Writing Your Tulsa Estate Planning Blog

When families fight over estates, it is not always over things of great importance. They often fight over the little things.

Much of the discussion about how to avoid family feuds over estates focuses on major items. The focus is on making sure that everyone gets his or her fair share of the estate’s wealth, so they will be satisfied and not challenge the estate.

That is an important discussion, but little items of personal property can also be a problem, as CNBC discusses in “7 Ways that cheap Tweety Bird figurine can screw up your estate.”

Potential problems include:

• Items that do not have great monetary value can still have great sentimental value to family members. If two people want the same item, it can be difficult to resolve that dispute.

• Do not tell anyone verbally they can have a piece of personal property without putting that in writing in your estate plan. If other people want the same item, the person you want to have it will have no way of proving that you said they could have it.

• Do not just let your family divide all your assets between themselves when you pass away. It is most likely that they will fight over who gets what.

• Even if you have given someone access to a safety deposit box and told them they can have the contents after you pass away, you still need to make that official in your estate plan.

• Make sure that any unusual items have been planned for, such as digital media accounts and frequent flyer rewards.

• Items regulated by the government can be complicated. You should plan accordingly.

• Your executor will need to have the authority to change the locks on your door. You would be surprised how often people simply walk in and help themselves to items that they want.

Reference: CNBC (Oct. 10, 2017) “7 Ways that cheap Tweety Bird figurine can screw up your estate.”

Estate planning is about more than just figuring out what happens to your possessions when you pass away. It is also about what happens to your family.

When people think about estate planning, they normally think about possessions and money. They think that estate planning is all about deciding who gets what possessions and who will inherit their money.

For some people, this is not something that they care about too much. They think it is of no importance to them what happens to their money. After all, they will not be around to spend it or to see who does, so why bother with it too much?

Estate planning, however, is about much more than that, as NJ Biz recently discussed in “Why haven’t you protected your greatest asset?”

The most important thing you have is your family, especially if you have minor children. Estate planning is about protecting them.

Yes, most of the focus is on possessions and money. However, the point of estate planning is to decide the best way to leave your possessions and money to your family.

It is about making sure that your family is cared for after you pass away.

When you plan your estate, you can make sure that your assets can be used by your family to meet its needs.

If you have minor children, then estate planning is also about making sure that a responsible person takes care of them and handles the assets for the children, until they are old enough to do so for themselves.

You need to plan for your family.

Think about them as the reason for estate planning, instead of just thinking about it as a way to deal with your possessions and money.

Reference: NJ Biz (Oct. 9, 2017) “Why haven’t you protected your greatest asset?”

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.”

Public pensions all over the U.S. are facing severe underfunding problems.

Public employees in the U.S. count on their pensions to provide for them in retirement. While most private companies have moved to 401Ks, public employees still have the old pension system.

Because of these pensions, they are often not eligible for Social Security.

However, for decades, these pensions have been underfunded, since governments have preferred to spend money elsewhere.

The problem is severe and not isolated to just a few public pension programs, as the Economist reports in “American public pensions suffer from a gaping hole.”

The biggest source of the problem appears to be that administrators have preferred to use projection methods that are unrealistic. More realistic projections would require governments to make greater contributions.

There are no popular options to fix this problem.

Taxpayers do not want to pay more, so governments can meet their pension obligations.

Public employees do not want to contribute more of their paychecks to the pensions.

Current and future pension beneficiaries also do not want to see their benefits cut.

Something will have to give to address the public pension problem adequately.

If employees cannot rely on their pensions, then they might not be able to retire as planned, unless the federal government intervenes and covers the pension shortfalls.

People who are no longer able to work, could find themselves forced to retire and also unable to meet their expenses.

Reference: Economist (Oct. 5, 2017) “American public pensions suffer from a gaping hole.”

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.”

Special needs trusts are vital for the support of people with disabilities. They are not perfect, however, as it can be difficult for a beneficiary to change the trustee.

Special needs trusts offer substantial benefits for those people who have them.

They allow a beneficiary to have access to income, while remaining eligible for government benefits.

However, in exchange for that benefit, the trusts are very restricted. They must be created in hyper-specific ways and the beneficiary’s ability to control the assets in the trust is limited.

Technically, the beneficiary cannot distribute or manage the trust assets.

That means a third-party trustee is needed.

If the trustee is not up to the job or intentionally mishandles the trust, it can be difficult for the beneficiary to change the trustee, as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discusses in “Can the Beneficiary of a Special Needs Trust Change the Trustee?”

A beneficiary of a special needs trust can petition a court to have the trustee removed and another appointed. However, this can be a difficult process and many people with special needs are not able to handle the complex legal issues of filing a petition with the court, let alone arguing for a trustee change.

This could potentially stick a beneficiary with a bad trustee and no recourse.

It is, therefore, important that special needs trusts be drafted with this problem in mind.

Trustees must be chosen carefully and, in cases where the beneficiary is of diminished capacity, it should be clear on who else can petition to change the trustee.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Sep. 27, 2017) “Can the Beneficiary of a Special Needs Trust Change the Trustee?”

For its role in administering an estate, JPMorgan was sued for damages by the widow and two stepchildren. A jury awarded the plaintiffs $4 billion in punitive damages.

Max Hopper is not a well-known figure. However, he became a wealthy man during his time as an executive at American Airlines.
He was best known for creating an innovative reservation system.

At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $19 million.

Unfortunately, he did not have an estate plan.

The bank JPMorgan was chosen to administer his complex estate. However, Hopper’s widow and her stepchildren grew angry at the way the bank was handling the estate and accused it of delaying distributions for its own benefit.

They sued in a Dallas court.

A jury recently came down with a verdict.

JPMorgan was ordered to pay the plaintiffs $5 million in actual damages and $4 billion in punitive damages, as Bloomberg reports in “JPMorgan Ordered to Pay More Than $4 Billion to Widow and Family.”

It is very likely courts will greatly reduce this punitive damage award, since the Supreme Court has previously ruled that punitive damages must be proportional to actual damages.

Nevertheless, this case highlights an important point.

Estate administrators can be held liable, if they do not faithfully carry out their duties.

The jury in this case believed that the bank was guilty of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and breaking a fee agreement.

JPMorgan is a sophisticated entity that should have known better.

Estate administrators with less experience would be wise to seek the assistance of an attorney to help them make sure they do not run afoul of the law.

Reference: Bloomberg (Sep. 26, 2017) “JPMorgan Ordered to Pay More Than $4 Billion to Widow and Family.”

For the last few months, there has been speculation about whether President Trump and the GOP would attempt to repeal the estate tax or drop the idea to focus on other tax ideas. For now, they have indicated that an estate tax repeal is still in the works.

The Trump administration and Congressional Republicans are very slowly inching toward tax reform. It has not always been clear what type of reforms they might be considering.

Many different possibilities have been discussed.

However, they have now released a joint framework that gives an idea of their main priorities.

Advocates for a repeal of the estate tax will be pleased to know that a complete repeal of the tax is included in the framework, as Forbes reports in “Trump GOP Tax Reform Framework Calls For Estate Tax Repeal.”

Despite including a repeal of the estate tax the framework is curiously silent on the gift tax, which normally goes hand in hand with the estate tax.

If the ideas in the framework were eventually to become law, that would mean pre-death transfers could still be taxed, while post-death transfers to the exact same people would not be.

Of course, releasing a framework for reform is not the same as passing legislation.

There is a long way to go before the estate tax is repealed and the issue is likely to be contentious in Congress.

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 27, 2017) “Trump GOP Tax Reform Framework Calls For Estate Tax Repeal.”