Although the goals and design of estate plans vary from person to person, there are a few cornerstones of estate planning. Here are three things to keep in mind to make the process as easy as possible.

Estate planning is a confidential process.

Estate planning takes into account your needs, goals, objectives, beliefs, and values. In order to shape the plan to best fit all of these considerations, estate planning involves some questions that are not necessarily a part of everyday conversation. It touches on some sensitive subjects, such as your family, relationships, assets, liabilities, and personal values. But the answers only are used to formulate the best plan possible.

We can only plan for what we know about.

Estate planning can be forward-looking in its approach, but will focus on the goals, people, and assets that you identify. It usually is best to address all of the considerations together in one plan if possible. Planning for only some of the assets, or omitting real estate located out of town, may cause one or more undesirable outcomes.  These may include having to open an ancillary probate case, needlessly giving up certain tax strategies, or other costly results. Therefore, it is best to aim for one plan that addresses everything together.

Focus on the future.

When doing estate planning, do not worry about the shape of your family tree. Everyone has one. It undoubtedly is made up of many people, each with many stories accumulated over hopefully many years. Some of these people and their stories will be a source of pride. Others may be less so.

With that as a starting point, estate planning involves looking forward, choosing what you want for your family – in terms of stability and security, and knowledge and values, as well as personal and financial health – and then deciding what parts of the past and the family tree are useful in constructing the plan. The planning process will help you take stock of what to account for and build upon, without getting mired in the past. At its best, estate planning can strengthen and improve the prospects for a brighter future.

As a part of their estate plan, Jim and Mandy decided to create a trust for their home and certain accounts they wanted to set aside for their children. Then Jim wondered whether the trust would be a public record.

The central governing document for a trust is the Trust Agreement. The Trust Agreement functions similarly to a contract. They typically are not public records, so their terms – and the trust holdings — usually would be private.

There are some situations where certain aspects would be evident from the public record, however. For example, the transfer of real estate into or out of a trust occurs by recording a deed. The same procedure applies to other types of real estate sales and transfers. And at closing, the trustee may be required to certify that the trust still is in existence.

Similarly, a bank or financial institution may require certain documentation to establish the genuineness of the trust before opening a new account or re-titling existing accounts.

As a general matter, however, the terms governing the trust are intended to be private. This is a stark contrast to the nature of a probate proceeding, which may be necessary when someone dies without having established a trust, and relies instead on a will alone – or has no will at all. In such cases, the filings made in the probate case will be accessible as court records.

The privacy of a trust is one aspect that makes them popular. Their ability to avoid probate proceedings for the assets they hold is another, as is the continuity, stability, and security they can provide.

The trust that Jim and Mandy chose had these features.  When they learned this, they realized that their trust could become very beneficial to their family over time.

Have questions about how to start on an estate plan? Call us today at 312-278-1187 to schedule a strategy session.

Most people don’t think about their insurance coverage while going through their daily routine. Yet some omissions can prove costly. Here are some risks that could potentially drain off everything that you’ve worked for, and some strategies to prevent that from happening.

Disability

Let’s start with your income. Financial well-being is often tied to income potential, including being able to go to work and earning a living. Yet, if an injury or illness interferes with your ability to work, you can quickly eat through your savings. You can’t necessarily prevent the injury or illness, but you can prevent having zero income as a result. One way to avoid an undue drain is with a disability insurance policy, which can cover a portion of the income lost during a long disability. This will provide funds for basic needs such as food, housing costs, medicines, and clothing. Although limited to the basics, it stems the losses by offsetting some of the income that would have been earned.

Life Insurance

If someone in your household were to pass away, how would you cover the mortgage or the cost of education? How would you cover the immediate loss of income to ensure that the surviving family members can weather that storm and figure out what their next steps are?

Life insurance can be critical here for covering existing liabilities and some of the lost income in the near-term. It’s especially important when there are young children in the picture, but can also be important to make sure that a spouse is taken care of and any existing liabilities or special needs are addressed.

There are different kinds of life insurance, with different features, costs, and benefits. Although beyond the scope of this post, there are multiple choices in how to meet this need. In each case, the death benefit provides relief of immediate financial needs.

Liability Insurance

Another aspect of planning involves creating an insurance strategy against potential liabilities. While home and auto insurance are familiar, the amount of coverage provided, and any limitations or exclusions are important considerations. Although the State mandates certain minimums for your automobile, and a lender may mandate certain coverage for a home, don’t rely on them. Explore higher levels of coverage. In many instances, significant upgrades in coverage may be available for small differences in premium. Also, consider adding an umbrella policy.  Layer it with other coverage to provide extra protection against liabilities in excess of your homeowner or automobile policy limits.

While planning for your estate, it’s important to fill any gaps which could become a drain on your assets. Let Windy City Legal help you to be aware of available options to make an informed decision.

Samantha, like so many people, knows deep down that she has to have an estate plan. But after putting it off, she jumped in when her sister Jill just told her about a new website for DIY estate planning that offers an array of templates that she can simply download off the Internet. How convenient, right?

Well…maybe not so fast.

Samantha is now learning the hard way that just because one is able to sign up for a service online and answer a few questions, it’s not the same as having a trained professional help her plan for occurrences down the road. Plus, a number of her questions don’t fit in a neat little box that’s easily addressed through some “FAQs” she has to sift through. Frankly, she doesn’t feel good about having to serve as her own attorney, which is precisely what she feels like. Too bad she’s already paid for something that may be able to deliver her paperwork but still can’t address all the answers she needs.

DIY (Do-It-Yourself) estate planning can be alluring for many of the reasons that lured Samantha in to give it a try, from speed to apparent cost-effectiveness. On the surface, the idea of getting your plan done quickly may be quite appealing. Yet, estate planning is an area that requires precision, and those templates that are so easy to download don’t provide such guidance for precise answers.

As a result, it can be entirely possible to run through the process of estate planning in a Do-It-Yourself format and all you receive from the platform is a product that isn’t going to work as a valid estate plan. This can be a tragedy with a number of unintended consequences. For one, imagine if your family members have been under the impression that you created an estate plan when, in fact, you did not.

Another example of where the DIY approach can fall through is naming an executor and heirs. Unfortunately, some templates invite answers such as, “One of my brothers or sisters should be an executor.” That may not be good enough.

Yet another potential problem is with distributions. For example, a template may not prevent something general like, “whatever my sister Susan decides is best.” That is not a definite provision — and it’s not Susan’s will, it’s yours.

Indecision of the above nature could invalidate your estate planning documents. So after you’ve gone through what may be a great deal of effort and expense, you could find yourself with very little to show for it if you plug in answers like that.

Another problem with the DIY approach to estate planning is a failure to account for all the assets. Estate plans have a number of functions, one being to guide the executor or successor trustee to what assets might exist, as well as making sure that those assets are conveyed or accounted for properly. When sitting in front of a screen, filling out a form, it’s unlikely that you may be fully taking stock of all your assets. A template that you download or fill out online may or may not actually remind you to look in all the categories that we might ask about. And should you leave out something, it could be a problem later, or may be transferred to someone you did not intend.

Long-Term Consequences of DIY Estate Planning

Online templates are also unlikely to advise you how to deal with retirement assets, or the benefits and costs of one strategy versus another. The value of such planning can serve as a foundation for significant growth or savings over time, however.

Another failure from doing it yourself is actually completing it yourself. At the end of the process, the documents need to be executed properly. Chances are you’re not going to be able to do that from the computer room of your house, but until it is it may not take effect.

Also, DIY estate planning generally is not going to look for potential sources of liabilities that you can address while you have time to do so, or provide alternatives which could be beneficial.

Finally, life happens and things change. Your estate plan needs to keep up but these forms and template-based systems are not necessarily going to keep pace with you. Nor are they going to change with you to reflect your current goals. Without the benefit of someone advising you, you’re probably not going to think about your estate plan very much in the future. Unfortunately, that could be the biggest cost of all, particularly if things change and you’re not keeping the plan up-to-date.

Look beyond the quick methods of doing estate planning, and remember the people you’re planning for deserve so much better – an approach that’s customized around your life’s ever-evolving journey. Arrange a strategy session with Windy City Legal to get started.

Cindy and Bill have raised four great kids and they have a close-knit family. Lately, however, the situation is far from picture-perfect with one of their children, Tony. Following a surgery, he became addicted to the pain killers that were prescribed for him, and Tony fell into a substance abuse problem that he continues to deal with. Cindy, Bill and their other children are trying to get Tony the help and support he needs. Meanwhile, Cindy and Bill found themselves struggling with how to treat Tony in their estate plans, torn between a desire to take care of their children while not wanting to feed Tony’s addiction.

One solution can be to provide for the beneficiary or child through a trust, subject to certain restrictions so that the individual doesn’t just get the money to do with it whatever they please. A trustee in place or a third party will make sure that the assets are not dissipated or used for improper purposes.

This way, the trust is limited to taking care of a beneficiary or child’s health, welfare, housing, or education as appropriate. The assets will be preserved, rather than provided directly to someone who is not capable of responsibly handling them.

Generally, there must be a deposit of certain money, investments, or other assets into the trust. Then all requests and payments can flow through the designated trustee, so they only are made for treatment or support, and then directly to the provider.

That way, the beneficiary does not have the ability to get to the assets directly, nor to handle any payments. Instead, the assets are used to cover their needs.

What happens once they get the help they need?

Let’s go back to the example of Tony, the troubled child of Cindy and Bill. He’s now gone through a treatment program successfully and after quite some time, it’s clear that he’s put this painful chapter of his life behind him. He’s living a healthier life. With this in mind, can he now get a different portion as outlined in the estate plan as his life has changed for the better? It depends on how the trust is structured.

Addictions are strong. It’s good to have certain options in your estate plan to protect against a relapse. If they have completed treatment and made a recovery, the question becomes whether the trust should continue as is, be distributed in whole or in part, or whether any terms should be changed. That depends on what the trust allows, as well as the inclination of the trustee based on the progress made by the beneficiary.

While a trust can act as a restrictive mechanism for the protection of the assets as well as the beneficiary, a trust also is a vehicle that can provide some hope, by making sure that there will be some ongoing support for the beneficiary during post-treatment recovery. When set up in this manner, it may alleviate the stress of re-entry into a normal routine.

If you’re seeking answers during the estate planning process of how to account for a family member struggling with an addiction or simply financial mismanagement, making a plan to account for them while reflecting your wishes is very possible. Talk to Windy City Legal to learn how to make it possible.