Natural Catastrophes and your Estate Plan

From the tornados that ripped through Alabama and Missouri just last month and the two catastrophic fires currently raging in south-eastern Arizona, Mother Nature has not been too kind lately.  And as hurricane season has officially begun, coastal cities hope they're not added to the casualty list.  Natural disasters like this serve as an apt metaphor and constant reminder of the importance of proper estate planning.

It is very hard to predict the exact time and severity of a natural disaster, so it is always important to be prepared.  Similarly, you just won't know when life's "tornado" will affect you and your loved ones, so taking the steps to create and execute an estate plan is also an important part in preparing for your future.

Many people have been lucky to survive these recent catastrophes, but still countless others have been injured and left disabled.  Disability planning is another crucial component in an effective estate plan.  Special needs trusts, health care directives, and powers of attorney are just a few of planning tools that most people overlook, to their peril, even if they do have an estate plan.

Also, because natural disasters--and any tragedies in life--are so unpredictable, it is imperative that you keep your plan up to date.  We recommend that you enroll in a formal maintenance program with your estate planning professional.  As an alternative, you should review your plan with an estate planning attorney once every two years, and after a significant life change has occurred such as divorce or a new child.

Be prepared for the unexpected by ensuring that you have a thorough, effective estate plan in place before you get caught out in the rain.

June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month!

Since 2000, June has been declared Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.  This designation is based on the principle that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) individuals should be able to live openly, without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

At Kristel K. Patton, P.C., we believe that this is also a good time to consider estate planning needs that are unique to members of the LGBT community.  Certain legal documents, for example, should be drafted differently for LGBT individuals or couples (e.g., in states where a couple cannot be legally married.)  And still other documents take on added significance.

On this latter point, we advise all our LGBT clients to have us prepare advance healthcare directives, the legal documents needed in a hospital emergency to make sure one's healthcare wishes are honored.  We do this because we know that without these documents, our LGBT clients could be prevented from having the person of their choice as their medical decision-maker.

On a positive note, as mentioned in our previous blog post, there has been some recent legal progress on healthcare equality for LGBT folks:  As of last fall, hospitals are now required to permit all patients to have any visitor they choose, including a same-sex partner or other non-relative.  Nonetheless, if the patient can't speak for him or herself and hasn't put these wishes in writing, the door is still open for a family member to try to ban a same-sex partner and others from visiting at the very time when they are need most--at the patient's bedside.

At Kristel K. Patton, P.C., we also recognize that creating advance directives is not enough.  It's a known fact that most people do not carry these documents around with them.  And, it's also a known fact that they can be needed quickly, especially for an LGBT patient.  This is why we provide all our clients enrolled in our Empowered Legacy Planning process with membership in the DocuBank Healthcare Directives Registry, free of charge.  With this registry, a wallet card provides immediate access to our clients' healthcare directives 24/7/365, so that documentation can be produced and the wishes of each of our clients can be protected at a moment's notice.

It's also worth noting that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) recently announced its new status as an LGBT Affiliate of DocuBank.  The largest LGBT civil rights organization in the nation, HRC has team up with this registry to help its members ensure that they can produce the legal proof of their wishes when it counts.

Who Can Visit You in the Hospital? Anyone You Want!

We've all experienced it.  We wanted to visit a friend or relative in the hospital, but were told that visits were restricted to immediate family members.

No More!  Under new federal regulations, hospitals are now required to allow patients to have any visitors they want.

This new policy, which took effect in November 2010, recognizes that a patient should be able to choose whoever they'd like to be at their bedside.  Hospital care should be as "patient-centered" as possible, not guided by blanket rules designed to make life easier for hospital staff.  The policy recognizes that it's important for the patient to have the person who knows the patient's medical condition best to be present to talk with hospital staff, especially if the patient has difficulty recalling or communicating their own medical information.  In many cases, this person is not always a member of the patient's immediate family or "next of kin."

Of course, hospitals have the right--and the responsibility--to limit this visitor permission in certain circumstances, such as infection control, bad behavior of visitors, and other circumstances that would "jeopardize the care of the patient or other patients."  But these limitations are expected to be the rare exception rather than the rule.

So, while it's still probably not a good idea to invite the entire neighborhood to a party in your hospital room, you now have a great deal more control over which smiling faces you invite to come by and spend time with you.  And that can mean a lot!

April 16, 2011 is National Health Care Decisions Day!

Most people are not aware of the importance of healthcare directives. Because it is often difficult to express your wishes regarding what would happen should you become severely disabled or die, these communications almost never happen, and loved ones are left without guidance if such a situation ever arises. 

In an effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decisions, the law office of Kristel K. Patton, P.C. is offering FREE HEALTHCARE DIRECTIVES FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL 2011.  (Services will include a Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Will.)  

Everyone from the young to the young at heart are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.  The most precious gift you can give your family is advanced planning regarding major healthcare decisions.  This will ensure that they can focus on you during times of crisis, and not be burdened with heavy decision-making.  Peace of mind is priceless, but these directives are completely complimentary, with no obligation to use the firm for any additional services.  

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call us at 480.855.8383.

Why Counseling? Why the Three Steps?*

Many people think of estate planning as a way to save estate taxes and perhaps a way to avoid probate.  There are many more important reasons for estate planning.

For example, have you considered the following questions?:

• How do you want to be cared for when you can't take care of yourself?  
• If your wife remarries after you die, do you want to make sure that her new husband can't spend your money? 
•  If your husband hits a van full of lawyers after you die, do you want to make it harder for them to collect your money when they sue him?  
• If your wife divorces her new husband after her remarriage, do you want to make sure that he doesn't get half of your money?  
• Do you want to make sure that your guardians know how to share your values while they finish raising your children?

I suggest that most of people would answer "yes" to all these questions.  So how can you make sure your plan is accomplishing these things?

Problem #1 with Traditional Estate Planning:  Most estate plans are upside down!  They focus on tax planning instead of personal concern, protections, and goals.

Problem #2 with Traditional Estate Planning:  Most estate plans just don't work!  A plan works when every expectation of the client is met.  These expectations aren't met because clients and professional advisors see estate planning as a transaction ending in documents, instead of the process ending in results.  Things change.  Estate plans should, too.

We believe that client families will achieve the best estate planning results with a Three Step Strategy that uses clear, comprehensive, customized instructions for their own care and that of their loved ones.  The instructions might include a will, a trust, a power of attorney, a living will, and other documents.

Step #1: Work with a Counseling-Oriented Attorney as opposed to a word-processing attorney.  Most estate planning in the U.S. is little more than word-processing.  You don't need a professional for that! The professional's value come from the counsel and advice based on knowledge, wisdom, and experience.

Step #2:  Establish and Maintain a Formal Updating Program.  There is a constant change in personal situations, both family and financial.  Tax laws and other laws change every year in ways that will impact many estate plans.  Finally, because attorneys don't know everything, the attorney's experience and expertise change.  Without updating, plans won't work the way the family intended them to.  Without a Formal Updating Program, the updating rarely happens.

Step #3: Assure that My Wisdom is Transferred Along with My Wealth.  In many families, the parents have an abundance of wisdom that has often been earned the hard way.  Through Wealth Reception, an approach that prepares children and grandchildren (or nephews and nieces, or godchildren, or friends) to receive wealth, parents' wisdom can help make their money a benefit instead of the burden that is often becomes.

Most financial windfalls, including inheritances, disappear within 18 months.  Our clients can avoid that unfortunate conclusion to an otherwise worthy inheritance with proper Wealth Reception planning.

*Adapted from the Planning Partners Press.

Quality and Net Worth Are Not Synonymous*

Jack Kent Cooke started his business as a high school drop-out selling encyclopedias door-to-door, and grew until he owned a collection of media companies, sports teams, and real estate valued at $1.3 billion.  Most know him as former owner of the Washington Redskins football franchise.  Although a successful and sophisticated businessman, his estate planning failed miserably.

What Does This Have to Do With You? Though most of us don't have estates worth $1.3 billion, this is a great case study on how planning that is not well-designed and customized according to a client's wishes can result in devastating financial and emotional costs after their death.  This is not an issue of net worth.  It is a planning quality issue.

Jack Kent Cooke's Plan: Mr. Cooke has a will that was amended eight times.  It left seven executors, most of them former employees.  When presented with the will, most of them had never seen it before.

The Widow's Claim: Ms. Ramallo Cooke was Mr. Cooke's wife, whom he divorced once and then remarried.  Despite having signed a prenuptial agreement on her remarriage, a fight ensued, ending in a $10 million settlement to Ms. Cooke to end the expensive litigation ($6.8 million in legal bills.)

Sell Which Assets? An executor, Stuart Haney worked with Mr. Cooke to create the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to help underprivileged students.  Due to a large estate tax bill, the only way the foundation could be funded was to sell assets of the estate.  Cooke's son (also an executor), has worked in management of the Redskins for most of his life, shared his father's passion for football, and dreamed of someday owning the Redskins.  Cooke, Jr. was adamant that the Redskins franchise not pass from family control.  However, because the sale of the team promised the best return, the executors, against the protests of Cooke, Jr., chose to auction the Redskins.  Cooke, Jr. was outbid an the team passed out of family control.

Paying the Executors: The will didn't specify how much the executors should be paid.  In Virginia, up to 5% of the estate is allowed.  Again, lawyers were hired, and litigation began.  Cooke, Jr. claimed that executors' fees exceeding $5 million were unreasonable.  The remaining executors felt that they earned and deserved the 5% fee ($37.6 million).  The case was decided in favor of the 5% fee.  Subsequently the count commissioner of accounts cut his fee to $415,000 to avoid further litigation.

In the End: Cooke, Jr. never received the Redskins, which he dreamed about and worked towards his entire life.  The executors were divided and bitter, and still have to work together as board members for the Foundation.  The estate settlement lasted 7 years and cost $64 million in professional fees.

Learning from Mistakes: Most clients believe that their situation is straightforward and simple and that they don't have a lot of money.  They may not have the wealth of Jack Kent Cooke, but proper planning is every bit as important for them as it was for him.  If they fail to plan well, or if their plan fails them, the result can be financial and emotional devastation for their families and loved ones after death.

*Adapted from the Planning Partners Press.

An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust With All the Ingredients for Success*

As we've recently been discussing, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs) are very powerful estate planning tools.  Unfortunately, they often fail  because people do not follow the particular rules necessary for them to succeed.  In addition, there are gift and estate tax consequences to be considered.  In this issue, we want to review with you a Private Letter Ruling (200404013) from the Internal Revenue Service about an ILIT that passed all tests with flying colors.

The Trust
The Basics: A husband created an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust.  The husband funded the trust with shares of an S corporation, along with other assets.  The Trustees of the trust were his wife, along with a Corporate Co-Trustee.  The beneficiaries of the trust were the couple's children.  The distribution provided that upon the death of the husband, the trust would divide into separate trust shares for each child.

The Insurance: The trust then purchased a survivorship life insurance policy on the lives of the husband and wife.  The policy was purchased with the assets already inside the trust.  Ten annual premium payments were to be made, all with assets in the trust.  There would be no additional contributions to the trust by the husband or wife.

The Distribution: The sub-trusts created for each child, upon the death of the husband, would pay quarterly to each child the net income of their respective trust share.  The remainder assets will be kept in trust and distributed at the discretion of the trustee for care, health, education, maintenance, or support.

The Key Ingredients
The legal, financial, and tax advisors who participated in the creation of this trust really took the time to think through the variety of rules that impact this type of planning.  Some of the key strategies they implemented that allowed this trust to succeed are as follows:

1. The wife, as Co-Trustee of the ILIT, executed a written document denouncing her right as trustee to:
     a. Change the beneficiary of the policy
     b. Revoke any change of beneficiary
     c. Assign the policy
     d. Revoke any assignment of policy
This result was the avoidance of incurring incidents of ownership, which would have caused the amount of the life insurance to be included in the husband's estate.

2. The husband renounced any right to make contributions to the trust and to appoint a successor advisor.
This resulted in avoiding a gift tax problem.

3. The husband funded the trust, but had his wife consent to treat the gift as a split gift.
This resulted in doubling the amount allowed to be gifted without incurring gift tax liability.

4. Sufficient Generation-Skipping Tax exemption was allocated to the trust to result in zero inclusion ration for GST tax purposes.

The Payoff
This strategic approach allowed this ILIT to avoid any gift tax liabilities.  The proceeds of the policy were not included in either the husband's estate or the wife's estate.  The trust also has a zero inclusion ratio for GST tax purposes.  Most important, this trust accomplished the goals of the clients:

1. To leave money to their children in a way that is protected from creditors and potential divorces;
2. To leave money to their children in a leveraged manner; and
3. To utilize strategies to reduce their estate tax liability.

This is a great example of how the strategic planning of advisors can help clients accomplish their goals!

*Adapted from the Planning Partners Press.