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Using the Holiday Season to Discuss a Difficult Topic
by Dan A. Baron, Baron Law LLC
It’s unbelievable, but 2024 is almost over. As we approach the holidays, we unite with family, enjoy great food, and engage in many discussions. One often overlooked discussion is the importance of communicating your wishes regarding estate planning. It’s challenging, difficult, and maybe even unthinkable to imagine losing a loved one or what to do in a time of crisis. Nonetheless, planning and communicating is imperative to inform your family of your wishes. Consider utilizing the time you have together in the upcoming months to discuss these important topics; moreover, consider implementing the practical suggestions discussed below in your personal estate plan.
Communicate Your Plan
Along with drafting a comprehensive estate plan, you must communicate your intentions to those people who will represent and implement your decisions. They are usually family members or friends you have chosen to be your executor, agent, trustee, or healthcare power of attorney. You have chosen these individuals out of trust and loyalty but should not keep your wishes a secret. From a survivor’s perspective, if they have no prior knowledge of the intricacies of your plan, it leaves room for confusion, disputes, and dysfunction, including potential courtroom litigation.
Nearly every client I meet desires to have their family, especially their children, refrain from fighting after they have passed. When tragedy strikes, your family would rather have known your wishes upfront, expressed in person from your mouth, as opposed to reading it from a piece of paper. Many times, your decision to select one child over the other may be hurtful to the subordinate child. This being the case, it is even more important to communicate to the secondary child why they have not been selected as the primary POA, executor, trustee, etc. Regardless of your reasons, the family will be less likely to have a dispute if everyone knows their role, even if it’s no role at all.
Explain Their Role
There are many reasons why you selected the interested parties in your estate plan. For example, you may have chosen your daughter as your healthcare POA because she’s a nurse. Perhaps you’ve named your brother as an Executor and/or Trustee because you don’t want to show favoritism amongst your children. Whatever the reason, it’s important to explain each role these individuals have because they may not want or understand the work, time, and burden involved.
Often, the people you have chosen do not want the responsibility. The time involved, expertise, geographic location, or expense may deter your selected agent from wanting the responsibility. Moreover, many children don’t want to be put in a position of managing their sibling’s inheritance. For this reason, it’s important to explain exactly what duties they have and make sure the interested parties in your plan are comfortable carrying out the job.
Helpful Tip: Clients often make the mistake of trying to equalize the roles for all of their children. If you have multiple children, I would implore you to choose the child who would be the best fit for the job. The others can be secondaries. Don’t make the mistake of naming one child as a healthcare agent and then another as your financial agent because you want to be “fair.” Pick the right person for the job regardless of age, location, or status.
Create and Share an Account Summary
According to CNNMoney, nationally 53 billion dollars is sitting in unclaimed funds. These are funds that people haven’t claimed because family members and heirs don’t know the money exists. With everything going digital these days, it’s not surprising that heirs have zero knowledge of the accounts you own. If you would like your family to receive your estate instead of the government, I strongly urge you to create an account summary listing all of your assets. You do not need to indicate the dollar amounts because those values will change. Nonetheless, the account summary should include: (1) name of the account (e.g. Citizens Bank); (2) the owner (e.g. Baron Family Trust or Dan Baron); (3) account number; and (4) beneficiary, if any. Share this summary with those involved in administering your estate.
Store Documents in the Right Place
Never, and I mean ever, should you store your documents in a safety deposit box… Banks used to allow joint account holders access to a deposit box after death. Today, banks tend to lock down the deposit box unless the probate court intervenes. Moreover, if your healthcare and other agents need quick access to the POA document they may not have access because banks are not open 24/7. Your documents should not contain any social security numbers or other information that would lead to identity theft. Therefore, I would recommend storing your documents in a file cabinet or someplace that’s easy for your interested parties to gain access. Of course, you will want to inform these individuals where to find your documents as opposed to leaving it a scavenger hunt.
Helpful Tip: Upload your healthcare POA, living will, and HIPAA with your primary care physician. For example, Cleveland Clinic allows you to upload it through My Chart. If you’re not savvy with computers, then simply take a copy of these items to your next doctor’s visit.
Maintenance
The average American moves 11.7 times in their lifetime (Google that). Multiply that by the number of interested parties you have in your estate plan and it’s obvious to see that your plan will need to be updated often. Changing an address or phone number is an easy task and one that doesn’t cost much, if any, to achieve. When you meet with your family during the holidays check to see that your plan reflects their current information. If you have a prudent attorney, they should be reaching out to you periodically to see if there are any changes.
Happy Holidays
From my family to yours I wish you Happy Holidays. I am grateful for the questions and comments that have resulted from writing these monthly articles. Please be safe and enjoy. Dan@baronlawcleveland.com, 216-573-3723.
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Baron Law LLC
Crowne Centre, Suite #600
5005 Rockside Road
Independence, Ohio 44131
216-573-3723
www.baronlawcleveland.com
Opinions and claims expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ScripType Publishing.