Importance of Sharing Your Estate Plans with Others

My practice is always interesting. In my conservatorship cases ( cases where an elderly person either is unable to take care of their personal needs ( medical, housing, food, clothing, health etc) or their financial matters ( person cannot resist undue influence, or is unable to manage their financial affairs) I have recently come across some troubling situations.

These cases illuminate why you should share your estate plan with those you intend to represent your estate as well as those who will inherit.



In these cases a child has had to petition the court because some other person is acting under a durable power of attorney or other Estate Planning document. But the situation could just as easily present itself in a will or trust contest.

In these cases, I believe that the Conservatee ( person for whom the court appoints a conservator) should have shared their intentions as well as perhaps the actual documents with their intended heirs or those the Conservatee wanted to represent their Estate after he or she dies. In one case the Conservatee had shared a letter from his/her attorney which stated the name of the estate planning documents in the attorney's possession and the execution date. However, obtaining the actual documents themselves has been extremely difficult.

But if the Conservatee had not given his/her children such a letter and instructions to contact his attorney should anything happen to him, they would be unaware of the documents that Conservatee's significant other persuaded Conservatee's long time attorney to draft, effectively changing who would inherit from the Conservatee. Additionally, they would lack any evidence that the Conservatee had previously planned to provide for them. This could become extremely important if a contest ensued after Conservatee passed away.

However, if the Conservatee had provided his/her children with copies of the actual documents they would have had good evidence to seek emergency type orders from the court. ( these types of orders are called ex parte orders).

In short if you trust your heirs and future representatives of your Estate, you must provide them with information as to your wishes, a description of where original documents are kept, and possibly even copies of the documents. This will serve as valuable evidence, in the event that someone tries to fraudulently induce you to sign documents while you are drugged up in a hospital or otherwise change who your property will pass to.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney, who offers in home services for busy and movement challenged clients. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. Dedicated to helping individuals and couples prepare comprehensive estate plans according to their wishes; he offers them these services at an affordable price, in the relaxed comfort of their homes. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com Read more On "Importance of Sharing Your Estate Plans with Others"!

Lessons from Michael Jackson's Death

What Lessons can even the poorest person learn from Michael Jackson's death?

Answer: This is a prime example, for rich and poor alike, of one of the most important reasons to execute a last will and testament. Anyone who has minor children be they married, separated, divorced, never married etc., should take lesson.

You can see from this copy of Michael Jackson's Last Will and Testament that he named his mother Katherine Jackson to be guardian of his children should he die before they were the age of 18. He likely also provided for them until a later age, financially in his Michael Jackson Family Trust that earlier pages of the will reference. He also named a backup guardian of Dianna Ross, in the event that his mother was not able to serve.


Notice Michael Jackson did not nominate his mother and his father. This was smart because you never know what the status of couples can be at the time when they would be called upon to act. Although in Michael Jackson's case there were likely other reasons also influencing his choice to not name his father.

Now bear in mind that the probate court judge who officially approved Katherine Jackson to be the childrens' guardian could still have denied her petition and approved someone else. Usually this only happens when someone makes an allegation that the proposed guardian is unfit to be a parent. Possible reasons include a proposed guardian with a criminal background, who is a substance or heavy alcohol abuser or someone who has a history of child abuse.

But the lesson is clear, that the judges give the wishes of the person who died, the most weight absent a substantiated allegation that the proposed guardian is unfit.

I have not bothered to ascertain who drafted his Will, but in my opinion from what I have seen so far, the Estate Planning attorney did a fine job

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com

Read more On "Lessons from Michael Jackson's Death"!

What Happens to your Facebook When You Die or become incapacitated?

Do you need an online Estate Plan? What happens to your Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Twitter accounts and profiles when you die or become incapacitated?

A recent Wall Street Journal Article suggests that everyone needs a separate plan to deal with online issues when you die or become incapacitated.

Among the issues for your heirs that the article identifies are what can happen to online accounts where you traditionally do not receive monthly statements as well as the status of various trendy online sites like the social networking site Facebook.


It points out that without the necessary login and password the person or persons trying to wrap up your affairs will have difficulty accessing the statements and information. Of course, I see no reason why a beneficiary could not be named for an online savings account, or why an online savings account could not be held by a trustee. But of course in either case it is going to require some time to gain access to the information the person requires.

And although we are always advised to have super secure, varied and frequently changed passwords for all of our accounts, which we are supposed to never share, this presents a problem upon your death or incapacity. The article suggests that you may want to share various logins and passwords with certain trusted people. Or you may want to divy up these logins and passwords and give them to several people.

Unfortunately, I do not think that this is a viable option as passwords are frequently changing as we forget them and are forced to reset them. Also in the social networking arena, the answer that the facebook spokesperson gave that they will place a site in memoriam but not give the personal representative access to the account to retrieve possible items of significant emotional value such as messages, pictures, notes etc. is rather unsettling. I am not sure what representatives from Myspace, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. would say.

To me the only solution is legislation on a federal level that would require these social networking sites to allow you to name a beneficiary or caretaker of sorts for your online persona. In the alternative, the profiles should be treated as pseudo intellectual property of the decedent or incapacitated person and should be under the control of their personal representative, be it an executor, administrator, or trustee of their revocable living trust. Imagine the battles that might be waged when a celebrity with a significant social networking presence dies or becomes incapacitated if nothing is done to standardize the solutions.

As the population ages this will become more and more of an issue.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney, who offers in home services for busy and movement challenged clients. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. Dedicated to helping individuals and couples prepare comprehensive estate plans according to their wishes; he offers them these services at an affordable price, in the relaxed comfort of their homes. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com

Read more On "What Happens to your Facebook When You Die or become incapacitated?"!

Advantages of an Attorney Drafted Estate Plan

A recent LA times article highlights several instances where you will want to use an attorney in preparation of an Estate Plan.

The article first describes the various ways consumers can make their own wills under California Law. First, it talks about holographic wills, those handwritten wills entirely in the person's handwriting. These holographic wills present several problems.

Among the problems with a holographic will are: (1) it has to be clear that the writing was intended to serve as a will (2) the ink can more easily be smudged and there is no copy of it in case it is damaged, destroyed etc. (3) lay people are likely to have difficulty being clear with their instructions, and (4) there is no witness to testify as to what was intended if a will contest develops.

The article suggested the following situations when you would want to use an estate planning attorney: when you want to disinherit any family members, when you anticipate a dispute among your heirs, if you are very wealth, or if you want contingencies written into the document like ( child X only gets this if she attains a college degree).

While the article does hit an important point in why you should utilize an attorney, that there will be a witness should a dispute arise, it misses several other reasons.

The article assumes falsely that all someone needs in an Estate plan is a simple will. Well even in the simplest case this is simply not true. Even a 30 year old couple with a young child will want to have a durable power of attorney for financial matters so that if one becomes incapacitated it is clear that the spouse or someone else can act for them. This can save thousands upon thousands in dollars by avoiding a conservatorship.

In the case of a durable power of attorney, one intended to remain effective or kick in when someone becomes unable to manage their own affairs, it is important to utilize an attorney because often you will encounter problems getting the major financial institutions to honor them without an attorney. An attorney in this situation can assure the institution that the document was created validly and if need be threaten to take the institution to court. Legalzoom is not going to be able to do this! A website company simply doesn't have personal knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the creation and execution and it cannot represent you in court.

Additionally, most California homeowners will want to utilize a revocable living trust because it avoids the expense, lack of privacy, and time consuming nature of probate. And if you do create a trust, your successor trustees ( those who take over when you can no longer manage your affairs or you die) will need the advice of an attorney to administer the trust properly and avoid liability for wrongdoing. If you utilize the services of someone like myself, who also does trust and probate administration, then your loved ones will have someone they can turn to for help, without relying on the uncertainty of choosing a lawyer from a phonebook.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney, who offers in home services for busy and movement challenged clients. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. Dedicated to helping individuals and couples prepare comprehensive estate plans according to their wishes; he offers them these services at an affordable price, in the relaxed comfort of their homes. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com

Read more On "Advantages of an Attorney Drafted Estate Plan"!

Boomers Kids better have life insurance

Recently I have encountered quite a few young couples with the same situation. They have little to plan for besides nominating a guardian for their children. However, many of the young couples I talk to with Boomer parents seem to think that Grandma and Grandpa could care for their minor children if something happened to them.

I think this notion is highly unrealistic. Many boomers will not have the resources to care for additional dependents. Many have not saved enough for retirement especially with the ballooning costs of health care and the recent downturn in the markets that may be here to stay.

A recent Wall street Journal article highlights the problem. Many Boomers are essentially planning not to leave anything to their children because they don't think they will have anything left after retirement. This means that similarly Boomers won't have the financial resources to adequately care for your minor children. And that's just the essentials, food, clothing etc let alone trying to pay for your children's college education.

If you have a concern that your parents may not be able to provide fully for your children should something happen to you then its time to consider some life insurance. Most agents I talk to recommend purchasing between 8-15 times annual income to provide for dependents.

There is no need to go out and purchase complicated insurance policies when all you really need is to purchase some affordable term insurance coverage. If you are relatively healthy and in your thirties this should be fairly affordable. You may want to have spouses own the policies on each other as well as name the children as contingent beneficiaries of the policy. So long as you have nominated guardians in your simple will, then it would be relatively easy for the named guardian to receive the life insurance proceeds and manage them for your minor children.

You can check the cost of simple term policies at sites like selectquote.com.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney, who offers in home services for busy and movement challenged clients. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. Dedicated to helping individuals and couples prepare comprehensive estate plans according to their wishes; he offers them these services at an affordable price, in the relaxed comfort of their homes. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com Read more On "Boomers Kids better have life insurance"!

Firm News - Providing Free Notarizations to existing and new clients

Just a firm update. I have recently become licensed as a notary public in the county of Los Angeles. As a courtesy to all my current clients I will be offering free notarization of all the estate planning documents this office prepares as well as any other documents which clients would like notarized. However, to take advantage of this free service for documents other than estate planning documents which the firm prepares, you will have to travel to my offices, as I am not including travelling services.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney, who offers in home services for busy and movement challenged clients. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. Dedicated to helping individuals and couples prepare comprehensive estate plans according to their wishes; he offers them these services at an affordable price, in the relaxed comfort of their homes. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com Read more On "Firm News - Providing Free Notarizations to existing and new clients"!

For Many Couples its time to update their Estate Plan

It may be time for married couples to update your estate plan. Particularly if you executed a revocable living trust with an A-B provision, also referred to as a Bypass trust, or a credit shelter trust. For a decent discussion of how these trusts work click here.

The problem is that as recently as 2000 the applicable exclusion amount was near $1 million dollars per spouse. Typically these bypass trusts were established so that no Estate taxes would be due upon the death of the first spouse. They accomplished this by making use of the unlimited Marital Deduction which allows one to leave an estate of unlimited size to one's U.S. citizen Spouse ( non-citizens have to use special and burdensome devices known as Qualified Domestic Trusts- QDOTS)

As an example, assume a couple, we will call them H & W for this example. Assume further that H has a separate property estate of 2.5 million dollars and W has only modest sums. Further assume H dies first with the current annual exclusion amount( See here for a discussion of why the applicable exclusion amount is likely to remain at $3.5 million for the foreseeable future).

Assume further that H & W had a credit shelter trust established when the applicable exclusion amount was far lower ( $1 million or lower). Assume further that the credit shelter trust did not provide for income and principal distributions to the surviving spouse because it was established solely for members of H's family ( those other than W).

Under the current rules and the above scenario no marital deduction trust would be created when the deceased spouse's estate was less than $3.5 million. So assuming H dies first, upon his death all of H's property would stay in the credit shelter ( aka bypass trust) and the marital deduction trust would never get funded. Now W does not have access to the income that she would have had when the applicable exclusion amount was lower.

What was contemplated when this plan was made was that given the same size of Estate ($2.5 million) and an applicable exclusion amount of $1 million ( what would have happened as recently as 2001) $1 million would have gone into the bypass trust for H's family, with the balance ( $1.5 million) going to fund the Marital deduction Trust which W could raid at will for her living expenses.

So those with Estates greater than $1 million and less than I would say 4.5 million may presently have a plan that will not accomplish the common goal of providing income and if need be principal to the surviving spouse. Indeed in the extreme example above W might soon end up penniless.

So what's the solution? Well for starters its time to see an Estate Planning Attorney in your area to amend your revocable living trust. Though technically called a modification in California, or a restatement, either way you are amending the terms of the trust. Most revocable living trusts are fully amendable while both spouses are alive and well and acting as trustees. With some relatively simple amendments, the problem can be avoided and the surviving spouse can be left with the certainty that there will be some means of support.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
Christopher R. Twining, Attorney at Law, based in the Westwood Neighborhood of Los Angeles is an innovative estate planning, probate & trust administration, and elder law attorney, who offers in home services for busy and movement challenged clients. The Law Office of Christopher R. Twining serves the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Burbank and the neighborhoods of West Los Angeles, Westwood, Brentwood, Bel-Air, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Pico-Robertson and Encino. Dedicated to helping individuals and couples prepare comprehensive estate plans according to their wishes; he offers them these services at an affordable price, in the relaxed comfort of their homes. For more information about his services, please visit http://www.twininglaw.com or call (310) 492-5990.

CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
LAW OFFICES OF CHRISTOPHER R. TWINING
1440 VETERAN AVENUE, SUITE 509
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90024
(310) 492-5990 Fax (310) 775 - 9774
http://www.twininglaw.com Read more On "For Many Couples its time to update their Estate Plan"!