Yes. I know I need to get this done, and I will get around to it. Unfortunately, for many families they don’t. They don’t realize the endless ramifications that a family can encounter when an unexpected illness, or worse death, strikes and it’s too late; too late to protect the inheritance for the family they love.
A comprehensive living trust portfolio can protect the wealth earned over a lifetime. A living trust can avoid an inheritance going through an expensive and costly court process known as probate. It’s just a document that states where a person wants their money to go when the time comes. The caveat though, is that in most situations it has to be created before it’s needed before that unexpected event occurs.
The last couple of years has really shined the light on the importance of NOW. From pandemics to murder hornets and war… It’s essential to take action and prepare for the unexpected. Below are a few examples of situations that tend to come up unexpectedly.
Alzheimer’s Disease & Ability To Make Decisions
One of the most unexpected and perilous illnesses is Alzheimer’s Disease. The disease takes your mind away and can last for years. There are no known risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease and it can hit unexpectedly at any time, most commonly when elderly. People diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease can no longer legally make decisions for themselves. Nobody can, not even a spouse. So, how do medical and financial decisions get made? They don’t. Not until lawyers, courts, and guardians get involved. And, as soon as the lawyers and courts get involved, the unexpected legal bills appear. These bills range into the thousands of dollars, and tens of thousands of dollars when there is a fight amongst family members as to who will be appointed as the guardian. These days Alzheimer’s Disease strikes one in six people, and one-half of all married couples will have one spouse succumb to the disease at some point.
A common situation with Alzheimer’s Disease is long-term care. Nursing homes these days can cost $6,000 or more per month. A gentleman’s wife was in a nursing home, due to Alzheimer’s Disease, for 3 years as he became physically unable to care for her. Over that 3 years, the cost of the nursing home bills were wiping out the couple’s life savings. The husband decided he needed to sell his home, down-size, and free up money to continue to pay for his wife’s care. However, in order to accomplish this goal, his wife would have to sign off on the sale of the home. And this is where the couple hit a roadblock. Since the wife became mentally incapacitated, she could not legally sign off on their jointly owned property. This left the couple in a bind. The husband just wanted to care for the woman he loved, but the financial stress was beginning to take its toll on him. He did not have the strength, or the money, to seek guardianship over his wife. Instead, he gave up, spent the last of his life savings, and ended up on welfare. Had the couple created a living trust, an alternate decision-maker would have been chosen ahead of time, and the husband could have easily executed the sale of his home. Instead, the family’s wealth unexpectedly vanished.
Unexpected Deaths – Heart Attack / Stroke / Covid
A gentleman was living a healthy life in his retirement years. He ate well and exercised often. His frequent doctor appointments did not show any signs of poor health. But, the unexpected happened. It was a beautiful, sunny day. He loved his tiny Maltese dog named Princess. He decided to take Princess to a local hotel sponsoring a “Yappy Hour”. After the fun hour watching Princess playing with the other dogs, he left for a late lunch. As lunch began, all was good. Orders were placed and appetizers were on their way. Suddenly, he stiffened and fell to the ground off his chair. 911 was called and the paramedics arrived. He had a stroke. It was a severe stroke and he did not make it.
His family was shocked to learn of his unexpected and sudden death. After grieving, they were shocked again. They discovered he never completed his living trust plan. His estate was large enough to require probate. The family realized they had to endure a lengthy and costly court process to get their inheritance. A couple of years later the probate ended, with court costs and attorney fees eating up tens of thousands of dollars of the estate. Cost and fees could have instead been used towards a grandchild’s college education or to pay off a beneficiary’s mortgage.
Another gentleman, a father of one child, was infected in the early days of covid. He had to be hospitalized as his health was waning. He was one who followed the news. He sanitized often. He wore a mask. He distanced himself from people in public. He did what he was told to do. Then one day, he got sick and was hospitalized a short time later. Once he was admitted to the hospital, his daughter was notified. The disease hit him hard and a battle for his life began. The hospital asked the daughter if her dad had living trust documents and powers of attorney because her father had lost all decision-making ability in his fight for survival. She replied they had none, no documents. From that point on, the hospital and attending physician began making all decisions for the treatment of her father, as no one was legally authorized to act on his behalf. After some time, the father surrendered to the disease and passed. Without a living trust in place, the daughter found herself in court probating the estate. With the estate tied up in court, the business owned by the father suffered losses. Her father was also an avid collector and seller of sports memorabilia. It was a financial nightmare selling off the sports memorabilia as the probate court had to approve the sales. Debts were going unpaid. The daughter struggled through this process to the end and got her inheritance, but lost thousands through the hassles and delays. None of this was expected to happen. No one had even heard of Covid when it first hit.
Unexpected Fighting Over The Inheritance
A mother passed on years after she lost her husband. She had three children and five grandchildren. She and her husband created a Will years ago, leaving an equally divided inheritance to each of the three children. After her death, the family discovered that even with the Will in place, the value of the estate exceeded the state minimum and had to go through probate.
The mother was frail the last couple of years of her life. She needed constant help with simple activities of daily life, such as shopping, cooking, laundry, etc. Since two of her brothers lived out of state, the daughter took on the role of caretaker for her mom. It was a tough two years, as caring for her mom took away significant time from her husband and kids.
Her children were close over the years, but that changed when it came time to get the inheritance. Unexpectedly, the son-in-law felt that since his wife took care of her mother, the daughter was entitled to a larger percentage of the inheritance. Both the brothers disagreed, stating that was not the intention of mom and dad when they wrote up their Will. The son-in-law was relentless and influenced his wife to contest the Will in court. The children then lawyered up, and the battle began. It was a three-year battle full of court appearances, evidence submissions, and live testimony. The battle ended with no winner, except the lawyers. The cost of this fight drained the estate and ruined the family relationships amongst the three children.
Had the mother and father created a living trust instead of a Will, their wishes would have been honored. After death, the instructions in a living trust are irrevocable. There is no probate and nothing can be changed when an inheritance is passed through a living trust. In this case, even though the son-in-law didn’t agree, there would have been no legal means to contest the living trust and no family fighting. The three children would have ultimately received more money, along with peace in the family.
Prepare for Unexpected Events
You never know what may happen, unexpected illnesses, accidents, sudden death and even fighting amongst beneficiaries. Regardless, creating a living trust estate plan ahead of time allows families to deal with these unexpected events in harmony while retaining wealth within the family.
Unfortunately, most local attorneys make it cost-prohibitive to get a living trust, charging an average of $1,500 to $3,000 or more. However, if you would like to end the procrastination and get these important estate planning documents in place to protect yourself and your loved ones,
Right now is a great time to take advantage of this opportunity, before the unexpected hits. In the video, you will get an easy-to-follow overview of how a living trust works, learn why our association is A+ Rated by the Better Business Bureau, the vast experience of the attorney, and why we have currently served over 17,000 customers since the start of operations in 2008. Lastly, if you need to replace an old, outdated living trust, it’s the same $699 price.
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