Mistakes to Avoid in Beneficiary Designations

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Roger Billings

Many conscientious estate planners, who prepare careful and complete estate plans, give little thought to beneficiary designations for retirement accounts or life insurance policies. Sandra Feingerts of the Fisher & Phillips law firm has prepared a useful list of mistakes to avoid in preparing beneficiary designations. For example, she states:

Participants believe that their wills override all beneficiary designations. Beneficiary designations and the plan document determine who gets the money, not the will.

Participants believe that a divorce or property settlement automatically voids the former spouse as the beneficiary. This is not the case unless the plan contains such a provision. A current spouse will always be the beneficiary under a retirement plan regardless of a prior beneficiary designation. Life insurance proceeds will always be payable to the designated beneficiary.

Go to the full article here for a list of additional mistakes to avoid in preparing your beneficiary designations.

Photo:  brett jordan

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Plant Planning? – Pittsburgh Woman Leaves Philodendron in Her Will

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Roger Billings

Ronna Scoratow’s philodendron is 42 years old. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Ms. Scoratow has no children. Her siblings don’t share her enthusiasm for indoor greenery. So last year she put a provision in her will granting $5,000 for a friend to use in caring for the plant. “It was interesting,” her lawyer, James Wood, said when asked about that provision. “I’ve done provisions for pets but never a plant.”

If only my great great great great grandmother had left me her giant sequoia, but then again where would I put it?

See the rest of the WSJ article here.

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Adding Your Child to Your Bank Account is Not Such a Great Idea

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Roger Billings

By: jencu

A common means of avoiding probate is to put your child’s name on all of your accounts. This can create some serious problems, not least of which is if a creditor goes after your child’s assets and is able to attach all of your accounts. As attorney Hyman G. Darling explains, this can create some serious complications:

If your child’s name is merely added to the account as a joint owner, then another issue that may come up involves a situation where your child is sued, dies, has marital problems, or becomes disabled himself. In these circumstances, there will be an issue as to whether those assets are truly yours, or available to your child, and a governmental agency or creditor of your child may attempt to attach those assets or cause them to be ‘accessible assets.’

See the entire article here.

A better alternative is to put your account in a trust and name your child as a beneficiary or set up a POD account with the bank where you can also designate a beneficiary for the account.

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Birthdays and estate planning

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Roger Billings

You’re another year young. After all, birthdays are just a number, just a box on the calendar. Right? But sometimes birthdays start us thinking. Thinking about the past and the future, thinking about how old we are getting.

Rather than feeling down, a more productive response at times link this is to review the estate plan, and get it updated if needed. Yes, updating an estate plan, or creating one in the first place, means planning for the inevitable. But it feels good to take action. And once it is taken care of, we get peace of mind and we are ready to enjoy the new year.

So happy birthday! You really are only as old as you think you are.

Photo By: Dan Taylor

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Ten Best Places to Retire?

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Roger Billings

 Bankrate has compiled a list of the ten best places to retire, with the assumption that freezing to death is not a significant concern. The top five are:

1. South Dakota
2. Colorado
3. Utah
4. North Dakota
5. Wyoming

According to CNN Money:

To compile the list, Bankrate ranked weather using sunshine and humidity rates and average temperatures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Taxes were ranked using the Tax Foundation’s analysis of state and local tax burdens. Cost of living was ranked using statistics from the Council for Community and Economic Research, and crime was ranked using FBI crime rates. Health care quality was measured using statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research. General well-being scores were based on an annual Gallup-Healthways survey that surveys residents’ general happiness.

See the complete list and commentary here.

Photo by: jenny downing

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Did She Leave a Will and If So, Where Is It?

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Roger Billings

A common question is how to find a will of a deceased relative. About.com has an explanation here of the steps to go through to find the will, including how to obtain a copy from a probate court, how to locate the probate court, and what to do if the will has not been filed in probate court. To avoid this problem for your family, put your estate plan in a clearly labeled binder, tell your family about, and provide your family the name and contact information of your attorney. They will thank you after you are gone.

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The Trials of Inheriting a Fortune – Whitney Houston’s Heirs

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Roger Billings

The inheritance of Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, is stirring up family controversy. This from the Trials and Heirs blog:

Although you should take tabloid reports with a grain of skepticism,  there can be no question that Bobbi Kristina’s marriage to Gordon has set off fireworks in Whitney Houston’s family.  And the timing is noteworthy.  Bobbi Kristina just turned 21 a few weeks ago.

Why is this milestone so important?  Under Whitney Houston’s will, Bobbi Kristina begins receiving her inheritance at age 21, starting with a 10% distribution.  While that may not sound like a lot, various reports have estimated the estate’s assets at $12 million to $20 million.  If accurate, this means that Bobbi Kristina likely just became a millionaire.  So the big question is, can she handle the money or will she fall prey to those who may try to take advantage of her new-found wealth?

The family was so worried about Bobbi Kristina’s immaturity and inability to handle this money, that they previously had started legal proceedings to try to delay the payouts until she was older.  Cissy and other family members felt that inheriting this money would destroy Bobbi Kristina.

See the entire article here.

 

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