Estate Planning WIsdom

We want to leave this world alive, but since that cannot happen, we will depart with our affairs organized. As we know, people are living longer, but we have a unique opportunity to prepare for our mortality and arrange financially for the day when we are taken away. We do not know when death will find us or what our physical and mental condition will be at that time. But, we will have an economic blueprint.

Here is my wisdom obtained during my months of estate planning:

• Make sure that all names are up to date in the living trust (revocable or irrevocable). We can ask any questions about the trustees and successor trustees. In addition, we need to make sure that the beneficiaries are current. Provide one family member the power of attorney in order to make all financial decisions.
The revocable living trust is great because passes on assets to our family without going through probate. Unlike a will, a trust cannot be contested. I had a family member who was after the assets of my mother’s estate, but the worldly goods remained secure. It is best to review the revocable trust every five to seven years. Personal and family dynamics as well as state laws can affect the trust. In the case of our personal trust, our executor died and needed to be re-appointed.

• Did you know that The Irrevocable trust is rarely used except for estate tax reasons? The benefit of this type of trust for estate assets removes all incidents of ownership, effectively removing the trust’s assets from the grantors taxable estate and establishing no tax liability.

• The Acting Care Directive will help us with health care during illness and the end stages of life. My mother had an order to not provide any additional measures to prolong her life. Even though that was the case, the doctor and I helped my mother to continue to fight to live. She actually lived a couple of months longer than we all expected and she also rallied once more before passing away. I am grateful for those two months!! Time passed and the doctor said that he was now out of miracles so now it was time to say our farewells. I live out of the country half of the year so I appointed my mother’s caregiver, Susan to provide health care for my ailing mother. She had a copy of the Acting Care Directive just in case she had to administer the directive. Amazingly, I was even able to be at my mother’s side with her until the end of her life.

• Buy a long-term care policy. We never know when we will have to use the policy. After my mother’s health began to fail, we purchased long-term care policies for my husband’s and my care.

• Organize the finances. My mother asked me in 2008 to attend to all of her finances. She said that she couldn’t trust her abilities and now she was ready for me to manage everything. We began placing my name as a co-trustee on all financial documents. She felt secure and happy. I also recommend a safe for the important papers.

• Leave a legacy. It might make a difference in the life of someone else remaining here on earth. In our personal living trust, we even donated our house to family. We also donated money to friends and to organizations where it can make a difference.

As you know, it has taken me almost a year to address these articles due to my grief, but knowledge is power. We have reviewed quality care and estate planning. The last in the trilogy is preparing for the death of a loved one. Unfortunately, we all have an expiration date. We do not know when that time will come, but death will catch up to us at some point. In the meanwhile, hopefully, this article will prepare us for Estate Planning. Let us enjoy every day as if it were our last!

by Roberta Mark Engel