How many of you have IRAs or life insurance policies or annuities? How many of you have your spouse and/or children as the beneficiaries on these policies?
Well, you may think that you can simply designate beneficiaries for everything and avoid the lengthy, costly, public probate process and that everything will work out. However, this may not be the case. Consider some scenarios:
- You make your spouse the designated beneficiary on everything. You both get into a car accident. You pass away and your spouse lives but your spouse is now disabled. Your spouse has to use everything you left, for care and nothing will remain for your children once your spouse passes.
- You make your spouse the designated beneficiary on everything. You pass away. Your spouse gets into a car accident and is okay but gets sued. Everything you left your spouse is now lost to the lawsuit and there is nothing left for your spouse or your children.
- You make your spouse the designated beneficiary on everything. You pass away. There are no car accidents. Your spouse dies peacefully and leaves the remaining monies from you to your children. However, one of your children ends up getting a divorce and your child’s ex-spouse now makes out with half of your monies that you left that child
These are just a few examples of what can happen without careful planning! And guess what? The planning really is not that hard! You simply need to talk with a good elder law attorney who can help with all of these issues. If you want to ensure that you have a plan that will avoid these scenarios, we can help with that! You tell us what your goals are and we make it happen. You don’t need to understand all of the legal/technical aspects of it (that’s our job), to know you will have a plan that will work for you. One of the best ways to ensure you can protect your assets and leave a longstanding legacy to your family is through trust planning. And, unlike a will, a trust is privately administered so all of your family information is kept out of the public. Call our office today to set up your free consultation.