A resume is a document that shows employers what experience, skills, and education you have, and how you might perform in a job. If you haven’t updated your resume in years, it might not accurately show your abilities. Similarly, estate plans need to be updated regularly to reflect changes in your life and the law. If you don’t update your estate plan, it might not work the way you want it to. So, just like with resumes, outdated estate plans won’t be very helpful.

Take a Moment to Reflect

Take a moment to think about all the things that have happened in your life since you last signed your will, trust agreement, and other estate planning documents. Have there been any changes that could impact you, your helpers, or your beneficiaries? If so, then your estate plan might need to be updated to account for those changes.

Here are some examples of significant changes that would require an estate plan review and possible updates:

• A new family member that you want to provide for in your estate plan
• You, a trusted decision maker, or a beneficiary got married or divorced
• A loved one passed away or is now disabled
• You or a loved one is now suffering some health challenges
• Your trusted decision makers is now incapacitated
• Your financial status has changed either for better or worse
• You, a trusted decision maker, or a beneficiary moved to a new state

Don’t Procrastinate on Estate Planning

Most people tend to put estate planning at the bottom of their to-do list and forget about it once it’s done. However, estate planning is not a one-time task, it requires ongoing attention and review. It’s important to take the time to review your estate plan regularly, just like you would update your resume or meet with your doctor or financial advisor. By doing this, you can make sure that your estate plan is up-to-date and reflects your current needs and the needs of your loved ones.

To make sure that you actually follow through with this, you should schedule an appointment with us to review your estate plan. This way, it will be on your calendar and you won’t forget about it.

Updating your estate plan is the best way to make sure it will accomplish exactly what you want it to do.

If your life or the law has changed since you created your will or trust agreement, it’s important to update it. You can update a revocable living trust by either creating an amendment or by restating the entire trust agreement. An amendment changes a specific part of the trust, while a restatement creates a new set of instructions for the entire trust.

Although you might assume that an amendment is cheaper than a restatement, that’s not always the case. If you have a will, you can make small changes or updates by creating a codicil. Alternatively, you can create a new will with updated instructions.

Make the Small Changes or Start Over with a New Document?

Think of your estate plan as a recipe card that you’ve been using for years. If you’ve made a few small changes, it’s still easy to read and follow. But if you’ve made lots of changes, it might be confusing or hard to understand. Just like with a recipe, if your instructions aren’t clear, things might not turn out the way you want them to.

That’s why it’s important to be careful when making changes to your will or revocable living trust. If you’ve made too many changes, it might be better to start over with a new document to make sure your wishes are clear and easy to follow.

There isn’t a clear rule about whether you should use a small change document like a codicil or amendment, or a big change document like a new will or trust restatement when making changes to your estate plan. It really depends on the specific changes you need to make and how extensive they are. A general guideline is that anytime you are making more than two changes, creating a new will or restatement is probably better because of the following reason:

• Fosters ease of understanding and administration;
• Tends to avoid ambiguity;
• Reduces the amount of paperwork to retain and provide to financial institutions or parties;
• Decreases the risk of misplacement;
• Prevents beneficiaries from discovering prior terms; and
• Provides an opportunity to include other relevant updates, such as changes in the law.

We can help

If you’re thinking about making changes to your will or trust, it’s important to consider whether any previous changes might have unintentionally changed what you wanted or made it harder to manage your will or trust.

We can help you make sure your instructions are clear and easy to understand. If you have any questions, don’t worry, we can answer them for you. No matter what your situation is, we can help you figure out the best way to update your will or trust.

Life is unpredictable and certain events can have a significant impact on your estate plan. It’s a misconception that once you’ve created your estate plan, you can just forget about it. It’s important to consider how common life changes can affect your existing estate plan.

Birth of a Child or Grandchild

Many parents create their estate plan after their first child is born. But if their plan only includes their first child, the second child might not get their fair share without going to court. That’s why it’s important for parents to update their estate plan after each subsequent child is born.

Similarly, if a grandchild is not included in the grandparents’ estate plan, they may not be able to receive any of the benefits or opportunities that the grandparents wanted them to have. This could happen because of the family’s structure or how the estate plan was written.

Death of a Family Member

When creating a will or trust, different people play different roles: the person making the document (will or trust maker), the people who will receive something from it (beneficiaries), and the people responsible for making sure the instructions are followed (executor, trustee).

If any of these people pass away, it can impact the estate plan. For example, if a beneficiary dies, their share may go to someone else or their own descendants. It’s important to review your estate plan to ensure your wishes are still carried out.

It is also important to have backup people in place in case the person you named as the personal representative, executor, or successor trustee is unable to carry out their duties (even if it’s due to passing away before you). If you didn’t name any backups, then your loved ones may have to choose someone to take over, or a judge may have to decide who should be appointed. This could be especially difficult for families who tend to have conflicts.

Purchasing a New Home

If you have a trust-based estate plan, it’s important to make sure that all of your property and accounts are owned by the trust or named as a beneficiary. When you buy a new home, you need to remember to transfer it into the trust to avoid probate.

When you buy real estate, the title company may assume that you are buying it as an individual or as a married couple, so you need to tell them that you want to buy it in the trust’s name. If you forget to do this, you will need to contact your estate planning attorney to transfer the property into the trust after a successful transaction.

If you don’t put your property into your trust, then after you pass away, it will either go to the person who co-owns it with you (if you co-own it in a certain way), or it will have to go through a court process called probate if you owned it individually or as a tenant-in-common.

Marriage or Divorce

Getting married is an exciting time, but it can also be complicated, especially when it comes to money and property. You and your spouse may own separate property, as well as property that you accumulate together during your marriage. To avoid confusion and ensure that your wishes are carried out, it’s important to have an estate plan that outlines what property is separate and what is joint, what you want to leave to your spouse, and who should make decisions for you if you are unable to do so. If you don’t update your estate plan after getting married, a court may have to get involved to determine how your property should be distributed and who should make decisions for you.

If you get divorced, though, your wishes may change. To avoid any confusion, it’s important to update your estate planning documents after your divorce is finalized. This will ensure that your former spouse is not involved in your estate plan, even if they were previously named as a decision maker or beneficiary. It’s best to work with an estate planning attorney to update your documents and choose new decision makers and beneficiaries.

In 2018, around 7.5 million second homes existed, which is about 5.5% of all homes. These homes are important because they hold cherished memories for you and your family. To make sure that these memories and your property are protected, it’s crucial to consider the following points about estate planning.

Estate Planning for Vacation Property: Ownership and Inheritance

If you own a vacation property, what happens to it when you pass away depends on how it’s currently owned. If you are the owner or co-own it with others, you need to decide what happens to your interest in the property. If you co-own it with someone else and you have joint tenancy or own it with your spouse, your interest will automatically transfer to the remaining owner without court involvement.

If a trust or limited liability company owns your vacation property, it will still own the property after you pass away. The trust or operating agreement may have instructions on what will happen to the property at that time.

Estate Planning for Property Owners: Ensuring Your Wishes Are Honored

Creating an estate plan allows you to make decisions about what happens to your money and property in a legally binding way. If you don’t have a plan and your property isn’t owned jointly, your state will decide what happens to it and your loved ones will have to go through the court-supervised probate process. If you own property in a different state, your loved ones may need to open two probate cases. There are different ways to handle your vacation property, so it’s important to consider your options.

• Give the property outright to a loved one

• Leave the property outright to a group of people

• Give the property to a group of people as tenants in common and create an ownership agreement

• Prior to your death, transfer the property to your revocable living trust to be held for a long period of time or indefinitely

• Prior to your death, transfer the property to a special trust that owns only the property to be held for a long period of time or indefinitely

• Prior to your death, transfer the property to a limited liability company to be held for a long period of time or indefinitely

• Instruct your trusted decision maker who will wind up your affairs to sell the property.

Is Your Beneficiary Prepared to Take Over Your Vacation Property?

Your vacation property comes with happy memories, but also with a lot of responsibilities. If you decide to leave the property to someone after you pass away, they will have to take on financial responsibilities like mortgage payments, utility bills, and property insurance and taxes. If you want your beneficiary to keep the property, you need to think about whether they can handle these responsibilities. If not, they may be forced to sell it early.

Owning property with your children may also seem like a good idea, but there is a possibility that they may not get along in the future. This means they need to work together to maintain the property by communicating, agreeing, and contributing equally. An estate plan can help prevent problems by outlining a plan that everyone agrees to follow.

Estate Planning: Turning Your Wishes into Reality

To ensure that your wishes are followed and that your loved ones are prepared to maintain the property, there are several steps you can take.

First, you need to legally document your wishes and plan for any possible scenarios.

Second, if you are concerned about your beneficiaries being able to afford the property’s upkeep, you should consult with a financial advisor to create a plan that includes setting aside money for maintenance. Additionally, you should speak with an insurance agent to make sure the property is properly insured and consider acquiring life insurance to provide additional financial support.

Lastly, meet with a tax adviser to understand any potential tax implications of transferring the property during your lifetime or after your death.

If you want to know more about how to safeguard your vacation property and ensure that your desires for it are implemented, please get in touch with us.

It’s important to plan ahead for your death, even if it’s a long time away. You can create a plan with the help of an exprienced estate planning attorney. This plan will be legally binding and will decide who will manage your finances or medical care if you can’t, who will take care of your kids, who will take care of your property after you die, and who will inherit your assets and artworks.

You have various options regarding who will receive your artwork. You could:

• Instruct your personal representative, executor, or successor trustee to sell any of your artwork in your possession at your death;

• Designate specific individuals to receive it;

• Have it held by a trust or foundation to be lent or licensed after your death; or

• Provide instructions to donate your work outright to a museum, university, or other organization that might benefit from it.

The First Steps to Take

You should create a record of all the artwork you own, including pieces you have sold, lent, licensed, gifted, donated, or kept. For pieces you have sold, include the buyer’s name and how much you sold it for. Make sure to include pieces that you have lent, as your loved ones will need to know who has them and when they need to be returned. Also include pieces you have licensed to someone else, as this will be a source of income for your loved ones after you’re gone. Finally, include any pieces you have gifted or donated to charities. Be sure to also include any pieces you have kept for yourself.

Once you have made a list of the artwork you own, it is important to work out what each piece is worth if it has not been evaluated or given away or sold. This will help you understand how much your artwork is worth in total and if you have enough insurance to cover its value. Your artwork can be stolen or damaged like other possessions, so it is important to make sure it is protected.

The last step is for you to meet with an exprienced estate planning attorney. Schedule a meeting with us. During this meeting, we will talk about who you want to be in charge of your affairs after you die and if you ever become unable to make decisions for yourself. We’ll also talk about what you want to happen to your art, music, or other creative works after you die. We’ll listen to your worries, goals, and dreams so we can create a plan that is tailored to you.

Include the Copyright in Your Plan

A copyright protects the original creations of an author, such as books, movies, songs, computer software, photographs, and architectural works. These works can be protected even if they are not published, but they are likely to be more valuable commercially if they are. When making an estate plan, it’s important to remember to include the copyright of your artwork. If you don’t specify who gets the copyright in your will or trust, it will go to your heirs as part of the residuary clause which distributes any property that wasn’t already given away. This means that one person could end up with the work and another with the copyright.

However, it is important to note that a copyright includes your right to terminate most transfers or licenses of the copyright at a future date. This right cannot be given away or taken away during your lifetime. After you die, the right will go to your spouse and children. This includes the right to end a transfer of a copyright to a trust. The only exception to this rule is a transfer of the copyright by a will, which cannot be terminated by your spouse and children.

We Are Here to Help You and Your Legacy

It can be difficult to know what to do with your treasured artwork. We understand how stressful this can be, so we want to help you create a suitable estate plan. Get in touch with us to set up a consultation.

The purpose of estate planning is to safeguard you and your loved ones. When there is a loved one who may need additional support after your death, this can be a challenging task. You may wish to give this person as much as possible, but you may not wish to do so at the price of others you care about. A right of occupation trust can help you arrange for this circumstance in terms of property ownership and use.

What is a right of occupancy trust?

Through a right of occupancy trust, you can give someone the right to live at your home or another real estate until they die or move out, or for a certain amount of time.

This may be implemented by providing a provision in either a last will and testament or a trust agreement, which places the real property into a separate subtrust overseen by the trustee designated by the grantor. This provision will allocate money to the subtrust in order to cover the property’s maintenance expenses and will include instructions outlining the beneficiary’s rights and responsibilities, as well as the trustee’s responsibilities on the trust’s behalf.

Additionally, the trust instrument will direct what happens to the property once the beneficiary passes away, which may include keeping the property in the trust for another beneficiary, giving it outright to a beneficiary, or selling the property and holding the money in trust for someone’s benefit or distributing it outright to a chosen beneficiary. It is important to note that selling the property can have adverse impacts on homestead status, and the trustee should get legal advice before selling.

Important questions to ask yourself

Considering these questions is essential for successful implementation of this strategy, as it ensures that your instructions are concise:

• Is the tangible personal property, such as furniture and appliances, included with the property?
• Would you like to allocate funds for administrative costs, state and local taxes or assessments, utilities, property insurance, and mortgage payments, or will the beneficiary be responsible for these expenses?
• If the property includes a residence, does the beneficiary have to live there full-time? Are they permitted to allow a subsequent spouse, friend, or companion to reside at the residence?
• Does life changes, like remarriage or admission to a long-term care facility, terminate the right of the beneficiary to stay at the residence?

Is a Right of Occupancy Trust an appropriate solution for you?

If you have a home solely in your name and wish to guarantee your surviving spouse a place to live without risking disinheriting any children from a prior relationship, this approach can provide security for all involved.

If you desire to keep the property within your family’s bloodline by allowing your surviving spouse to use the asset for their lifetime, while ultimately passing ownership to your children, a right of occupancy trust can help to fulfill this goal.

If you have a loved one who is dependent on you and you want to ensure that they have a place to live after your passing, a right of occupancy trust can provide that security for your loved one while also protecting the home for the benefit of other loved ones in the future.

Creating a support team to setup a right of occupancy trust

It is important to involve your team in order to guarantee the realization of your wishes. To do this, a financial advisor should be consulted in order to assess your current financial assets and determine what steps should be taken to guarantee the availability of funds for property maintenance, should the trust be responsible for covering most of the expenses.

An insurance agent should also be consulted to ensure that the residence is correctly insured under all the different ownerships (yours, the right of occupancy trust’s, and the ultimate recipient’s, whether a remainder beneficiary or another trust). Additionally, the insurance agent can offer advice regarding life insurance options should you lack the financial resources or cash assets to provide the necessary funds to maintain the residence.

A tax advisor should be consulted to discuss important tax implications of a right of occupancy trust and to answer these important questions:

• Will your beneficiary be allowed to take any income tax deductions with respect to the property?

• Will the property qualify for any applicable property tax exemptions that may currently be lowering the property tax bill?

• Will the property tax be uncapped at any point during the funding or trust administration?

We can also help you in determining your preferences for handling your assets and providing for your family. Afterwards, we can guarantee that your wishes are lawfully binding and will be followed through after your death, providing you with the assurance that everything will go as planned and your family will be taken care of.

Contact us to set up a consultation if you’re curious about right of occupancy trusts or any of the various ways we may personalize an estate plan to safeguard you and your loved ones.