Episodios

  • Estate Planning Mistakes To Avoid… Horror Stories of Improper Estate Planning

    Estate Planning Mistakes To Avoid… Horror Stories of Improper Estate Planning
    Nov 18 2021
    Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Estate Planning Podcast. I’m your host Colby Kukelski. The Estate Planning Podcast is brought to you by our friends with Rhodes Law Firm. In this week’s episode, we’re going to do something a little bit different than we normally do. In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about some of the horror stories that come with not having an estate plan, or an improper estate plan. Now remember, when we’re talking about an estate plan, we’re talking about either a Last Will and Testament or a Trust. Again, anyone who has anything whether it be just a bank account, or bank account, and real estate, should have some type of estate plan in place, depending on the type of estate plan will vary from family to family, but everyone should have something in place. Now there are times where I’ve come across clients whose loved ones did not have an estate plan in place. So think of this episode as your cautionary tale. To have something in place, I always say something is better than nothing. And when we’re talking about an estate plan, that couldn’t be any closer to the truth. The first story I want to focus on for today is a family who did have a plan in place, they had a trust in place. And if you recall from our earlier episodes, trusts avoid probate. But where they went wrong, is they didn’t periodically come in for a review of this plan. So over the years, they acquired new assets, a couple new pieces of land, some new bank accounts, and they didn’t know or didn’t realize that they had to come in to review their plan to ensure that these new things they’ve acquired is tied to their plan. So when mom and dad both passed away, the children came in to see us. And we learned that a couple pieces of their property hadn’t been tied to their trust. So what that meant is that now we’re going to have to go through that probate process. And probate again is asking the court to verify your Will. So anytime you have a Trust in place, you typically also have a backup Will, just in case just like in this type of situation. Now in this situation, to make it even more unique, is there were lots of siblings, I think six in total, and not everyone got along with each other. So when we initiated the probate process, we were initiating it over one piece of land. Again, we knew what was supposed to happen with the land. But because we were having to go through probate, we’re now having asked, having to ask all the kids to agree to that. And again, they didn’t see eye to eye on the situation. So needless to say, the probate dragged on for three years, all over one piece of land. So even if you have an estate plan in place, it’s still very important that you periodically review it so we can avoid situations like this. Anytime you have, you know, the saying is more than one cook in the kitchen, but anytime you have multiple people involved, and especially if they don’t always get along, it can very much complicate the administration of your plan at your passing. The next potential horror story that I want to focus on is another family who again, did have an estate plan in place he had a Last Will and Testament, but it wasn’t the best plan to have in place. In this situation, it was an elderly man and his nineties who never had married, never had any children. And he left everything to one nephew of his. Again, the Will stipulated that, but because Wills require probate, the nephew who was set to inherit everything has to now petition the court requesting permission to validate that Will. Anytime you have to go through probate, if you’ll recall, we’re not only having to ask the person who’s inheriting everything from the Will but also the people who could have inherited had there been no Will, or the other heirs at law. In this situation, this elderly man again was in his 90s. During his life, he had five siblings, both of his parents had predeceased him. So his closest heirs would have been these five siblings. All five of these siblings except for one, had predeceased him. And so then we’re having to involve the other nieces and nephews. So this quickly turned into what we thought should have been just one person involved, that one nephew, turned out to be about 15 to 20 people, all the children of those deceased siblings, and some children of the deceased nieces and nephews are now having to be asked, What do you think about this Will? Again, they’re not getting anything, but because they’re considered heirs at law, they have to be involved in the probate process. Again, these are people that this nephew has never met, or may have not seen in years, that we’re now having to track down and locate all because this elderly man was using a Will. Had he used a Trust, we could have kept it out of probate. And if we would have kept it out of probate, we wouldn’t have had asked all these people, what they think about this Will. And ...
    Más Menos
    11 m
  • How to Help an Aging Parent With Estate Planning

    How to Help an Aging Parent With Estate Planning
    Nov 11 2021
    Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Estate Planning Podcast. I’m your host Colby Kukelski. The Estate Planning Podcast is brought to you by our friends at Rhodes law firm. In recent episodes of the podcast, we’ve been discussing various estate planning tools and some of the most common questions that come with estate planning. But in this week’s episode, we’re going to focus on how you can help an aging parent. I have many people who come to us who have parents that have been recently diagnosed with some sort of illness, whether it be dementia or Alzheimer’s, and they’re asking how do we help mom and dad? How do we plan for the next steps of their life? The very first thing you want to consider when we’re talking about an aging parent is their use of powers of attorneys. Now in previous episodes, we talked about the importance of having both a healthcare power of attorney and a financial power of attorney. What these documents enable is for someone to act on behalf of an individual. So when thinking about your parents, you want to make sure that your parents have a power of attorney that authorizes you or sibling or trusted family friend to be able to make those financial decisions and medical decisions on their behalf, should they be unable to. These are very important documents to have and really everyone over the age of 18 should have one. But when we’re talking about an aging parent, it’s important for them to have one. So that way if you know we need to make sure their bills are getting paid or their taxes are getting filed, that financial power of attorney is in place or they’re unable to make a health care decision for themselves, someone’s named to be able to make that decision on their behalf. Without these powers of attorneys, what we’re left with is having to get guardianship or conservatorship through the court. And speaking on guardianship and conservatorship, there are some well-known cases happening in the public eye that deal with a particular type of conservatorship. But for our conversation, today, I’m going to focus on guardianship and conservatorship, based on Georgia and South Carolina law. Guardianship is the legal process of obtaining the ability to make decisions on behalf of someone. So in order to make medical decisions for them or their health care decisions for them. Conservatorship is the legal ability to make financial decisions on behalf of someone’s property. So the ability to access their bank account and pay their bills. They are two different types of things. So in order to obtain guardianship or conservatorship, someone will have to petition the probate court and request the court’s permission to be able to make those decisions. For most people. A quick and easy way to avoid this is to have those powers of attorneys in place. So when dealing with an aging parent, the first question really should be, are these powers of attorneys in place? Are they up to date? And are mom and dad still comfortable with the individuals who they’ve named? The next question you should consider when dealing with an aging parent is then looking at their estate planning documents. Now in previous episodes, we’ve discussed the importance of having some type of a estate plan. When we’re talking about estate plans, we’re talking about either having a last will and testament or some type of trust in place. This is the time to make sure mom and dad have these documents in place. And these documents are still adequate, adequately reflecting their decisions. I would always recommend while mom and dad are still with us and are able to that you visit an estate planning attorney to revisit these documents. In doing this mom and dad will be able to review what they currently have in place. They’ll be able to consider if there have been any changes in the law, any changes in the family, and then if they’re comfortable with it, you can be involved as well so you understand your role in the process, if you have one And finally, the last crucial step that you should think about when helping an aging parent is, if there’s a need for long term care, there are a couple of different types of long term care options. There’s the at home care where someone comes to your house, there’s the assisted living where mom and dad live in a facility, but they’re still able to live on their own. And then there’s the nursing home care or full skilled nursing with each different type of care. The next consideration has to be the cost of that care. Now, a lot of people have heard that you will spend everything you’ve ever saved if you need any form of long term care. And this isn’t necessarily a false statement. These different levels of care are fairly pricey depending on where you live. But there are ways to strategically plan for these types of care. So having the conversation ahead of time can help you and mom and dad prepare for if they need these ...
    Más Menos
    9 m
  • Estate Planning Case Study with Hal Coleman

    Estate Planning Case Study with Hal Coleman
    Oct 27 2021
    Hello, and welcome back to the Estate Planning Podcast. Today I have us joined by our guest Hal Coleman. Hal is a longtime friend of the Rhodes Law Firm team and he is going to tell us a little bit about his estate planning journey, and how we can help others like you moving forward. Hal thank you for joining us. Oh, you’re welcome. I’m excited. Excited to be here to talk about the estate planning process. So when we talk about the estate planning process, what we’re really talking about is the importance of having an estate plan. And correct me, you and your family, have an estate plan? Well, we do now. You know, we, my wife and I, have been married for 48 years. And we have a couple of grown kids, we have grandkids. And when we first got married, and I guess my son was born after three years, we just thought we needed a Will. We wanted to do everything that you’re supposed to do. If I can interrupt you real quick, why was it that you thought you needed a Will? Somebody told me I needed one. So when you’re looking to get a Will, what were the important things you guys were looking to accomplish with that Will? Well basically just if something happened to us, where did our stuff go? We wanted our stuff. You know, it was a simple Will. It was if I died everything went to my wife, if she died, everything went to me and if we both died at all went between our two kids, divided equally. So this is about three years after your first child was born. Yeah. My second child was born by then I guess. We decide later. But yeah, tell us much. When we went to get an estate plan about two years, three years ago, finally. Actual I’m a Rotarian. And we had somebody speak at our rotary club about estate planning. And, you know, we now we own a home, we own stocks, we own jewelry, we own a lot of stuff. And so it made me realize we need more than just that simple. We’ll know my marks on I said, you know, if something happened to mama, you’re going to quit your job move North Carolina and live where you’re at. Because that Will hadn’t been looked at guardianship kids for minors, presumably, Since they were toddlers. And here they are in their 40s. And they were going to have to go live with the aunt and so when when y’all looked at this, again, you know, life’s changed, your children are much older, you have a lot more stuff. So what were y’all looking to do when you’re realizing you needed an updated estate plan? Well, to make sure that things from a simple standpoint, to make sure that everybody got what we wanted them to have, and that the government got the least amount that they could constantly get, and that that we were hit with the least amount of taxes that we’d be hit with and that it didn’t get hung up in probate or in the courts forever. And a lot of it is on my mind. I had an employee one time who was he went to work for me when he was about 18 years old. And right after that this, his parents were divorced. And his father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. An inoperable brain tumor. So they left and went on this trip, they had hunted and fished together all you know since he was a little kid. So they went on this trip out west. Just one last trip together father and son came home and that next year his father passed away. And his father didn’t even have a Will. So his father’s camping equipment, his father’s guns, the all the stuff that were the keepsakes and stuff, they’d use fishing equipment and everything. Oh, the stepmother gave all that stuff to her kids. And he didn’t get he didn’t get anything of his father’s he got to see that a lot. And that kind of hit me hard. I’m thinking golly, that’s what a bad thing. So I was thinking that you know, the importance of having stuff designated. And then when we have a financial guy, you know who manages our retirement our money and He said, You know, you really need to get an estate plan if you hadn’t had a Will done in a long time. And then when I heard the guy speak at Rotary and I thought, okay, we better go do this. And then I found out well, it’s a lot more complicated than I thought it was. It is it is a lot more complicated. But also at the same time, I would like to say that it’s probably making things easier. Yes, it’s more work on the front end. But we’re making things easier on your heirs, whether that be your spouse or your children down the line as well, because at least we have some sort of plan in place. You know, your friend that you mentioned, his dad had no plan in place. I don’t think his dad’s intent was that the step-mom gave everything to her children. But because there was no plan in place, that’s what happened. So yes, estate planning can be doing more work on the front end. But it’s also you know, saving that grief and that heartache down the line, because at least we have a plan to implement. Yeah, and when I said it was more complicated than I thought it was, it turned...
    Más Menos
    18 m
  • Estate Planning – Top Three Most Frequently Asked Questions

    Estate Planning – Top Three Most Frequently Asked Questions
    Oct 18 2021
    Hello, and welcome back to The Estate Planning Podcast, I’m your host, Colby Kukelski, In this week’s episode we’re going to focus on the most commonly asked estate planning questions. I asked a few of you to send in some questions that you have regarding estate planning, now that you have a general overview of what we do. I’m going to answer a couple of those today here for you. So turning to the questions that I’ve already received, one of the most frequently asked is, can we talk about a little bit more of the differences between a Will and a Trust. I think this is a great starting point for our conversation today. If you recall from one of our previous episodes, a Will is a document you have drawn up during life. It designates where your assets go upon your passing. However, a Will must be probated, meaning a probate court must determine the validity of your Will after you’ve passed away. So even though you’ve had a document drawn up, you’ve signed it, you’ve decided where everything goes, that Will still must be validated by the court upon your passing. In order to make that determination, the court is going to ask all of the beneficiaries of your Will what they think about your Will, but also any other potential heirs or those other individuals who could have inherited had you not had a Will. In this particular situation and the reason most clients want to avoid probate is we don’t want to ask a bunch of people what they think about our Will. When we put a Will in place, we’ve already decided where our stuff goes, that should be the way that it is. But anytime you’re using the Will, it must be probated. So even if you’ve gone through the trouble of you know, putting a document in place, deciding where your assets are going to go, that Will will still require probate at your passing. And another side to this whole probate conversation is the lack of accessibility to your assets. Let’s say something’s happened to a loved on and you need to access a bank account to pay for final expenses. Typically, a bank or a financial institution is not going to grant you access to those accounts, until you’ve gone through the probate process. So in some instances, we have loved ones coming to us saying I need to pay for final expenses, and the bank’s not giving me access to their account. That’s where we have to explain that’s because you haven’t gone through probate. Probate has to be started first before anything regarding your estate can be finalized upon your passing. So what’s different with a Trust, a Trust is very similar to Will, it’s a document you have drawn up during life. It’s a document that designates where your assets go. It’s a document that appoints someone to carry out your final wishes. But the primary difference is that if a Trust is properly funded, it will not require probate. So we won’t have to ask the court to validate it, we won’t have to ask those heirs what they think about our Trust, we won’t have to worry about financial institutions not giving our loved ones immediate access to our assets. Because we’ve done all this work ahead of time. For most families, if they’re using, you know, one of these Revocable Trusts, sometimes known as a Living Trust, it really is to make things as simple as possible on their loved ones. So the biggest differences between a Will and a Trust is the amount of work that would be involved at one’s passing. The Will is always going to require probate, whereas the Trust is going to make things much simpler, much quicker. So when thinking about the two and what would work best for your family, I really do suggest thinking, you know, what are the long term goals? How much work do we want to put on our heirs if something should happen to us? On our next question that we’re going to discuss is from someone who asked more information about a Trust. If using a Trust and funding it, do you still have access to the assets? In our example of the Trust we’ve been discussing recently that Revocable Trust, sometimes known as a Living Trust. Any assets that you place inside of this Trust are still yours, they’re still yours to spend the income, and they’re still yours to spend the principal. In terms of real estate. If we retitle your real estate to be owned by your Trust, you can still sell it, you can still rent it. All the things are still yours. Now, there are other types of Trusts that don’t necessarily have access to your assets. We haven’t really discussed those Trusts yet, but stick around in later episodes and we’ll talk about more about those Irrevocable Trusts and why some families may use them. But for now, yes, if you’re using a Revocable Trust or Living Trust, the assets held by that Trust are still yours just freely spend and to freely use. Then our final question that we’re going to get to today is how often I should update my estate plan. This is a question that will apply to ...
    Más Menos
    9 m
  • What is a Revocable Trust – Trust Planning in Two Stages

    What is a Revocable Trust – Trust Planning in Two Stages
    Oct 7 2021
    Welcome back to another episode of The Estate Planning Podcast. I’m your host Colby Kukelski. In this week’s episode, we’re going to be discussing a trust what a trust is and when it can be used. If you’ll recall from our episode last week, we spent some time discussing Wills. What Wills are and Wills requiring probate. So after that, you may have a question of well, how do I avoid probate. That’s what we’re going to focus our conversation on this week. Typically, when people hear the term trust, they think these documents are meant for celebrities or people with a lot of money. What we typically like to say is that a trust can be used for all of your stuff, whether you have a good bit of stuff, where you whether you have a little bit of stuff a trust can be used by pretty much anyone. I’ll tell you, in most instances, you can make an argument that a trust would make more sense for some families versus a Will. The primary difference between a Will and a trust is that a trust is actually activated while you’re alive. Whereas a Will is activated once you’ve passed away by the Probate Court. So when using a trust, since it’s activated while you’re alive, it wouldn’t require probate. So if you’re recall from our conversation last week, all Wills must be probated. But a trust doesn’t have to be probated. There are many different types of trusts, and there are many reasons why you would use a particular type of trust. For our conversation today, I’m just going to focus on a revocable trust, sometimes known as a living trust. This is probably the most common type of trust we typically run across. With a revocable trust, its intended purpose is to ensure that (1) we’re avoiding probate and (2) the assets are organized ahead of time. So if something should happen to you, your successor trustee could step in and manage the assets, and then (3) your family having a stand in for you. So again, if you’re no longer here, that trustee already knows what to do. By having a trust, we do a lot of work ahead of time to ensure if something should happen to you, the tools are already in place to help your family through the next steps. You heard me mentioned the role of a trustee. Typically a trustee is someone that you trust. So a lot of people think this has to be a corporate trustee, a bank or financial institution. And in most cases, I’ll typically recommend against that. There is a reason why you would want someone that is intimately familiar with your family and your assets to serve in this role. The role of the trustee if something should happen to you, is to essentially administer the trust or doing what the trust says. So again, if it’s to be equally divided between the kids, the trustee is the person responsible for effectuating that decision. When creating a trust, you are typically the trustee during life, meaning you are 100% in control, the assets are yours to use, you could spend to the principal you can spend the income, it is business as usual. Whereas if something should happen to you, that successor trustee can immediately step in, and then begin administering the trust from that point forward. In order for your trust to work correctly, I typically say trust planning is in two stages. Stage one is actually putting you know the documents in place making those important decisions about you know where the assets go, something should happen, who that successor trustee is and then signing the actual documents. But the other side of trust planning is just as equally important, and that’s what I call stage two, and that is funding the trust. Again, with a trust. Our goal is that all of your assets are somehow some way tied to this place. So if something should happen, everything’s already pre organized. All your trustee has to do is step in and then administer the trust. Well, how do we do that? Funding the trust is of particular importance. And again, yes, when you sign the documents, you have a trust in place. But in order to make sure that that documents actually doing what you intended for them to do, you need to make sure that all of your assets are tied to this trust. That’s where we discuss, you know, ensuring that there’s appropriate beneficiary designations on your assets. Whether that’s bank accounts, brokerage accounts, life insurance, IRAs, 401, K’s, we want to make sure each and every asset that you have is somehow some way tied to this trust. So when we think of trust planning, I always say it’s in two stages, stage one, signing the trust, making sure that it’s in place, stage two, making sure that those assets are actually tied to this trust plan. So to recap, a trust can be used in place of a Will, a trust is activated during your life, you become trustee. All the assets are then tied to this trust. The trust says what happens with these assets, if something should happen to you, we name a successor trustee. So again, if something should ...
    Más Menos
    9 m
  • Estate Planning – Wills, Probate and How to Avoid Probate

    Estate Planning – Wills, Probate and How to Avoid Probate
    Sep 29 2021
    Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Estate Planning Podcast. I’m your host, Colby Kukelski. This week’s episode we’ll be discussing something you may be familiar with or something you may not, which is probate. Now, last week, I mentioned that if you’re using a Will, as an estate planning tool, that that Will must be probated. So I always get the question of what is probate? And why would it impact me, and I’m here to tell you that probate may not be something that is as straightforward as it sounds. I will say that today’s conversations going to be based on South Carolina and Georgia law, since that’s where I’m licensed. Each state has their own probate rules, and each state probate looks different. So and in mentioning that, let’s get started. Probate is the process of having a judge validate your will. Now, if you’re recall from our last conversation regarding Wills, a Will is a document you have drawn up during life that designates where your assets go, but requires probate. So what does that mean? If you’re using a Will, yes, you get to say where your stuff goes and who you would want it to go to. But that Will must be validated after you’ve passed away. So what does that mean? Essentially, a judge is going to determine whether your Will is valid or not. In making that determination, the court is going to require some things you wouldn’t typically think that they would. What I mean by that is the court is going to ask certain people, what they think about your Will and its validity. Now, let’s take our typical example, a Will says you know, everything goes to my spouse, if not my spouse, then my children. In determining whether that Will is valid, the court is going to ask your spouse what they think about your Will, and the court is also going to ask your children. Now remember, your children aren’t inheriting anything because everything goes to your spouse. But because your children are your heirs, they have the legal ability to have an opinion on your Will. Usually this isn’t too ba d of a thing. Usually the children are okay with you know, your surviving spouse getting everything. But there could be situations where maybe we don’t want them having a say so in our Will, maybe it’s an estranged child, or maybe it’s someone we just don’t really have a close relationship with who we’re not leaving anything to. But when it comes to probate, they still have the ability to have a say so and what your Will says. So in them having the ability to have a say so and what your will says what probate can really turn into is a hearing to accept any arguments to your Will. All someone has to do is say, well, I don’t agree with the terms of the Will or I want to fight the Will. That turns the probate process into a contested situation. In dealing with a contested situation regarding probate, it’s going to cost you know, time and money. This is all at a time where you’ve just lost a loved one, and now you’re having to try to get this Will deemed as valid in the court. It’s not likely to occur in each and every situation . But in going through the probate process, we are essentially opening the door to hearing any and all complaints regarding the Will. It’s not something that a surviving spouse or grieving children should have to go through at that point in time. Where we really can see these issues is you know, regarding the children, mom and dad have both passed away and now the will says everything equally splits between the three kids. You may think your children won’t argue among themselves, but I’m here to tell you anytime there’s just a little bit of money involved. It’s very difficult to keep your feelings intact, so going through the probate, they’re having to work together, they all get a say so and what happens regarding the Will, it’s not really a time you want to have the kids argue between themselves. But because we’re having to go through the probate process and involving the court determining whether that Will is valid, it may be a time where their emotions get the best of them. Now, there are situations that make probate even more complicated. I’ll give you a quick example from a former client of ours, this individual passed away. He had never married, he had never had any children and he had a Will that left everything to a nephew. So who are we involving in that probate process? Because he had no spouse, and no children, we had to look for his closest heirs at law. Now remember, he left everything to that one nephew. But because of the courts requirement, we had to notify all of his closest heirs of the probate process occurring, and you know, offering them a say so and how the probate was to turn out. In this situation, his closest heirs would have been considered his siblings, but a lot of his siblings had pre deceased him. So we were contacting other niec es and nephews, because they were in fact, his ...
    Más Menos
    11 m
  • Estate Planning – Last Will and Testaments, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Elder Law

    Estate Planning – Last Will and Testaments, Trusts, Powers of Attorney and Elder Law
    Sep 21 2021
    Hello, and welcome back to the Estate Planning Podcast presented by your friends with Rhodes Law Firm. I’m your host, Colby Kukelski and thank you for joining us back here this week. If you’re unfamiliar with us, the Estate Planning Podcast is focused on helping families just like yours figure out what estate planning is and what tools they may need to create the best plan for their family. This week, we’re focusing our discussion on what types of estate planning tools are available to you. Now, typically, when people think of estate planning, they are overwhelmed thinking, you know, what type of documents do we need? How much is this going to cost. And I’m here to tell you what the tools are available to you and which ones you may need to help your family. After our discussion today, you will be very familiar with what types of tools are out there for you and so when you go to complete your estate plan, you’ll know exactly what you need, and what that document actually means to you. I always like to start the conversation around probably the most well-known estate planning tool, which is a Will or Last Will and Testament. Now you’ve probably heard of the term Will before but you don’t know what that actually means. Well, a Will is a document that you have drawn up during a life that designates where your assets go upon your passing. Most people if they have a Will, will say that you know upon my passing, everything goes to my spouse, and if my spouse has pre deceased, then everything goes to the children. However, what most people fail to realize is that all Wills require probate. If you are using a Will, your Will must be probated at the time of your passing. We’re going to have a later discussion about what probate is and what it entails. But stick with me for now in knowing that if you are using a Will, that Will must be probated at the time of your passing. So in conclusion, regarding a Will it is a document you have drawn up during live, it does designate where your assets go upon your passing, but there is a little bit of work that will be required of your family should something happen to you. The next type of estate planning tool that I want to discuss is something you may be unfamiliar with, which is a Trust. A Trust, I like to say is very similar to a Wil in that it is a document that is drawn up during life. It does designate where your assets go. However largest difference with a Trust is that it doesn’t require probate. The difference with a Trust is that you essentially activate it during life, meaning you become trustee, and there is a plan of if something should happen to you who the next trustee would be. So with a Trust, we can completely avoid having to go through the probate process and having to you know, do that work. If something should happen, your family won’t have to go to the court and complete the probate process. Now, there are many different types of Trusts, but for our conversation here, I’m really just going to focus on the probate avoidance aspect. Join us in later episodes where we’ll really get into the nitty gritty of the different types of Trusts that are out there, and how they may be beneficial to you. So in conclusion of our Trust discussion, our big takeaway is that a Trust is a document that you have drawn up during life. It does designate where your assets go upon your passing, however the biggest difference really from a Trust and a Will is that if properly used a Trust can completely avoid the probate process. Now I’m going to talk about the documents that you probably have heard of during life, meaning Powers of Attorney. A lot of people ask, do you have a Power of Attorney? Do you have a living will and most people aren’t really sure what to say. So here’s where we’ll discuss the different types of Powers of Attorneys that are available to you and what purpose they may serve. The Durable Power of Attorney, I like to call it a Financial Power of Attorney, is a document that you signed during life that designate someone to be able to help make decisions for you should you be unable to. This Durable Power of Attorney typically covers those day to day financial things that you may have, such as paying bills, filing taxes. This tool allows someone to complete these actions on your behalf, if you should be unavailable. So if you should be incompetent, you’ve appointed someone to handle these things for you. Now, I will say what most people fail to realize is that a Power of Attorney is durable, meaning it’s valid during the duration of your life. If you should pass away, that Power of Attorney is void at that point. There’s been many times where I’ve had children of clients come in when their parents have passed, and we’re talking about accessing bank accounts and, you know, closing accounts and they’re saying, well, I have my mom’s Power of Attorney. That’s where I have to explain to them that Power of ...
    Más Menos
    10 m
  • Introduction to The Estate Planning Podcast

    Introduction to The Estate Planning Podcast
    Aug 11 2021
    Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Estate Planning Podcast with your host Colby Kukelski. The Estate Planning Podcast is brought to you by Rhodes Law Firm in Augusta, Georgia. For over 30 years Rhodes Law Firm has been helping people just like you create solid estate plans. This is the podcast where you will learn everything you need to know about estate planning and why you need one to protect you and your family. In this episode, we will be discussing what an estate plan is and the benefits of having a complete estate plan. Typically, the term estate plan is something most people associate with celebrities or individuals with a lot of money. But that is not how we define what an estate plan is. Estate planning is ensuring everything you have, all of your stuff, whether it be a little or a lot, is set up in such a way that it’s being left to your family or beneficiaries according to your wishes when you are no longer here. While there are numerous benefits to having a complete estate plan, today, we are going to be focusing on some of the largest benefits you will experiencing from having a plan that is complete and specific to your family and your wishes on how your assets are going to be used by your family and loved ones when you’re no longer here. One of the largest benefits you will receive with having a complete estate plan is having peace of mind. Knowing you and your family have a plan in place if something should happen. There won’t be a question about what happens with your things or who gets what. By having a plan in place, you will know if you are no longer here, your family will not have to assume what you would have wanted to happen with your things. There’s already a plan in place and all your family has to do is follow that plan. When helping families to draft these estate plans, one of the first responses we receive after they’ve signed everything is the relief they have knowing if something should happen tomorrow, the next day next month, their family is taken care of. So they walk away knowing there’s that family peace being preserved should something unexpected happened to them. When having a complete estate plan, not only will you have that peace of mind, but it also will serve a secondary purpose. And that is backing up all of the information you have in your head to a secondary location. You have a really good idea about where all of your assets are, what banks you use, what companies manage your IRAs, 401 K’s, but if something should happen unexpectedly to you tomorrow, would your spouse know this information? Would your children? By having a complete estate plan in place, we are ensuring that we are backing up all that information you have in your head to one central location. So if something should happen, your spouse, your family will know where to go and what to do to manage your assets from there. There have been instances where we’ve met with loved ones who have a family member who’s recently passed away. They’re telling us we don’t know what bank they used or we don’t know what companies have their life insurance or their retirement accounts because that information wasn’t stored anywhere. So we’re having to tell these family members while they’re grieving, you have to check the mail, search the drawers in the home, we have to have hands on this information somehow. By having a complete estate plan in place, you will be ensuring that if something should happen to you, all of that information is stored in one central location so your family knows where to go and who to turn to. But probably the largest benefit you will experience from having a complete estate plan is having the ability to create your own set of rules. By having a plan in place, it’s not just setting up the plan, but also making sure that the plan is based on your own rules about how your stuff is to be used. We can ensure that any beneficiaries of this plan are subject to the rules you create There are special instances where this can be very helpful for families. And we’ll get into that in some of our later episodes. But having a plan in place ensures that you are able to dictate your own set of rules about how your things are to be used when you’re no longer here. As you can see, having an estate plan provides numerous benefits to each and every family. And what is so great about estate planning is that no two are the same. You want to ensure your plan reflects your wishes for your family. Stick around to join us on our next episode where we were discussing the important considerations you might face when choosing what type of estate plan is best for you. You’ve been listening to The Estate Planning Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this show, please subscribe and share it with your friends. We look forward to having you back for our next episode. If you’d like more information about estate planning and how to set up your own estate plan, please contact our ...
    Más Menos
    7 m