Estate Planning

February 23, 2015

Facebook Account, Digital Assets and Estate Planning, what Happens when I die?

Estate Planning for Digital Assets is becoming a more important part of our estate planning. While most online accounts simply expire when you die, Facebook has recently incorporated some changes to your account so you can specify what happens when you die.

Until recently, loved ones of the deceased only had two choices:

Keep the wall public so everyone could continue to post messages and thoughts on the wall, or
Request to have the page “memorialized,” which meant the profile was no longer searchable or visible to those who were not already friends of the individual.

What Facebook did not allow to happen was for someone to manage the profile of the deceased owner without having the password. That just changed with the Facebook Legacy Contact feature. A Facebook user can now choose a “legacy contact.” The Legacy Contact can manage your account or delete the account after you pass away.

Facebook’s Updated Options and Release Stated:

January 22, 2015

2015 Gift Tax: Can I Give My Kids $14,000 a Year?

by David M. Goldman

The amount you can give anyone without having to file a gift tax return in 2015 remains the same as 2014 at $14,000.

Remember that you can give your children, their spouses, your grandkids $14,000 each. In addition, if you are married, your spouse can also gift $14,000 to each person.

Generally, families use gifting to reduce the size of their estate do not need Medicaid long-term care coverage, but if you or your spouse need care and you have gifted money in the past, it may affect your ability to obtain coverage.

December 11, 2014

Why Not to Name Kids as a Beneficiary of your IRA

by David M. Goldman

If you have been told, don’t worry about your IRA it is protected because Florida has statutory protections for IRAs, you may have misunderstood or been mislead. While Florida does have statutory protection for inherited IRA’s, this protection only applies if your beneficiaries are residents of Florida at the time of your death.

Why take a chance with naming individuals as a beneficiary of your IRA. A properly designed trust should be the beneficiary of your IRA to protect the proceeds from the creditors of your beneficiaries at the time of your death.

In June of this year, the US Supreme Court in Clark V Rameker stated that children or other “non-spouse” individuals who inherit are at risk of loss to their creditors. This was not a close call, it was a 9-0 decision and clarifies that an inherited IRA is not protected from the creditors of its owners.

November 12, 2014

What is the iPug™ Trust Your Family’s New Best Friend

by David M. Goldman

We often get asked about the iPug™ Trust and how it can be so different than a traditional revocable trust or a standard irrevocable trust. The iPug™ takes the best parts of an irrevocable trust and mixes them with the best parts of a revocable trust to create a new type of irrevocable trust where you are in control and can make changes to the beneficiaries and management of the trust just like you can with a revocable trust.

Why Do People Love iPug™?

Because iPug™ Protects You and Your Family From:

Lawsuits
Nursing Homes
Those that want to take away what you worked hard for.
Children’s indiscretions, their spouses and divorce.

October 29, 2014

Revocable Trusts and Asset Protection

by David M. Goldman

Many times we get questions from clients asking if their revocable trust provides asset protection from creditors. The answer to this is the typical legal answer “It Depends”. That is it depends on who owes the money. In Florida a revocable trust can provide some limited protection against the creditors of your beneficiaries through a spendthrift clause, but it will not provide protection from the creditors of the person who creates the trust. Upon your death, the assets in your revocable trust are available to your creditors.

There is a new type of irrevocable trust that is similar to a revocable trust in terms of management, control, and no negative tax effects. This special irrevocable trust is called an IPUG and can be structured to provide asset protection for the items placed in the trust.

An IPUG can be designed to protect an entire asset, the principal, or the income from the asset. The most common design is to protect the entire assets. If you are concerned about protecting your assets from future creditors and the creditors of your children, an IPUG may be the right choice for you.

August 14, 2014

Do I need to go through a lawyer to make a will in Florida or can I use a website like legalzoom?

by David M. Goldman

You can use a website or create your own will in Florida, but we find that some people do not create valid wills, or create wills that do things other than what they want. We only charge $200 for a will so an online will does not save very much considering the risks.

If you want to create your own will be sure that you sign the will at the end and in front of two witnesses. There are benefits to using a self proving affidavit, but one is not required under Florida law. Of course, most lawyers will include a self proving affidavit with the will that they prepare for you.

Many online wills or wills that individuals try to create do not include provisions for things that happen routinely. Some examples are a named person dies simultaneously, shortly after you, or before you. An improperly drafted will could expose your belongings to their creditors in such a case.

July 29, 2014

Dangers of Relying on Joint Accounts for Estate Planning in Florida

by David M. Goldman

Many people see joint accounts as a cheap and easy way to avoid probate, since joint property passes to the join owner at death, but these accounts can actually be quite risky when it comes to estate planning.

Joint ownership of accounts can be a great way to easily pass assets to another owner at death. Joint ownership is also a great way to plan for an elder person’s incapacity, since the joint owner of the account can pay bills and manage investments if the primary owner falls ill or suffers from any other sickness.

There are some potential downsides to joint ownership of an account. The biggest factor to consider is the risk of joint ownership. Joint owners have complete access to the account, and the ability to use the account funds for any purpose. When children are made joint owners of an account, it is often the case they can take money without consulting with the other children.

July 28, 2014

Banker Suicides indicate Stress of the Profession.

by David M. Goldman

If your family works in a high stress profession is a good idea to make sure you and your family keep their estate plans up to date.

The unexpected deaths of finance workers in the past few months by suicide around the world have raised concerns about mental health and stress levels of the banking profession.

JP Morgan executive director Julian Knott, 45, killed himself after shooting his wife Alita Knott, 49, to death with a shotgun. Julian worked for JP Morgan until July 2010, before he and his wife moved to the United States. Before the move, Alita had opened a nursery in Southwick, West Sussex and remained the nursery’s care provider until 2013.

July 18, 2014

Probate: Is it a good idea to give your heirs their inheritance while you are still alive?

by David M. Goldman

Planning an estate can be a difficult process, but also a rewarding one because it helps to ensure that a person’s heirs will be provided for after he or she dies. Many assume they should wait until after death to convey assets to their loved ones, but there are some benefits to giving assets to an heir while still alive.

There are two types of taxes to consider when determining when to give an heir your assets. A decedent who gives his or her assets to someone while still alive may have to pay a gift tax. This is a tax imposed by the federal government on any transfer of property. Property includes intangible items such as cash and stocks, as well as physical items such as vehicles or furniture.

The most important aspect of gift tax to understand is the unified gift and estate tax credit, which allows a person to give property tax free up to $5.34 million throughout his or her life.

July 15, 2014

Estate Planning: The Risk of Creating Your Own Will. Is it valid?

by David M. Goldman

The Florida Supreme Court recently decided the long and costly case of a deceased woman who tried to write her own Will using an online legal form.

In Aldrich, v. Basile, Ann Aldrich used a pre-printed legal form to draft a Will. She did this most likely to avoid paying an estate-planning attorney. This Florida Supreme Court Decision resulted in costly legal fees and most likely years of anguish for her family.

Deciding who would inherit Ann Aldrich’s property was appealed twice, which was finally decided by the Florida Supreme Court. The court’s decision of who would inherit the property was most likely not what the deceased had intended. Justice Pariente wrote in her concurring opinion the result of the court’s decision came not from the interpretation of Florida law but from Ann’s mistake of using an online form that did not adequately express her specific needs.