With the excitement of starting your family, you want to focus on your plans, hopes and dreams for the future.  Estate planning is probably the furthest thing from your mind.  Plus, you probably feel like you’re too poor to make an estate plan, anyway.  It’s something  your parents and grandparents worry about.  However, it’s never too early to plan for your family’s future.  Here are some tips:

1. Make an incapacity plan.  Emergencies can happen to anyone, not just the elderly.  If you’re in an accident and can’t take care of your own healthcare or financial decisions, you need to have a plan in place so that someone can step in and take care of these things for you.  Otherwise, your family will have to go to court and have someone appointed to do the job – a time-consuming, expensive, and emotional hassle.  There are estate planning options like a living will and an advance medical directive that you can use to deal with medical planning, and a durable power of attorney can help with financial emergencies.  But these documents have to be in place in advance.  Once you’re incapacitated, it’s too late to put an estate plan in place.


2. Put a plan in place in the event of your death.  Anyone can die at any time, and untimely death is unfortunately a fact of life. You should be prepared with a Will or a Revocable Living Trust.  Either of these documents will allow you to pass your assets on to the loved ones of your choosing, at the time and in the manner that you choose. If you die without an estate plan, also called dying “intestate” your assets will pass to your family members in the manner dictated by state law.  This may or may not be what you want to have happen.


3. Be sure to name a guardian for your children.  If both you and your spouse die while your children are still minors, someone will have to step in to take care of them.  If you leave an estate plan naming a guardian, you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing they’ll be raised by people you’ve chosen, whom you know, trust and approve of.  If you haven’t named a guardian, anyone may petition the court and, upon convincing the court they’re fit for the job, can be appointed to care for your children. Usually this is a family member, but it may not be the person you’ve chosen.

Estate planning is not just for the elderly or the wealthy, it’s for everyone.  Especially if you have a growing family, it’s the responsible thing to do.

James A. Miller is an estate planning attorney in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

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This video explains some of the many things you need to consider before getting remarried: a prenuptial agreement, insurance concerns, social security benefits, changes to your Will, and the impact of long term care on your assets.

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This video has been prepared by the law firm of Bacon Wilson, P.C., Springfield, Massachusetts, for informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. Viewers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.  For additional information, please contact Hyman G. Darling, Esq.  at 413.781.0560.  You may also send him an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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You’ve put a lot of effort into making sure all the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed in your estate planning documents and, naturally, you want to make sure you keep them in a place where they’ll be safe and secure.  You also want your documents to be accessible to your executor or trustee in case they need them.  So, where’s the best place?

Many people choose to keep their estate planning documents in a safe deposit box at the bank.  While this will definitely keep your documents safe from theft and fire, they may not be as accessible as they need to be.  If you’re the only one who has authority to use the box, then once you die or become disabled, your executor or trustee will need to go through the process of obtaining a court order before he or she can get into the box to access your estate planning documents.  In addition, this process may also involve the bank requiring an inventory of the box’s contents before they turn it over to this executor or trustee.  These scenarios apply even if he or she has access to the key.  If you choose to keep your documents in a safety deposit box, it’s a good idea to allow someone – a spouse or your executor or trustee – to have joint access to that box.  Planning ahead now protects your privacy as well as prevents a cumbersome process for your executor or trustee. 

Aside from a safety deposit box, what are your options?  Well, some people keep their estate planning documents in a fireproof safe in their home.  Others choose to keep them with their other important paperwork in a locked file cabinet or on a specific shelf.  If possible, you should try to protect your documents from theft, from fire, and also from flooding.

It’s especially important to remember that certain of your estate planning documents, such as your Will, are originals, and must be especially safeguarded.  Also, as mentioned before, accessibility is a very important factor when it comes to your estate planning documents.  While you may not want everyone in the family to know where they are, you at least want your executor and/or trustee to be able to locate them.  If your estate planning documents can’t be found, then the law treats you as if you died without any estate plan at all, and all your hard work will have been for nothing.

As with any step in the Estate Planning process, the ease in which the plan is executed as well as the accuracy in carrying out your wishes relies on a solid Estate Plan, which certainly includes storing documents in a safe but accessible place.  Whether you have questions regarding the best storage option for you or concerns about other facets of the Estate Planning process, our team has the knowledge and experience necessary to help you ensure your exact wishes are carried out.  Call for an appointment today:  (336) 404-9773.

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Attorney Julie Garber recently wrote an article entitled, "how to find an estate planning attorney, which appeared in About.com:Wills & Estate Planning.  Of course, once you've found an estate planning attorney, the next question she asked is "how will you know if he or she will be the right one for you?"

Good question.  And, naturally, Attorney Garber followed up with a list of six questions to ask a prospective estate planning attorney.  We've reproduced them right here, but you'd be well served if you took a look at Attorney Garber's article - and others that she's written on this and similar topics.

1. Is the attorney's primary focus on estate planning? Depending on the type of advice you're seeking, you may only need a general legal practitioner instead of a seasoned estate planning veteran.
2. How many years of experience does the attorney have? Estate planning documents prepared by a veteran attorney have withstood the tests of time.
3. Does the attorney assist clients with properly funding their assets into a revocable living trust? If not, then be fully prepared to take on this task yourself, otherwise your estate plan won't work the way you expect it to work.
4. Does the attorney have a formal updating and maintenance program? Putting your initial estate plan together is only part of the process. As time goes by your estate plan will need to be reviewed, tweaked, and possibly overhauled as your personal and financial circumstances change.
5. Does the attorney charge a flat fee or an hourly rate for providing estate planning and other services? Understanding how legal fees will be charged is one of the keys to being comfortable working with any attorney.
6. Ask yourself: "Can I see myself working closely with this attorney?" Even if the prospective attorney answers all of the other questions to your satisfaction, this is the most important question that you need to ask yourself. If you aren't comfortable with the attorney, then chances are you won't be happy with the attorney's work. But don't be alarmed - it's better determine this sooner rather than later. Simply move on until you find an attorney who you feel comfortable enough to trust with your personal and financial information.

To find out more about Attorney Garber, including her other publications, please click here.

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[Editor's Note:  This article has been reprinted with the permission of the author, Shawn McCammon, Esq.  It originally appeared in the Contra Costa Times]

Here are a few of the top 10 estate planning mistakes we tend to see in the estate planning community.  These are mistakes I see people make unwittingly that can be avoided with proper estate planning techniques.

I recently read a report that suggested that only about 20 percent of the population has a formal estate plan. After reviewing the points below, please take a minute to consider whether it's time for you to create or update your estate plan.

1.  Dying intestate, without a will or trust - If you die without a will or some other form of estate planning, the state in which you reside and the IRS will simply make one for you.

Of course, they have no interest in avoiding or reducing estate taxes, minimizing estate administration costs or protecting your family and legacy. The distribution of your assets will just be turned over to the Probate Court. The probate process is needlessly time consuming, frustrating and expensive.

It is also open to the public, meaning creditors, predators or anyone else will have complete access to all information about your estate. For the vast majority of people, the benefits far outweigh any initial costs.

2.  Having an I love you will - An I love you will is one in which all the decedent's assets have been left to the spouse. On paper, it might seem to be a caring, thoughtful gesture, but the reality is quite different.

That's because such a will simply passes the complex issues and problems associated with transferring and protecting wealth onto the spouse or other loved ones.

An I love you will creates more problems than it solves, particularly for future generations.

3.  Giving property outright to your children - Here is another solution that might sound good at first, but ignores several important realities. For instance, what if the child in question is too immature to handle the responsibility of a large sum of money on his or her own? What if the child suffers a severe financial setback that puts the inheritance at risk to creditors?

What if the child marries a fortune-hunter, is addicted to drugs or alcohol, gets divorced or remarried? You may need to protect your children and heirs from their own poor decisions.

4.  Owning property jointly - There are two types of joint ownership, Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship (JTWROS) and Tenants in Common (TIC).

Problems with JTWROS include postponement of probate until last tenancy, loss of the double step-up in tax basis, and outright distribution.

With TIC, you also lose the double step-up in tax basis, and your property is subject to the estate plan of each tenant as well as probate for each tenant.

5.  Not having a trust - A trust is the single most effective estate planning tool available. There are many different types of trusts.

Among the better known and more commonly used are revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts and testamentary trusts. To protecting your privacy, a trust will help you leave what you want, to whom you want, in the way you want at the lowest possible cost.

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About the Author:

Shawn McCammon of Liberty Law, A.P.C., Red Bluff, California, is an estate planning attorney and can be reached at (530) 529-4329.

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Too often, we are guilty of too much emphasis on getting assets to the right people at the least possible cost when we plan our estates.  Yes, making sure that our assets are given to the right people when we die is an important part of estate planning.  Making sure that the cost of settling our estates is reduced as much as possible is equally important.  That's why estate planners spend so much time talking about avoiding intestacy, reducing estate taxes, avoiding probate, etc., etc.  But, there is another aspect of estate planning that is equally important.  In fact, it is one of the most important aspects of estate planning for many people.  That is, to maintain the harmony of our family upon our death.

The death of a family member is probably one of the most traumatic events in anyone's lifetime.  It creates an emotional upheaval among surviving family members that few have ever experienced.  And, it comes at a time when surviving family members are forced to handle funeral and burial arrangements; receive the condolences of distant relatives, friends and other acquaintances; and begin the process of settling the deceased family member's final affairs.  It comes as no surprise that this state of affairs almost always results in some tension among surviving family members, and there is always the potential for conflicts that could disrupt the family for years and may even result in protracted and expensive litigation.  

In my 30 years of practice, I've seen many families literally destroyed upon the death of a parent.  While I'm not a psychiatrist, it is clear to me that a surviving child looks for confirmation of the fact that he or she was loved by the deceased mother or father.  To a surviving child, the confirmation of that love is often much more important than any monetary gifts the surviving child may receive, and a surviving child will often seek confirmation of that love in many ways during the estate settlement process, including being acutely aware of whether one child is being favored over another.   Sibling rivalry rises to new heights during this period, and any child's perception that another child is being favored will often be manifested in disputes over the most trivial things.  And, those disputes will often lead to the destruction of family harmony for years and years and years.  In fact, many siblings have taken disputes over the settlement of a parent's estate to the grave.

So, how do you prevent family disputes from arising during the settlement of an estate?  First, you absolutely must take the time to prepare and implement a well-thought-out estate plan, one that is designed to get your property to your intended beneficiaries with the least amount of delay and the least amount of cost.  If you take the time to say who gets what and when, and if you take the time to arrange your affairs so as to reduce the cost of settling your estate, then you will have taken a major step toward reducing family disputes upon your death.

As stated above, however, the major reason for family disputes during the settlement of an estate is sibling rivalry; i.e., one child is made to feel slighted over another child.  Sometimes that feeling is real and sometimes that feeling is simply perceived by one or more of the children.  Whatever the reason, you can eliminate those feelings among your children by following what I call the "golden rule" of estate planning; i.e., never put family members at odds with each other over the settlement of an estate if at all possible.

When you put one child against another, disputes arise.  If you don't want your children to fight with each other, don't put them in a position where they are at odds with each other.  For example, in the course of planning your estate, you will be asked to name one or more executors of your estate.  You will also be asked to name one or more trustees of any trusts that might be created as part of your estate plan.  You may also be asked to name one or more individuals to serve as your agent under a power of attorney and/or health care proxy.  In many cases, your children will be the logical persons to fill those positions, either as the primary appointee or as the alternate appointee.  There may also be a temptation to name just one of your children to those positions, ostensibly because naming more than one often becomes too complicated or too costly.  However, experience shows that naming just one child to any of those positions will place that child at odds with all the other children.  It will result in a strained relationship between that child and the others, simply because the others will feel slighted.  As a result, a certain level of antagonism will prevail against that child, which often results in open warfare over seemingly unimportant decisions made by that child.

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