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TEXAS LIFE TRANSITIONS & ESTATE PLANNING BLOG
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What's this blog about?
This blog is where I share news and other things that interest me - life observations, developments in the news and the law, and ideas and resources for planning for life's transitions (what some folks call "estate planning") and building a meaningful legacy to last for generations. This blog provides general information and may provide some general understanding of the law, or at least how I see things. It does not and cannot provide specific legal advice. This blog definitely does not create an attorney client relationship between you and Dick Brown or Brown & Lacallade, P.C. Because each individual and family is unique and all legal advice must be tailored to deal with the unique facts involved, neither this nor any blog can be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.
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Who's the blogger?
 , Dick Brown
Austin Texas
Click here to read my complete profile.
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Well, January 1, 2010, has come and gone and still the Congress can't seem to get around to fixing the problems of the death tax we have been talkig about since 2000. As the end of 2009 approached , Congressmen and Senators alike agreed that something HAD to be done. Then they went home for the Christmas break without doing anything.
And, things have not progressed since they came back to Washington in January. Health care "reform" still seems to be the only thing on their agenda.
Already in 2010 some very wealthy people who were hanging on by a thread until 2010 arrived have died. Now, if the Congress tries to impose an estate tax retroactive to January 1, years of litigation that almost certainly will wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court are a virtual certainty.
Therefore, the most likely scenario for 2010 is that Congress will either offer an option for those who die in 2010 before the enactment of changes in the death tax or will make whatever change they finally agree on prospective only. Of course, the ability of the Congress to do nothing has to always be considered, so the $1 Million exemption may actually come back in 2011.
Regardless of what the Congress does, we at Brown & Lacallade havve our clients covered. Our planning documents are carefully designed to work as intended under virtually all possible death tax scenarios.
Procrastination remains the greatest danger to the predictable, effective, and efficient transfer of your accumulated wealth on your passing. As the old sayign goes, "stuff happens." Some of that "stuff" can deprive you of the ability to implement the planning your family needs.
Don't let the inaction of Congress paralyze you into failing to provide predictability for your and your family's future.
In 2001, the Congress adopted a 10-year plan for the death tax, also called the estate tax. It provided for each person's exemption to increase from $1 million in 2001 to $3.5 million in 2009, be unlimited in 2010, and return to $1 million in 2010. The highest tax rate for amounts in excess of the exemption is 45% in 2009 and will be 55% in 2011 under that law.
Fear of what might happen if the estate tax went away, even for one year, led President Obama to campaign on freezing the exemption at $3.5 million. That is the regieme underlying his February, 2009, budget proposal. However, economic stimulus legislation passed last fall and in February have caused and will continue to cause massive federal deficits. That puts the future of estate tax reform in serious jeopardy.
The federal death tax has been repealed 4 times since it was first enacted during World War I, always returning when the Congress wanted more money to spend. The prospect for a repeal in the foreseeable future is generally seen as nil. Therefore, we continue to plan in ways that will work under the current law while hoping for relief from the 2011 rollback. If you are not planning to die before 2011, that is what we recommend that you do, too.
Polls show that the majority of Americans believe that Medicare, the Federal government's universal health insurance coverage for Americans 65 and older, will pay for what is known as "custodial care," such as:
Home health aides for those who need help to et out of bed, bathe, dress, or feed themselves;
An assisted-living facility, with handicap-accessible apartments, congregate meals and transportation services; or
Nursing homes where the most helpless of the elderly receive constant supervision.
They are mistaken. Medicare does not pay for or even contribute to the cost of custodial care.
With one exception, all custodial care costs have to be paid for by the recipient,or the recipient's family,either out of pocket or through private insurance. That one exception is for those who qualify for Medicaid, the state-administered federal program for the medically indigent. That's a big exception because on the order of 65% of the total U.S. nursing home cost today is paid for through the Medicaid program. But, qualifying for Medicaid can be difficult, especially as a do-it-yourself project.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (which administers the Medicare program) is very much aware of those poll results and the burdens of providing custodial care, including those that fall on the caregivers.
Starting today, Medicare has launched a web site that is just for caregivers. At www.medicare.gov/caregivers/, caregivers can now find answers to the kinds of questions they typically have, including just what Medicare does cover, how to stay healthy and able to provide caregiver support, and planning for long-term care.
If you are a caregiver for another adult, you ought to give this new Medicare web site a look.
And, if you are a caregiver for someone or you are concerned about running out of money to pay for your own care,call us at 330-9802 and make an appointment for a Family Wealth Planning Session. We will address these and other issues that are on your mind. Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we'll waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
Napierville, Illinios, estate planning attorney Richard W. Kuhn published the following incisive article in the September 16 edition of the Napierville Sun. It is very worthwhile reading for anyone in a blended family.
Our greatest challenge is planning the estate for second marriage clients. The blended family carries with it a number of competing concerns as we prepare wills and trusts to meet their needs.
If the couple is financially sound with adult children from their former marriages and have a prenuptial agreement, our task becomes fairly easy. The challenge comes with the scenario wherein the surviving spouse would need the assets from the first to die, yet the first to die would ultimately want for his or her children to inherit once the surviving spouse passes.
The problem with leaving all of the assets to the spouse is that the spouse is under no legal duty whatsoever to include the children of the deceased spouse in his or her will or trust. The children of the first to die become disgruntled when their relationship with their step-parent begins to fade for fear they will never inherit anything from their parent. Invariably they feel that their parent would never have intended the inevitable result.
By way of illustration, let's assume that Tom has two children from his previous marriage, Terri and Tim. His wife, Julie, has two children from her previous marriage, Jack and Jennifer. Should Tom's will leave his assets to Julie? What about Terri and Tim? What should Julie's will say? In such a scenario, there are several options.
We explain the options to our clients as spectrum ranging from complete control of the assets from the grave to little or no control. The first-to-die spouse can control the assets by giving the surviving spouse lifetime rights over the assets, but when the survivor dies, the remaining assets must pass to the children of the first to die. This can work well for those children, but the surviving spouse often is uncomfortable with the feeling of being controlled.
The other end of the spectrum would be to simply leave the assets to the surviving spouse and trust that the survivor would provide for the deceased spouse's children in his or her trust in the future. While this latter option sounds nice, often the relationship between the stepchildren and step-parent fades as years go by and the stepchildren are typically disinherited in the end.
We like to see a hybrid approach taken. First, using our example, we recommend that Tom's estate plan provides that Terri and Tim first be left some amount outright and then provide the remaining assets to Julie - some restricted and some not restricted. The assets typically not to restrict would be the marital residence and retirement assets.
Life insurance proceeds and other investment liquid assets could pass to a "QTIP" trust whereby Julie could withdraw funds from this trust for the rest of her lifetime, but at Julie's subsequent death, the remaining QTIP trust assets revert back to Terri and Tim. "QTIP" stands for Qualified Terminable Interest Property and was created by Congress in early 1980s.
Each and every case is different but perhaps some combination of the above should be considered when the difficult challenge of planning the estates of the blended marriage is encountered.
Richard does a good job of explaining some of the pitfalls and some of the possible solutions. Planning for blended families is not only an emotional issue for the couple involved but also one that is especially important. The Texas intestacy law isn't too terrible (if you don't think about estate taxes and asset protection) for a "traditional" family where all the kids have the same parents. In a blended family, Texas intestacy laws can be a nightmare for the survivor and a windfall for the lawyers. And the KISS principle doesn't work for blended family estate planning either. A "simple" will is very likely to lead to somebody's kids being disinherited! Don't overlook the importance of thoughtful, comprehensive planning if you are in a second marriage or your spouse has children that are not yours.
If you're in a blended family and concerned about your children, give us a call.at 330-9802. Make an appointment for a Family Wealth Planning Session with me to explore your current plan and whether it meets your needs and your spouse's needs. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
As I have noted before on this blog, true estate planning is about more than just planning how to pass on your financial wealth. Just doing that omits the most valuable things you can pass on: your intangible and uniquely personal, spiritual, and intellectual assets such as your values, experiences, and thoughts about the loved ones you will leave behind. Here at Brown & Lacallade, we help each of our clients pass on at least some of their Human, Intellectual, and Spiritual family wealth using a tool we call "Priceless Conversations." The following article by Kathy Hansen and posted on her blog, A Storied Career, discusses the importance and some methods of capturing those stories:
I so wish I had captured more of my family’s stories, especially those of my dad and his five brothers and sisters who are now all gone but one. In her article in the Christian Science Monitor, Marilyn Gardner writes about senior citizens who are ensuring their stories will live on.
Gardner cites Hedrick Ellis, who hired a personal historian to interview his parents.
“You hear these stories over the years, but nobody ever really gets around to writing them down,” says Mr. Ellis of Arlington, Mass. “This seemed like an easy and practical way of capturing them.”
Gardner quotes Paula Stahel, president of the Association of Personal Historians, who niotes “an increase in the number of elders who want to be sure their stories are handed down.” Another personal historian, David O’Neil, is quoted as observing that “it’s always a baby boomer who has children and aging parents. They look at their parents and their children and wonder, ‘What are my children going to remember about my own parents, and how do I capture and preserve their life stories?’ As the World War II generation is passing away, there are a lot of efforts to record their stories.”
Gardner writes that “many people don’t think they have stories to tell,” but most find they have much more to relate than they imagined.
Gardner cites Project Storykeeper, the mission of which “is to preserve our families’ heritage. We believe that by capturing the life stories of our oldest and wisest citizens future generations can benefit from a wealth of experience and wisdom.” The project provides certified audio-biography training, support and audio tools to StoryKeepers “to preserve the past, enrich the present and strengthen the future — one story at a time.” StoryKeepers are people who record life stories and connect the family to hear them.
Dennis Stack, founder of Project Storykeeper, offers tips in the extended portion of this entry for interviewing folks about their stories.
“It’s about capturing the assets that are most often lost when someone dies … the intellectual, spiritual and human assets that make up a great majority of our family’s wealth and passing them on as well,” writes blogger and attorney Alexis Martin Neely. She urges a “Family Wealth Legacy Interview process” at the end of planning an estate with a loved near the end of his or her life to “help you capture the most valuable family wealth you have and pass that on for successive generations by building a legacy library that will be far more valuable than any dollars you could ever leave behind.”
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Dennis Stack’s Tips for Interviewing people about Their Stories:
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Keep the process simple. The best stories come out when people are comfortable.
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Know your equipment. Regardless of the type of device you use, know how it works. If you aren’t fumbling with the equipment, storytellers will forget they are being recorded and just be themselves.
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Not everyone wants to be on camera. Many storytellers feel uncomfortable in front of a camera.
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Really good stories cannot be told to a wall. Storytellers need to see, hear, and feel the reaction to their stories.
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When recording stories, keep it one on one. Too many people in the room can cramp the storyteller’s style and can make recording difficult because of “cross-talk” and “overtalk,” which end up as garble on the recording.
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Keep interview segments to 30 to 45 minutes. It’s much better to have several short sessions than a couple marathons. The time between the interviews (one or two days at most) is important to the process, allowing the storyteller to reminisce more deeply. Each successive session becomes more engaging.
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Don’t ask the deep-meaning questions too soon. If you let the stories develop and unfold, the storyteller’s ability to explain nuanced values and wisdom will come naturally.
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Keep the stories short. It’s easier to manage smaller audio files, so be ready to stop and start the recorder to mark each segment. Stories can even have chapters, which reduces the time of each recording. Try to keep stories under five minutes each.
As we all know from personal experience, this sounds like a ggreat "do it yourself" project. But, if it's so great, why haven't we done it? One answer would be finding a place to start. Another would be wondering how to structure it so it is not boring or embarassing. That's where the "Priceless Conversations" program comes in. It is a casual, conversational interview using a known and proven script.
If you're interested in passing on your Human, Intellectual and spiritual wealth, as well as your Finaicial wealth, give us a call. Make an appointment for a Family Wealth Planning Session to explore your current plan and whether it meets your needs and your special person needs. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
Trig
September 3, 2008
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What a difference a week makes. Last week the mention of “trig” merely brought back memories of a high school math class. Now “Trig” makes us think of the special child of Todd and Sarah Palin. Who among us didn’t laugh or at least smile when, on national TV, his sister Robin licked her palm and used it to smooth his hair. If you missed it, click here. |
Trig Palin is not the first special person who had a close relative in national politics. George McGovern’s daughter Terry was afflicted with chronic alcoholism and John F. Kennedy’s sister Rose Marie was reduced to profound incapacity by a lobotomy gone wrong.
Forty years ago, a special child like Trig would have been unlikely to reach adulthood. With the medical care available today in the USA, however, a child with Down Syndrome no longer has a shortened life expectancy. As a result of these medical advances, many of our special children are now likely to outlive their parents. Adults with special needs are very likely to be unable to be self-supporting and to depend on government support for medical, housing, and other needs.
For these special people, special planning is essential because conventional estate planning can lead to results that are completely unanticipated to their benefactors and can even be detrimental to the special person. For example, an outright bequest to a special adult can cause ineligibility for subsidized housing, forcing the special person to move out. Then, when the bequest is exhausted, the special person will be at the end of the waiting list to get back into subsidized housing. Talk about a “Catch 22”!
If there is a special person in your life, whether a child or an adult and regardless of what it is that creates his or her special needs, we can help with the special planning that is necessary to best provide for and protect him or her for life. Give us a call. Make an appointment for a Family Wealth Planning Session to explore your current plan and whether it meets your needs and your special person needs. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
An Earthquake, a Giant, and You
August 11, 2008
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Last Friday night, we watched transfixed as the Chinese government put on a fabulous show to open the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. For me, however, a high moment was watching little Lin Hao, the 9-year-old boy who saved two of his cousins in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake, walking hand in hand with Yao Ming (those are his legs next to Lin Hao) in the march of the athletes. How joyfully he waved his upside-down Chinese flag and Olympic flag! What memories that boy will have! What stories he will have to tell his grandchildren! |
You have stories that will just as cherished by your descendants – but will they ever get to hear them? For so many, the greater part of their accumulated wealth – their Intellectual, Spiritual, and Human wealth is lost when they die. It was with my parents. I had good intentions of recording their verbal history and so did they, but dementia overtook my father and my mother died suddenly. Like so many things in our busy lives, the “get around to it” never happened.
Each of our clients will pass on at least some of their intellectual, spiritual, and human wealth. We know because we sit down with each of them when we deliver their completed documents and plan binder to them and record a one-hour interview on whichever of our 20 subjects they have chosen. They know all the questions – no surprises – because they have chosen them from more than twenty lists of questions we offer. The recording of their Priceless Conversation™ goes on a CD that is preserved in a presentation case for future generations.
Those in our VIP Membership Programs do this each year when they come in to review and make any needed adjustments to their family wealth plans.
If you would like to learn more about passing on your Intellectual, Spiritual, and Human wealth to future generations, give us a call and make an appointment for a Family Wealth Planning Session to explore your current plan and whether it meets your needs and desires. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
July 15, 2008
The Heath Ledger Will Saga Goes On
Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported today that Heath Ledger's Will has been filed for probate in Perth, Australia. According to lawyers there, if a claim is filed on behalf of his daughter Matilda Rose (born after his Will was signed), she will be entitled to "the lion's share" of his estate, even though his will did not mention her and left everything to his parents, sister, and step sisters. Earlier reports from legal experts were that under New York law, she would get is all. There is, however, a hitch, the Daily Telegraph says. According to it, Matilda Rose's "mother, actor Michelle Williams, will have to officially lodge a claim with the court supported by an affidavit which could end up in the public domain, legal experts said."
Our clients don't face that kind of public exposure that can attract the attention of predators. They base their plans on living trusts, which are private agreements that do not become a public record. The assets that pass by the terms of a trust are not probate assets and do not appear on the sworn inventory that has to be filed in a will probate case.
To explore having a private plan to protect your heirs, call for your Family Wealth Planning Session – 330-9802. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
July 11, 2008
Hostage Taking - It's Becoming a Popular Political Act
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I am old enough to remember when an American being taken hostage for political reasons was a very rare event indeed. That began changing in the 1970s, first with the Symbionese Liberation Army’s abduction of heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974, followed by Iran’s holding 52 American diplomats hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran for 444 days in the Carter Administration. Then there were the journalists and others in Lebanon and on ships in the Mediterranean. Nowadays, hostage taking, for ransom or for political reasons, seems much more common and really only makes the news when a hostage is recovered. |
Such was the case of the several dozens, including some two American missionaries, taken hostage in Malaysia and the Phillipines and held for years by the Islamist group, Abu Sayyaf..
So, too, with the FARC in Colombia, from which just last week Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans, and 11 others were rescued from years of captivity (6 for Ms. Betancourt, who was captured while campaigning to become President of Colombia).
While we do not know the specifics of the financial difficulties the families of any of these hostages faced during the time their loved one was held captive, we know that it could have been greatly worsened by an absence of planning for life's contingencies.
If any of them thought that their family would be taken care of because they had a Will, they were sadly mistaken. A Will is only for if you are dead, not if you are held hostage. To take control of a hostage's financial affairs, the family would have to go to court and have a receiver appointed - someone who would do the court's bidding and report and account to the court for all actions taken. Life does not have to be that way. Our clients' plan for the contingency of incapacity, whether from disease, injury, or kidnapping. Why? Because while the odds are low that you will ever be taken hostage, the odds are better than 50/50 that you will become incapacitated before you die. Call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss incapacity planning and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
July 4, 2008
Reflections on My Family's Legacy
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It's early in the morning and I'm sitting on the deck of my family's summer place overlooking the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country near Hunt, Texas. Cinda is still asleep, as are my daughter, Melissa, and her husband, Jerry. Our other daughter, Lucinda, is spending the weekend with Cinda's mother at their family's summer home - the highest cabin in the Chautauqua in Boulder, Colorado.
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I get to enjoy this wonderful place because of the dreams of a young boy - my great uncle, Henry P. Burney. You see, Uncle Henry grew up in Kerrville and, as a boy, rode with his friends all over the county doing what boys do - including swimming, hunting, and fishing. In about 1900, at age 10, he decided which was the best swimming hole and resolved that some day he would own it. This summer is the 80th anniversary of the fulfillment of that dream. By 1928, Uncle Henry had grown up, gone to college, become a lawyer, moved to San Antonio, married into a prominent family, established a successful law career, and served as the first President of the San Antonio Bar Association. That was the year, he and his wife's brother-in-law, my grandfather, Dick O. Terrell, who was also a lawyer, bought that land alongside that swimming hole and built two summer houses on it - one for each family.
Now five generations have enjoyed the blessing of the legacy they established. I never knew my grandfathers -- they both died before my parents married. I do well remember my grandmothers, Uncle Henry, and his wife, Aunt Clare. However, I have virtually no knowledge of their lives beyond what my parents passed on to me in conversations. My parents are now gone too and I deeply regret not ever having gotten around to recording their observations on their lives and legacies. It does not have to be tht way for you.
You don't have to be an award-winning journalist or even a writer to pass on your intellectual, spiritual, and human wealth to future generations. Our clients do it through our Priceless Conversations program. Once each year, we sit down with them for an informal conversation and record their answers to a series of questions we ask them. The questions, on a subject they have chosen, are carefully designed to capture a part of their intellectual, spiritual, or human wealth. We have these questions on more than 40 subjects, such as your love for your children, what you remember about your childhood and your grandparents, and what is most important to you in life. To learn more about Priceless Comnversations, call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss Priceless Conversations and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
June 18, 2008
Trouble for Trouble.
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Poor Trouble. She was a very rich dog for a while. When Leona Helmsley died, she left $12 Million in her will to take care of her beloved Maltese, Trouble, for life. However, a will is sort of like a letter to a judge saying, "when I am dead, please have my Executor distribute my property to 'X'."
In Trouble's case, Mrs. Helmsley's grandchildren asked the Judge to disregard Mrs. Helmsley's directions and give some of that money to them. (Mrs. Helmsley had left all of her billions to a charitable foundation for the care of animals.) And, the Judge did just that!
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She took $10 million away from Trouble, gave $6 Million to the grandchildren, and the other $4 Million to Mrs. Helmsley's foundation! Don't let a judge second guess your desires. Call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss how to avoid this sort of thing and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
June 16, 2008
Life Comes at You Fast
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We've all seen those TV ads by Nationwide Insurance. The actor or actress is feeling all secure, then WHAM!!!, something totally unexpected hits like the proverbial "bolt from the blue."
Tim Russert and I had something in common. We both had coronary artery disease, and our cardiologists' testing showed we had no significant coronary artery blockage as demonstrated by frequent testing.
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We were both at work on the morning of Friday, June 13th, doing what we love to do and do best. I was in San Antonio discussing advanced legal techniques for asset protection and tax avoidance and Tim Russert was in NBC's Washington studio preparing for his every-Sunday show, Meet the Press.
I have treated every day as a precious gift since I was almost killed in an airline accident in the late 1980s. However, on that p[articular morning I was not particularly focusing my mortality. If Tim was like most of us, he was not considering his. I was looking forward to spending the evening with my sister and her husband who live in San Antonio. I have no idea what Tim was looking forward to. Yet, by noon on that day our life paths had suddenly veered apart.
I, who am a little older, got to spend the evening with my sister and her husband. Tim was dead at 58 years of age. Like those commercials say, "Life comes at you fast."
In the days since that Friday, I have done a lot of thinking about all of the people I have know for whom death or disability came suddenly and without warning. My mother and a cousin both died as a result of something unexpected happening in surgery. An old fried decided to trim a tree limb before going to work, fell backwards off his ladder, and died instantly. A wonderful doctor's wife friend slipped on her sidewalk one morning, fell backwards, and died of a skull fracture. I thought of a colleague who was returning from a football game with his wife and a talented your dance teacher, both of whom pulled out in front of an 18 wheeler in a moment of inattention. The list goes on.
One thing we all have in common is that we are going to die. None of us knows when that will be. And, we also share a high probability of spending some part of our life incapacitated - depending on others to make decisions and care for us. Yet most of us go on from day to day as if we were immortal, not planning for those "what ifs."
A statistic that is shocking to me is that almost 70% of the parents of minor children have not even taken the first step of naming someone to be the guardian of their children is something should happen to them. And just as many Americans of all levels of wealth have made no plans for what will happen to everything they own when they die.
If you have not named guardians for your children, don't go to bed tonight until you have done so. It's easy. Just CLICK HERE to go to a web site that will walk you step by step through the whole process!
To find out who will get your property if you die without doing further planning, call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss that very subject and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
June 11, 2008
The Gift of Time: Letters from a Father by Jorge Ramos
Jorge Ramos has won eight Emmy Awards and has been the anchor for Univision News for the last twenty-one years. He has appeared on NBC'sToday, CNN's Talk Back Live, ABC's Nightline, and Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor, among others, and is the bestselling author of No Borders: A Journalist's Search for Home and Dying to Cross. In his career he has been in many dangerous places. Yesterday he was on CBS's Early Show to talk about his new book.
He told about how, one sunny morning, he was driving to his dentist's office when suddenly a van almost hit him head on and killed him. That shock, more than all the horrors he had witnessed as a journalist, brought him face to face with his own mortality. He realized that he had almost lost the opportunity to tell his story to his children. His response was to write another book, The Gift of Time: Letters from a Father. In it, according to Barnes & Noble, he "reflects upon the world we live in and shares his love for his children in a series of letters that touch on everything from love and divorce to soccer and e-mail." You don't have to be an award-winning journalist to pass on your intellectual, spiritual, and human wealth to future generations. Our clients do it through our Priceless Conversations program.
Once each year, we sit down with them for an informal conversation and record their answers to a series of questions we ask them. The questions, on a subject they have chosen, are carefully designed to capture a part of their intellectual, spiritual, or human wealth. We have these questions on more than 40 subjects, such as your love for your children, what you remember about your childhood and your grandparents, and what is most important to you in life.
To learn more about Priceless Comnversations, call us at 330-9802 to make an appointment for a Family Wealth Planning Session. We'll be glad to meet you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
June 6, 2008
Going Home
Her long blue gingham dress and hairstyle was in stark contrast to the short shorts and headbands the other young women were wearing. I knew immediately who she was -- one of the moms whose children had been taken away from her more than two months earlier in that raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch south of San Angelo.
Back on April 3rd, when the children were taken, I predicted that it would be a long time before they got out of the system. Although, according to the Texas Supreme Court, there was never any credible evidence that any of the children were in danger, they had spent more than 2 months in foster care. And, theirs was a very public case in which the process was greatly expedited. If something happened to you and your children were swept into the foster care system, getting them out could take a very long time, especially if there was a dispute about who should be made their guardian. Don’t expose your children to that risk. Although the probability is small, the downside is horrendous! And it doesn’t have to be that way. Call us at 330-9802 to come in for a Family Wealth Planning Session to learn how you can protect your children. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
April 3, 2008
Hotel California
In a massive raid today, DPS troopers acting on an anonymous tip swept into the Waiting for Zion ranch south of San Angelo and took custody of all they found who might be minors – more than 450 from infants to late teens. All were turned over to Child Protective Services to be placed in foster care pending a District Court’s decision on whether they would be endangered by returning to their homes.
The wheels of justice turn slowly. I predict that it will be many weeks before any of these children can be united with their families. Why? Because once a child enters the Texas foster care system, it can only escape if a District Judge determines that it is in its best interest to do so. Child Protective Services assumes that the environment from which a child is removed is not the best placement. Changing their or a Judge’s mind takes a long time and is very expensive. It’s sort of like Hotel California – you can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.
To make sure that your children don’t get swept into the Child Protective Services system if something happens to you, come in for a Family Wealth Planning Session. Call us at 330-9802 to make an appointment. We’ll be glad to see you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
March 31, 2008
Yet Another Celebrity Will Not Updated Story
For the Love of Money: The Death of Seth Tobias shown tonight (March 31) will focus on the mysterious death by drowning in a swimming pool last Labor Day of hedge fund manager and CNBC commentator Seth Tobias. Mr. Tobais was married in March, 2005.
Here’s a quote from the New York Magazine article Dead Man’s Float dated February 10, 2008: In late September, Tobias’s will was read. The will, signed on May 12, 2004, divided Tobias’s estimated $25 million fortune between his brothers, parents, and friends. Strangely, he had made no adjustment to the document after his 2005 marriage. Under Florida law, this nullified the will and left his wife as sole inheritor of her fourth husband’s assets." This and the earlier-reported incidents are indicative of a greater national problem that exists - the current model for providing estate planning services in the United States is broken!
Even wealthy celebrities are victims of the mindset that estate planning is about form documents that can be prepared once and never looked at again. As these cases highlight, that’s wrong. In reality, estate planning really has very little to do with form documents. Think about this: standard estate planning form documents can be purchased on the internet for less than a few hundred bucks, prepared with the help of a do-it-yourself kit you can buy for as little as $13.50 or you could spend $2,750 to have the forms prepared for you by an Arizona lawyer who calls himself the Estate Planning Doctor.
Here’s the amazing thing . . . whether you spend $13.50 or $2,750.00, at the end of the day all you end up with is documents that in many cases won’t work when your family needs them.
What you want when it comes to estate planning is NOT a set of form documents. What you want is a relationship with a personal lawyer who is going to guide you to make the best decision throughout your lifetime, be there for your family when you can’t be, and make sure your estate plan stays up to date so when you have a new baby, they know about it, the baby gets added to your plan and your plan works when your family needs it.
To find out who will get your property if you die without doing further planning, call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss that very subject and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
March 14, 2008
Actor Heath Ledger’s Estate Planning Was Out of Date … No Mention of Daughter Matilda Rose or Her Mother Michelle Williams in Will.
New York, NY Once again, a celebrity has died with an out-of-date Will. Heath Ledger’s Will has been made public (as all Wills are public documents after death) and it turns out that the Will, made three years prior to his daughter’s birth, leaves everything to his parents and sister.
We saw the same thing just over a year ago when Anna Nicole Smith died and her Will left everything to her deceased son and did not mention her baby daughter, Dannielynn, or her long-time life/love partner, Howard K. Stern, who stuck by her through all of her ups and downs for years prior to her death.
Heath’s parents have publicly assured that Matilda will be well taken care of and she’s likely to be determined a Heath heir because she was born to him after his Will was written. You may recall that a Los Angeles Court has established Dannielynn as Anna Nicole’s sole heir. Therefore, in the end these kids will be taken care of for now, but that is only part of the story.
First off, neither Michelle Williams, Matilda’s mother, nor Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole’s long-time life/partner, were provided for. The law doesn’t make any provision for those who are not relatives, descendants, or spouses. Would Heath and Anna really have wanted Michelle and Howard to get nothing? We’ll never know.
Second, while Matilda Rose and Dannielynn will ultimately inherit from their parents due to the later child laws noted above, Heath and Anna Nicole lost out on the chance to decide the terms under which their babies would receive the money they left behind and to name who would take care of that money until they received it. So, when each turns 18, he or she will get everything that is left – in cash, to do with as he or she determines fit with his or her 18-year-old maturity. And that windfall and its timing will be very well known to the unscrupulous. These incidents are indicative of a greater national problem that exists - the current model for providing estate planning services in the United States is broken! Even wealthy celebrities are victims of the mindset that estate planning is about form documents that can be prepared once and never looked at again. As these cases highlight, that’s wrong. In reality, estate planning really has very little to do with form documents.
Think about this: standard estate planning form documents can be purchased on the internet for less than a few hundred bucks, prepared with the help of a do-it-yourself kit you can buy for as little as $13.50 or you could spend $2,750 to have the forms prepared for you by an Arizona lawyer who calls himself the Estate Planning Doctor.
Here’s the amazing thing . . . whether you spend $13.50 or $2,750.00, at the end of the day all you end up with is documents that in many cases won’t work when your family needs them.
What you want when it comes to estate planning is NOT a set of form documents. What you want is a relationship with a personal lawyer who is going to guide you to make the best decision throughout your lifetime, be there for your family when you can’t be, and make sure your estate plan stays up to date so when you have a new baby, they know about it, the baby gets added to your plan and your plan works when your family needs it.
To find out who will get your property if you die without doing further planning, call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss that very subject and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
March 13, 2008
Senate Passes Estate Tax Plan – House Action Uncertain
Washington, DC. The Senate today voted 99 to 1 for an amendment to its version of a Congressional budget that would authorize tax legislation to permanently reform the estate tax at a $3.5 million/individual ($7 million for a married couple) exemption and a 45 percent top rate. It rejected two other estate tax amendments--each crafted slightly differently, but both with $5 million/individual ($10 million married) exemption and a 35 percent top rate.
The budget authority to craft estate tax rules that set the exemption from estate tax liability at $3.5 million a person, and the top estate tax rate at 45 percent, was part of a larger tax amendment offered by Senate Finance Committee chairman Senator Max Baucus (D-MT). The Congressional budget will determine the rules by which tax legislation will be considered by the Congress later this year. However, the budget is not binding and it is not law. Thus, inclusion in the budget of authority for a tax bill that sets the top estate tax rate at 45 percent and the personal exemption at $3.5 million establishes a sense of what the Senate thinks it would approve (particularly in light of the 99 to 1 vote by which it passed). It does not guarantee it will be enacted into law. The only votes that will really are the ones on the actual tax reform bill (if there is one) that goes to the Senate floor, perhaps this fall, but maybe not until next year. Depends on how the election looks as the time to vote approaches. That will begin in April, after the two-week Waster (spring) recess.
As Yogi Berra famously said, “This is like déjà vu all over again.” While the Republicans and Democrats are vieing for strategic position for the upcoming election, there is no telling what will happen to tax reform. Spin, spin, spin. Don’t count out those powerful forces (the ultra wealthy) who don’t see much benefit from a larger exemption and really want a lower top rate because that will save them much more. Our best guess is that the issue will spill over into 2009 before it is resolved and might still be deadlocked then. Advice – Don’t hold your breath or count your chickens before they are hatched. Stay flexible.
To find out more, call us at 330-9802 to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session to discuss that very subject and much more. We'll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
January 30, 2008
Will Trouble
For months the news has been full of stories about billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley’s will providing a $12 million bequest for the care of her beloved 8-year-old white Maltese, “Trouble.” The stories also talk about possible challenges to Mrs. Helmsley’s will by her descendants. If curious, you can read Mrs. Helmsley’s Will. That's because once a Will is filed for probate, it is a matter of public record - open to anyone.
While the New York Times is unlikely to be so interested in what you leave to whom, the predators prowling the public records might certainly be interested in what your widow or your children get when you die. And in Travis County, “public” means “on the internet” so they don’t even have to go to the courthouse – they can snoop from anywhere in the world! But it does not have to be that way!
Our clients base their plans on living trusts, which are private agreements that do not become a public record. The assets that pass by the terms of a trust are not probate assets and do not appear on the sworn inventory that has to be filed in a will probate case.
To explore having a private plan to protect your heirs, call for your Family Wealth Planning Session – 330-9802. We’ll be glad to hear from you! Our standard charge for a Family Wealth Planning Session is $750, but we will waive it for anyone who calls or contacts us through this web site within 10 days of the date of this blog posting.
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