1. Loss of capacity. What if you become incompetent and unable to manage your own affairs? Without a plan the courts will select the person to manage your affairs. With a plan, you pick that person through a power of attorney.

2. Minor children. Who will raise your children if you die? Without a plan, a court will make this decision. With a plan, you are able to nominate the guardian of your choice.

3. Dying without a will. Who will inherit your assets? Without a plan, your assets pass to your heirs according to Illinois intestacy law. Your family members (and perhaps not the ones you would choose) will receive your assets without benefit of your direction or of trust protection. With a plan, you decide who gets your assets and when and how they receive them.

4. Blended families. What if your family is the result of multiple marriages? Without a plan, children from different marriages may not be treated as you would wish. With a plan, you determine what goes to your current spouse and to the children from a prior marriage or marriages.

5. Children with special needs. Without a plan, a child with special needs risks being disqualified from receiving Medicaid or SSI benefits, and may have to use his or her inheritance to pay for health care. With a plan, you can set up a Supplemental Needs Trust that will allow the child to remain eligible for government benefits while using the trust assets to pay for non-covered expenses.

6. Keeping assets in the family. Would you prefer that your assets stay in your own family? Without a plan, your child’s spouse may windup with your money if your child passes away prematurely. If your child divorces his current spouse, half of your assets could go to the spouse. With a plan, you can set up a trust that ensures that your assets will stay in your family and, for example, pass to your grandchildren.

7. Financial security. Will your spouse and children be able to survive financially? Without a plan and the income replacement provided by life insurance, your family may be unable to maintain its current living standard. With a plan, life insurance can mean that your family will enjoy financial security.

8. Retirement accounts. Do you have an IRA or similar retirement account? Without a plan, your designated beneficiary for the retirement account funds may not reflect your current wishes and may result in burdensome tax consequences for your heirs. With a plan, you choose who will own and control the business after you are gone.

9. Business ownership. Do you own a business? Without a plan, you don’t name a successor, thus risking that your family could lose control of the business. With a plan, you choose who will own and control the business after you are gone.

10. Avoiding probate. Without a plan, your estate may be subject to delays and excess fees, and your assets will be a matter of public record. With a plan, you can structure things so that probate can be avoided entirely.

Risks to consider are whether the CCRC might fail due to loss of membership. In the case of failure, residents can lose all or part of their entrance fee. The average entrance fee is about $250,000.

Two web sites which offer information about retirement communities and their financial stability are CARF International and The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

Home Care
Home Care encompasses a wide range of health and social services delivered at home. These services include skilled nursing care, rehabilitative care, custodial care, hospice and housekeeping services. In the appropriate case, services in the home can be supplemented by community services such as adult day care, where a person can be picked up and brought to an adult center for supervision, recreation, meals and community. Certified health care agencies, hospice, home care aide agencies, private agencies and individuals can provide home health care services.

Life Care Communities
Residents in Life Care Communities are offered a full range of housing options from independent living to assisted living to a full-service nursing home, in order to accommodate changing medical and custodial needs. This option is excellent for those who “sign up” before there is ever a diagnosis of illness and who can afford the private pay expense.

Geriatric Care Manager
This professional, often a social worker, registered nurse or psychologist, coordinates the services that help people remain in their homes for as long as possible. They are equipped to assess the needs of the elderly; arrange for services; review legal, financial and medical issues to avoid problems and unnecessary expenses; coordinate the various government, private and community services available; offer counseling; and act as liaison for distant families.

Reverse Mortgage
This allows senior citizens who are house rich and cash poor to obtain a loan based on the equity in their home. They retain title to their home as long as they continue to live there and receive nontaxable income. With the terms of most mortgages, the loan, interest and other costs do not have to be paid back until the owner vacates the property through a move or death. Almost all reverse mortgages provide a guarantee of lifetime tenancy. Most reverse mortgages are a nonrecourse loan that means the lender can look only to the value of the home for repayment.

At a minimum, leave information regarding the following in a place where your heirs can easily find it:

• Your personal history including names, addresses and telephone numbers for yourself and all of your current family members and family members from previous marriages;
• Your military service including your branch and dates of service;
• Your employment including present employer and employment benefits (life insurance, stock options, pension plans and contact information for each);
• Real estate you own including copies of deeds;
• Financial accounts including name of institution and account numbers;
• Stocks and bonds held in brokerage accounts and the name and phone number for the brokerage firm;
• Automobile make, model and year and location of title and any loan information;
• Business interests including type and amount of ownership
• Safe-deposit boxes
• Insurance policies
• Funeral/Burial instructions
• Tax returns
• Wills
• Trusts
• Power of Attorney for Property
• Power of Attorney for Health Care
• Living Will
• Name and phone number for your lawyer, accountant and doctor
• Important friends to notify upon your death.

The Virtual Representation Statute does two things. It greatly expands the application of virtual representation, under which certain beneficiaries who are adults with capacity can represent other beneficiaries, including minors, unborn children, disabled beneficiaries and beneficiaries with remote contingent interests. Also, it expands and clarifies the matters that can be resolved by the interested parties in a trust through nonjudicial agreement.

The accounts are useful where an elderly person has an adult child assist with banking, such as making deposits and paying bills, but where there is no intention to make the balance in the account a gift to the non-owner upon the death of the owner.

The banks are protected. Until the bank receives written notice of the death of the account owner, it has no liability for continuing to pay funds to the non-owner. Once the bank does receive written notice, unless there is a restraining order or injunction in place, the bank is discharged from liability by delivering the remaining funds in the account to the executor, administrator or other representative of the estate.

In Illinois, No Contest Clauses are allowed, but the courts construe them strictly.

One strategy is to leave the person who is to be disinherited enough so that he will be too afraid to risk losing it.

Unless requested by an interested person to go supervised, an estate is opened as an independent administration. Unlike the supervised administration, the independent administration does not require filing the inventory and accounting with the Court. The inventory and accounting are not subject to view by the Court, and they are not public record. However, they are sent to the beneficiaries for approval.

No Court authority is needed to sell real estate when there is an independent administration, and an independent administration may be converted to a supervised administration at any time by any interested party upon request to the Court.

With a supervised administration, the inventory and accounting are filed with the court and as a result are a matter of public record. The accounting is subject to approval by the judge, including the attorney and fiduciary fees. In addition, the representative needs court approval and personal service on all interested parties to sell real estate.

Opening probate when there is controversy will also provide a forum to the other side. For example, all creditors’ claims are dismissed after two years under the probate act. By opening an estate, the period is shortened to six months, but the creditor is also provided a forum to file his claim. If no estate is opened, it is harder for the creditor to file his claim.

Before the court issues letters of office giving the personal representative all of the powers given to him in the will and given to him by statute, the personal representative can carry out any gift of the decedent’s body, make burial arrangements, pay funeral charges and take acts necessary to preserve the estate.

After appointment by the court as an independent administrator, the personal representative has all of the express and implied powers given to him in the will in addition to many statutory powers including the power to lease, sell or mortgage the personal estate of the decedent and distribute any of the personal estate the sale of which is not necessary; borrow money; continue the decedent’s unincorporated business; perform any contract of the decedent; employ agents, accountants and counsel, including legal and investment counsel; and hold stocks, bonds and other personal property.

An affidavit must be completed which states the names and addresses of the heirs at law if the decedent died without a will or the beneficiaries’ names and addresses if the decedent had a will. The affiant must state that no estate proceeding before a court is pending nor is one contemplated. He must also state that all funeral expenses have been paid and that there is no known claimant and no known claims against the property. All assets must be listed on the affidavit as well.

No notice is required to heirs, beneficiaries or creditors. The affiant holds harmless all creditors and heirs of the decedent and other persons relying upon the affidavit who suffer a loss because of their reliance.

The affidavit does not need to be filed with the Court.

It is important to remember that it is not your will or trust that determines who will inherit your Roth IRA. Roth IRAs, like all IRAs, include their own beneficiary designation. The owner of the Roth stipulates the beneficiaries of the account. In some cases, it will be the most advantageous to stipulate the owner’s estate or the owner’s trust as the beneficiary. That way, an estate plan including a will and a trust can be further utilized.