Spring 2009

Difficult times push us back to basics, in investing, defining our work for others, and appreciation for family, faith, and friends.  In this spirit, we’d like to offer you a simple check-up of your estate planning.  Please call the lawyer with whom you work (or any of us listed below), and set a time to come in for an hour and go over the following checklist of estate planning fundamentals.  After that discussion, it’ll be up to you whether to invest in any more than the one hour of consultation. 

You don’t even have to do the checklist in advance, but here are the main questions we’ll cover:

1. Do you have a Will or Living Trust that meets your family’s needs? 
2. Do all the following conform to the plan of your Will or Living Trust?  -- life insurance and retirement plan beneficiary designations, joint tenancy assets, and community property agreements. 
3. Does your estate, including retirement benefits and life insurance coverage, exceed $2,000,000 so that estate taxes should be considered? 
4. Do you have an interest in a family business or joint investment, and if so are plans made for a smooth transition of control? 
5. Do you have Durable Powers of Attorney for financial and health care decisions for continued management of those affairs in the event of your disability? 
6. Have you documented your wishes for artificial life support, and handling of remains? 
7. Have you written a letter to your family giving guidance on practical issues (like what are the assets and where are they) that aren’t covered in the legal documents?  See our sample “Dear Barbara” letter, the Fall 2002 Newsletter in the Trusts & Estates section of our Firm’s website www.gth-law.com

Not all the most pleasant stuff, but we owe it to our families to take care of these things so our heirs don’t have to wrestle with the problems without sufficient direction.