Category: Uncategorized

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, there were more than 670,000 divorces¹ and more than 2 million marriages in 2022. Divorce is a common life event that many Americans face during their lifetime. Some states have laws that automatically end an ex-spouse’s appointment as decision-maker in their spouse’s estate plan with the ending of their marriage, as well as their right to any inheritance to which they may have been entitled. However, what happens if you die after you file for divorce but before it becomes final? 

Shannen Doherty faced this same question. In her case, the divorce was deemed to be finalized before her death.

Life and Career

Born April 12, 1971, in Memphis, Tennessee, Shannen Doherty is most known for her iconic roles as Jenny Wilder in Little House on the Prairie; Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210; and Prue Halliwell in Charmed. After battling stage IV cancer for more than four years, she passed away on July 13, 2024. Surviving her are her mother, with whom she was very close, and her brother, Sean.

Divorce from Kurt Iswarienko

While Doherty was battling cancer, she was also in the midst of a divorce from her third husband, Kurt Iswarienko. The divorce proceedings took more than 15 months to conclude, with Doherty filing for an uncontested divorce and signing the necessary paperwork the day before she died. Iswarienko signed the documents on July 13, 2024.² A family law judge signed off on the divorce two days after Doherty passed away.³

According to a stipulated agreement with Iswarienko, Doherty’s estate was able to retain the couple’s home in Malibu, California; a Salvador Dali painting; several cars; and all earnings from her acting.⁴ In addition, as part of the divorce proceedings, she had filed an income and expense declaration stating that she had $251,000 in the bank; another $1,880,000 in stocks and bonds; and insurance money from a lawsuit over damage done to her California home. ⁵She also stated that she had real property worth $3 million and $134,000 in a pension fund.⁶

Doherty’s Plans

In an interview with E! News, Doherty discussed how she had started to sell some of her valuables and, with that money, was able to take trips with her loved ones to create memories.⁷ She also acknowledged that, in selling property and other items, her priority was to make things as easy as possible for her mom.⁸

What Might Have Happened?

With both parties finalizing the divorce and signing their respective waivers, Doherty was able to control what would happen to her money and property at her death. Had she passed away before the divorce was recognized as final, things could have looked much different. Because a marriage is a legal relationship while you are alive, the passing of one spouse ends the marriage, leaving the other party as the surviving spouse. 

If She Had a Will, Trust, or Beneficiary Designations

Although she and Iswarienko were in the middle of divorce proceedings, Doherty could probably not change the provisions in her estate plan that dictated who would receive her money and property until the divorce became final. Therefore, any money or property that she would have left her soon-to-be former spouse under a will, trust, or beneficiary designation would probably still go to him. If he was not included in her will or trust, he may have been able to file a claim against her estate for his elective share (a statutory minimum that a surviving spouse receives).

If She Did Not Have a Will or Trust

Had there been no will or trust, California’s intestacy statute (the state’s plan for what happens to a person’s money and property if they die without a will or trust) would have dictated what Iswarienko was entitled to. According to the statute, his inheritance would have been

• her half of their community property,
• her half of their quasi-community property, and
• half her separate property.⁹

Although he would have ended up with all the community property and quasi-community property, he would have had to share Doherty’s separate property with her mother.¹⁰

What We Know about Her Estate Plan

At present, the exact terms of Doherty’s estate plan are unknown, but we do know that Doherty’s mother played an important role in her life and was someone she wanted to provide for. This lack of public information may be because Doherty utilized a trust or beneficiary designations as part of her estate plan. The benefit of both strategies is that the matter stays out of the courts and the public eye. However, utilizing a trust allows for additional restrictions and instructions about how a beneficiary receives their inheritance, while naming someone as a beneficiary via a beneficiary designation will usually result in the beneficiary receiving the full amount outright with no additional protections or restrictions.

We Are Here to Help

We know that going through a divorce and planning for your incapacity and death can be stressful. We are here to help you through this rough chapter so that you can craft a protected future for yourself and your loved ones. Please call us to schedule an appointment to discuss how we can create a plan to meet your unique needs.

1. CDC, Marriage and Divorce, National Ctr. for Health Statistics (Mar. 14, 2024), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/marriage-divorce.htm. ↩︎
2. Diana Cabrices, Shannen Doherty’s Estate: When Timing is Everything, WealthManagement.com (Aug. 13, 2024), https://www.wealthmanagement.com/print/161390. ↩︎
3. Shannen Doherty finalized divorce hours before death, AP (July 18, 2024), https://apnews.com/article/shannen-doherty-divorce-death-iswarienko-laura-wasser-0d9fbb475ae64fed1ccdc0a03eb69cf6. ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. Ryan Nauman, Shannen Doherty’s Estate: Actress Left Behind $6 Million Malibu Mansion, 7-Figure Sum for Family, Y!entertainment (July 14, 2024), https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/shannen-doherty-estate-actress-left-105924129.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8%E2%80%A6. ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Elyse Dupre, Shannen Doherty Details Letting Go of Her Possessions Amid Cancer Battle, ENews (Apr. 2, 2024), https://www.eonline.com/news/1398634/shannen-doherty-details-letting-go-of-her-possessions-amid-cancer-battle. ↩︎
8. Id. ↩︎
9. Cal. Prob. Code § 6401(a)–(c). ↩︎
10. Id.  § 6401(c)(2)(B). ↩︎

One common way to avoid the probate requirement for real estate after the owner dies is to add children or other individuals to the property title as joint owners with rights of survivorship. When joint owners have survivorship rights and one joint owner passes away, the remaining owners automatically receive the entire interest of the deceased owner. 

For example, if there are three joint owners with rights of survivorship, when one passes away, the two remaining owners each own 50 percent of the real estate by operation of law. No court involvement or probate is required to make this transfer. When the second owner passes away, the surviving owner owns 100 percent of the real estate. Again, no probate is required to make this transfer.  

To create joint ownership with survivorship rights, the current owner prepares a new deed that transfers the property from themselves (as the original owner) to themselves and the children or other individuals they would like to share in ownership. The deed should also include language to indicate that the recipients are joint owners with rights of survivorship. The exact language included in the deed will be governed by state law. The signed deed is then recorded in applicable public land records.

Many believe they do not need an attorney to help them prepare and record a new deed. Instead, they think a deed template can simply be downloaded online or obtained from a book, filled out, signed, and then easily recorded. However, deeds are legal documents that must comply with state law to be valid. In addition, in many states, property will not pass to the other owners listed in a deed free of probate unless certain specific legal terms are included in the deed.

What Happens if There Is a Mistake with My Deed?  

If there are problems with a defective deed or a deed is invalid, and it is discovered before the owner dies, then the problems may be addressed by preparing and recording a corrective deed in the applicable public land records, depending on your state law. This should be done only with the assistance of an attorney to ensure that the correction is actually a correction and causes no additional issues with the deed or property title.

Unfortunately, problems with a defective or invalid deed are often not discovered until after the owner’s death. If this is the case, the problems cannot be fixed with a corrective deed since the deceased owner is unable to sign it. Instead, the property will most likely need to be probated to correct the problems with the title. Aside from the probate process taking time and costing money for legal fees and court expenses, the property cannot be sold until the problems with the title have been sorted out in probate court. Worse yet, the property could end up being inherited by someone the owner did not want receiving it, either because they intended to disinherit the individual or because they wanted someone else to receive the property. 

What Should You Do?

If you want to add your children or other beneficiaries to your deed to avoid probate and you think you can save a few bucks by using a form you find online or in a book, think again. Deeds are legal documents with very specific requirements and are governed by different laws in each state (in other words, a deed valid in New York may not necessarily be valid in Florida).  

If you want your home or other real estate to pass to your children or other beneficiaries without probate, seek the advice of an attorney familiar with the probate and real estate laws of the state where your property is located. This will ensure that the deed will be valid and that your property will, in fact, avoid probate and pass on to your intended heirs. Adding individuals to your deed may not be the best approach, depending on the circumstances. There are considerations related to gifting, tax consequences, and potential misuse that you may not have yet considered. In addition, if your ultimate concern is avoiding probate, an experienced estate planning attorney can discuss all the options available to you to ensure that any actions are taken in your best interest and carry out your wishes for your loved ones. If you are interested in crafting a plan to avoid probate for your loved ones, call us.

Stereotypes surrounding “only child syndrome” have largely been debunked, as recent studies show that only children, on average, develop social skills similar to those of children with siblings.¹ Further, outdated perceptions surrounding only children have shifted as the average size of the American family has shrunk, and one-child families have become far more common.

Raising an only child can still sometimes present unique challenges for both the child and the parents, especially in the area of estate planning. In some ways, having one child simplifies the process. However, leaving your entire estate to them and making them the sole decision-maker for all the roles in your estate plan may not be ideal. 

While the child’s age, personality, and lifestyle are major factors when estate planning with an only child, there are other considerations to keep in mind. 

The Shrinking American Family 

Large families used to be the norm in the United States. At the peak of the baby boom (1946–1964), the average American family had 3.7 children, compared to 1.9 currently.² 

Around one in five households today are one-child families,³ and census data show that one-child families are the fastest-growing family unit in the United States. From 1976 to 2015, the number of parents with one child doubled from 11 percent to 22 percent.⁴ 

Providing for Your Only Child in an Estate Plan

Generally, parents of only children are often in a better position to provide for them economically for multiple reasons. Higher educational attainment among parents is often associated with fewer children, and there is a strong correlation between education and income. Forgoing multiple children can also mean that parents have more resources available for raising their only child, which from birth to age 18 was estimated to cost more than $310,000 in 2022.⁵ 

Increasingly, the costs of raising a child do not end at age 18. Today, approximately 45 percent of young adults (18 to 29 years old) live at home with their parents,⁶ and many remain financially dependent on their parents for support.⁷ 

Findings from a recent Pew Research survey show that most parents and young adults rate their relationship with one another as very good or excellent.⁸ However, concerning estate planning, there appears to be a disconnect between the parents’ expectations and the child’s. 

A 2024 study from Northwestern Mutual found that 32 percent of millennials and 38 percent of Gen Z expect to receive an inheritance—but only about 22 percent of Gen X and boomer parents plan to leave one.⁹ Although 35 percent of boomers said giving a financial gift to the next generation was very important, only 11 percent indicated it was their top financial goal.¹⁰

Northwestern Mutual says that the study finds “a considerable gap exists between what Gen Z and millennials expect in the way of an inheritance and what their parents are actually planning to do.”¹¹

Among children expecting to receive an inheritance, half consider it “highly critical” or “critical” to their long-term financial security.¹² That number is highest for millennials (59 percent), including 26 percent of millennials who said they will not be able to achieve long-term financial security without an inheritance.¹³ 

With all this in mind, leaving everything to an only child in an estate plan is the most straightforward option for parents. However, there is no legal obligation to leave a child anything in your estate plan. 

Even if your child no longer relies on you financially, parents can have good reasons for limiting a child’s inheritance or disinheriting them altogether. Whether you are estranged from your adult child, they do not need the money, or they are not responsible enough to handle an inheritance, your estate plan is your prerogative—and yours alone. Should you decide that somebody else—such as other family members, close friends, or a charity—is more needy or deserving, it is your right to leave your money and property to them instead of your child. 

Of course, gifting to loved ones upon your passing is not an all-or-nothing proposition. You can split gifts among a child and other beneficiaries. If you have concerns about your child receiving a lump-sum inheritance, you can place money for them in a trust and name a trustee to manage the money for them, with distributions made at the trustee’s discretion or tied to incentives and milestones (e.g., holding a job, getting married, or starting a business). 

Your Only Child’s Role in Your Estate Plan

Creating an estate plan involves naming key decision-makers who will act for you during your life (in other words, during a period of temporary or permanent incapacity) as well as after you are gone. You may be considering appointing your only child to some or all of these roles: 

• Personal representative/executor. This is the person named in a will (or appointed by the court if there is no will) to wind up your affairs after your death. Their responsibilities include inventorying, locating, and distributing your money and property, paying outstanding debts, filing a final tax return, submitting court documents, and communicating with beneficiaries or heirs. 
• Successor trustee. This is the person you name in your revocable living trust to manage the trust’s accounts and property for the benefit of the beneficiaries you name. A common estate planning strategy is to name yourself as the initial trustee of a trust that holds your money and property and provides instructions about distributing them during your life and when you pass away. 
• Agent under a power of attorney. Powers of attorney are legal documents that allow you to name other people (your agents) to handle your financial and medical affairs on your behalf when you are unable to do so. The individual you nominate as your agent or attorney-in-fact can be given broad, unilateral legal authority to make important health and money decisions for you when necessary. 

Each of these roles comes with significant responsibility. Making your only child responsible for all of them might be too much for them to handle. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• Does your child have the right skills and aptitudes for this role?
• Do you trust them with your finances or to make your medical decisions the way you would like them to be made?
• Can they make tough decisions, handle pressure, and uphold legal duties?
• Do they have the right disposition to handle any disputes that might arise with creditors or beneficiaries? 
• Do they have a busy professional or personal life that might interfere with their obligations to you and your estate? 

Just as you are under no obligation to leave everything (or anything) to your only child, you are not required to name them as a key decision-maker in your estate plan. As an alternative, you could choose a close friend, a family member, or a professional (e.g., a professional or corporate trustee) to fill these roles. 

Your choice of executor, successor trustee, and attorney-in-fact should be based on the person’s ability to carry out the necessary duties competently—not on feelings of loyalty or obligation. 

Dividing the powers among different individuals can also provide checks and balances that prevent a single individual from exercising too much control over you and what you own. Naming your only child to multiple roles may raise conflict-of-interest questions as well, especially if they are not the sole or primary beneficiary.

Balancing Head and Heart in Your Estate Plan

Parents are no strangers to weighing practical concerns for their children alongside the unconditional love they feel for them. Striking the right balance does not necessarily get easier as you age and your child becomes an adult. It might even become more complicated as you sit down to design an estate plan and make the important decisions in creating a comprehensive plan. 

For advice about creating an estate plan that is best for everyone—you, your child, friends, family, and others you care about—while accomplishing your specific goals, contact an estate planning attorney and schedule a meeting. 

1. Zara Abrams, Only children are often misunderstood. Take a closer look at the science. 55 Monitor on Psychology 6 (Sept. 1, 2024), https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/09/only-children. ↩︎
2. The Only-Child Family, Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/family-dynamics/only-child-family (last visited Oct. 25, 2024). ↩︎
3. Id. ↩︎
4. Gretchen Livingston, Family Size Among Mothers, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (May 7, 2015), https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/05/07/family-size-among-mothers/. ↩︎
5. Kendra Holten, The True Cost of Raising a Child, IFS (July 17, 2023), https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-true-cost-of-raising-a-child. ↩︎
6. Elizabeth Napolitano, More young adults are living at home across the U.S. Here’s why., CBS MoneyWatch (Sept. 21, 2023), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gen-z-millennials-living-at-home-harris-poll/. ↩︎
7. Dylan Croll, A lot of young adults aren’t financially independent. Here’s what parents can do (July 9, 2023), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/a-lot-of-young-adults-arent-financially-independent-heres-what-parents-can-do-173631356.html. ↩︎
8. Rachel Minkin, et. al., Parents; relationship with their young adult children, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Jan. 5, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/01/25/parents-relationship-with-their-young-adult-children/. ↩︎
9. Northwestern Mutual, As $90 Trillion “Great Wealth Transfer” Approaches, Just 1 in 4 Americans Expect to Leave an Inheritance (Aug. 6, 2024), https://news.northwesternmutual.com/2024-08-06-As-90-Trillion-Great-Wealth-Transfer-Approaches,-Just-1-in-4-Americans-Expect-to-Leave-an-Inheritance. ↩︎
10. Id. ↩︎
11. Id. ↩︎
12. Id. ↩︎
13. Id. ↩︎

You regularly check the balances of your retirement, bank, and investment accounts. But when was the last time you checked the beneficiary designations on these accounts (and really, all the other accounts that allow you to name a beneficiary)? 

It may have been years since you first opened an individual retirement account, bought a life insurance policy, or started putting money into a health savings account. At the time, you named someone—most likely your spouse, if you were married, or another loved one if you were single—who will inherit the money when you pass away. 

However, you might have since married, divorced, or remarried without updating your beneficiaries. Or maybe another event, such as a birth or death in the family, has altered your estate planning strategy. 

Beneficiary designations are a crucial part of an estate plan and a way to avoid probate. But they supersede instructions in a will or trust and should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they align with your legacy goals. 

Accounts That Have Beneficiary Designations

Beneficiary designations allow individuals to specify who will receive the funds or accounts upon their death, bypassing probate and allowing these items to pass more quickly to the people or entities named as beneficiaries. 

Many types of accounts and financial instruments such as the following allow for beneficiary designations (including payable-on-death or transfer-on-death account designations): 

• retirement plans, such as a 401(k), 403(b), individual retirement account (IRA), Roth IRA, orpension plans
• life insurance policies
• annuities
• checking and savings accounts
• certificates of deposit (CDs)
• health savings accounts (HSAs)
• 529 college savings plans
• employer-sponsored benefits (e.g., group life insurance and employee stock plans)
• brokerage accounts
• mutual funds
• US savings bonds

Some states also allow real estate to pass to a beneficiary using a transfer-on-death deed, a beneficiary deed, or a Ladybird deed, also known as an enhanced life estate deed.

How a Beneficiary Designation Works

Beneficiary designations take precedence for distribution over other documents in an estate plan. The individual or entity you name as an account beneficiary will automatically receive the money or account, usually without it passing through the court-supervised probate process.

A beneficiary can be any of the following: 

• a person, such as a spouse, child, partner, family member, or friend
• a trust
• a charity
• your estate

It is also possible to name multiple parties as beneficiaries of the same account, allowing you to divide the money or account among them. For example, you could have half the money in your investment account pass to your spouse and split the other half between your two children. 

Federal law, your state, or the account administrator may require that your spouse be listed as a primary beneficiary and receive a minimum amount before you can list other beneficiaries, unless the spouse waives their rights. 

If you name your estate as a beneficiary, the money or account could be subject to probate. 

Naming Primary and Contingent Beneficiaries 

In addition to naming a primary beneficiary (the person first in line to inherit the money or account), most policies let you name at least one contingent (backup or secondary) beneficiary. 

A secondary beneficiary receives the money or account if the primary beneficiary is unable or unwilling to accept it (e.g., they predecease the account holder or die at the same time). While primary and contingent beneficiaries provide some probate avoidance security, if there is no primary beneficiary to receive the money or account and no listed contingent beneficiary, the money or account could be subject to probate and distributed according to applicable state law. 

With your estate planning attorney’s guidance, consider naming your trust, if your estate plan includes one, as primary or contingent beneficiary to help avoid the scenario where both your primary and contingent beneficiaries predecease you or are otherwise unable to take the funds.

Why You Need to Review Beneficiary Designations Regularly

A beneficiary designation supersedes any instructions in a will or trust about how to distribute money in an account or policy. If your will states that your money and property should go to one person but your retirement account designates someone else as the beneficiary, the beneficiary designation on the account takes precedence.

Many people make the mistake of assuming the opposite: that their will or trust overrides beneficiary designation forms. It is also problematic when an account owner submits a beneficiary form to a plan custodian or administrator but never confirms that the designation was processed. There could even be instances where the beneficiary form was left blank, either accidentally or with the intent to fill it out later. 

A beneficiary form that is not up to date can result in assets getting tied up in probate or not passing to the correct beneficiaries. Not updating a beneficiary form could have unintended consequences, such as leaving money or the account to a loved one who is now incapable of handling them or to someone you no longer want receiving the funds. 

An estate plan should be regularly updated to account for life changes. This includes examining beneficiary forms when the following types of major life events occur: 

• divorce
• marriage
• birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
• loss of a spouse, child, or other beneficiary
• the end of a relationship
• closure of an account and moving the assets to a new account
• a plan administrator being bought by or merging with another financial institution
• an employer changing plan administrators for the benefits it provides
• changes in the law that affect how money and accounts can be transferred at death

While the events listed above can warrant an immediate change in beneficiary designations, it is prudent to check designations every three to five years even when you think nothing has changed. 

Changing your mind about your overall estate plan is another time to consider switching beneficiaries. For example, your original intent may have been to divide your money and property evenly among your children, but you have since decided that one child needs more money than their siblings. You may need to update your retirement account to make that child the sole account beneficiary. 

How to Change a Beneficiary Designation

Updating beneficiaries is straightforward, but the actual process can depend on the type of account: 

• Many accounts can be checked and changed online.
• Some accounts require filling out paperwork.
• In certain states, a spouse’s written consent may be required to name someone else as primary beneficiary.
• A beneficiary change could require a sign-off from a plan administrator. 

When naming a beneficiary, be as detailed as possible. Most designation forms ask for a person’s full legal name and their relationship to you. You may also need to provide details such as the beneficiary’s contact information, date of birth, and Social Security number. Part of the change process should also include requesting and saving beneficiary change confirmations from the account administrator. This is the only way to ensure that the change was successfully made.

What Can Happen When You Do Not Update Beneficiary Designations

If you fail to name a beneficiary or do not name a contingent beneficiary in case something happens to the primary beneficiary, the money or account could be subject to probate upon your death. 

The probate process can add costs and delays to settling an estate. Probated accounts and property must be reviewed by the court and distributed in accordance with a will instead of a beneficiary designation. If you do not have an existing will, the money or account would be subject to state intestacy laws, which determine who has the right to receive your money and property at your death. These laws typically give preference to a person’s spouse and children, but you may want somebody else to receive your money or accounts. 

Simple Form, Complex Estate Planning Considerations

Beneficiary designations show how even small estate planning details can have a big impact. While the form to name a beneficiary on an account is typically easy to fill out, naming—or failing to change—a beneficiary can have a major effect on your estate plan and loved ones. 

A beneficiary designation cannot be changed after you are gone. To ensure that your account money and property go where you want and how you want, talk to an estate planning attorney to put a plan in place. 

Enriching Life with a Third-Party Special Needs Trust

A special needs trust (SNT) allows an individual to provide for a disabled beneficiary without jeopardizing the beneficiary’s eligibility for needs-based government benefits. 

SNT funds can generally be used to pay for almost anything that falls outside the basic support that programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid provide. This includes many goods, services, and experiences that these programs do not cover. 

Rules around SNTs are complicated, and a trustee’s unauthorized use of SNT funds may result in a penalty or reduction of government benefits for the trust beneficiary. 

How SNTs Work: First-Party versus Third-Party

There are two main types of SNTs: first-party and third-party. The main difference between them is that the former holds funds that the beneficiary owns or receives in a lump sum (often from a settlement or inheritance) and puts into the trust, and the latter holds funds given to the beneficiary by a parent, grandparent, or other family member or individual. Both types of SNT can hold assets such as cash, investments, life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and even real estate. 

One key difference between first-party and third-party SNTs is that when the beneficiary dies, funds in a third-party SNT are not subject to reimbursement to the state for up to the amount of the government benefits the beneficiary received during their lifetime. Although the disabled person benefits from the funds, the funds in a third-party SNT never technically belong to them. So when a beneficiary of a third-party SNT dies, any remaining trust assets can pass to other individuals or to charities. 

What a Third-Party SNT Can and Cannot Pay For

Regardless of whether an SNT is first-party or third-party, there are certain expenses that it can and cannot pay for on behalf of the beneficiary without jeopardizing government benefits.

The basic spending rule for SNTs is that the funds are intended to supplement—not replace or duplicate—needs-based government assistance benefits. They can be used for “special needs” but not for “basic support” (e.g., shelter and basic medical costs).

• In general, an SNT can cover typical ongoing expenses of everyday life that government programs such as SSI and Medicaid do not cover. 
• The funds must be used for the sole and direct benefit of the disabled beneficiary. Payments can benefit others only indirectly, such as when a beneficiary travels and needs an aide. 
• Whenever possible, SNTs should directly purchase an item or service in the trust’s name and not the beneficiary’s. 
• The trustee of an SNT should not make direct payments to the beneficiary even if the distributions are being made for allowable expenditures.

SSI, Medicaid, and SNTs

SSI includes shelter costs as part of its calculation when determining eligibility and benefit amounts. SSI refers to payments for shelter as “in-kind support and maintenance” (ISM). ISM is any shelter expense that somebody else (including a trust) provides for an SSI recipient. SSI considers ISM a type of unearned income. The following items fall into this category and generally should not be paid for by an SNT:

• rent or mortgage payments
• condo and HOA fees
• property taxes
• utilities such as water, gas, and electricity

Medicaid rules and coverage vary by state, but typically, SNTs can pay for the following types of medical and dental expenses that Medicaid does not cover: 

• inpatient psychiatric services for age-excluded individuals
• over-the-counter medications
• elective surgeries and procedures
• dental and vision care
• hearing aids
• a private room instead of a shared room at a care facility
• certain specialist providers

SNT funds disbursed in a way that violates SSI or Medicaid rules can impact a disabled person’s continued eligibility for those benefits. 

The Social Security Administration may reduce SSI benefits by up to one-third of the federal benefit rate if SNT funds are used for ineligible purchases. Benefits may also be reduced if money is paid directly from the trust to the disabled beneficiary. Money paid directly to an SSI recipient to provide them with shelter could potentially reduce their SSI benefit dollar for dollar because this type of distribution is treated as unearned income regardless of what the funds are being used for. 

If an SSI beneficiary receives cash (or a cash equivalent such as a refundable gift card) from an SNT, their benefit may be reduced by one dollar for each dollar received, up to the point where they lose SSI completely. A beneficiary could also lose their SSI altogether if noneligible trust payments increase what the Social Security Administration calls “countable income.” Losing SSI eligibility could lead to losing Medicaid since, in many states, SSI recipients automatically qualify for Medicaid. 

Allowable SNT Purchases

Despite these restrictions on SNTs, they can be used to pay for many special expenses on the beneficiary’s behalf, such as the following items and activities: 

• clothing
• phone, cable, and internet services
• a vehicle, insurance, maintenance, and fuel
• tuition, books, and tutoring
• travel and entertainment
• household furnishings and furniture
• fitness equipment
• computers, television, and other electronics
• alternative medical treatments
• parties or celebrations

In addition, the money required to administer a third-party SNT, including attorney’s fees and trust accounting fees, can be paid from the trust. 

Creative Ways to Use Third-Party SNT Funds

Bearing in mind the restrictions on SNTs, trustees have wide latitude with how they can spend trust funds. As long as expenditures do not break the rules and put benefits at risk, a trustee is free to put money toward special purchases that go above and beyond the simple necessities and enrich the beneficiary’s life. Here are a few ideas for inspiration: 

• Vacations. Airfare, hotel accommodations, cruises, and other travel-related costs should be coverable by the trust. 
• Entertainment and hobbies. Support a beneficiary’s passion by using the trust to pay for movies, concerts, theater tickets, arts and crafts supplies, photography equipment, musical instruments, and physical and digital media subscriptions. 
• Recreational activities. SNTs can pay for membership fees, camps, or lessons for activities such as sports, exercise, and outdoor excursions.
• Adaptive recreational equipment. To stay active outdoors, an SNT beneficiary might need specialized equipment, such as adaptive bikes, all-terrain wheelchairs, or modified vehicles—all of which can be paid for by an SNT. 
• Technology and electronics. Buy the beneficiary a new computer, tablet, or smartphone to stay connected and curate their interests. Funds can also go toward internet fees or a mobile phone plan. 
• Therapeutic services and programs. Nontraditional medicine such as aromatherapy, reiki, yoga, and massage therapy, as well as spa treatments and grooming services, offer a wellness boost and are usually not covered by Medicaid. 
• Pets and pet care. Research shows that pet ownership is associated with lower stress, depression, and anxiety. The trust can cover the costs of pet adoption, veterinary care, food, grooming, pet toys and supplies, and training. 
• Education and skill-building. Educational programs, classes, or workshops that can help a beneficiary build a skill set and increase their self-confidence may be paid for by the trust. 
• Home entertainment and furnishings. Although most housing-related expenses are not allowed from an SNT, many of the items that make a house a home—such as comfortable furniture, stylish décor, and an engaging sound system—are allowed. 
• Cultural and religious activities. Use money from the trust to foster participation in cultural or religious events, such as festivals, ceremonies, or annual celebrations that the beneficiary finds meaningful.

Get Help Managing an SNT

SNTs are highly technical and complicated, and administering one for a disabled beneficiary comes with significant responsibility. Not following trust rules can result in the reduction or loss of crucial public benefits.

There may be instances in which a beneficiary’s quality of life is worth more than a reduction in their government benefits. But a trustee must always balance short-term gain with long-term goals whenever they make a distribution, especially if a beneficiary requires Medicaid to pay for their long-term care costs—a central concern for many persons with disabilities. Trustees also have legal duties under general trust law requirements and can face legal action if laws are not carefully followed. 

Our estate planning attorneys can help you set up an SNT for a disabled loved one and assist with trust administration, as either trustee or co-trustee or in an advisory capacity. Schedule a consultation to learn more. 

Many estate plans incorporate irrevocable dynasty trusts, which can offer benefits such as tax minimization and asset protection. The benefits of these types of trusts continue for a surviving spouse’s lifetime and several future generations. The actual duration of the trust can be affected by such factors as state law and how long the money and property last. Some states have rules specifically addressing how long a trust can exist. Since these trusts are designed to span multiple decades, clearly defining who will be a trust beneficiary in each generation is essential.

Who are your descendants?

In the past, the definition of descendant was straightforward: a person who can be traced back to a specific ancestor through the same bloodlines. But planning for today’s more diverse family structures now encompasses much more than biological heirs:

• Adopted beneficiaries. Should the definition of descendant in your trust include a person who your child, grandchild, or great-grandchild legally adopted? What happens if your child, grandchild, or great-grandchild gives a biological child up for adoption? Should a blood heir who has been adopted out of your family be included as your descendant? Consider explicitly including or excluding adopted minor and adult beneficiaries in the definition of descendant in your trust agreement.

• Stepchildren. Should the definition of descendant in your trust include a stepchild of your child, grandchild, or great-grandchild? What if your heir does not legally adopt the child but treats them like one of their own children? You may have the opportunity to get to know your stepchildren (and even your step-grandchildren) and decide whether to include or exclude them in the definition of descendants for the purposes of your estate plan (in fact, you could include some and exclude others). That said, it is important to decide and communicate whether stepchildren in later generations whom you have not met should be included or excluded as beneficiaries of your trust.

• Beneficiaries conceived using assisted reproductive technology. Should the definition of descendant in your trust include a child, grandchild, or great-grandchild conceived using artificial insemination or a surrogate mother? What about a child, grandchild, or great-grandchild conceived using an anonymous sperm or egg donor? While no one knows what the future definition of assisted reproductive technology will encompass, the definition of descendant in your trust agreement should specifically include or exclude heirs conceived using such technologies.

Carefully Defining Your Trust Beneficiaries Will Keep Your Heirs Out of Court

Who qualifies as your descendant 20, 30, or even 50 years into the future should be carefully considered and defined explicitly within your plan, especially when creating an irrevocable trust that cannot be modified and is intended to benefit multiple generations. Clearly defining who will be entitled to receive money and property from your trust will allow for a smooth transition between generations and keep your heirs and trustees out of court.  

If you have questions about the definition of descendant used in your trust or would like to discuss how you can clearly define your trust beneficiaries, please call our office.

Many members of the next generation are banking on a sizable inheritance as part of an unprecedented intergenerational wealth transfer occurring in the United States right now. However, research shows a growing disconnect between how much children expect to receive and how much their parents plan on leaving them.

You generally have no right to be included in your parents’ estate plan and usually cannot challenge their will or trust in court just because you think it was unfair. However, if you believe something nefarious happened, such as somebody taking advantage of a parent and convincing them to change their estate plan, you should speak up.

The Great Wealth Transfer and Resetting Inheritance Expectations

Tens of trillions of dollars are expected to pass from older Americans to younger Americans over the next two decades in what financial experts are calling “The Great Wealth Transfer.”

According to consulting firm Cerulli Associates, $84 trillion in assets (accounts and property) is set to change hands through 2045.¹ The primary recipients will be Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers, who could inherit around $72 trillion through 2045, with the rest going to charity.² 

Other estimates put this transfer of wealth at upwards of $140 trillion, “marking one of the most significant wealth transfers in history,” says philanthropic organization CFAAC.³ 

However, CFAAC cautions that adult children may not receive as much as they expect because their parents are living longer, spending more of their money in retirement, and may have high healthcare costs that eat into their savings.⁴ 

More than half of millennials say they expect to inherit approximately $350,000 or more from their aging parents.⁵ But baby boomers say they plan to leave far less than that to their kids.⁶ One survey found that many do not plan to leave behind any money.⁷ In another study, just 26 percent of Americans, including 22 percent of baby boomers, said they expect to leave an inheritance.⁸ 

Part of this disconnect is that parents are not communicating with their family about their inheritances—or lack thereof. Research from Edward Jones indicates that more than a third of Americans do not plan to discuss wealth transfers with their family.⁹ 

Federal Reserve data shows that the probability of inheriting from anyone, at any age, is just 7.4 percent. The chance of inheriting from a parent is even lower—just 4.6 percent.¹⁰ 

Dealing with the Disappointment of Disinheritance

You learned that you were left out of your parents’ estate plan. Now what? 

Know Your Rights

In most cases, adult children are not entitled to inherit their parents’ money and property under the terms of their parents’ estate plan. You may, however, have the right to receive a copy of their will if they have one. If they used a trust to manage their assets, it may be more difficult for you to get a copy if you were not a named trust beneficiary.

• If the will or trust contains language that clearly, directly, or explicitly disinherits you, you may not be able to contest it, absent some additional factors. 
• If the will or trust contains no such language, the court might presume that you were inadvertently left out and allow you to contest it. 

You might also be able to dispute a parent’s will or trust in the following situations: 

• You suspect that they were not of sound mind when drafting their will or trust. 
• You have reason to believe they made their will or trust under duress or undue influence. 
• A factual error resulted in you being left out of the will or trust. For example, a parent disinherited you under the erroneous belief that you were abusing drugs or alcohol and you can prove that you were or are sober. 

Ask Questions

Before seriously considering a will or trust contest—which could be a long, expensive, and ultimately fruitless undertaking—it may be worth asking a few questions to put things into perspective: 

• Did your parents discuss their estate plan with you? 
  • If they said you were going to receive something and you did not, this could be an issue. 
  • They may have prioritized giving gifts while living and considered those gifts to be your inheritance, such as helping you with a big purchase like a home or taking you on a vacation. 
  • They might have said that they were disinheriting you or leaving you nothing, in which case the outcome is predictable and not necessarily a cause for alarm. 
• Did they stay quiet about inheritance issues? 
  • Some parents find it uncomfortable to discuss inheritance and wealth transfer matters with their children, and many avoid the subject altogether. 
  • If you do not know what their wishes were, it may be harder to argue that you were supposed to receive something.
• What was their financial and health situation? 
  • Longevity and lifestyle changes are altering inheritance plans. People are living longer today than in previous generations and often spend much of their wealth during these additional years of life. Health-related and long-term care expenses can deplete a lifetime of savings and leave little or no money for inheritance. 
  • If your parents lived an active lifestyle with lots of travel, entertainment, dining out, and the purchase of big-ticket items, they may have spent your would-be inheritance on themselves. 
  • If they were in poor health at the end of their life, they may have had to spend down their savings to qualify for Medicaid to cover long-term care.
• Did someone else receive the money? 
  • Assuming your parents died owning a decent amount of wealth, and depending on who ended up inheriting from them, finding answers to questions about your disinheritance can become more complicated. 
  • Money left to a sibling or another family member who was in greater financial need than you could explain why you were omitted. 
  • Money left to a charity might explain your omission if the cause was near and dear to them for many years. 

Red Flags

Try to get a copy of your parents’ will or trust so you can find out who inherited from them and whether there were any recent changes to their estate plan. This information could raise red flags that warrant further investigation. For example: 

• They left the money to a charity, religious organization, or other group with which they only recently became involved. 
• They left everything, or at least a considerable amount, to a caregiver you do not know well and who does not have a history with the family. 
• A parent was in poor health and could have been easily exploited by a caregiver or somebody else who convinced them to change their will or trust at the end of their life. 
• There was a recent change to the estate plan—in particular a change that is difficult to explain. 

You may not need to request a copy of a will from a family member if the estate was subject to probate. Probated wills become public court records that anyone can view in their entirety. The public records in a probate matter also contain information about what assets were part of the estate and who the beneficiaries are. You should be able to see who inherited what and how much they inherited. The records also identify the executor of the estate, who may be able to provide further insights. 

Discuss Your Disinheritance with an Estate Planning Attorney

Not receiving an inheritance is surprisingly more common than one might think. If you were left out of a parent’s estate plan, you might feel shocked, angry, and confused, particularly if they never mentioned that you would be disinherited. 

Hurt feelings are probably not enough to challenge a parent’s estate plan. Unless something illegal occurred in the preparation or signing of their will or trust, you may have to accept their decision, as difficult as that might be. 

That does not mean you should not ask questions and take the next steps in response to any red flags. To discuss your disinheritance rights and options, schedule a meeting with an estate planning attorney.

1. Cerulli Anticipates $84 Trillion in Wealth Transfers through 2045, Cerulli Associates (Jan. 20, 2022), https://www.cerulli.com/press-releases/cerulli-anticipates-84-trillion-in-wealth-transfers-through-2045.  ↩︎
2. Id. ↩︎
3. The Great Wealth Transfer: Millennials Be Prepared, CFAAC (Mar. 22, 2024), https://www.cfaac.org/news/great-wealth-transfer-millennials-be-prepared.  ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. Jessica Dickler, The Great Wealth Transfer Has Started—But Millennials, Gen Z May Not Inherit As Much As They Anticipate, NBC News (May 7, 2024), https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/great-wealth-transfer-started-millennials-gen-z-may-not-inherit-much-a-rcna151062.  ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Angela Mae, Great Wealth Transfer? See How Much Money Boomers Actually Plan to Pass Down, Nasdaq.com (Aug. 16, 2024), https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/great-wealth-transfer-see-how-much-money-boomers-actually-plan-pass-down.  ↩︎
8. Nw. Mut., As $90 Trillion “Great Wealth Transfer” Approaches, Just 1 in 4 Americans Expect to Leave an Inheritance, PR Newswire (Aug. 6, 2024), https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/as-90-trillion-great-wealth-transfer-approaches-just-1-in-4-americans-expect-to-leave-an-inheritance-302211305.html.  ↩︎
9. The Great Wealth Transfer Starts with the Great Wealth Talk, Edward Jones Research Finds, Edward Jones (Feb. 27, 2024), https://www.edwardjones.com/us-en/why-edward-jones/news-media/press-releases/great-wealth-transfer-research.  ↩︎
10. Inheritances by Age and Income Group, Penn Wharton (July 16, 2021), https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2021/7/16/inheritances-by-age-and-income-group.  ↩︎

If you have a beloved late grandmother, many images and memories may come to mind when you reminisce about her.

You might picture her at her home or at the family vacation house during the holidays. Your memory could be a special meal that only she prepared for you or a place she took you to. Or maybe you remember a piece of jewelry she always wore—one that several family members are eyeing as you go through the personal property in her estate. 

The little things in life can sometimes have sentimental value as well as financial value. For these reasons, personal items of the deceased can often create controversy when it is time to divide up belongings and there is no clear plan for who gets what.

Trash, Treasure, and Heirlooms

Discussions about who gets the car, the house, the silver, the stocks, and other big-ticket items take center stage in an estate plan: people often spend a great deal of time deciding how their largest assets will be divided among their loved ones. But small items can cause big disputes between family members, especially if more than one person wants the same thing and it is not specifically accounted for in an estate plan.

Jewelry is a perfect example of something physically small but potentially worth more emotionally and monetarily than any other property or account in someone’s possession. By the age of 50, many women own upwards of 150 pieces of jewelry. The likelihood of someone dying and leaving behind jewelry is therefore quite high. 

Yet while people usually remember the stories behind certain pieces, they may not know how much money their jewelry collection is actually worth. Take, for example, a British woman who got an appraisal of a diamond ring that she purchased for $13 decades earlier at the UK equivalent of a yard sale, assuming it was costume jewelry. She learned that it had an estimated value between $325,000 and $450,000. The ring later sold at auction for around $850,000.¹ 

Stories like these are more common than one might imagine. To prevent future conflict among loved ones, jewelry owners would be wise to inventory the value of key pieces in their jewelry collection and leave clear and legally binding instructions for how the collection is to be divided.

Residuary Clauses and the Residuary Estate

Items of personal property like heirlooms and jewelry, although individually small, can collectively make up a large part of a deceased person’s property. They may be treated as an afterthought and lumped together in a will or trust with their distribution being addressed through what is known as a residuary clause or a remainder clause.

A residuary clause might simply state that whatever property remains after specific gifts have been made (i.e., the residuary estate) should go to a single person or be divided among multiple people. 

This simple statement on paper, however, can turn into a complex situation when there are competing claims to the same item. 

Single Residuary Beneficiary

When just one person inherits the residuary estate, an executor, personal representative, or trustee should not encounter any significant distribution issues. That beneficiary receives Grandma’s ring and any other personal property that Grandma did not specifically gift to a particular individual. It is now their property, and they can do with it whatever they want. They can choose to wear the ring, reset it, sell it, or let it sit in their jewelry box. 

Multiple Residuary Beneficiaries

Issues arise when the residuary estate is left to multiple beneficiaries. Generally, the residuary estate is a pool of assets without a clear set of terms for how that pot is divided. Sometimes, the beneficiaries themselves are tasked with the job of dividing the personal effects among themselves; other times, the executor, personal representative, or trustee gets to decide.

Ideally, the beneficiaries can come to an agreement about who receives the ring and other property that does not have a designated beneficiary. Different items hold different meanings to different people. It is possible that each beneficiary has their heart set on a different item or set of items, and there is a neat division with no overlap and no quarrels. 

In cases where more than one family member is interested in the same item, the best-case scenario is that they can reach a peaceful resolution, perhaps involving trading other sought-after items. If there is an impasse, beneficiaries could sell the item in question and divide the proceeds equally. Another option is for one beneficiary to buy out the other beneficiary’s interest in the item. They could also draw straws or flip a coin. The solution may depend on whether the dispute is over a single item, like a ring, or over multiple items, resulting in a breakdown in the peaceful division of items.

Beneficiaries may look to the executor or personal representative of the estate or to the trustee of a family trust for answers. If clear instructions are not provided in the deceased person’s will or trust, the executor or trustee may have some discretion about how to carry out the decedent’s wishes. At the very least, they may be able to mediate to reach a solution. Executors or trustees who are also beneficiaries of the estate may have to proceed with extra caution to avoid conflicts of interest. 

As for who gets Grandma’s ring—or her pie plate, antique rocking chair, or anything else that belonged to her and does not have a named beneficiary—heirs, trustees, and executors need to brace for the possibility of an unresolved conflict that escalates to a legal dispute.

The Value of an Estate Plan

Sometimes, the best strategy for distributing personal possessions is to give things away while the owner is living. Asking loved ones what they want in advance can give everyone—including Grandma—a voice in the discussion about what to do with her belongings. This can provide more options for dividing possessions fairly and equally, either in person or through a will or trust. 

A thorough estate plan also goes a long way toward avoiding family fights over heirlooms and keepsakes. Without proper estate planning, the odds of a family conflict increase. 

Our attorneys are here for all of your planning and post-planning needs. In addition to helping people plan for how they want their personal possessions to be distributed after their death, we can assist executors and trustees in the administration process of distributing these items from an estate. Schedule a meeting to learn more.

1. Zahra Jamshed, Diamond Ring Purchased for $13 as Costume Jewelry Sells for $848K, CNN (June 8, 2017), https://www.cnn.com/style/article/car-boot-sale-diamond-ring-sells-for-847k/index.html.  ↩︎

If you have established a revocable living trust (which we will refer to simply as a trust), congratulations! You are on the right track in creating a comprehensive estate plan. However, you are only halfway there. Many people believe that because they took the time to create a trust, their estate will automatically avoid probate, and they will not have to take any additional steps. Unfortunately, this assumption creates a false sense of security.

The key to probate avoidance is ensuring that, when you pass away, there are no accounts or property in your sole name without a current beneficiary designation. Taking this one step further, ensuring that the provisions of the trust you created will govern the management and ultimate distribution of your accounts and property after you pass away requires that you have either properly transferred ownership of your accounts and property to your trust or named your trust as the beneficiary.

What kinds of things go through probate?
Under what conditions will your loved ones have to go to probate court to administer and distribute your accounts and property after your death? Here are a few examples:

• Your accounts and real estate are titled in your sole, individual name (without a payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) designation)
• You own accounts and real estate jointly with someone else as a tenant in common
• Your retirement accounts have no named beneficiary 
• Your life insurance policies have no named beneficiary

How can you ensure that your accounts and property avoid the probate process?
The following types of accounts and property will automatically avoid probate after you die and, therefore, do not need to be funded into your trust; however, you can choose to have some types funded into your trust at death:

• Accounts and real estate owned as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Your interest in the accounts and real estate will transfer to the surviving owner automatically at your death by operation of law.
• Accounts and real estate owned by a married couple as tenants by the entirety. Your interest in the accounts and real estate will transfer to the surviving spouse automatically at the time of your death by operation of law, leaving them the sole owner of the property. 
• Life insurance, if you have designated a beneficiary on the policy. In many instances, you may choose to name your trust, if you have created one, as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy. Naming your trust as the beneficiary will cause the life insurance proceeds to flow into the trust at your death.
• Retirement accounts, 401(k)s, and annuities. If you have designated a beneficiary on the account or the plan has default rules requiring that the account be distributed to a specific person or group of people if there is no named beneficiary, the account will go to that person or people. You might also consider naming your trust as the beneficiary of the retirement account so that the account will flow into your trust at the time of your death.
• POD and TOD accounts and, in some states, TOD or beneficiary deeds for real estate. Accounts or real estate with these types of designations will automatically transfer to the named beneficiary upon your death by operation of law.

What happens if you forget to fund your trust?

Life is ever-changing, and you could overlook an account or property when funding your trust. Or you could take all of the steps necessary to ensure that all of your current assets are in the trust at the time of your death but then acquire new accounts or property and forget to fund the new items into your trust. If one of these situations arises, your loved ones may have to open a probate process at your death to handle any accounts or property that were in your sole name without a beneficiary designation. 

Ideally, when you created your trust, you also created a pour-over will, which instructs the judge in a probate administration to transfer all of the accounts and property in probate to your trust during the probate process. So, even if your loved ones end up having to go through probate, the accounts or property will eventually end up funded into your trust and managed according to the trust instructions. While this situation is not ideal and in many states may be very expensive and time-consuming, the ultimate outcome is that your trust remains the sole vehicle for managing and distributing all of your accounts and property.

What is the next step?

Ask a qualified estate planning attorney to confirm that your trust is fully funded and that all your accounts and property are aligned with your estate plan. Remember, creating a revocable living trust is just the first step to probate avoidance, and proper ownership is the ultimate key.  

Every day we make hundreds of decisions for ourselves—from what to eat for breakfast to where to vacation. However, what happens if you cannot make decisions for yourself? Who do you want making day-to-day decisions on your behalf and serving as your conservator?

If you have recently created or reviewed your estate plan, you probably discussed and signed a financial power of attorney. For those of you on the fence about completing your estate plan, this important tool allows you to authorize an individual of your choice to manage your financial affairs (for example, sign checks in your name, open a bank account, manage your real property, enter into contracts on your behalf, etc.). This can be very beneficial if you are no longer able to do these things for yourself; someone else can legally step in and handle these tasks for you immediately. 

However, you may run into situations in which third parties will require the nominated individual to have explicit authority to complete tasks or manage your financial affairs in a way that is not provided through a signed financial power of attorney. In these cases, if you no longer have capacity, your loved ones may need to go before a judge and have them appoint a conservator for your benefit. This is why you should not only appoint an agent in your financial power of attorney but also nominate a conservator for yourself in case the need for one arises (if permitted in your state). This can often be accomplished through documents such as a declaration of preneed guardian (the title of this tool may vary depending on your state of residence). 

A conservator is essentially a court-appointed and court-controlled agent. Depending on your state law, this person may also be referred to as a guardian or guardian of the estate. The person in this role is granted and delegated authority through the court to handle your financial affairs on your behalf if you cannot do so on your own. In many jurisdictions, if a guardianship or conservatorship is required, the court will give priority to an individual who has been named as an agent or desired conservator under a financial power of attorney, making it incredibly important that you have one prepared. 

If you do not have one of these tools in place, each state has a law that defines the order of priority in which people are appointed to serve in this role. In some cases, you could end up having someone handling your affairs whom you would have never wanted, like an estranged parent or sibling. A financial power of attorney allows you to share your wishes and preferences with the court.

To ensure that you are taken care of by someone you trust when you can no longer take care of yourself in the way you desire, it is important that you choose the right person. When analyzing the pool of candidates, consider the following questions:

• Do they have the time to act as your guardian? Often, the most organized and knowledgeable individuals are also the most heavily scheduled and may not be able to step in easily.
• Do they live close by? Even in our digital world, some issues may take multiple steps or require in-person interactions to resolve. If the individual you are considering appointing lives far away, they may not be able to carry out their duties fully without unnecessary time and expense.
• Do they have the necessary skill set? When acting as a conservator, it is crucial that the individual you select is organized, thorough, and able to communicate clearly. A person who is scattered or is unreliable is unlikely to be a good advocate for you.

While we all want to retain as much autonomy as possible, there may come a time when we need someone to act on our behalf. Selecting the right individual to act as your advocate and ensure that you are taken care of according to your wishes is especially important. If you have any questions or would like to discuss whom you should appoint for this role, contact us. We are here to help.