; (c) Who should be responsible for making medical decisions if a client is unable to communicate their wishes; (d) Who should raise a minor child; and much more.
Following are Six Vital Estate Planning Documents:
- Last Will and Testament
- Durable Financial Power of Attorney
- Financial Health-Care Power of Attorney
- Advance Medical Directive
- HIPPA Waiver Authorization
- List of Assets
We highly recommend that you work with competent estate and tax counsel to create an up-to-date estate plan designed to provide protection for themselves now, and for their families in the future.
As the saying goes: “Besides death and taxes, the only constant in life is change.”
Clients who have a current estate plan should review it with their attorney every three (3) to five (5) years to make sure their plan is current, based upon changes in federal and state laws, along with personal and financial changes that may have occurred since their plan was originally created.
For more information about the purpose of each of the “6 Estate Planning Documents Your Clients Need…Yesterday”, and to review other planning strategies that may be of value to you, please contact our office to arrange a Complimentary Consultation at (610) 977-2443.
It is August and your children (and grandchildren) are heading back to school. They may be down the street at a local school, at boarding school, or at college a bit further away. Regardless, you want to be sure that your children will be protected in an emergency if they are not with you.
The Levin Law Firm can help. Here are some important suggestions:
For Minor Children (under 18)
In addition to the staff at your child’s school, make sure that all people who take care of your children — including grandparents, babysitters, older siblings, neighbors – have your up-to-date contact information, including changes in your cell and office numbers. And don’t forget to update that emergency contact list on your fridge or bulletin board!
Contact The Levin Law Firm about our “Family-Care Program” we offer to all of our clients. Enrolling your child in this program allows your child’s caregivers, as well as doctors and hospitals, to secure immediate access to vital information they need to care for your child in an emergency. And you get an alert if the “Family-Care Program” is used. It is prudent to ensure that appropriate people in your life have access to important medical information about your child in order to make proper decisions about your child’s care in the event of a a medical emergency, especially if you cannot be reached.
For “Young Adult” Children (18 and over)
Make sure that your “Young Adult” Children, who are 18 years of age or older, sign a Health-Care Power of Attorney and a HIPAA Release, even if they are in college. Your children, who are age 18 or older, are now legal “adults” and these important legal documents can ensure that a hospital will immediately provide medical information to you, as their Health-Care Agent, in an emergency.
You can ensure that vital information, including medical conditions, prescription medication usage, and allergies, are immediately available to a physician or hospital, precisely when needed, by allowing The Levin Law Firm to enroll your adult child in our “Family-Care Program”. This program is offered to all of our clients who have college-age children, as part of our “Adult-Child Planning Program”. And you will receive an alert if the “Family-Care Program” is used by emergency staff.
Together, having the proper legal documents in place, coupled with our “Family-Care Program”, can make a critical difference to the treatment your adult children (and you) receive in an emergency.
Please call The Levin Law Firm today to arrange a Complimentary Consultation regarding the life and estate planning services we offer to our clients and and their children.
Clients who Execute a Will or Trust Based Estate Plan Receive a Complimentary Two (2) Year Enrollment in Our “Family-Care Program”, as a Thank You from The Levin Law Firm!
At some time during your life, due to an illness, injury, or incapacity, it is very likely that you may need to rely upon another individual to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf. The legal documents, in which you delegate authority to make financial and health-care decisions, are called Financial and Health-Care Powers of Attorney.
What Is A Financial Power of Attorney?
A Financial Power of Attorney allows you to appoint an Agent to carry on your financial affairs, in the event of an illness, injury, or incapacity which might prevent you from properly managing your financial matters. Unless you have a properly drafted and valid Financial Power of Attorney, it may be necessary to have a Guardian appointed by a local court to make financial decisions for you in the event of a physical or mental disability. If a Guardianship proceeding is necessary, testimony from one or more doctors is required and this legal process often becomes time-consuming, expensive, and emotionally draining for both you and your family.
There are generally two types of Financial Powers of Attorney: (1) A “present” Financial Power of Attorney, in which the power to transact business matters is immediately transferred to the Agent; and (2) A “springing” (or future) Financial Power of Attorney, that only becomes effective upon a future disability, as determined by your physician.
Who Can Create A Financial Power of Attorney?
Generally, any individual over 18 years of age, who is a resident of the state in which the document is created, and who is legally competent, can execute a Financial Power of Attorney, appointing an Agent to manage their property in the event of an illness, injury, or incapacity.
Who May Act as An Agent Under A Financial Power of Attorney?
An Agent may be any person who is legally competent and over the age of 18. Often, it is a family member such as a spouse, sibling, adult child, trusted family member, or a friend. While more than one person can be named as an Agent, naming two or more individuals to act together can become inconvenient, especially if the asset size and structure of the client’s holdings require decisions to be made promptly under the terms of the Financial Power of Attorney. Therefore, it is usually more prudent to name one individual as primary Agent and a back-up individual as Successor Agent.
What is a Health-Care Power of Attorney?
The law allows you to appoint a trusted individual – for example, a family member or close friend, to make important decisions, regarding medical treatment options, in the event that you, (temporarily or permanently), lose the ability to make such decisions. You can and should designate a person to make vitally important health-care decisions under the terms of a “Health-Care Power of Attorney”. Your Agent can then make sure that doctors, hospitals, and health care professionals follow your wishes in the event of a serious illness, injury, or incapacity.
What Is A HIPAA Authorization?
We live in a very litigious society and privacy is of paramount importance to many people, especially concerning the dissemination of confidential medical records. As a direct consequence, medical providers have refused to release information, even to spouses and adult children authorized by a Health-Care Power of Attorney, on the grounds that the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, (HIPAA), prohibits such release. Therefore, you should have their estate planning attorney prepare the proper HIPAA Authorization Form, authorizing the release of medical information to your Agent who is designated under their Health-Care Power of Attorney.
At The Levin Law Firm, we develop customized estate plans for our clients, which include these vitally important “living documents”, to protect our clients in the event of a temporary or permanent illness, injury, or incapacity. Help your clients to protect themselves, and their families, by calling The Levin Law Firm to arrange a Complimentary Consultation at (610) 977-2443.
