November 11, 2009
You’ve heard the old saw: “There is more than one way to skin a cat.” Such folk wisdom can inspire estate planners to dream up creative solutions to thorny legal problems.
Recently, the Gatesman Law Office had been assisting a family in revising the distribution pattern under their estate plan. Husband and wife each had a revocable trust, which trusts held property in further trust for one of their children after both husband and wife died. The share for their other child was to be given to him outright, free of trust.
However, as time passed, the conditions that prompted the desire to hold property in trust for the couple’s now adult child no longer existed and they were in the process of revising their revocable trusts to eliminate the trust for such adult child.
Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, husband died. As a consequence, husband could no longer amend his revocable trust. While wife, who survived her husband, was now the trustee and beneficiary of husband’s trust, she did not have the power to amend the trust to change how trust assets would be distributed after her death.
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September 23, 2009
For our younger readers, this time of year is heralded by the hustle-bustle of back to school activities. It is the time for parents of young children to double check that the kids have shoes that fit for gym class, warm clothes for the winter months, and pens, pencils, and rulers to stock the kids’ backpacks for the first day of school.
For all adults, now is a good time to review your estate plan to make sure that your plan is in order to meet your changing needs. Have you executed a Power of Attorney to ensure that a trusted agent can manage your financial affairs should you become incapacitated? Do you have an advance health care directive to ensure that appropriate medical choices are made even if you cannot communicate those choices to your health care providers?
Are the individuals you have chosen to serve as your agents in those documents still the best choices, or have your or their circumstances changed significantly so that choosing other agents is appropriate?
Do you have a Will? Does your will impose limits because your children were minors when you wrote it, limits that are no longer appropriate?
By asking yourself these and other questions, you will discover whether it is time to review your estate plan with your legal counsel. This type of periodic review of your estate plan will ensure that your plan continues to meet your needs even as your needs change over the years.
Happy autumn from the Gatesman Law Office.
August 14, 2008
Many people are in the habit of visiting their doctors for an annual physical or other regular check-up. Still more visit their accountants each year to assist them with their income taxes. And most people regularly visit their auto mechanics to change the oil in their cars every three months or so.
The practice with lawyers is different, however, and people may put themselves in peril if they do not periodically review their affairs with their attorney.
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April 15, 2008
This office has recommended, and most estate planners will agree, that one should consider appointing a trusted individual to make health care decisions for you in the event you are unable to do so. I wrote a comprehensive article on that topic on October 7, 2007.
Maryland law not only allows one to appoint a Health Care Agent, the statute provides forms one may use to do so. While I have always recommended that one seek experienced legal counsel when appointing a Health Care Agent – one of the statutory forms curiously omits a significant provision – such advice is even more compelling in light of a new ruling by Maryland’s Attorney General.
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December 22, 2007
Schoukroun v. Karsenty (Md. App. December 11, 2007). A Technical Article for Maryland Elder Law and Estate Planning Attorneys
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals, in a seismic shift to the estates and trusts law of Maryland, issued an opinion on December 11, 2007, imposing augmented estate rules on the State of Maryland. This decision has significant consequences affecting Medicaid asset preservation planners, estate planners, family law practitioners and CPAs.
Prior to this decision, the Maryland legislature, despite years long advocacy by some members of the Estates and Trusts section of the Maryland State Bar Association, refused to add augmented estate rules to the estates and trusts law of Maryland.
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November 2, 2007
“Whereas, Wherefore, Where art thou?” Did you ever wonder why lawyers use such archaic language in their legal documents? One reason is that lawyers like to stick with tried and true methods. Another reason legal documents tend to be so complex is that lawyers want to be sure to cover all the bases, so they write paragraphs full of synonyms for the same descriptive term just in case one of the synonyms has a slightly different shade of meaning to ensure that the legal document will be effective in all relevant circumstances. But is this really necessary?
The Gatesman Law Office has undertaken the task of simplifying our legal documents. However, we must exercise great care to ensure that our more simple language does not result in a document that fails to cover all the bases. After careful review, we have created a five page, easy to understand Will to accomplish sophisticated estate tax planning that replaces our more archaic fifteen page document.
While there has been a movement in the legal profession that supports the use of “plain language” documents, it does not appear to have caught on with most lawyers. We are doing our best to promote the plain language ideal to simplify matters for our clients.
October 30, 2007
Many of you have heard the clarion call – “You need a revocable trust!” This cry emanates from the full page newspaper ads touting the one-day seminars on revocable trusts. This cry emanates from the 60-second spots on the radio informing you that your estate plan is not complete without a living trust. Such marketing tactics might lead one to believe that everyone should use a revocable trust. But is it a good idea for you?
While revocable trusts can be good estate planning tools, they are not for everyone. Any advertisement that implies this is misleading. Indeed, by using a revocable trust, seniors can lock themselves out of a powerful asset preservation strategy. Before reviewing that strategy, however, lets take a closer look at revocable trusts.
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October 7, 2007
Like the shoemaker whose children run around barefoot, there are lawyers who have no estate plan. Even more numerous are non-lawyers who have never done any estate planning. Some folks might reason that such planning is unnecessary because they don’t have vast wealth or that all of their wealth is tied up in retirement assets that will pass to their named beneficiaries. While it is true that such people may not require sophisticated estate planning, all adults would be prudent to ensure that appropriate personal and financial decisions will be made for them should they lose the ability to make such decisions themselves. There are several basic estate planning documents that enable people to appoint trusted individuals to make such decisions on their behalf.
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