Writing Your Tulsa Estate Planning Blog

A misconception is going around about estate planning, is that wills do not have to go through the probate process.

It is not always clear how mistaken estate planning beliefs get started. It usually happens on the Internet with people seeking out legal advice from often bad sources.

Sometimes, it starts with a television show or movie that has played loose with the law.

Regardless of how mistaken beliefs start, it is important to make sure that you do not believe any of them.

One that more people believe than might be expected, is that wills do not have to go through probate.

That is just wrong, as TC Palm discussed in “Common misconceptions about wills and trusts.”

This idea probably got its start, because in some states if an estate is small enough, then it does not have to go through probate. Usually, these are very small estates with very few assets.

Someone with good intentions probably had a relative or friend who passed away with few assets and as a consequence, the will did not have to go through probate.

However, most wills do have to go through probate. They need to be submitted to the court and approved.

The probate court then oversees the administration of the estate as conducted by the executor or personal representative.

If you want your estate to avoid probate, what you need is not a will.

Instead you need to use other estate planning instruments, such as trusts.

Trusts do not have to go through probate in almost all cases. If you would like to get one, schedule an appointment with an estate planning attorney.

Reference: TC Palm (Oct. 5, 2017) “Common misconceptions about wills and trusts.”

Many people who were well known in their own time, get forgotten by history. A pair of brothers likes to seek the graves of those people and talk about their stories. They are getting a TV show about it.

New York brothers Vincent and Robert Gardino have a very unusual hobby. They like to visit old cemeteries and seek out the final resting places of people who were once minor celebrities while they were alive, but who have been mostly forgotten about by history.

The brothers have developed a lively banter when they visit these graves and discuss the lives of the deceased between themselves.

Their banter is entertaining enough that it could soon be coming to your television, as The New York Times reports in “Like ‘Car Talk,’ but With Dead People.”

The brothers are developing a television show for PBS that will feature the two of them visiting the graves of people all over the country. The proposed name for the show is “Grave Trippers.”

While at first glance, this might not sound like an interesting show, the brothers are being compared to the brothers on NPR’s Car Talk.

If their banter is that lively and entertaining, this show could be a good watch for anyone interested in history and the lives of people in the past.

It should also have plenty of discussion about the historical graves themselves and presumably what happened to the people’s possessions when they passed away, if there is anything interesting about the estates.

Reference: New York Times (Sep. 21, 2017) “Like ‘Car Talk,’ but With Dead People.”

One of the most frustrating things about estate planning, is that people assume that there is always time to do it later. That leads to putting off important estate planning, until it is too late.

Most people do not think something bad is going to happen to them any time in the near future.

Healthy people have this belief that they will be able to continue with their lives without any problems.

They do not think they will have an accident. They do not think they will get seriously ill. They know these things could happen, but believing that they are imminent is paranoia.

The problem with this thinking is that it leads people to put off estate planning. People put off their initial estate planning, but they also put off making necessary changes to the estate plans they already have.

The latter can be as big of a problem, as the former the Sunshine Daily Coast reports in “Fix your will before it’s too late.”

What is the problem with putting off making necessary changes to an estate plan? Once you have a plan that is the one a court will follow, until you change it.

If you have stated in your will that someone should inherit your property and you change your mind for whatever reason, the change has no legal effect until you actually create a new will.

If something happens to you before you create that new will, then the person you do not want to inherit the property actually will.
It is never a good idea to procrastinate in any area of estate planning.

Instead of putting things off, see an estate planning attorney as soon as the needs arises.

Reference: Sunshine Coast Daily (Oct. 2, 2017) “Fix your will before it’s too late.”

Trusts used to be viewed as a tool for the wealthy. That is no longer the case.

Most people probably first learned about trusts in a history class.

The idea of trusts is often introduced when we study the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. He is famous for speaking out against the trusts of his day and beginning to break them up.

The trusts being talked about in history, were the vehicles of extremely wealthy people that were used to hold their assets. The biggest trusts had immense economic power and near full control over some industries.

Because of this history, people often still think of trusts as things that very wealthy people get and use.

However, trusts are now for everyone, as the Times Herald-Record discusses in “Trusts are no longer just for the wealthy.”

There are all kinds of trusts available today. They can be created for many different purposes.

Trusts can be used to make inheritances in blended families less contentious. They can also be used to hold inheritances for minor children. Trusts can be as simple as being nothing more than a convenient way to avoid the potentially costly and time-consuming probate process.

Because trusts are so versatile, almost anyone can benefit from a trust.

If you would like to know how you might personally benefit from getting one, talk to an estate planning attorney about your needs and what types of trusts can help meet those needs.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (Sep. 28, 2017) “Trusts are no longer just for the wealthy.”

Experts predict that the estate tax exemption for 2018 will increase slightly to $5.49 million for a single person and $10.98 million for couples.

The IRS has not yet announced what the 2018 estate tax exemption will be. However, expert analysts think there will be some slightly good news for wealthy people.

They predict that the exemption should increase to $5.6 million for a single person and more than $11 million for married couples.

At the same time, they predict that the annual gift tax exemption should also increase to about $15,000, as Forbes reported in “Estate Tax Exemption To Top $11 Million Per Couple in 2018.”

This should give wealthy people and their estate planning attorneys a little bit more flexibility, as they attempt to shrink estates to below the threshold.

While most people who might be affected by this exemption increase would prefer to see the estate tax repealed entirely, that is increasingly looking like it will not happen this year.

Congress has turned its attention to tax reform, but getting anything passed could be a long process and will likely continue into next year.

Repealing the estate tax is also controversial. If Democratic votes are needed to pass tax reform legislation, that might take the estate tax off the table.

If you have questions about your estate and how it might have an impact on the estate tax, then you should see an experienced estate planning attorney in your area.

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 15, 2017) “Estate Tax Exemption To Top $11 Million Per Couple in 2018.”

It is not all that unusual for a child to not live up to the expectations of parents. Sometimes parents will be so disappointed when that happens, that they will attempt to cut the child out of their estate plans. They might want to reconsider.

Wealthy parents often have extremely high expectations for their children. They want their children to go to school, get a good job, raise a family and do all of the things that made the parents so successful.

However, sometimes a child just does not live up to those expectations.

Sometimes there is a black sheep who does everything the parents would not want him or her to do.

If the problems are severe enough, then the parents might even stop contact with the child and seek to cut him or her out of their estates.

The latter is often a bad idea, as the Globe and Mail discusses in “Think twice, wealthy family, before cutting the black sheep out of your will.”

One big thing to consider is that a child who receives nothing has no incentive to not cause problems.

A no-contest clause can prevent someone who does receive an inheritance from challenging an estate plan that they do not like, but it cannot prevent someone from doing so who is set to receive nothing or very little from an estate.

This can make cutting a child out of an estate plan a very expensive proposition. This is because the child has no reason to not launch legal fights.

A black sheep child can also be more easily controlled by using an estate plan to incentivize that child into desired behaviors.

An estate planning attorney can help you create a trust, for example, that only distributes money to the child when certain actions are taken by the child.

Reference: Globe and Mail (Sep. 19, 2017) “Think twice, wealthy family, before cutting the black sheep out of your will.”

Legalizing gay marriage did solve most of estate problems for same-sex couples.

When the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a Constitutional right to get married, many problems those couples faced were finally resolved. For the first time, gay couples had legal protections in case one of them passed away.

The laws of intestate succession would protect them, in case they did not have an estate plan.

Couples were also given more rights to information about the health of the other, so they could assist in the treatment plan if one or the other of them got seriously ill.

However, not all potential estate planning issues for same-sex couples are fully resolved, as Cleveland Jewish News discusses in “Same-sex couples could face estate planning road blocks.”

One of the biggest problems remains child custody.

Prior to legalizing same-sex marriage, it was not normally allowed for both partners in a same-sex relationship to be put on the birth certificate of a newborn.

This has important implications for any children born prior to the Supreme Court’s decision.

The automatic right of custody of children in the event the spouse whose name is on the birth certificate passes away, cannot be assumed for the other spouse.

Of course, this is an ever bigger problem for same-sex couples who have chosen not to get married. They still have all of the other potential issues that existed previously.

It is extremely important that same-sex couples see an estate planning attorney.

The law is more favorable than it used to be, but it is not yet perfect at protecting their rights.

Reference: Cleveland Jewish News (Sep. 9, 2017) “Same-sex couples could face estate planning road blocks

It is not enough to get an estate plan once and leave it alone for all time. It needs to be constantly reviewed and updated to take account of changing circumstances.

Some people can get away with getting an estate plan once and never looking at it again. If someone never gets divorced, remarried, has more children or increases assets, then the first estate plan they get might be good enough for the rest of their lives.

This is true, even if that estate plan was written 50 years before the person passes away.

However, most people’s lives are not that constant.

In fact, most people have significant changes in their lives as they get older.

When things change, then estate plans normally need to be changed as well, as Forbes discusses in “Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich.”

The more wealth that you have, the more often you will probably need to change your estate plan.

This is because your assets will grow, how you hold those assets will change and tax laws will also change.

Nevertheless, it is not just the wealthy who need to constantly review and update their estate plans.

Everyone should do so, whenever there is a significant change in their lives that should be reflected in an estate plan.

Examples of these changes include divorce, remarriage, a new child, a new higher paying job, a new grandchild and much more.

If you have not changed your estate plan recently, then take a look at it.

Ask yourself whether it still does what you want it to do, given all the changes in your life.

If the answer is no or even maybe not, then talk to an estate planning attorney.

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 6, 2017) “Why Continuous Estate Planning Is Essential For the Rich and Super-Rich.”

Prenuptial agreements are a great way to set the terms for what will happen if a couple ever gets divorced or when one of the spouses passes away. They are meant to protect assets when necessary, but they are increasingly being used for something more.

When two people get married, it is not unusual for one or more of them to have much greater wealth than the other. The wealthier person can use a prenuptial agreement to guard against a divorce that strips him or her of too much wealth.

Another common issue is when one or both of them enters the marriage with children from a previous relationship.

They might want to protect against a spouse getting too much of an estate and leaving their children with little to inherit.

Prenuptial agreements are an excellent way to guard against both of these potential problems.

They allow a couple to come to terms beforehand, so everyone is happy.

However, some people try to do more with prenuptial agreements, as Market Watch reports in “Prenuptial agreements contain more bizarre ‘lifestyle’ clauses.”

Prenuptial agreements are now being used to guard against undesired behavior by future spouses.

For example, some agreements now penalize a spouse for cursing, gaining too much weight or hanging out with friends too much.

The problem with these agreements, besides the obvious who would want to marry someone with those types of demands, is their enforceability.

A court is unlikely to enforce an agreement that penalizes a spouse for gaining an extra few pounds over the limits set out in the agreement.

Reference: Market Watch (Sep. 9, 2017) “Prenuptial agreements contain more bizarre ‘lifestyle’ clauses.”

A big concern for many people when they are planning their estates, is that they do not trust the people their children married. They fear that a son or daughter-in-law will waste their children’s inheritances.

The situation where parents do not get along with their sons and daughters-in-law is a Hollywood cliché. TV sitcoms often feature running storylines featuring the cliché that play out over multiple seasons.

There is a reason for the cliché.

It is based in reality.

There is often tension between in-laws.

In estate planning, this plays out with the parents being wary that their son-in-law or daughter-in-law will meddle in the inheritance of the parents’ own children and waste the inheritance.

A recent example comes to us from the U.K., where someone wrote into a This Is Money advice column and asked how to protect a child’s inheritance from a bad son-in-law.

The article title asks this question: “I have a terminal illness and our son-in law is unreliable with money – how can we protect daughter’s inheritance?”

The answer in the U.S. is the same as it is in the U.K.

Instead of leaving a child an inheritance outright through a will, a trust can be used to protect the assets from a wayward in-law.
With a trust, you can make sure the money is only used for things you would want.

If your child gets divorced, the trust can also protect the inheritance in the divorce.

If you have an issue with your son-in-law or daughter-in-law and would like to make sure your child’s inheritance is not wasted, then contact an estate planning attorney to get a trust.

Reference: This Is Money (Sep. 8, 2017) “I have a terminal illness and our son-in law is unreliable with money – how can we protect daughter’s inheritance?”