Wachbrit Weblawg - Estate Planning and Elder Law

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Animals Have Advantages Over Man

"Animals have these advantages over man: they never hear the clock strike, they die without any idea of death, they have no theologians to instruct them, their last moments are not disturbed by unwelcome and unpleasant ceremonies, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills."

- Voltaire (1694-1778)

Animal Cruelty

"There is something going on now in Mexico that I happen to think is cruelty to animals.  What I'm talking about, of course, is cat juggling."

- Steve Martin

Don't Leave Your Pet Out in the Cold

If your definition of family includes a beloved pet, keep reading.  Maybe it's your child's canine playmate, a kitty companion to an elderly widow or the family's proud horse.  Regardless of the origin or relationship, your pet is a member of your family and dependent on your for all its needs.  If anything were to happen to you, can you be assured that your pet would be well-cared for?

Many families are asking me this question.  When they create an estate plan to provide for their loved ones, they ask what they can do to provide for their animal dependents as well.  Who will care for the animal(s)?  Will your pets visit you if you are incapacitated?

Time isn't money

"You can't measure time in days the way you can money in dollars because every day is different."

--Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)

Regular Check-Ups Keep Your Estate Plan Healthy

We all know the importance of annual check-ups. We have our yearly visits to the doctor and dentist, we review our finances at least once a year during tax season, we even take stock of our closets during spring cleaning! To everything there is a season, and your estate plan deserves no less.

 

Many people are tempted to think of their estate plan as a one-shot deal, but the truth is that your estate plan is an investment and deserves the same annual maintenance and attention as any of your other investments. In fact, your estate plan is more than an investment of money, it’s an investment in your future, and your children’s and grandchildren’s futures as well. 

Take the recent example of Anna Nicole Smith and her out of date Will. Smith’s 6 year old Will leaves everything to her deceased son, and nothing to her living baby daughter. To further complicate things, some of the language in the Will seems to exclude Smith’s future spouses and children. Smith’s Will most likely very adequately expressed her desires for the protection and execution of her estate at the time it was written, but even the best attorneys can’t anticipate how a client’s situation and desires will change in future years.

 

How often you need to review your estate plan will depend a lot on your family’s personal and financial state of affairs, although not entirely. Families and finances ebb and flow, relationships grow or fall by the wayside, and tax laws definitely change, all of which have a bearing on your Trust, Will, Health Care documents, and others. This means that depending on how in flux your personal/financial situation is, you should be reviewing your estate plan every one to five years.

Keep your estate plan as strong and healthy as your body, your teeth, or your stock portfolio. Call your attorney and review your plan regularly!

By guest blogger Jenni Buchanan

A Monthly View of Big Verdicts

Every month, the California Bar publishes a list of lawsuit verdicts across the state.  Because many people wonder how catastrophic a judgment against them might be, I'm sharing a few.

Here are the two most striking May, 2007 judgments:

Premises Liability

You can be liable because you own the property.

Judgment: $4,057,354

Vehicle Negligence

Remember that with "joint and several liability" even if you are only 1% at fault you may have to pay 100% of the judgment.

Judgment:  $23,295,000

There were other remarkable judgments  in January, February, March and April, 2007.  There will be more in June, July, August and the months and years ahead.

No Contest Clauses Under Review

The California Law Revision Committee has posted a tentative recommendation about no contest clauses.  These are the provisions in your estate plan that punish a beneficiary for suing the estate by disinheriting him or her.  California has long had a love/hate relationship with no contest clauses.  While there are strong reasons to keep people from suing willy nilly when someone dies, the state is also concerned that legitimate issues get aired in court. 

California changed its no contest laws just a few years ago, which is why so many of our clients needed to update that provision of their estate plan. 

Now the Committee is making a further recommendation.  The Committee suggests that no contest clauses should be honored in general.  But there should be a big exception to protect against elder abuse, a growing problem. 

Diedre in the Wall Street Journal on Minors & Beneficiary Designations

On October 21, 2006, Kelly Greene answered a question in the Wall Street Journal's Encore Personal Finance section on how to name a minor child as a beneficiary of your retirement plan.  I was delighted to be able to contribute to the answer. 

You can see the article, How to Name a Minor as your IRA Beneficiary,  here.  (Subscription to www.wsj.com may be required.)  If not, email me and I'll send you a reprint!

New Medicaid Spousal Resource Numbers for 2007

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the 2007 federal guidelines for how much money the spouses of institutionalized Medicaid (known in California as Medi-Cal) recipients may keep.

In 2007, the spouse of a Medi-Cal recipient living in a nursing home (called the "community spouse") may keep as much as $101,640 without jeopardizing the Medi-Cal eligibility of the spouse who is receiving long-term care. When a spouse needs to keep more, a court order may be sought.

The maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance for 2007 will be $2,541. This is the most in monthly income that a community spouse is allowed to have if her own income is not enough to live on and she must take some or all of the institutionalized spouse's income. Bear in mind that these figures apply only if the community spouse needs to take income from the institutionalized spouse. According to Medicaid law, the community spouse may keep all her own income, even if it exceeds the maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance.

The new numbers take effect on January 1, 2007.

Thank you to Elder Law Answers for the update.

Childolescence

I read a lot of books.

I read a lot of books about parenting.

My favorite parenting books do one of two things.  Some, like Haim Ginott's Between Parent and Child, reinforce wisdom I had forgotten to act on (I first learned Dr. Ginott's powerful and now classic ideas in How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids will Talk, which is about so much more than communication).   My other favorites open my eyes to a new way of seeing my children.

I just started reading How to Discipline Your Six to Twelve Year Old Without Losing Your Mind by Jerry Wycoff and Barbara Unell.  The reviews on Amazon persuaded me this book would give me some constructive ways to deal with conflicts between my first-grader twins and me, without resorting to harsh punishments.  I know I made a good choice.  In the first page of the Introduction, they've opened my eyes to who my kids are now.