Category: Heirs

Estate Planning with Annuities can be Complex

Estate Planning with Annuities can be Complex

Estate planning can seem daunting. If you’re new to it, you have to learn about power of attorneys, trusts and much more. However, this effort can pay off many times over for you and your loved ones. Once you have a handle on the basics, you can start incorporating advanced strategies into your estate planning such as annuities. Nerdwallet makes the case that having good estate planning is important, and annuities are a vital tool to consider. Estate planning with annuities can be complex.

Annuities are insurance contracts that offer a series of payments over time. These contracts can pay out for a set period or the rest of your life. People often use them to manage retirement income.

Annuities have two phases. An accumulation phase is where you contribute money to the fund, and a withdrawal phase is where the contract pays out. Leaving your money in an annuity during the accumulation phase gives it room to grow tax deferred.

Annuities offer income security, tax advantages and legacy planning opportunities. Not only can you fund your retirement, but you can ensure a steady income stream for your beneficiaries. Annuities are a flexible tool to hedge against volatile markets and achieve financial security.

One of the primary reasons to include annuities in your estate plan is to provide for your heirs. According to Charles Schwab, there are three strategies you can consider during the accumulation phase:

Cash out your annuity if you’re at the end of its surrender period, though be aware of potential charges and taxes. This option provides immediate liquidity, which can be useful for other estate planning needs. However, you may suffer fees or tax penalties related to the early withdrawal.

Moving ownership to a non-grantor irrevocable trust will remove your annuity from your estate to benefit your heirs. This strategy can protect the annuity’s value from creditors and reduce estate taxes.

Make periodic withdrawals during the accumulation phase to take advantage of favorable tax treatment. Regular withdrawals can help you manage your income and tax liabilities more effectively and provide funds for other investments or expenses. This approach allows you to access the annuity’s value without triggering large tax penalties.

Once your annuity enters the payment phase, you have different options to support your estate planning goals:

  • Annual Gifts to Heirs: Make annual gifts using annuity distributions. This will reduce your taxable estate, benefit your loved ones and comply with annual gift restrictions.
  • Purchase Life Insurance: Use payouts to fund life insurance premiums. By setting up one of these policies, you can provide a tax-free inheritance for your beneficiaries.
  • Charitable Donations: Donate annuity payments to reduce taxable income and support charitable causes.
  • Reinvestment: Reinvest annuity payments into other financial instruments to continue growing your estate’s value.

Estate planning with annuities can be complex. However, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

Key Takeaways

  • Income Security: Annuities provide a steady income stream, ensuring financial stability during retirement and for your beneficiaries.
  • Tax Advantages: Annuities allow contributions to grow tax-deferred, and strategic payouts minimize taxable income.
  • Legacy Planning: Transferring annuities to a trust or using them to purchase life insurance protects your estate from taxes and ensures that your heirs benefit.
  • Flexibility: Options like annual gifts, charitable donations and trust transfers offer diverse ways to include annuities in your estate plan.

Reference: Nerdwallet (Dec. 21, 2022) Annuities: What They Are and How They Work – NerdWallet” and Charles Schwab (Nov. 17, 2023) “5 Ways to Use Annuities in Your Estate Plan

If you would like to learn more about annuity planning, please visit our previous posts. 

Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

Read our Books

Avoiding Tax Issues When Gifting to Grandchildren

Avoiding Tax Issues When Gifting to Grandchildren

Gifting to grandchildren is a wonderful way to share your wealth with young loved ones. Getting some help at the right time can help ensure that they enjoy a bright future. However, taxes may drastically reduce the inheritance they receive. That’s why avoiding tax issues is vital when gifting to grandchildren, so you are making the most of your legacy.

Gifting to grandchildren can be transformative for them and their future. These gifts can make a difference, whether for education, starting a business, or simple financial stability. However, making the greatest difference will require a keen understanding of estate taxes.

Before a deceased person’s estate transfers to their inheritors, the government levies estate taxes. However, many ways exist to reduce or even avoid estate taxes altogether. Estate tax law is largely progressive and provides many allowances and deductions. In particular, accounts are available to fund your beneficiaries’ educations tax-free.

According to ElderLawAnswers, 529 accounts are ideal for helping your inheritors afford education. These special savings accounts are designed for college education expenses, K-12 tuition, apprenticeship programs and student loan repayments, and they offer significant tax advantages. The money you put into a 529 account grows tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified education expenses are also tax-free.

However, the disadvantage of a 529 account is that it only covers education-related expenses. General-purpose gifting has significant limits if you want to avoid a large tax burden.

The IRS places annual limits on gifting to grandchildren, the annual gift tax exclusion. As of 2024, you can give up to $18,000 per year to each grandchild without incurring any gift taxes. If you stay within these limits, you won’t have to pay gift taxes or worry about reducing your lifetime gift and estate tax exemption.

Another strategy to reduce or avoid estate taxes is setting up a trust. You can structure trusts to manage your assets to meet specific goals. By implementing a trust, you can decide how and when your grandchildren receive their inheritance. This is particularly useful if they are young or not yet financially responsible.

There are various types of trusts to consider, such as:

  • Revocable Trusts: These allow you to maintain control over the assets and make changes as needed.
  • Irrevocable Trusts: These remove the assets from your estate, potentially reducing estate taxes. However, you cannot change the terms once it’s set up.
  • Education Trusts: Specifically designed to fund education expenses, similar to 529 accounts but with more flexibility.

Avoiding tax issues when gifting to your grandchildren will ease your tax burden and maximize your contributions to their future. If you would like to learn more about gifting, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: ElderLawAnswers (Jul. 12, 2018) Using 529 Plans for a Grandchild’s Higher Education

Image by Steve Bidmead

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

Read our Books

Should You have an Irrevocable Trust?

Should You have an Irrevocable Trust?

You may have heard the terms “revocable trusts” and “irrevocable trusts.” Both are created to hold assets for different purposes. Which is right for you? Should you have an irrevocable trust? The differences are explained in a recent article from Kiplinger, “With Irrevocable Trusts, It’s All About Who Has Control.”

Both types of trusts are separate legal entities created through contracts. They name a trustee who is in charge of the trust and its assets. The trustee is a fiduciary, having a legal obligation to manage the assets in the trust for the beneficiaries. Depending on how the trust is structured, these are the people who will receive assets or income generated by the assets in the trust.

With the revocable trust, the grantor—the person who creates the trust—can be a trustee and maintain total control of the trust. They can change the terms of the trust, beneficiaries, and successor trustees at any time. In exchange for this level of control, however, come some downsides. The revocable trust doesn’t have the same level of protection as an irrevocable trust while the grantor is living.

The irrevocable trust trades control for benefits. The grantor of an irrevocable trust can’t change the trust once it’s been created, nor can they move assets in and out of the trust at will. Beneficiaries may not be changed either. However, when the irrevocable trust is properly created with an experienced estate planning attorney, they achieve many estate and tax goals.

Your estate planning attorney will be able to explain which irrevocable trust suits your situation, as there are many different kinds.

An irrevocable trust where the grantor is also the beneficiary is referred to as a Domestic Asset Protection Trust or DAPT. The grantor is allowed to be the beneficiary of the trust, but it has to be created in one of the 20 jurisdictions where the grantor is allowed to be the beneficiary. You can have a trust created in a jurisdiction other than your own.

The first step is to determine how to fund an irrevocable trust, where assets are transferred into the trust. There are fine points here. For instance, you can’t fund an irrevocable trust if there are issues with the IRS or the threat of litigation from a creditor. If the dispute goes to court, a judge can set aside the transfers into the trust as they were made with the intent to circumvent a creditor’s claim under fraudulent transfer laws.

If a trust seems like the right planning structure for your assets, discuss with your estate planning attorney if you should have an irrevocable trust. Decisions about naming trustees, successor trustees, beneficiaries, and funding sources should be discussed with an experienced estate planning attorney first. Creating irrevocable trusts, like much of estate planning, needs to be completed before issues arise. If you would like to learn more about different types of trusts, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Kiplinger (April 28, 2024) “With Irrevocable Trusts, It’s All About Who Has Control”

Photo by Antoni Shkraba

The Estate of The Union Podcast

 

Read our Books

Owning a Second Home creates Unique Tax Implications

Owning a Second Home creates Unique Tax Implications

Many people dream of owning a cabin or a sunny beach house away from their homes. While these dreams are beautiful, buying a second home isn’t as simple as picking a new getaway. Your second home can increase your tax burden more than your first. Owning a second home creates unique tax implications to keep in mind. According to Central Trust, understanding the strings attached to a second home is a must.

If you already own one home, purchasing a second means doubling up on property tax bills. Your deductions for state and local taxes are also capped at $10,000. State taxes on your primary home often reach that limit on their own. As a result, a second home may increase your tax liability much more than you’d expect. While you can deduct mortgage payments on your second home, it’s limited to a combined total of $750,000 for both residences.

There are tax benefits if you plan to rent and limit personal use to 14 days or 10% of rental days. Doing so allows you to deduct utilities, maintenance and improvement costs as you would for any other rental property. However, be careful – renting to relatives at market rate still counts as personal use.

When selling your primary residence, you can usually exclude a portion of the gains from taxes. However, this isn’t the case with a second home. Your vacation house is taxed as an investment property, which means capital gains can go up to 23.8%.

However, there’s a way to avoid paying capital gains tax on your second home. You may avoid capital gains tax if you live in it as your primary residence for at least two of the five years before you sell. Considering the average home price in America today, a lower tax rate can amount to impressive savings.

On the other hand, lost rental revenue or an increased cost of living could detract from these savings. Weigh the costs and benefits before choosing your tax management strategy.

Maintaining solid records is crucial if you’re renting out a second home. If the IRS audits your return and you can’t provide evidence, you could face extra taxes and penalties. Keep receipts, bills and documents detailing any expenses related to the property. If you plan to avoid capital gains tax by living in the home, keep proof of your residence and travel during the time in question.

The thrill of buying a second home should not overshadow the importance of thorough estate planning. Consult a tax professional or financial advisor to avoid costly mistakes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Double the Taxes: Owning a second home brings a second set of property tax and mortgage interest bills.
  • Rental Benefits: Renting out your vacation home could offer tax deductions.
  • Capital Gains Tax: Selling a second home could subject you to up to 23.8% capital gains tax. Living there for two of five years before selling can help avoid this.
  • Record Keeping is Essential: Proper documentation of expenses and rental income is crucial to avoid penalties in case of an IRS audit.
  • Consult an Advisor: Seek guidance from tax or estate planning professionals to create a sound plan and minimize tax implications.

Owning a second home creates unique tax implications that can cause a headache for your estate planning. Discuss the topics in this post with your estate planning attorney before you purchase that dream second home. If you would like to learn more about tax planning for real property, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Centraltrust (March 2024) “Second Homes & Tax Implications – Central Trust Company”

Image by Hans

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

Read our Books

Managing a Big Age Gap in Estate Planning

Managing a Big Age Gap in Estate Planning

Even if it was never an issue in the past, managing a big age gap in your estate planning can present challenges. When one partner is ten or more years younger than the other, assets need to last longer, and the impact of poor planning or mistakes can be far more complex. The article in Barron’s “Big Age Gap With Your Spouse? What You Need to Know” explains several vital issues.

Examine healthcare coverage and income needs. Health insurance can become a significant issue, especially if one partner is old enough for Medicare and the other does not yet qualify. How will the couple ensure health insurance if the older partner retires and the younger depends on the older partner for healthcare? The younger partner must buy independent healthcare coverage, which can be a budget-buster.

Be strategic about Social Security. Experts advise having the older spouse delay taking Social Security benefits if they are the higher-income partner. If the older spouse passes, the younger spouse can get the bigger of the two Social Security benefits. Delaying benefits means the benefits will be higher.

Planning for RMDs—Required Minimum Distributions. Roth conversions may be a great option for couples with a significant age gap. Large traditional tax-deferred individual IRAs come with large RMDs. When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse is taxed as a single person, which means they’ll hit high tax brackets sooner. However, if the couple converted their IRAs to Roths, the surviving spouse could withdraw without taxes.

Estate planning becomes trickier with a significant age gap, especially if the spouses have been married before. Provisions in their estate plan need to be made for both the surviving spouse and children from prior marriages. An estate planning attorney should be consulted to discuss how trusts can protect the surviving spouse, so no one is disinherited. Beneficiary accounts also need to be checked for beneficiary designations.

Couples with a significant age gap need to address their own mortality. A younger partner who is financially dependent on an older partner needs to be involved in estate and finance planning, so they know what assets and debts exist. Life has a way of throwing curve balls, so both partners need to be prepared for incapacity and death.

Managing a big age gap in your estate planning really requires careful and consistent review of your planning. Plans should be reviewed more often than for couples in the same generation. A lot can happen in six months, especially if one or both partners have health issues. If you would like to learn more about estate planning issues for older couples, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Barron’s (May 19, 2024) “Big Age Gap With Your Spouse? What You Need to Know.”

Photo by Rodrigo Fabian Barra

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

 

Read our Books

Maximizing Tax-Free Giving to Children

Maximizing Tax-Free Giving to Children

In the ever-evolving landscape of wealth management, affluent estate owners choose to support their children and grandchildren financially during their lifetimes. While the desire to make a positive impact is evident, navigating the tax implications of such generosity can be complex. Fortunately, several strategies exist to facilitate tax-efficient giving, while maximizing the benefits for donors and recipients. Based on Kiplinger’s article, “Three Ways to Give to Your Kids Tax-Free While You’re Still Alive,” we explore three strategies that can maximize tax-free giving to children in your estate planning.

One estate planning strategy leverages possible tax breaks on capital gains.  Beneficiaries of assets that increase in value have traditionally received a break if the IRS calculates capital gains tax based on the inherited value, not when the decedent purchased the asset. The inherited asset’s higher valuation is considered a “stepped-up cost basis” and lowers capital gains tax on any increase in value.

You can give to your children during your lifetime and get capital gains tax breaks if the recipient’s taxable income falls below certain thresholds. If a single child’s taxable income is below $47,025 or a married child’s is below $94,050, they may pay zero capital gains tax upon selling the asset. Note that these tax breaks apply to capital gains. Estate taxes are a different story.

The gift tax exclusion allows individuals and married couples to give money to a child and maximize tax efficiency. Individuals can contribute money to a child’s college education or the down payment on a home as a gift. In 2024, the exclusion amount is $18,000 per recipient or $36,000 for married couples engaging in split gifts. With the lifetime federal exclusion set at $13.61 million per person, most individuals can engage in tax-free giving without exceeding their lifetime allowance.

Specific expenditures, such as educational or medical expenses and direct payments to institutions, are excluded from the annual gift limit and lifetime exclusion. This direct payment strategy allows donors to support significant financial obligations, such as college tuition or medical bills, without impacting their gifting allowances. Donors can provide meaningful support to their children and grandchildren while minimizing tax implications.

While maximizing tax-free giving is essential, assessing the broader impact of financial support on recipients is essential. By incorporating gifts into a comprehensive financial plan, donors can align their generosity with their financial objectives and ensure sustainable support for future generations.

Key Tax-Free Giving to Children Takeaways:

  • Giving to a Child Tax-Free: Take advantage of tax breaks to give to a child in your lifetime.
  • Giving in Your Lifetime: Maximize the tax advantage of giving money to a child during your lifetime.
  • Paying for College: Transferring money directly to a child’s college does not impact the gift tax exclusion limit.

Maximizing tax-free giving allows affluent parents to support their children and grandchildren, while minimizing tax liabilities. Implement gifting strategies and consider the broader financial impact to leave a lasting legacy and support loved ones. If you would like to learn more about minimizing taxes in your estate planning, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Kiplinger (April 10, 2024) “Three Ways to Give to Your Kids Tax-Free While You’re Still Alive,”

Photo by Askar Abayev

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

 

Read our Books

Topics You need to Address before a Mid-Life Marriage

Topics You need to Address before a Mid-Life Marriage

Today’s wedding couple is as likely to be 30 or 50 years old as they are to be in their twenties. This trend underscores the importance of having open discussions about finances and retirement before exchanging vows. A recent article from Next Avenue, “The Talk Over-50s Should Have Before Tying the Knot.” Whether you’re getting married for the first time or the second, being closer to retirement has major financial implications. There are topics you need to address before a mid-life marriage.

The most important thing is to disclose each person’s financial situation completely. For some people, this includes their retirement goals and lifestyle choices. What are the potential healthcare issues? Is there debt to be considered? How are each managing their investments?

If both people own homes, a plan for going forward needs to ask a simple question: where will the couple live? Will one sell their home or turn it into a rental property? If it is sold, will the seller retain all the income, or will they buy into ownership of the joint residence? Emotional attachments to homes can make this a difficult discussion, but it needs to be addressed.

Getting married changes each spouse’s legal status, meaning estate plans must be updated. If both have an existing estate plan, it needs to be reviewed. Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Proxy, and other estate planning documents must also be updated.

While reviewing and revising estate plans, don’t neglect to check on any accounts with named beneficiaries. More than a few ex-spouses have received insurance proceeds or accounts because someone neglected to update these accounts. The named beneficiary overrides anything in your will, which is critical to updating the estate plan.

If you both have children from prior marriages, meeting with an estate planning attorney to determine how to manage property distribution is another critical step before getting married. You may wish to create and fund trusts before marriage, so assets remain separate property. There are as many different types of trusts as there are family situations, from keeping assets separate to providing for a surviving spouse while ensuring biological children receive their inheritance (SLAT), or family trusts where assets are moved into the trust for the surviving spouse to allocate assets to heirs based on their needs.

Social Security planning should also be part of the discussion. If one spouse is a widow who was receiving survivor benefits, they could lose those benefits when they get married.

Talk with an estate planning attorney to address these topics before a mid-life marriage. That way you fully understand your situation and ensure you and your spouse are ready for the changes and challenges of your senior years together. If you would like to learn more about mid-life or second marriages and estate planning, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Next Avenue (March 14, 2024) “The Talk Over-50s Should Have Before Tying the Knot”

Photo by Alex Green

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

 

Read our Books

New IRS Tax Rule affects Irrevocable Trusts in Estate Planning

New IRS Tax Rule affects Irrevocable Trusts in Estate Planning

Trusts have been foundational estate planning strategies for decades and are becoming more popular as economic shifts and the aging population highlight unique estate planning goals. An irrevocable trust is one practical estate planning strategy for excluding assets from an estate’s taxable value, safeguarding wealth and helping to meet asset threshold limits for government benefits like Medicaid. The Tax Advisor details how the 2023-2 IRS tax rule has significantly impacted estate planning strategies, particularly irrevocable trusts. We look at how this new IRS tax rule affects irrevocable trusts in your estate planning.

Capital gains taxes are the heart of the IRS Rule 2023-2 changes. Individuals pay taxes on the difference between an asset’s purchase price and a higher sell price as that asset’s value grows over time. The original purchase price is their cost basis or non-taxed value. Amounts over the cost basis are taxed as a capital gain. Assets include property, investments, cars and anything providing income or profit. If you create or update an estate plan, the IRS rule may change your estate planning or updates in 2024. Work with an experienced estate planning attorney to find the right type of trust for your goals and structure it accordingly.

The cost basis for an asset’s beneficiaries significantly impacts capital gains taxes once they sell. Capital gains from the deceased’s date of purchase will be much higher than fair market value on the date of death. An irrevocable trust typically gave heirs a break by calculating an inherited asset’s capital gains from the fair market value at the owner’s death. That tax break has changed.

The IRS issued Rule 2023-2 in early 2023, which impacts an inherited asset’s cost basis for capital gains taxes. The cost basis was calculated on the fair market value on the date of death but is based on the deceased’s date of purchase as of March 2023. Calculating taxes from the date of purchase is considered a “step-down,” meaning a lower cost base and higher capital gains. Conversely, the date of death means fair market value at a higher cost basis and less capital gains.

The main differentiator with an irrevocable trust is its ability to exclude assets from an estate’s valuation. The person establishing an irrevocable trust technically no longer owns the assets. This type of trust is a strategy that helps older adults applying for Medicaid benefits meet maximum thresholds.

With the new IRS rule, assets in an irrevocable trust are not part of the owner’s taxable estate at their death and are not eligible for the fair market valuation when transferred to an heir. The 2023-2 rule doesn’t give an heir the higher cost basis or fair market value of the inherited asset. Once they sell that asset, capital gains taxes are calculated using the value when the deceased purchased it.

Families increasingly use irrevocable trusts to safeguard assets from spend-down for government benefits, like Medicaid and VA Aid and Attendance.

Future considerations must include reevaluating how irrevocable trusts are structured to navigate the evolving tax landscape effectively. Planning strategies need to adapt to ensure that assets are protected, and taxes are minimized for the benefit of future generations.

This new IRS tax rule raises important considerations about how it might affect irrevocable trust estate planning. While it may seem like irrevocable trust planning could lead to additional taxes for beneficiaries, the reality is more nuanced. Future considerations in estate planning involve setting up irrevocable trusts that align with new IRS rules. If you would like to learn more about irrevocable trusts, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The Tax Advisor (Nov. 1, 2023) “Rev. Rul. 2023-2’s Impact on Estate Plans.”

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

 

Read our Books

Protect Family Wealth from Third Generation Curse

Have you heard of the “Great Wealth Transfer?” It’s the period when Baby Boomers are projected to pass trillions of dollars to the next generation. Creating or updating an estate plan to protect family wealth from the third-generation curse requires communication between generations centered on the values leading to wealth creation and a financial education on how to preserve and grow wealth.

The anticipated $84 trillion expected to be bequeathed to Generation X, Millennials, and Gen Z beneficiaries sounds enormous, but the third-generation curse may leave heirs with far less than expected. Often, wealth is earned by one generation, grown by the second generation who witnessed firsthand how hard their parents worked to maintain their wealth, and mismanaged or wasted by the third generation members, who are too far from the original wealth creation to respect it.

Many estate plans are structured to address tax planning, but that’s only one aspect of estate planning. Communicating the “why” of the estate plan, including where the money came from, how it has been stewarded over the years, and what needs to happen to protect it, will help beneficiaries have a deeper regard for their inheritance.

Boomer values may differ from their heir’s values, but they may also be similar, as they use different language to describe the same thing. Clarifying these values and communicating with heirs may help to give context to their inheritance and its importance.

Understanding your priorities and values should ideally lead to an estate plan reflecting your wishes. For instance, if the family prizes education, your estate planning attorney may advise you to create a trust to fund advanced education. Such a trust should be accompanied by a letter of intent explaining your wishes and values to both trustees and heirs.

If you’re unsure about mandating the use of funds, you may have your estate planning attorney create a discretionary trust with a similar letter explaining what you’d like them to use the funds for and why it’s important to you. Because circumstances change, the trustee will have the flexibility to distribute the funds as they see fit.

Creating or updating an estate plan to protect your family wealth from the third-generation curse will give everyone the peace of mind they crave. When the estate plan is completed, have a series of conversations with family members about what’s in the plan and why. They don’t need to know every detail, but broad strokes will go a long way in letting them know what you’ve done, your wishes, and your hopes for their future. If you would like to learn more about planning for future generations, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Kiplinger (March 12, 2024) “How Estate Planning Can Thwart the ‘Third-Generation Curse’”

Photo by Ron Lach

The Estate of The Union Podcast

 

Read our Books

 

Cognitive Decline is Overlooked in Estate Planning

Cognitive Decline is Overlooked in Estate Planning

Estate planning is a roadmap for transferring a person’s assets upon their death. It preserves their value and lays out the distribution of assets to the beneficiaries. One overlooked but essential aspect of estate planning is a strategy to manage and maintain an estate’s assets if the owner loses cognitive functioning and cannot make rational or mentally sound decisions. Planning for cognitive decline is often overlooked in estate planning.

A recent case highlighted by Alan Feigenbaum in J.D. Supra’s article “Confronting Cognitive Abilities in Well-Rounded Estate Planning” reminds us of the complexities and challenges that can arise when cognitive decline is not adequately addressed in estate planning.

The case involves an 80-year-old retired advertising executive, referred to as K.K., who suffered from severe delusions. Influenced by a fraudulent business associate, K.K.’s delusions led to misguided investments that resulted in a significant financial loss. Despite the clear signs of cognitive impairment, K.K. continued to engage in financial decisions that jeopardized his estate’s financial well-being.

K.K.’s son filed a petition to appoint him guardian of his father’s estate to prevent further loss. This situation underscores the need for an estate plan that includes managing the assets and protecting the estate’s value, if the individual is cognitively or mentally impaired.

  • Plan Early and Consider Cognitive Decline: Begin estate planning early and include provisions to carry out plan directives, if cognitive functioning is impaired.
  • Incorporate Safeguards: Estate plans should have safeguards, such as durable powers of attorney and trusts, which empower trusted individuals to manage your affairs if you become incapacitated.
  • Regular Reviews and Updates: Review and update your estate plan regularly to reflect changes in circumstances, including health status.
  • Professional Guidance is Key: Navigate the complexities of estate planning with an experienced estate planning attorney. An attorney will structure your estate plan to address potential cognitive decline.

K.K.’s court case underscores why cognitive decline is overlooked in estate planning. A well-rounded estate plan includes a strategy to protect and manage assets when an individual lacks the cognitive capacity to make decisions. Proactive strategies prevent financial loss and reduce the emotional turmoil when caring for a cognitively impaired loved one. Estate planning gives you the peace of mind that your wishes will be honored, even in mental decline. If you would like to learn more about planning for cognitive decline, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: JD Supra, (March 2024), Confronting Cognitive Abilities in Well-Rounded Estate Planning

Image by karmamarketing

 

The Estate of The Union Podcast

Read our Books

Information in our blogs is very general in nature and should not be acted upon without first consulting with an attorney. Please feel free to contact Texas Trust Law to schedule a complimentary consultation.
Categories
View Blog Archives
View TypePad Blogs