We have had number of educational programs over the past couple years. There is one continuing lesson I want to share with you. I offered to review any attendee’s “estate planning” documents from the Elder Law point of view. The distinction is that elder law focuses on life issues and so we call it “life planning.” Estate planning is about “Death and Taxes.” I analogize the difference to a life guard. The “Death and Taxes” lifeguard will help you after you have drowned. The Elder Law lifeguard will help you while you are struggling.
Many folks have taken me up on the offer to review their existing “estate planning’ documents. I focused on their trusts and powers of attorney. In every case the documents did not grant complete authority to take care of all matters of the client. I had the following report:
They were all inadequate.
What did that mean? That failing could force anybody into life-long probate -guardian or conservator. And that means that the probate court is in charge of every facet of your life. Where you will live, what medical treatment you will receive is all under the control of the guardian. All your finances will be in the public record. The conservator will file and inventory of your property and will file an account every year. The account will detail every dollar that you got and every expenditure that was made on you. Attorneys fees for the public hearings may run into the thousands of dollars. I’ll give you a practical example:if a husband is in a nursing home his wife may have to spend over $50,000 in nursing home bills and attorney fees before the probate court will give her permission to withdraw from his IRA. And, on top of that, the court may open a conservator file and put all of his assets under probate supervision till he dies.
All of that is easily avoidable.All you have to do is have your legal documents tailored to fit your needs. You can be in control even when you must rely upon others to help you. So if you are at all concerned about aging and your long term care needs, just give us a call and let’s get your protection started! And, of course, we will help you with Wills and trusts as you may need. But, still 99% of us folks don’t need to worry about taxes after death so unless you are a multimillionaire you don’t need an attorney expert in estate taxes. An Elder Law focused life plan must, and does, include a will or a trust to carry out your wishes for property distribution after you die. Get started now!
