In the last post, I shared about specific things to keep in mind while reviewing your estate plan. Here are 10 more:
11. Charitable Contributions
If you have chosen any charitable organizations for planned donations, make sure these organizations still align with your intentions, goals, and values.
An effective estate plan is like a finely-tuned machine, and it needs regular maintenance to make sure it operates harmoniously in the face of life’s changes and challenges. An estate plan should be revisited every few years as well as after any major life change to make sure it is still aligned with your current life goals, circumstances, and wishes.
Here is a checklist to help guide you through regularly reviewing an estate plan:
1. Updated Information
During your life:
When it comes to estate planning to prepare for what may happen while you are still alive, you’ll want to make sure you have documents in place for your spouse or other individual(s) you trust to be able to make medical and financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated or otherwise unable to make these decisions. This can be the same person if you choose, or you may wish for one person to make medical decisions and for another to make financial decisions for you.
After your death:
If someone close to you passes away and you receive the information that they had named you as trustee, you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed if you do not know what is needed to fulfill this role and if you have not served as a trustee before.
Serving as a trustee isn’t an innate skill that everyone has, and there are many responsibilities and duties that someone must take on in this role. Different states may have some specific duties and responsibilities that vary, but here is a general list to help you begin:
Estate planning serves to ensure an individual’s assets are distributed as they wish after they pass away. Proper estate planning is even more vital for a single parent to ensure the wellbeing of their children as they are solely responsible for providing for and protecting their children.
One of the most vital aspects of estate planning for a single parent is to designate a guardian for their minor children. If something were to happen to the parent, this ensures that a trusted person will be appointed to raise their children. It’s important to choose a guardian who shares similar values, has a similar parenting style, understands the needs of the children, and who would be willing to take on this responsibility. A parent should have an open discussion with the potential guardian and select an alternate guardian as well.
Establishing a trust or will is foundational to estate planning and can be created to protect and manage assets to provide for their children. A trust can ensure assets are held and distributed according to a parent’s wishes after their passing. A trust that exists until one’s children reach a certain age or milestone can be set up to provide ongoing support for their needs as they grow up, including education, healthcare, and other necessities for their wellbeing. This can also provide protection against potential mismanagement of assets or irresponsible spending.
How you title your real estate holdings is key to making sure your assets are transferred according to your wishes after you have passed away. In making decisions about how to title your assets, you’ll want to consider things such as avoiding probate, minimizing estate taxes, and liability protection.
Avoiding Probate
People often want to avoid probate if at all possible. Here are some common ways to do so:
Much like the process of building a house, the steps to building an estate plan should be well-defined and carefully considered.
Here are some things to keep in mind when creating your estate plan:
· Get the right “builder.” Just like for a house, you will most likely need to hire an estate planning professional to make sure that what is built is done correctly according to your goals and the vision you have in mind. You will make your wishes known, of course, but you will rely on the builder’s expertise.
A trust is a legal document that you can use to give assets to others. A trust can be revocable or irrevocable. As the creator of the trust, you can modify a revocable trust at any point throughout your lifetime. If you decide on an irrevocable trust, though, you generally will be unable to make changes to this type of trust after you have created it.
A lot of people are concerned about the term “irrevocable” since they associate this term with permanency and are afraid that this type of trust could turn out to no longer be compatible with their wishes as their life circumstances change. There is, however, a way to deal with changes in life circumstances after the creation of an irrevocable trust using “trust decanting.”
What Is “Decanting” a Trust in Estate Planning?
A number of couples, including some who have been together for many years, choose not to legally marry for a variety of personal and financial reasons. Sometimes older couples decide against marriage because they don’t want to affect their children’s inheritance. There are others who don’t want to deal with the legalities of marriage. Some people would lose social security benefits or pension if they decide to remarry.
It is extremely important for couples who are not married to make their wishes clear in their estate planning documents when it comes to the rights and responsibilities they want their significant other to have. A non-married partner doesn’t have the same legal rights that a married spouse has. A significant other does not have a statutory priority to serve as a personal representative or executor for the estate of their partner, statutory right to inherit their partner’s property, priority to make disposition of their partner’s last remains, or priority to act as their partner’s guardian or conservator should they become incapacitated or disabled. There is also no requirement to give notice of withholding of life support for a non-married significant other. However, anyone may execute estate planning documents so that their significant other will have these legal rights.
An unmarried individual will want to make sure to execute a will, a health care power of attorney, a general durable power of attorney, and a living will to protect their significant other. A Last Will and Testament designates an executor to be in charge of one’s estate, and it also designates who will inherit which assets from this estate. No assets will pass to your significant other (unless they are owned jointly or you have named them as a beneficiary) without a will.
There are a number of older adults who can no longer live safely on their own but who also don’t need the level of specialized care provided in nursing homes. For adults who cannot live independently and require daily assistance, intermediate care facilities are one option to consider.
Intermediate care facilities (ICFs) are a residential option that can house seniors on a long-term basis. Staff can help residents with managing medical conditions and activities of daily living, including:
· bathing
Illinois Estate Planning and Elder Law Blog