Intestate Succession: Should I Let The State Write My Will?

Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Health Care, Power of Attorney, Probate, Wills / Asset Protection, Capacity, Charitable Donation, Estate Planning Lawyer, Healthcare Directive, Inheritance, Intestacy, Power of Attorney, Probate Attorney, Probate Court, St. Petersburg Estate Planning Attorney, Will Changes, Wills

It’s a common question to ask an estate planning attorneys: “I’m not wealthy, Do I Really Need A Will?” A recent article in The Sun explains that the answer is “yes.” If you die without a will you are said to die “intestate,” state probate laws will determine who will receive the assets in your estate. This is is known as “Intestate Succession.” Of course, that may not be how you wanted things to go. That’s why you need a will.

Intestate Succession — If you don’t have a will the state will decide who will receive your assets.

When you die, your assets (i.e., your “estate”) are distributed to family members and loved ones in your estate plan, if there is no surviving joint owner or designated beneficiary (e.g., life insurance, annuities, and retirement plans). No matter the complexity, a will is a key component of any basic plan.

A will allows you make decisions about the distribution of your assets, such as your real estate, personal property, family heirlooms, investments and businesses. You can make donations to your favorite charities or a religious organization. Your will is also important, if you have minor children: it’s where you nominate a guardian to care for them if you die.

Of course, you can avoid intestate succession by writing your own will or paying for a program on the Internet, but it’s better to have one prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney. Prior to sitting down with an attorney, make a listing of all your assets (your home, real estate, bank accounts, retirement plans, personal property and life insurance policies). If you have prized possessions or family heirlooms, be sure to also detail these.

Make a list of all debts, such as your mortgage, auto loans and credit cards. You should also collect contact information for all immediate living family members, detailing their addresses and birth dates.

When meeting with an attorney, ask about other components of an estate plan, such as a power of attorney and medical directive.

The originals of these documents should be kept in a safe place, where they can be easily accessed by your estate administrator or executor.

You should also review your estate plan every few years and at significant points in your life, like marriage, divorce, the adoption or birth of a child, death of a beneficiary and divorce.

Do your homework, then visit an experienced estate planning attorney to make sure you avoid intestate succession and receive important planning insights from their experience working with estate plans and families.

Reference: The (Jonesboro, AR) Sun (July 15, 2020) “Do I Really Need A Will?”

The Coronavirus and Estate Planning

Asset Protection, Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Health Care, Power of Attorney, Trusts / Beneficiaries, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Estate Planning, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, GRATS, Intra-Family Transactions, St. Petersburg Estate Planning Attorney, Wealth Transfer Strategies

As Americans adjust to a changing public health landscape and historical changes to the economy, certain opportunities in wealth planning are becoming more valuable, according to the article “Impact of COVID-19 on Estate Planning” from The National Law Review. Here is a look at some strategies for estate plans:

Basic estate planning. Now is the time to review current estate planning documents to be sure they are all up to date. That includes wills, trusts, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, beneficiary designations and health care directives. Also be sure that you and family members know where they are located.

Wealth Transfer Strategies. The extreme volatility of financial markets, depressed asset values,and historically low interest rates present opportunities to transfer wealth to intended beneficiaries. Here are a few to consider:

Intra-Family Transactions. In a low interest rate environment, planning techniques involve intra-family transactions where the senior members of the family lend or sell assets to younger family members. The loaned or sold assets only need to appreciate at a rate greater than the interest rate charged. In these cases, the value of the assets remaining in senior family member’s estate will be frozen at the loan/purchase price. The value of the loaned or sold assets will be based on a fair market value valuation, which may include discounts for certain factors. The fair market value of many assets will be extremely depressed and discounted. When asset values rebound, all that appreciation will be outside of the taxable estate and will be held by or for the benefit of your intended beneficiaries, tax free.

Charitable Lead Annuity Trusts. Known as “CLATs,” they are similar to a GRAT, where the Grantor transfers assets to a trust and a named charity gets an annuity stream for a set term of years. At the end of that term, the assets in the trust pass to the beneficiaries. You can structure this so the balance of the assets passes to heirs transfer-tax free.

Speak with your estate planning attorney about these and other wealth transfer strategies to learn if they are right for you and your family. And stay well!

Reference: The National Law Journal (March 13, 2020) “Impact of COVID-19 on Estate Planning”

Can I Use My Life Insurance to Give to Charity?

Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Life Insurance, Tax Planning, Trusts / Charitable Donation, Donor Advised Fund (DAF), Estate Planning, Financial Beneficiary Designations, Life Insurance, St. Petersburg Estate Planning, Tax Planning

As Forbes explains in the article “2 Ways To Combine Charitable Giving And Life Insurance,” one of the core products for protecting wealth is life insurance. As you age, your need for life insurance may lessen, but sometimes it will increase. If you have a life insurance policy that you no longer need, one option might be to use your life insurance to give to charity. You can simply donate your policy to a charity of your choosing. There are several ways that life insurance policies can be gifted or used for charitable purposes.

Donate your life insurance policy to charity — Use your life insurance policy to make a charitable donation.

Gift Your Existing Policy. You can simply give away an existing policy, if you no longer need the policy for estate liquidity or estate taxes. You could gift the policy outright to your favorite charity or use a Donor Advised Fund (DAF). If you give the policy to a charity outright, you can change ownership of the policy and pretty much be done with it. You might get a charitable income tax deduction for the value of the policy at the time of the gift (it’s measured by the sum of the interpolated terminal reserve plus unearned premiums rather than the death benefit amount).

If the policy has ongoing premiums, those would be the responsibility of the charity. However, you can help them, by continuing to make the premium payments on behalf of the charity by directly paying the insurance company. You could also pay the value of the premiums to the charity and let it pay the insurance company. The premiums would then be tax deductible, since the charity owns the policy.

You could also simplify your life as the donor, where you could convert the policy to a reduced and paid-up policy and donate it with no ongoing premiums needed. This may be easier, because you don’t need to create an additional outflow of cash, after the gift is made to keep the policy in effect for the charity. You just transfer the policy value without any further obligations.

Charities typically like to receive gifts of policies with no ongoing premiums, because it eliminates the task of sending the donor a gift receipt, every time a premium payment is made. It also eliminates the issue of whether the donor or the charity is to pay future premiums.

Gift a New Life Insurance Policy. Another tact is to give a new life insurance policy. This can be a bit more involved, because if the charity’s going to be the owner, they must have an insurable interest in the donor. However, if you have a strong ongoing relationship with the charity, this requirement can be satisfied. You can then pay up the policy completely at the start or make ongoing premium payments over time.

Reference: Forbes (March 6, 2019) “2 Ways To Combine Charitable Giving And Life Insurance”

How Do I Include Charitable Giving in My Estate Plan?

Charitable Giving, Charitable Remainder Trust, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Tax Planning, Trusts, Wills / 401(k), Asset Protection, Charitable Donation, Estate Planning Lawyer, Estate Tax, Gift Tax, Inheritance, IRA, Split-Interest Trust, St. Petersburg, Trustee, Wills

One approach frequently employed to give to charity, is to donate at the time of your death. Including charitable giving into an estate plan, is great way to support a favorite charity.

Baltimore Voice’s recent article, “Estate planning and charitable giving,” notes that there are several ways to incorporate charitable giving into an estate plan.

Dictate giving in your will. When looking into charitable giving and estate planning, many people may start to feel intimidated by estate taxes, thinking that their family members won’t get as much of their money as they hoped. However, including a charitable contribution in your estate plan will decrease estate tax liabilities, which will help to maximize the final value of the estate for your family. Talk to an experienced estate attorney to be certain that your donations are set out correctly in your will.

Donate your retirement account. Another way to leverage your estate plan, is to designate the charity of your choice as the beneficiary of your retirement account. Note that charities are exempt from both income and estate taxes. In choosing this option, you guarantee that your favorite charity will receive 100% of the account’s value, when it’s liquidated.

A charitable trust. Charitable trusts are another way to give back through estate planning. There is what is known as a split-interest trust that lets you donate assets to a charity but retain some of the benefits of holding the assets. A split-interest trust funds a trust in the charity’s name. The person who opens one, receives a tax deduction when money is transferred into the trust. However, the donors still control the assets in the trust, and it’s passed onto the charity at the time of their death. There are several options for charitable trusts, so speak to a qualified estate planning attorney to help you choose the best one for you.

Charitable giving is a component of many estate plans. Talk to your attorney about your options and select the one that’s most beneficial to you, your family and the charities you want to support.

Reference: Baltimore Voice (January 27, 2019) “Estate planning and charitable giving”

Thinking about Giving It All Away? Here’s What You Need to Know

Charitable Giving, Charitable Remainder Trust, Estate Planning / Charitable Giving, Charities, End of Life Wishes, Estate Planning, Heirs, Legacy, St. Petersburg, Taxes, Will

There are some individuals who just aren’t interested in handing down their assets to the next generation when they die. Perhaps their children are so successful, they don’t need an inheritance. Or, according to the article “Giving your money away when you die: 10 questions to ask” from MarketWatch, they may be more interested in the kind of impact they can have on the lives of others.

If you haven’t thought about charitable giving or estate planning, these 10 questions should prompt some thought and discussion with family members:

Should you give money away now? Don’t give away money or assets you’ll need to pay your living expenses, unless you have what you need for retirement and any bumps that may come up along the way. There are no limits to the gifts you can make to a charity.

Do you have the right beneficiaries listed on retirement accounts and life insurance policies? If you want these assets to go to the right person or place, make sure the beneficiary names are correct. Note that there are rules, usually from the financial institution, about who can be a beneficiary—some require it be a person and do not permit the beneficiary to be an organization.

Who do you want making end-of-life decisions, and how much intervention do you want to prolong your life? A health care power of attorney and living will are used to express these wishes. Without these documents, your family may not know what you want. Healthcare providers won’t know and will have to make decisions based on law, and not your wishes.

Do you have a will? Many Americans do not, and it creates stress, adds costs and creates real problems for their family members. Make an appointment with an estate planning attorney to put your wishes into a will.

Are you worried about federal estate taxes? Unless you are in the 1%, your chances of having to pay federal taxes are slim to none. However, if your will was created to address federal estate taxes from back in the days when it was a problem, you may have a strategy that no longer works. This is another reason to meet with your estate planning attorney.

Does your state have estate or inheritance taxes? This is more likely to be where your heirs need to come up with the money to pay taxes on your estate. A local estate planning attorney will be able to help you make a plan, so that your heirs will have the resources to pay these costs.

Should you keep your Roth IRA for an heir? Leaving a Roth IRA for an heir, could be a generous bequest. You may also want to encourage your heirs to start and fund Roth IRAs of their own, if they have earned income. Even small sums, over time, can grow to significant wealth.

Are you giving money to reputable charities? Make sure the organizations you are supporting, while you are alive or through your will, are using resources correctly. Good online sources include GuideStar.org or CharityNavigator.org.

Could you save more on taxes? Donating appreciated assets might help lower your taxes. Donating part or all your annual Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) can do the same, as long as you are over 70½ years old.

Does your family know what your wishes are? To avoid any turmoil when you pass, talk with family members about what you want to happen when you are gone. Make sure they know where your estate planning documents are and what you want in the way of end-of-life care. Having a conversation about your legacy and what your hopes and dreams are for family members, can be eye-opening for the younger members of the family and give you some deep satisfaction.

Reference: MarketWatch (Oct. 30, 2018) “Giving your money away when you die: 10 questions to ask”

Sheryl Sandberg is “Leaning In” to the Giving Pledge

Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Estate Tax / Charitable Donation, Donor-Advised Fund, Estate Planning Lawyer, Private Foundations, St. Petersburg, Tax Planning

Sandberg is donating her entire stake in Survey Monkey to charity, in the shape of shares or the proceeds of sales of those shares. The Facebook COO and Survey Monkey board member has embraced the Giving Pledge.

You don’t have to give away millions, or billions, to be philanthropic. In fact, if you are a regular donor to charities, you may want to give some thought to creating a donor-advised fund. CNBC’s article, ““What you can learn from Sheryl Sandberg's plans to donate her SurveyMonkey shares,” explains how donor advised funds work and how donating appreciated assets benefits investors at all asset levels.

Sandberg plans to donate all of the shares she owns, or the proceeds of the sale of those shares, to the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation, according to the company's IPO prospectus. Her charitable plans are part of her strategy to participate in the Giving Pledge, whereby some of the world's wealthiest individuals, including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, have agreed to give most of their wealth to charity. Sandberg has already donated Facebook shares to charity through a donor-advised fund.

Many people experience satisfaction in giving during life, and Sandberg’s actions are a good lesson in charitable giving. Giving appreciated investments to charity is a wise strategy. However, there are some things to consider before you do this.

The tax savings from charitable giving can be significant, but that shouldn’t be your sole rationale for giving. The reason is that you’ll still be parting with more money than the tax itself. Don't write a large check for charitable purposes without reviewing it with your attorney. In many cases, she can increase the value and benefit of the gift at no cost to the charity. If you plan to give money away to charity on a regular basis, you may want to think about a donor-advised fund.

A donor-advised fund allows you to monitor your charitable donations, because the money comes from one fund. The IRS lets you take a tax deduction in the year you give to your donor-advised fund. You then can let the money sit in your account until you decide that you are ready to donate it. Donor-advised funds also let a person shield their gifts from the public.’

People who have multi-millions in assets can also create a private foundation for their giving strategy. The cost of setting up and managing a foundation is prohibitive for anyone but the wealthiest individuals or families. The foundation has to file a tax return every year, and usually requires the help of an attorney to set up. For families with that kind of money, the foundation provides a larger degree of control, and their gifts are public, not private, in nature.

Reference: CNBC (October 4, 2018) “What you can learn from Sheryl Sandberg's plans to donate her SurveyMonkey shares”

Intestate Succession: Should I Let The State Write My Will?

The Coronavirus and Estate Planning

Can I Use My Life Insurance to Give to Charity?

How Do I Include Charitable Giving in My Estate Plan?

Thinking about Giving It All Away? Here’s What You Need to Know

Sheryl Sandberg is “Leaning In” to the Giving Pledge

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