Living with the Realities of Your Estate Planning

My assumption behind this section is that there will be readers who have an estate planning structure that ranges from absolutely no estate planning having been accomplished to a very complex estate planning structure. Just about everyone should have a will but it is very surprising to learn that is not the case even with attorneys who prepare them for a living. So the first thing I hope this section accomplishes is to motivate you to get at least the most basic estate planning accomplished whether that be a will or a very simple family trust.

However, there are going to be many readers who have had this very basic estate planning done or have even done some very extensive planning. But, I would hazard a guess, that most don’t have the faintest idea about what it will be like for the surviving spouse or subsequent heirs to live with the implementation and management of this estate planning structure after their death.

I have lived through this with any number of surviving spouses – male and female – and beyond that with their children. Sorting through the new reality that is created when one spouse dies is like moving into a new house. You put everything away in its seemingly proper place but when you go to find it again or to return it to its intended location you haven’t got the faintest idea where it is or goes. Over the years you have grown into your current financial house and everything is in a logical and recognizable place that is easy to remember and its operation goes on relatively smoothly. But imagine being plopped down in the middle of your current financial house and asked to operate it with no understanding of what goes where and how it works. This is much like the situation the surviving spouse will experience.

The articles and essays in this section are designed to help you begin to recognize the nature of the estate planning structure you have in place – or should have in place – and to help you, your spouse and other heirs get a feeling for what it will be like to live with it. The result may be that you decided that the level of complexity you now have is too much and, perhaps, unnecessary. You may want to simplify as a result.



A Case History PDF Print E-mail

Client Profile:  Mr. and Mrs. Case are both 64.  They have been married 42 years this coming fall.  Neither one has been married before.  They have two grown children.  The oldest boy will be 40 this year and the youngest boy will be 37.  The youngest son lives outside the United States and the oldest son lives in another state.
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Summary of Recommendations PDF Print E-mail

In the previous three sections, we made a number of recommendations.  Because it is easy for them to get lost in the sea of other information contained in each section, we thought it might be helpful to summarize them in one place.
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Other Issues to Deal With - Or I Can't Believe There is Still More PDF Print E-mail

Yes, there are still some more issues to address.  .  These issues fall into three major categories:

  1. Dealing with the estate tax law changes passed by Congress in 2001
  2. Dealing with the new Uniform Principal and Income Act being adopted by the various states; most but not all.
  3. Dealing with the new Uniform Prudent Investor Act being adopted by the various states; most but not all.
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Who Should be Your Trustee: You Mean Someone Really Wants This Job PDF Print E-mail

In the section entitled “So You Want To Be Your Own Trustee” I described for you many of the tasks you will face as trustee of the trusts that will be set up at the first death of either you or your spouse.  Your reaction to this description of your job as trustee following the first death was probably one of concern about your ability and willingness to take on this job. 
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So You Want to Be Your Own Trustee: Or Nobody Told Me This Before PDF Print E-mail

Some years ago while I was still active in my financial planning business I had a client share with my other clients what it had been like to act as the trustee of his own trust after the death of his wife.  He had lost his wife a couple of years earlier.  It was an eye-opening discussion for most in attendance.  It was that experience that first led me to write up this series of articles about the realities of living with the results of your estate planning documents.
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Living with the Realities of Your Estate Planning Documents PDF Print E-mail

INTRODUCTION: The following material is taken from a booklet I prepared for Petra Financial Advisors, Inc in 2002.  It is copyrighted by Petra and you can get a nicely printed booklet from them that contains all of this information by contacting them at either www.petrafinancial.com or 888 636 6300.  Your personal advisors may also have material that bears on the subjects contained in these articles.  Be sure to ask them first. 
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