What Is Probate and How to Prepare for It? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

The word probate is from the Latin word, meaning “to prove.” It is the court-supervised process of authenticating the last will and testament of a person who has died and then taking a series of steps to administer their estate. The typical situation, according to the article “Some helpful hints to aid in navigating the probate process” from The Westerly Sun, is that someone passes away and their heirs must go to the Probate Court to obtain the authority to handle their final business and settle their affairs.

Many families work with an estate planning attorney to help them go through the probate process.

Regardless of whether there is a will, someone, usually a spouse or adult child, asks the court to be appointed as the executor of the estate. This person must accomplish a number of tasks to make sure the decedent’s wishes are followed, as documented by their will.

People often think that just being the legally married spouse or child of the deceased person is all anyone needs to be empowered to handle their estate, but that’s not how it works. There must be an appointment by the court to manage the assets and deal with the IRS, the state, creditors and all of the person’s outstanding personal affairs.

If there is a will, once it is validated by the court, the executor begins the process of identifying and valuing the assets, which must be reported to the court. The last bills and funeral costs must be paid, the IRS must be contacted to obtain an estate taxpayer identification number and other financial matters will need to be addressed. Estate taxes may need to be paid, at the state or federal level. Final tax returns, from the last year the person was alive, must be paid.

It takes several months and sometimes more than a year to settle an estate. That includes distributing the assets and making gifts of tangible personal property to the heirs. Once this task is completed, the executor (or their legal representative) contacts the court. When everything has been done and the judge is satisfied that all business on behalf of the decedent has been completed, the executor is released from their duty and the estate is officially closed.

When there is no will, the process is different. The laws of the state where the deceased lived will be used to guide the distribution of assets. Kinship, or how people are related, will be used, regardless of the relationship between the decedent and family members. This can often lead to fractures within a family, or to people receiving inheritances that were intended for other people.

Reference: The Westerly Sun (Nov. 16, 2019) “Some helpful hints to aid in navigating the probate process”

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How Blended Families Can Address Finances and Inheritance Issues – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

The holiday season is a popular time for people to get engaged, including people who have been married before. If that’s you, understand that blending families means you’ll need to deal with inheritance and finance issues, says U.S. News & World Report’s article “6 Financial Considerations for Remarriage.” The best time to have these conversations is before you walk down the aisle, not afterwards.

Look at your budget and talk about how things will work. That includes day-to-day expenses, monthly expenses and large purchases, like houses, vacations, and cars. Talk about a game plan for going forward. Will you merge your credit card accounts or bank accounts? What about investment accounts?

Financial obligations outside of the marriage. Two things to check before you wed: your divorce papers and the state’s laws. Does anything change regarding your spousal support (alimony) or child support, if you remarry? It’s unlikely that you would lose child support, but the court may determine it can be reduced. The person who is paying child support or alimony also needs to be transparent about their financial obligations.

Review insurance and beneficiaries. One of the biggest mistakes people make, is failing to update beneficiaries on numerous accounts. If your divorce papers do not require life insurance to be left for your spouse on behalf of your children (and some do), then you probably want to make your new spouse the beneficiary of life insurance policies. Investment accounts, bank account, and any other assets where a beneficiary can be named should be reviewed and updated. It’s a simple task, but overlooking it creates all kinds of havoc and frustration for survivors.

What will remarriage do to college financing options? A second marriage may increase a parent’s income for college purposes and make children ineligible for college loans or needs-based scholarships. Even if the newly married couple has not blended their finances, FAFSA looks at total household income. Talk about how each member of the couple plans on managing college expenses.

A new estate plan should be addressed, even before the wedding takes place. Remember, an estate plan is for more than distributing assets. It includes planning for incapacity, including Do Not Resuscitate Orders (DNR), powers of attorney for finances and for health care, designations of guardianship or consent to adoption, various trusts and if needed, Special Needs planning.

Create a plan for inheritance. If either spouse has children from a prior marriage, an estate plan is critical to protect the children’s inheritance. If one spouse dies and the surviving spouse inherits everything, there is no legal requirement for the surviving spouse to pass any of the deceased’s assets to their children. Even if you are in mid-life and death seems far away, you need to take care of this.

Speak with an estate planning attorney who can help you create the necessary documents. You should also talk with your children, at the age appropriate level, about your plans, so they understand that they are being planned for and will be taken care of in the new family.

Reference: U.S. News & World Report (Nov. 18, 2019) “6 Financial Considerations for Remarriage”

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Will My Heirs Need to Be Ready to Pay Estate Taxes? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Estate taxes all depend on how on much a person is planning to give to heirs.

Motley Fool’s recent article asks “If I Leave My Retirement Savings to My Heirs, Will They Pay Estate Tax?” The article tells us that retirement accounts like 401(k)s, 403(b)s, traditional and Roth IRAs and others are a part of your taxable estate.

However, unless the total assets of your estate plus any taxable gifts you’ve already given are more than the lifetime exclusion amount, your estate won’t owe estate taxes.

For 2019, this is $11,400,000, and in 2020, the exclusion will be raised to $11,580,000. If you total all of your assets’ value, only the amount in excess of the exclusion will be taxable. Therefore, if you have a $12,000,000 estate and die in 2020, only $420,000 of your assets would be subject to estate taxes.

Let’s look at another example: if your assets, including your retirement savings, total up to $5 million, your heirs won’t be required to pay any estate tax whatsoever.

However, while they may not have to pay estate taxes, remember that withdrawals from most retirement accounts (except Roth IRA accounts) will be deemed to be taxable income. Thus, estate tax or no estate tax, if your heirs are in a pretty high tax bracket, inheriting your retirement savings may increase their tax liability.

Don’t neglect to check with an estate planning attorney about your state’s estate and inheritance taxes. There are a handful of states that have their own estate taxes, and their thresholds may be lower than the IRS’s.

There are now six states with an inheritance tax: Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Each state sets its own inheritance tax exemption, and inheritance tax rates. However, these rates are subject to change at any time with changes to the laws in those states.

Reference: Motley Fool (November 8, 2019) “If I Leave My Retirement Savings to My Heirs, Will They Pay Estate Tax?”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

Estate Planning, Simplified – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Estate planning attorneys hear it all the time: “My children will have to figure it out,” “Everything will go to my spouse, right?” and “It’s just not a priority right now.” But then we read about famous people who don’t plan and the family court battles that go on for years. Regular families also have this happen. We just don’t read about it.

A useful article from The Mercury titled “Estate planning basics and an estate attorney meeting preparation” reviews the basics of estate planning and explains how following the advice of an experienced estate planning attorney can protect families from the financial and emotional pain of an estate battle.

Estate planning is not just concerned with passing property and assets along to heirs. Estate planning also concerns itself with planning for incapacity, or the inability to act or speak on one’s own behalf. This is what happens when someone becomes too ill or is injured, although we usually think of incapacity as having to do with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.

Lacking an estate plan, all the assets you have worked to accumulate are subject to being distributed by a court-ordered executor, who likely doesn’t know you or your family. Having an estate plan in place protects you and your family.

Living Will or Advanced Directive. A living will provides directions from a patient to their doctor concerning their wishes regarding life support. This alleviates the family from having to make a painful and permanent decision. They will know what their loved one wanted.

Springing Durable Power of Attorney. This document will allow someone you choose to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf, if you are not able to. Some attorneys prefer to use the Durable Power of Attorney, rather than the Springing POA, since the Springing event may need a physician to state that the individual has become incapacitated and it may require the court becoming involved. Powers of attorney can be drafted to be very limited in nature (i.e., to let one single task be accomplished), or very broad, allowing the POA to handle everything on your behalf.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. This lets a person you name make health care decisions for you if you are not able to do so. The decision-making power is limited to health care only.

Should Your Health Care POA and Your Financial/Legal POA be the Same Person? Deciding who to give these powers to can be difficult. Is the person you are considering equally skilled with health care, as they are with finances? Someone who is very emotional may not be able to make health care decisions, although they may be good with money. Think carefully about your decision. Just remember it’s better that you make this decision rather than leaving it for the court to decide.

Last Will and Testament: This is the document people think of when they think about estate planning. It is a document that allows the person to transfer specific property after they die in the way they want. It also allows the person to name a guardian for any minor children and an executor who will be in charge of administering the estate. It is far better that you name a guardian and an executor than having the court select someone to take on these roles.

The estate planning process will be smoother if you spend some time speaking with your spouse and family members to discuss some of the key decisions discussed above. Talk with your loved ones about your thoughts on death and what you’d like to have happen. Think about what kind of legacy you want to leave.

Estate battles often leave families estranged during a time when they need each other most. Spend the time and resources creating an estate plan with a qualified estate planning attorney. Leaving your family intact and loving may be the best legacy of all.

Reference: The Mercury (Oct. 27, 2019) “Estate planning basics and an estate attorney meeting preparation”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

Use A Dynasty Trust to Protect Your Wealth – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Using an irrevocable trust ensures a far smoother transition of assets than a will and also offers significant tax savings and far more privacy, control and asset protection, begins the article “Dynasty Trusts: Best Way to Protect Family Wealth” from NewsMax.

Just as their name implies, a dynasty trust is king of all trust types. It gives the family the most benefits in all of these areas. Still not convinced? Here are a few reasons why the dynasty trust is the best estate planning strategy for families who want to preserve an estate across many generations.

Most trusts provide for the transfer of assets from one benefactor to the next generation, at most two or three generations. A dynasty trust can last for hundreds of years. This offers tax advantages that are far superior than others.

Under the new tax laws, an individual can gift or bequeath up to $11.4 million during their lifetime, tax free. After that limit, any further transfer of assets are subject to gift and estate taxes. That same transfer limit applies whether assets are left directly via a will or indirectly through a trust. However, in a direct transfer or trust, these assets may be subject to estate taxes multiple times.

If a grantor transfers assets into a dynasty trust, those assets become the property of the trust, not of the grantor or the grantor’s heirs. Because the trust is designed to last many generations, the estate tax is only assessed once, even if the trust grows to be worth many times more than the lifetime exclusion.

Not all states permit the use of dynasty trusts. However, five states do allow them, while six others allow trusts with lifespans of 360 years or more. An experienced estate planning attorney will know if your state permits dynasty trusts and will help you set one up in a state that does allow them if yours does not. Nevada, Ohio and South Dakota provide especially strong asset protection for dynasty trusts.

Because dynasty trusts are passed down from generation to generation, trust assets are not subject to the generation-skipping transfer tax. This tax is notorious for complicating bequeathals to grandchildren and others who are not immediate heirs.

When the dynasty trust is created, the grantor designates a trustee who will manage trust funds. Usually the trustee is a banker or wealth manager, not a trust beneficiary. The grantor can exert as much control as desired over the future of the trust by giving specific instructions for distributions. The trustee may only give distributions for major life events, or each heir may have a lifetime limit on distributions.

With these kinds of safeguards in place, a benefactor can ensure that the family’s wealth extends to many generations. Speak with an estate planning attorney to learn about the laws concerning dynasty trusts in your state and see if your family can obtain the benefits it offers.

Reference: NewsMax (September 16, 2019) “Dynasty Trusts: Best Way to Protect Family Wealth”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

What Debts Must Be Paid Before and After Probate? – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Everything that must be addressed in settling an estate becomes more complicated when there is no will and no estate planning has taken place before the person dies. Debts are a particular area of concern for the estate and the executor. What has to be paid and who gets paid first? These are explained in the article “Dealing with Debts and Mortgages in Probate” from The Balance.

Probate is the process of gaining court approval of the estate and paying off final bills and expenses before property can be transferred to beneficiaries. Dealing with the debts of a deceased person can be started before probate officially begins.

Start by making a list of all of the decedent’s liabilities and look for the following bills or statements:

  • Mortgages
  • Reverse mortgages
  • Home equity loans
  • Lines of credit
  • Condo fees
  • Property taxes
  • Federal and state income taxes
  • Car and boat loans
  • Personal loans
  • Loans against life insurance policies
  • Loans against retirement accounts
  • Credit card bills
  • Utility bills
  • Cell phone bills

Next, divide those items into two categories: those that will be ongoing during probate—consider them administrative expenses—and those that can be paid off after the probate estate is opened. These are considered “final bills.” Administrative bills include things like mortgages, condo fees, property taxes and utility bills. They must be kept current. Final bills include income taxes, personal loans, credit card bills, cell phone bills and loans against retirement accounts and/or life insurance policies.

The executors and heirs should not pay any bills out of their own pockets. The executor deals with all of these liabilities in the process of settling the estate.

For some of the liabilities, heirs may have a decision to make about whether to keep the assets with loans. If the beneficiary wants to keep the house or a car, they may, but they have to keep paying down the debt. Otherwise, these payments should be made only by the estate.

The executor decides what bills to pay and which assets should be liquidated to pay final bills.

A far better plan for your beneficiaries is to create a comprehensive estate plan that includes a will that details how you want your assets distributed and addresses what your wishes are. If you want to leave a house to a loved one, your estate planning attorney will be able to explain how to make that happen while minimizing taxes on your estate.

Reference: The Balance (March 21, 2019) “Dealing with Debts and Mortgages in Probate”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys

Inheritance, Meet Technology: Estate Claims May Be Challenged – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

Between off-the-shelf DNA testing kits and online genealogical searches, family members who may have never known of each other’s existence are coming to light more often than ever before. So is the news that one’s parent may not be a biological parent, according to the article “Discovering long-lost family: Inheritance laws cover surprise relatives, but changes possible,” from The Indiana Lawyer.

This is yet another reason that wills and estate plans must be carefully drafted by an estate planning attorney. Language in the will must make it very clear that assets are only to be distributed to the known children of the married couple, unless that is not the person’s wish.

An inheritance may be left for a child who was given up through adoption or, if a previously unknown child shows up at the doorstep, the family may wish to bequeath a share of their estate to that child. There may be no legal claim, but the family may feel a moral obligation, which is entirely up to them.

Since technology is streamlining the search for lost relatives into a few keyboard clicks, the drafting of wills has become more complex. It’s not just filling out names on a form, because the will has to be drafted to prevent any unforeseen problems that may result when new relatives appear.

The search for unknown relatives usually comes from positive motives. Family members usually want to connect with long-lost cousins, aunts, uncles and siblings, out of a desire for connection and not financial gain. However, a properly prepared will should be drafted, according to the testator’s wishes.

Families are changing, with more openness, and estate plans are being adjusted accordingly.

One couple wrote a will to leave an inheritance to a grandson, even though he had been adopted by another man. Their son had died after fathering the child without marrying the child’s mother. The mother married, and her husband adopted the grandchild, but the grandparents had maintained a relationship with the family and left their son’s heir a portion of their estate.

People are more aware that family members may arrive unexpectedly. Occasionally, spouses want language in the will restricting assets only to the children who are the product of their marriage. That can spur some uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations.

When you sit down with an estate planning lawyer to discuss your will and distribution of assets, you’ll need to be honest and discuss any possible heirs who might appear that were previously unknown to the family. The more details and information you can provide to the attorney, the better prepared your will can be to withstand a challenge from a ‘new relative.’ If the wish is to take care of a previously unknown family member, that can be accomplished also.

Reference: The Indiana Lawyer (May 29, 2019) “Discovering long-lost family: Inheritance laws cover surprise relatives, but changes possible”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys 

Estate Planning Hacks Create More Problems – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning

The estate planning attorney in this gentleman’s neighborhood isn’t worried about this rancher’s plan to avoid the “courtroom mumbo jumbo.” It’s not the first time someone thought they could make a short-cut work, and it won’t be the last. However, as described in the article “Estate planning workaround idea needs work” from My San Antonio, the problems this rancher will create for himself, his wife, and his children, will easily eclipse any savings in time or fees he thinks he may have avoided.

Let’s start with the idea of putting all the man’s assets in his wife’s name. For starters, that means she has complete control and access to all the accounts. Even if the accounts began as community property, once they are in her name only, she is the sole manager of these accounts.

If the husband dies first, she will not have to go into probate court. That is true. However, if she dies first, the husband will need to go to probate court to access and claim the accounts. If the marriage goes sour, it’s not likely that she’ll be in a big hurry to return access to everything.

Another solution: set the accounts up as joint accounts with right of survivorship. The bank would have to specify that when spouse dies, the other owns the accounts. However, that’s just one facet of this estate planning hack.

The next proposal is to put the ranch into the adult children’s names. Gifting the ranch to children has a number of irreversible consequences.

First, the children will all be co-owners. Each one of them will have full legal control. What if they don’t agree on something? How will they break an impasse? Will they run the ranch by majority rule? What if they don’t want to honor any of the parent’s requests or ideas for running the ranch?  In addition, if one of them dies, their spouse or their child will inherit their share of the farm. If they divorce, will their future ex-spouse retain ownership of their shares of the ranch?

Second, you can’t gift the ranch and still be an owner. The husband and wife will no longer own the ranch. If they don’t agree with the kid’s plans for the ranch, they can be evicted. After all, the parents gave them the ranch.

Third, the transfer of the ranch to the children is a gift. There will be a federal gift tax return form to be filed. Depending on the value of the ranch, the parents may have to pay gift tax to the IRS.  Because the children have become owners of the ranch by virtue of a gift, they receive the tax-saving “free step-up in basis.” If they sell the ranch (and they have that right), they will get hit with capital gains taxes that will cost a lot more than the cost of an estate plan with an estate planning attorney and the “courtroom mumbo jumbo.”

Finally, the ranch is not the children’s homestead. If it has been gifted it to them, it’s not the parent’s homestead either. Therefore, they can expect an increase in the local property taxes. Those taxes will also be due every year for the rest of the parent’s life and again, will cost more over time than the cost of creating a proper estate plan. Since the ranch is not a homestead, it is subject to a creditor’s claim, if any of the new owners—those children —have a financial problem.

We haven’t even mentioned the family business succession plan, which takes a while to create and complements the estate plan. Both plans exist to protect the current owners and their heirs. If the goal is to keep the ranch in the family and have the next generation take the reins, everyone concerned be better served by sitting down with an estate planning attorney and discussing the many different ways to make this happen.

Reference: My San Antonio (April 29, 2019) “Estate planning workaround idea needs work”

Sims & Campbell, LLC – Annapolis and Towson Estate Planning Attorneys