Many of us like to fantasize about winning the lottery. We muse with our friends about how we might spend the money, and we dream about never wanting for anything ever again.

The odds are against us, of course, at least as far as the lottery goes. But that doesn’t mean – at some point in our lives perhaps – we won’t actually come into a major amount of cash, usually in the form of an inheritance, or perhaps through the settlement of a legal claim.

Planning before receiving such a windfall is critical, if you want to keep it and have it provide for you for the rest of your life and for your loved ones after you are gone.

Most people who receive a windfall lose it almost as quickly as they receive it.

If you see a windfall coming your way, make these plans:

1. Consider putting any large windfall you receive into an asset protection trust, first and foremost. You may even want to consider appointing a co-trustee to govern the trust alongside you so you can honestly tell friends and family that you do not have unrestricted control to your assets when they come asking for handouts.

2. Hire an advisor you trust to help you invest the assets you receive in a manner that is aligned with your values and will support you to use the windfall to support the long-term life you desire; if you need recommendations to a trusted investment advisor, contact us.
3. Get all of your own estate planning documents updated, including your Will, Revocable Living Trust, Health Care Directives and Power of Attorney, plus establish a relationship with a personal lawyer so if and when anything happens to you, your family will be supported to stay out of court and out of conflict.

If you anticipate receiving a windfall and need legal assistance, or if you’d like to ensure your family stays out of court and out of conflict if and when something happens to you , schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session,™ during which we can review your wishes. Normally, a Family Wealth Planning Session™ is $750, but when you mention this article and are one of the first three families to book an appointment this month, we’ll waive that fee.

This article is a service of Lela Juarez, Personal Family Lawyer,®  who develops trusting relationships with families for life.  That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session,™ where we can explain financial management techniques and help identify the best strategies for you and your family. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk because this planning is so important.

 

 

 

The untimely death of superstar Prince has brought a surprising issue to American living rooms: estate planning. If current reports are correct that Prince died without a will, state law and the Court system will dictate who controls and inherits his sizeable estate. It is also likely that taxing entities will take a bigger bite out of his estate – costing his family millions, unnecessarily —  before anyone inherits anything.  All of this could have been avoided and there’s an important lesson here for you and your family.

Prince died on Thursday, April 21, at the age of 57, in Carver County, Minnesota. He had one sister, Tyka Nelson. He also had six half-siblings. Prince was predeceased by both of his parents and two of his half-siblings. He was divorced twice and had no living children.

Ms. Nelson recently filed documents with the Carver County probate court, asserting that she believed that her brother died without a will. She also asked that the court appoint a special administrator to handle Prince’s affairs until a personal administrator was appointed. A judge appointed a banking affiliate to serve in this role temporarily.

When a person passes away without a will, they are said to have died “intestate.” When this happens, state law directs the distribution of the person’s property, known as the “estate” through a process called probate. And, it’s up to the Court to decide who controls the estate.

If Prince indeed died without a will, these statutes will result in his siblings dividing his estate, including his half-siblings. This may or may not be what Prince would have wanted, had he made provisions himself.  And, his estate is likely to be overseen by a paid executor, instead of a family member or friend he would have chosen.

So, what does this mean for you?

Just like Prince, if you do not plan for your death, your family will get stuck in Court and could end up in conflict as well.  It’s an unnecessary expense to your family, causes additional heartache and grief, and is totally avoidable.

Let Prince’s death be an inspiration to you to leave your loved ones with a legacy of love, not a big mess to clean up. We can help.

This article is a service of  Lela Juarez, Personal Family Lawyer®. If you’re ready to keep your family out of Court and conflict and leave a legacy of love, schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session™ today. We can help you make plans for how you want to provide for your loved ones when you can’t be there. Normally, a Family Wealth Planning Session™ is $750, but when you mention this article and are one of the first three families to book an appointment this month, we’ll waive that fee.

 

 

You’ve spent your entire life building up your retirement account. It may even be the biggest asset you’ll leave behind for the people you love.

If that’s the case, you may want to consider creating a special trust designed specifically to receive your retirement account assets in the event of your death.

If you leave your retirement account to the people you love outright, simply by naming them as beneficiaries on your retirement account rather than through a special trust, here are the risks:

1. Some studies indicate 80% of retirement account beneficiaries immediately liquidate the account and frivolously spend the assets (and on top of using the assets in ways you may not agree with, they also lose significant tax benefits for these assets you worked so hard to create);
2. If your beneficiary is married and does not properly handle the retirement assets you leave behind, and then gets divorced, your hard-earned assets could end up in the hands of the future ex-spouse of your beneficiary;
3. If you are in a second marriage situation with children from a prior marriage, you may be setting your spouse and children up for conflict after you are gone, due to the way you have planned (or not planned) for the passage of your retirement account.
4. If your beneficiary is ever in a situation where he or she has creditors or may have to file bankruptcy, and you’ve left your retirement account to him or her without a special trust, your retirement account would go to satisfy those creditors first.

Here’s the good news, it’s not hard to protect your retirement account for your beneficiaries with the right planning. We use a variety of special trusts to ensure the retirement assets you’ve worked so hard to build up throughout your life are passed on to the people you love so they are totally protected from a future divorce, creditors, bankruptcy and so that they do not create conflict for your loved ones.

If you have a significant retirement account whose designated beneficiary  is your spouse or children, or even your regular revocable living trust, call us to have your planning reviewed immediately.

This article is a service of Lela Juarez, Personal Family Lawyer,®  who develops trusting relationships with families for life.  If you’re ready to begin planning what you’d like to happen in case of unfortunate emergency, or even your death, schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session™ today. We can help you make plans for how you want to provide for your loved ones when you can’t be there. Normally, a Family Wealth Planning Session™ is $750, but when you mention this article and are one of the first three families to book an appointment this month, we’ll waive that fee.

 

 

 

We know that no one likes to think about death, especially their own.  Which is why many people procrastinate when it comes to estate planning.  Because it’s for when you die, right?  Wrong!  When done the right way, creating an estate plan makes your life better.

Here are some of the things that estate planning does for you while you are alive:

• Gets you thinking about the real meaning of your life, what you want to pass on beyond your life and what’s most important to you to do now;
• Gets you thinking about how you want to be cared for at the end of your life and lets you name someone to make those good decisions for you;
• Has you think about your money, who you want it to go to, how you want it handled, what you want it to do in the world after you aren’t here;
• Names someone to care for your children in case you can’t;
• Helps you minimize taxes;
• Lets you provide for a special needs child or other loved one without disrupting their governmental benefits;
• Protects your assets from divorce – yours or your children’s – as well as lawsuits and creditors;
• Enables you to gift portions of your estate to your children or charities while you are still alive in a tax-advantaged way that inspires wealth creation instead of depletion;
• Helps you plan for your own long-term care in a way that won’t deplete your estate

Of course, having an estate plan also offers you peace of mind that you have done what you could to protect loved ones and pass on your assets efficiently after death.  Having an estate plan in place before you pass guarantees that:

• Your personal property and assets will pass to the people you want to have them
• You spare your family the expense and pain of having to go through the probate process
• Your minor children are provided for in the way you choose, with a guardian named to raise them with your values and a trusted adviser in place to manage their finances until they come of age
• Your assets are protected for your heirs by setting up a trust with a distribution option for when they reach adulthood (or other milestones of your choice)
• Beneficiaries have been named for retirement and other financial accounts as well as life insurance policies so the assets in these accounts go to the people you choose
• The financial privacy of your family is protected

This is the perfect time to create a plan that spells out how you will pass on your values, beliefs and your money to your children.  You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk.

We normally charge $750 for a Family Wealth Planning Session, but because this planning is so important, I’ve made space for the next two people who contact our office to have a complete planning session at no charge.