Estate Planning

What Exactly is “Estate Planning”?

It simply means thinking ahead about who will inherit your life savings or other property, how to preserve it for them, how to avoid big losses of it after you’re gone, and how to make the legal process easy on those you love.

(Remember: they’re grieving). Also, how to leverage it to its greatest potential impact on their lives. But, it’s also about how YOU will be taken care of, and who will help you, when you need help, late in life, or if you are hurt.

The Importance of Estate Planning

“Estate planning” is not just for “rich people.”

It isn’t even about “wealth level.” Everyone who owns any assets and might die someday (read: all of us) needs at least a basic estate plan in place.

What is “family wealth”?

It is your life savings—regardless of the amount. It is not a certain dollar amount or level of “wealth.” Most of my clients do not consider themselves “wealthy.” (The self-made never do.) But they have assets. And family. They need a basic estate plan.

Planning for Your Own Needs During Illness or Final Years

Estate planning isn’t just about what happens to your property after you die. It's about your life. Your needs. When you’re sick, elderly, when you need help, or at the very end, when you’re dying. Don’t leave any of that to chance. Everyone needs expert counseling and guidance about “Durable Powers of Attorney” so that the right person is chosen to assist them when they need it and so that person has all the legal authority that they’ll need.

Long-Term Care

And everyone needs to consider, in advance, the possibility of needing a nursing home or “long-term care.” Planning is especially vital on this topic.

Advance Directives

Finally, at the very end of life, you want to be sure that a hospital will honor your desire to be allowed to pass naturally, with dignity. Everyone, regardless of assets, needs an “Advance Directive” to make sure they are not kept alive indefinitely, poked and prodded, and hooked up to tubes and machines long after it is helpful. Tip: Keeping your body alive is “what they do,” plus they’re afraid of being sued if they stop. You need to tell them it’s OK to let you go under certain circumstances—in the right legal document. And please don’t leave your loved ones with the huge emotional burden of deciding when to “pull the plug.”

We Can Keep It Simple

Options range from a basic “simple will” to a complex plan with multiple trusts for multiple different purposes or beneficiaries. Everyone with any property needs some type of estate plan. Your needs may indeed be simple. I don’t recommend a plan that’s more complex than will actually benefit you. I never recommend a trust to a client who doesn’t need one or affirmatively want one. I spend plenty of time (no extra charge) educating you about all of your options and the costs and benefits, the pros and cons, of each option. But you always have the final say regarding cost and complexity. I'm just here to help you make a very well-informed choice.

What Are the Benefits of Getting an Estate Plan?

When a medical emergency strikes or when you pass, your family is grieving, worried, and with a lot of questions. They need clarity and guidance. They need to know what you wanted and who you wanted to be in charge. Even worse, all of the third parties involved (e.g., doctors, hospitals, banks, mortgage lenders, realtors, your business partners, or employees) need proof. They need legally enforceable, properly drafted documents that prove what you wanted and who IS currently in charge. Good estate planning answers all these questions immediately and definitively. It can prevent disputes, fractured families, wasteful legal fees, and perhaps even prevent “fiduciary litigation.” It can prevent your family from losing their inheritance to taxes or to businesses that you might have owed money to (including medical bills from the final illness). And later, after they inherit and the money is theirs, wise estate planning can prevent them from losing it to their own creditors, divorcing spouses, or perhaps even to their own vices, bad habits, inability to delay gratification, or financial mismanagement.

Getting a good estate plan in place gives you peace of mind. I promise, after getting it done, you will rest easy, knowing the plan is done right and in effect. You are assured that your wishes will be carried out, privately, without fighting or arguments. Your life savings will be used the way you wanted and preserved from many risks of loss.

Why Some People Avoid Estate Planning (and Why You Shouldn’t)

Mortality makes us uncomfortable or anxious. “Normal” people don’t enjoy thinking about death. Some seem to think that planning will make illness more likely or make death come earlier. (It doesn’t!). But healthy adults face reality and deal with it; they plan. We don’t like thinking of car wrecks or house fires either, yet we buy insurance and wear seat belts, right? Unfortunately, death and passing down your property. These events will happen—they are part of life. Illness, infirmity, or mental decline might happen. Smart people plan for big risks. Estate planning is proven to reduce your fear and anxiety, not make it worse. It makes a very bad time of life less painful, less costly, less uncertain, and less confusing. Every single client I’ve done estate planning for has left my office relieved, glad to have it done, and feeling good about the benefits provided (and burdens lifted) for family and loved ones. Every single one. (And frankly, many were relieved to be able to “forget about it again,” but this time with a clean conscience!).

What Happens if You Don’t Plan?

If you don’t plan, the judge and legislators will decide who gets what. The fees and costs get much worse. The delays can be far longer. Or worse, your family might squabble, fight, accuse each other, harm their relationships, and maybe even sue each other. Trust me. It happens in families where Mom and Dad would not have predicted it. Fights and lawsuits almost always arise where Mom and Dad failed to have a legally effective, intelligent estate plan in place. When it does occur, the legal fees are high, and the emotional toll is worse. It is the worst possible result of failing to plan.

Avoid “Substitutes for Estate Planning”.

Many people try to use “substitutes,” rather than talking to an expert or spending any money to plan. Substitutes create problems. Don’t put your child on your account as a joint owner. Don’t put your child on the title to your house or other real estate. It exposes “your” assets to “their” creditors, their divorcing spouses, and their possible mismanagement. Since they are a legal “owner” of the account during your life, it could even be spent before your death. After your death, it may later require a “gift” from your child to others (possibly a “taxable gift”)—that they will have the freedom to make, or not make. Assuming they are willing to follow your wishes, leaving them as the technical owner at your death could require them to hire a professional to file a special “gift tax return.” Substitutes for proper estate planning are risky; they often do more harm than good.

Won’t a Simple Will be Enough? Aren’t Trusts for Rich People?

A simple will might be adequate, but no, trusts are not just for rich people. Whether you’d benefit from a trust has far more to do with your family circumstances than with your “wealth level”. Normal people with children, especially modern “blended families,” can often benefit tremendously from trusts. It depends on your goals and circumstances, not your wealth level. See the “Trusts” page of this site.

How I’m Different: Why Use the Hanna Law Firm?

Once you’ve decided to consult an estate planning attorney, there are numerous, highly qualified experts to choose from. Why should you choose my firm? Three reasons: (a) customized, (b) clear guidance, and (c) funding or retitling. At very reasonable prices.

Customized

I don’t sell documents—or worse—generic forms. I sell a service: exploring all your options, your family, the “players” and dynamics, their needs, your hopes and fears, and drawing on my many years of experience to help you decide which components (estate planning tools) are optimal for your family. Your estate plan is tailored and customized to “fit” your family and assets perfectly.

Guidance

I take the time to fully explain your options (Clients say I’m very good at making it clear and easy to understand.) Once you’ve decided, I also guide you on how the trust or plan works and exactly what you need to do after you leave my office. I work hard to make sure that you understand (a) what type of estate plan you have, (b) why it was the optimal plan for your situation, and (c) how it works. And you can call or email months or years later for follow-up guidance, generally at no extra cost.

Funding or Retitling

This step is critical. My competition doesn’t do it. (Takes too much time.) Once you create a trust, it’s critical that you take steps to ensure that each and every one of your assets or accounts (and vehicles) is either.

(a) “retitled” in the name of your new trust; or
(b) has a new “beneficiary designation” leaving it to the trust at death. (Note: these are sometimes called “Transfer on Death” (TOD) or “Payable on Death” (POD).

I take the time to learn about every asset you have. I train you on exactly how to do this for each of your assets so that each one works in harmony with your plan, and none have to later “go through probate.” For a modest extra fee (if you want), I will even take over, get very involved, and help you get it done, asset by asset, account by account.

Funding – Real Estate

The most important asset to have retitled, and the one you cannot do by yourself, is your home or other real estate. It takes a real estate lawyer. I insist on doing it. No extra charge. For every piece of real estate you own, we WILL either “deed it into” the trust or use a “Transfer on Death Deed” to make sure title goes to your trustee, without probate, immediately upon death (i.e., regardless of what state your real estate is located in).

Funding – LLC’s, Closely Held Businesses, Private Investments

If you own any LLC or S corporation, or other “special assets,” then I will take special steps to have these move into your trust at the moment of your death, very efficiently, without any expensive probate proceedings in court. I work harder than my colleagues to make sure you don’t miss any of your assets.