Illinois Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

The following are typical mistakes people make when planning their estates:

• They have an outdated plan
• They have no will or an outdate will
• They rely on joint tenancy as a tool, especially children as joint tenants
• They incorrectly title an asset so an unintended beneficiary receives the asset
• They designate an inappropriate beneficiary for IRA accounts, insurance policies and retire benefits
• They fail to provide for a successor in interest if a primary beneficiary dies first or disclaims the gift
• They fail to provide for a guardian for themselves in the event of disability
• They rely on outdated or stale powers of attorney
• They do not properly coordinate their will and their trust or have no trust at all
• They fail to consider Medicaid planning

Continue reading "Common Mistakes in Estate Planning" »

Posted by Anne Rabuck | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Estate Planning

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Here's another reason to convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA:

When you convert to a Roth IRA, you can pay the conversion fee out of other assets. That is, you can pay the conversion fee from funds not in the traditional IRA. This will maximize the amount that you are converting to a Roth.

Because portfilios have been beaten down and values are currently likely to be far below their amounts in the past, you will have assets with depressed values in an account likely to increase significantly in value. All of this increase will be tax free when withdrawals are made from the Roth account.

Continue reading "Illinois Estate Asset Protection Planning" »

Posted by Anne Rabuck | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Asset Protection

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The ability to make a will involves the issue of mental capacity.

In Illinois, there is a presumption that every man is sane until the contrary is proven and the burden is upon him who asserts the lack of testamentary capacity. In other words, everyone is presumed to have the mental capacity to make a valid will. It is up to the person challenging the validity of the will to prove otherwise.

Illinois courts also recognize that someone who suffers from some mental impairment can still have testamentary capacity. There is a case where a 74 year old woman executed a will after she was diagnosed with senile dementia and had the intelligence level of a 12 year old child. Despite these short comings, she read newspapers, was aware of and interested in current events, knew her relatives and asked about their well being and could transact business. The court ruled that she had the capacity to execute a valid will.

In summary, Illinois law requires three things for someone to have the mental capacity to make a valid will:

1) He must know who his spouse, children, grandchildren and other relatives are;
2) He must generally understand what assets he owns; and
3) He must be able to form a plan in his head regarding how he wants his property distributed.

Continue reading "Making a Will in Illinois" »

Posted by Anne Rabuck | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Estate Planning

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