July 1, 2024 • 29 mins
Estate planning is typically the furthest thing from the minds of newlyweds and young parents, but a few essential documents can ensure you and your growing family are protected. Estate planning attorneys Alex Hunt and Bri Holcombe of Hunt Law Firm break down the critical must-have documents young families in Texas need to ensure their spouse and children are safe and cared for should the unexpected happen.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alex Hunt (00:08):
today I'm here with brie holcomb, an attorney with
hunt law firm.
Thanks for joining me thank youfor having me today and so
previously we did a deeper diveinto estate planning,
particularly for 18 to 24 yearolds.
Today we're going to be takinga little bit of a deeper dive
for younger families, a littlebit further on in their
adulthood Maybe they have,they've just gotten married,
(00:31):
they've just gotten a new childand some of the unique issues
that relate to that demographic.
So, just as a reminder, this isfor informational purposes.
This doesn't create anattorney-client privilege and it
doesn't create anattorney-client relationship,
but we're just out here tryingto educate and decode and
(00:53):
demystify some of the legalesethat is prevalent in our work.
So, brie, tell us, just as anoverview, just as a reminder,
what is estate planning?
What is an estate plan?
Bri Holcombe (01:06):
Yeah, so estate planning is planning for not
only your death but yourincapacity.
You only die once, so you wantto have a plan in place for when
that happens.
But there can be many instanceswhere you become incapacitated
and you need someone to makedecisions for you.
You can also gain capacitationback, so you want to have plans
in place for if either of thosethings happen, that people are
(01:26):
in charge and people are able tostep in.
Alex Hunt (01:29):
And certainly if you don't have a plan in place.
That's where we see,unfortunately, a lot of the
calls coming into our office.
There's no plan in place.
There's family members that arescrambling.
Bri Holcombe (01:40):
They don't know what to do.
Alex Hunt (01:42):
There's family members that are maybe quabbling
over an estate.
There's a contested probateprocess and the estate planning
process.
No matter what area, whateverstage of life you're in, is
going to be beneficial.
From when you're an 18-year-oldcollege student that's going
(02:02):
off for the first time, whetheryou're a young family, you've
just gotten married, you've gotyour first young child, whether
you are approaching end of life,it's important to have an
estate plan, not just for youand so that your wishes are
accomplished, but for who you'releaving behind for your family.
Bri Holcombe (02:24):
You minimize that family disruption and you take
that pressure off of your lovedones who are already grieving
your loss to make thosedecisions.
Alex Hunt (02:32):
So it's the responsible thing to do.
A lot of people are kind ofintimidated by the process
because it involves going to alawyer.
It involves complex terms likestatutory, durable power of
attorney things that we don'tuse in everyday, ordinary
(02:57):
language and certainly there's acost associated with it.
So let's talk about each ofthose things.
What does it look like fromstart to finish, when you call
our office or you email us oryou reach out to us on the web?
What is the process?
Bri Holcombe (03:09):
Yeah, so the first step is just our intake process
.
So that's getting informationabout you, learning what size
estate you may have, who theplayers are, and running a
conflict check.
We just want to make sure thatall of our bases are covered and
that we're checked and that wecan represent you in the estate
planning.
After that we set up theinitial consultation.
That's when you'd meet with oneof our estate planning
attorneys to go over in detailhere's what my estate is
(03:33):
comprised of.
Here's my probate property.
Here's my non-probate property.
We walk you through what thosethings mean.
We talk about each document inour estate plan and what those
specific documents do, who theplayers involved in those
documents will be, and then wetalk about your family and
decide who's going to be bestfor you in those certain
situations.
What we do then, once we've gotall the information from you,
(03:56):
is we prepare drafts of yourdocuments.
We send you those drafts byemail with a big draft watermark
.
You look them over and you letus know if you have any
questions.
We want you to know with 100%certainty what you're signing.
There's going to be a lot oflegalese.
There's going to be a lot ofthings that you feel overwhelmed
by.
But that's what we're here foris to walk you through and guide
you through what thesedocuments mean, so that you're
(04:18):
set up for success later.
Once you approve your drafts,we then bring you back into our
office for our signing ceremony.
We provide two witnesses,notary.
We try and make it aslighthearted and fun as possible
.
We sign your documents in theoriginal form and then we
provide you with our estateplanning binder that has all of
your original documents, as wellas a USB that you can
(04:39):
disseminate copies to.
Alex Hunt (04:41):
And I think that's certainly one of the things that
sets us apart from places likeLegalZoom or the other online
kind of aggregators they're likekind of turbo tax for for wills
is you know that you have thebacking of a licensed attorney
that is not only making surethat you have the right
documents but is able to explainit to you.
(05:04):
You don't get that.
On legal suing, you are goingto get witnesses provided to you
by our firm.
You would have to find your ownwitnesses if you did something.
Bri Holcombe (05:14):
Who are disinterested, and then that can
create.
What is that?
Yeah, is it?
Alex Hunt (05:18):
somebody that has a beneficial interest and then
that can cause issues afteryou're gone.
You're going to have to findyour own notary and there's just
nobody.
If you've got a question, whichyou should have questions
during this process, there'snobody to ask those questions to
, and it doesn't have to besomething that is
(05:39):
extraordinarily expensive orcumbersome, or is a three or
four month endeavor, it'ssomething that can be
accomplished pretty quickly.
What does the process, whatdoes the timeline look like when
?
Somebody comes to our office.
Bri Holcombe (05:51):
So when people come to our office, I typically
like to have drafts turnedaround within three business
days, so that's from the datethat I have all the information
from you.
I don't think that you shouldwait for attorneys weeks and
weeks to get drafts.
This should be a process thatmoves.
You took the step to come intoan attorney and we want to
provide you with that service ofgiving you your documents as
(06:13):
soon as we can, but knowing thatthey're right and that they're
done correctly, so it can be afast process.
I've had clients in and out intwo weeks.
I've had others who you knowreally want to get into the
nitty gritty of what thisdocument is and how it, how it
plays out once they're gone oronce they're incapacitated, and
we'll sit there and we willhandhold and make sure that you
(06:33):
feel comfortable with theinformation contained in the
documents.
Alex Hunt (06:36):
So I think it's important to take a deeper dive
on younger families, newmarriages, new kids, because,
I'll be perfectly honest, mywife and I, we didn't have a
state plan, we didn't have awill.
Bri Holcombe (06:49):
I thought you were going to say you didn't have a
will.
Alex Hunt (06:50):
No, no, no, we definitely have a will, and
every time that we've added anew member to our family, we've
updated the will, and that's afairly easy process too.
But a lot of young people don'tnecessarily decide that they
need a will until they haveeither they get married or,
(07:12):
especially, they have a youngfamily or a new child.
And so if you just go based offof what you see on TV and you
like the godparents are going toget your kids if you pass away.
Bri Holcombe (07:26):
Right, that's not how it works.
Alex Hunt (07:27):
That's not the way it works in reality.
One of the most importantdocuments that a new parent can
have is a declaration of who theguardian of their child is
going to be in the event oftheir death or you don't think
about this in the event of theirincapacity.
Say God forbid there is anaccident or something happens
(07:52):
and both you and your spouse orthe other parent are
incapacitated.
You want to be the one that'smaking the decision about who is
caring for your child.
You don't want a court to bemaking that decision.
You want to be helping makethat decision, and a declaration
of a guardian of your minorchild is the way to make that
(08:13):
happen and have your wishesheard, even if you're not able
to voice those wishes in themoment.
So tell me a little bit aboutsome of the unique aspects of
estate planning for people thatare part of a young family
families have started developingtheir estate.
Bri Holcombe (08:32):
You may have bank accounts, you've got retirement
accounts.
You've got a home that you mayhave purchased.
It may be a starter home andnot worth millions of dollars,
but you've got some property.
(08:52):
You've got vehicles.
You want to make sure that uponyour death, those assets are
easily transferable.
Two one of the things that wehave is you think about, when
you've passed, who's going to bein charge of your children,
who's going to manage theirday-to-day care, but also who's
going to manage the state thatyou leave them behind.
(09:12):
That's something that we alsowant to take care of for you,
and we include in our wills whatare called testamentary trust,
which is a trust that's createdin the will and it's contingent
upon certain events happening,which is a trust that's created
in the will and it's contingentupon certain events happening.
You've got a trust that onlycreates if your children are
(09:33):
under a certain age.
So if you get this will doneand you're a young family and
you forget about it and you pass, 40 years later, that trust may
not need to be created anymorebecause your children have grown
.
But when they're young and whenthey're little, we want to
create something that is afallback and so that there are
people in charge of your kidsand we've taken care of you from
all aspects or your children,I'm sorry, from all aspects.
So we've got our trust.
We also have our guardians thatare appointed.
(09:55):
They can be the same people.
They can be different people.
No-transcript.
Alex Hunt (10:12):
Okay, so let's say you do that Again.
Knock on wood, god forbid.
Something happens and you namesomebody to be the guardian of
your child, but they havepre-deceased you, they've passed
before you.
What do you do in thatsituation?
Bri Holcombe (10:25):
So one of the things that we always talk about
is appointing successor agents,appointing people who are the
backups in case somethinghappens, especially for young
children.
You never know.
You could you know namegrandparents and siblings, and
everybody unfortunatelyexperiences an accident together
.
But we want to catch ourselvesfrom going down the what if?
(10:46):
Rabbit hole because you couldwhat if?
Yourself into a situation thatwill never happen.
But it's good things to thinkabout.
If you were to pass without awill, without naming someone as
your guardian for your child,then you've got your family
fighting over those children,and that's something everybody
wants to avoid.
Is that turmoil?
Because, again, you're notthere.
(11:07):
They're grieving you andthey're fighting over these kids
.
Alex Hunt (11:11):
Yeah, no, that's certainly the last thing that
you want.
So, in a bad situation, I canthink of nothing that would make
it worse than as if you do havea sizable estate and you don't
have a plan in place, or if youdon't have a testamentary trust
in place.
And then you know, say you'vegot kids, that it would be
(11:34):
detrimental to them to get yoursizable estate as soon as they
turn 18.
Yeah, what do you suggest forpeople that you know they have
an estate, they're fortunateenough to have an estate and
they want to make sure thattheir child doesn't, on their
18th birthday, just go crazy?
Bri Holcombe (11:50):
Well, so you don't have to have your trust end at
18.
You can choose your age, whichis something that we talk about
in our consultation.
I always give the example.
You don't give a five-year-old$100,000.
They'd buy roadblocks and gocrazy and rack up purchases on
Apple.
Alex Hunt (12:06):
And you might not want to give an 18-year-old that
much either.
Bri Holcombe (12:12):
Or a 21-year-old.
You've got to think about yourchildren.
When they're young it's hard todo because you don't know who
they're going to blossom into.
But if you've got kids who aremaybe 18 to 21 and you say I
just don't think they'reresponsible, that trust can last
a lot longer.
It can go until they're 25, 28,30, 35, 40, whatever age you
choose you can do.
Alex Hunt (12:33):
So tell me worst case scenario if you don't have an
estate plan, what happens?
Bri Holcombe (12:38):
Yeah.
So if you pass without childrenor you pass with children, I'm
sorry.
There is a law the UniformTransfers to Minor Act that
allows for those assets thatwould go to a child to be held
in trust In Texas.
The highest that it canterminate is 21.
But then you're left with thatsituation.
What if I don't trust my21-year-old?
(12:58):
You know what if they'd spendall the money on booze?
That's not something that youwould want.
So it's very important to havethe plan in place so that you
plan for these situations.
But if you do pass without youknow a plan, the court system is
the one who determines who'sgoing to be in charge, and who's
not only going to be in chargeof your children but also their
assets.
Alex Hunt (13:19):
Yeah, and I think a lot of you know young parents
that might be watching this orlistening to this.
They might be less concernedabout the finances, more
concerned about what's going tohappen to my kids, and so that's
why it's important, you know,demystify the myth that you know
(13:40):
the godparents you know thatwere there at the christening or
whatnot, are going toautomatically get the kids.
There is a court process thatwould have to ensue to ensure to
see who's going to get yourkids, and it can either play out
in the family courts, it canplay out in the probate courts,
(14:01):
but no matter what, there'sgoing to have to be some sort of
process, even if it's notcontested.
There's going to need to besome involvement with the court
system, which is an unnecessarystress and in a ready, very
difficult time it brings uponuncertainty about what's going
to happen.
And the reality is and I saythis as a family lawyer, as
(14:26):
somebody who does estateplanning it's an unnecessary
cost that you're bringing uponthe folks that you're leaving
behind to take care of yourchild.
So what else you know?
Tell us a little bit about theintestacy rules and how not
having an estate plan wouldaffect the other aspects.
Bri Holcombe (14:47):
Absolutely so.
If you were to pass and youhave a spouse, automatically
your spouse is going to be theone who inherits.
But just because they inheritdoesn't mean that you snap your
fingers and boom, they have thehouse that you own together.
Things don't transfer easilylike that, especially things
with title designations.
So you have to go to the courtprocess in order to effectuate
(15:11):
those transfers and do itlegally.
I think there's a lot ofmisconception again that oh, my
spouse died, I get everything.
But that may not be the case ifyou have a blended family, if
you've got kids from a priormarriage, it could be 50-50.
You want your wishes to becarried out, and so writing
(15:31):
those wishes down are what'simportant to with the intestate
process.
You know somebody has to go tothe court and do those things
for you.
What if the person who's doingit is not someone that you
wanted to be in charge?
That's why a will is soimportant and having those
wishes laid out.
Alex Hunt (15:48):
And and that's why it's so important to just have
these conversations now Becauseif you do have a blended family
and you're in your maybe yoursecond marriage and you have
children with a previous spouse,there's also to consider the
fact that if you are paying achild support obligation, that
that child support obligation isstill going to be owed to the
(16:11):
parent of your first spouse.
And having those conversationsand being able to plan for it is
so incredibly important, andthese are things that you just
don't think of.
Legal Zoom certainly doesn'tprepare you for it, so having
those conversations now is justso incredibly important.
Is there anything that you cando to avoid some of these things
(16:36):
?
You mentioned the house, mayberetirement accounts, insurance
policies.
How do we get around as much aspossible that probate process?
Try to keep as much of this outof court as possible.
Bri Holcombe (16:50):
So the first thing to know is that there's probate
and non-probate asset.
Probate assets are things thathave title designations that's
gonna be your home, that's gonnabe vehicles, and then all of
just the general stuff that youhave.
Non-probate assets are thingslike life insurance, retirement
accounts, bank accounts,especially if they're payable on
death or have a joint owner.
(17:12):
Those items go directly to thebeneficiaries that are set up on
those accounts.
Those are third-party contractsthat you have with those
specific financial institutionsand upon death and presentation
of a death certificate, thetransfer occurs.
Meanwhile, the other probateassets have to have a workaround
.
It's also important to know.
Know, too, that if you know forsome reason your life insurance
(17:36):
didn't have a beneficiary, yourprobate it's going to fall into
that probate category and actas a catch-all and then will be
dispersed in the manner of whichyour will says or in the manner
of intestacy.
If you want to get aroundprobate, there are certainly
things that you can do.
One option is a transfer ondeath deed.
That is a document that isfiled with the property records,
(17:57):
which houses the deeds that youhave.
It's a living document, so itcan be revocable at any time in
the home, is going to go tothese individuals or this
specific person and what happensis, because it's filed in the
property records before theperson has passed, all you have
to do is take your deathcertificate down there and show
(18:20):
the property records.
Clerk, this person has passedand now it's mine, and you can
retitle that asset then in yourname and avoid probate.
It's important to know, though,if you've got kids, you're going
to work through that probateprocess.
However, one thing to know iswhat, if you've got that blended
family let's say that the mompasses and the dad is still
alive, that dad now becomes thesole guardian.
(18:42):
Even if mom declared I want myrights to make decisions for
those kids, it's important,though, for dad to know, in that
instance, to go and modify andmake sure the court knows you
(19:03):
know, now I'm no longer payingchild support, or hey, we can
stop her obligation, but youwant to make sure that that dad
has those rights and thoseduties to act now that the other
parent isn't there.
Alex Hunt (19:15):
So tell me, you mentioned the transfer on death
deed.
I had a client tell me oncethat was they had their first
home.
They were in their latetwenties and they told me it
sounds like something olderpeople need, not me.
Is it something that you wouldrecommend for younger families,
just for older folks?
Bri Holcombe (19:36):
It really just depends.
If you're going to stay in thishome for a year, maybe not,
it's not worth the time, like ifit's a starter home, well, and
not necessarily a starter home,because you could be in a
starter home for five years.
During five years somethingcould happen, but that's the
great thing about it is thatit's revocable.
So when you get ready to sellyour home, you take it back.
(19:56):
It goes away.
Now you've got to make sure,when you buy a new home, that
you do a new transfer on deathdeed.
But it depends on yoursituation and what you want.
I recommend it mostly for myclients that have children or
they have this home that theyknow they're going to stay in
for a while just.
Alex Hunt (20:16):
When you're a new parent.
Sometimes the last thing you'rethinking about is doing estate
planning and certainly ifthere's a lot of cost, it's one
of the last things you'rethinking about.
Holographic wills Tell me got ayoung family and the reason for
that is because you're going tojust generally say on a piece
of paper what it is that youwant.
Bri Holcombe (20:45):
Your wishes are not going to be specific enough,
like a will is going to be.
And two, there's a lot of keyand important language that you
want to make sure that isincluded in that holographic
will that our wills, whendrafted by an attorney, contain.
If you don't name a guardianfor your child in your will,
then, or your holographic will,well then what was the point of
(21:05):
doing that?
You know, I typically onlyrecommend holographic wills for
people who have no estate orthey're a young college student,
young professional with noassets.
Alex Hunt (21:15):
And just for to kind of decode holographic will.
It is not hologram, it's aholographic will and it's very
simply just a handwrittenwritten on a piece of paper.
Heck, could be written on theback of a napkin and then signed
, just saying what your wishesare, correct, it's important.
(21:38):
It can't be typewritten, it hasto be handwritten and then you
have to actually physically signit.
Don't do anything on thecomputer.
Get a legal pad, write it outand then save it.
If you're going to do that Inthe absence of anything else, if
it's doing a holographic willversus doing nothing at all, I
(22:06):
would certainly say.
I would suggest doing aholographic will, because it's
definitely better than nothingright, absolutely.
Bri Holcombe (22:09):
I had a friend who he just had a baby and he said
I don't have time and I don'thave money to get an estate plan
done.
Can I ride on the back of anapkin?
And I said put it on a legalpad.
But here's what you can do, andmaybe it's that you want to
have all your kids and then youwant to get these things done,
but you want something in placethat defines your wishes.
Alex Hunt (22:30):
And so that's.
Another good question is I'm ayoung family.
We've had our first.
We got our will done.
Now we're having our second.
Oh my gosh, do I have to dothis all over again?
Bri Holcombe (22:44):
and pay all the costs.
Alex Hunt (22:45):
What do you do?
Bri Holcombe (22:47):
In those situations we try, and when we
have young families, make surethat we cover those unborn
children.
We don't want you to justcontinually come back year after
year after year and makeamendments.
So we want to try and capturethe will and look at where
you're going to be in a coupleof years so you can do a codicil
(23:09):
.
Or you could just come back andredo the will completely If you
decide oh, I don't like mytwo-year-old right now and I
want to disinherit them and youwant to take them out.
Let's just get a new will anddo that.
The process can look likewhatever you want.
Sometimes people want to have afresh new will rather than an
amendment or a codicil that's onthe back of it.
Alex Hunt (23:29):
And that's all that a codicil is, and it can be as
simple as a one or two pagedocument just amending what
you've already done, so youdon't have to do the whole
process over again.
The cost is not going to be thesame as doing everything all
over again.
I think it's important, though,for people to know, like, if
you have one child and you useour standard language that we
(23:51):
use for young families, and youget a will done, and then you
put it in a drawer and then youhave three other kids and then
you pass it isn't, and then youhave three other kids and then
you pass it isn't necessarilythe case that, like your
firstborn, is going to geteverything it accounts for the
unborn kids and they would stillget an equitable portion right
(24:12):
Absolutely.
Okay, what else do you think ayoung like?
What would a young family needto know or want to know that you
think they should hear?
Bri Holcombe (24:22):
Yeah, I mean really, I think the primary
focus is your children, makingsure that they're taken care of.
Two, making sure your estate istaken care of.
But three, you know youngfamilies, often like young
professionals, they feelinvincible.
So having those documents forincapacitation is going to be
important because you never know, one person could get into a
car crash and then you'reincapacitated.
(24:44):
You need to make decisions andyou know who's going to do that
and who's going to have the easeto do that.
So planning for those worstcase scenarios, planning for
incapacity, is also important,along with planning for death.
Alex Hunt (24:57):
And you could just get the documents we talked
about, along with planning fordeath, and you could just get
the documents we talked about.
But there are some otherdocuments like that, at least,
that we include in our simplestate planning package.
It's very comprehensive.
One that we didn't talk aboutis a HIPAA release, and you
should be able to get somemedical information without a
HIPAA release on your spouse.
But, man, a HIPAA release isjust going to make it so much
(25:19):
easier, especially in the worldthat we're living in.
Hospitals have to deal with alot of laws, a lot of lawyers a
lot of bureaucracy.
Having a HIPAA release is goingto make sure that you get the
information on your loved oneshould an accident happen.
What else is in the full estateplanning package that, if a
(25:41):
young person comes to us, whatare they going to get?
Bri Holcombe (25:43):
Yeah.
So you're not only going to geta will, you're going to get an
appointment of disposition ofremains.
That's a document that sayshere's who's going to be in
charge of my body when I pass.
Alex Hunt (25:52):
Which is the most morbid title document that we
have.
Bri Holcombe (25:56):
And it's one that nobody wants to think about, but
it's necessary.
Yeah, well, and it's necessary.
You know I listen to a lot ofmurder podcasts and they're
oftentimes spouses whounfortunately harm their other
spouse and you know in thepodcast that I listen to when
that happens they go and theyturn around and they cremate the
body.
So nobody knows.
You know their DNA isn't on itand they get away with murder.
(26:17):
You, that appointment ofdisposition of remains will kind
of stop that and allow maybesomebody else to be in charge
rather than your spouse or say,hey, I want to be buried instead
of cremated.
It's going to contain all ofthat information.
You've got your appointment ofdisposition of remains, your
declaration of guardian, whichis a document that says if
(26:38):
guardianship which is a legallawsuit of guardian, which is a
document that says ifguardianship which is a legal
lawsuit has to be establishedover me and my rights have to be
taken away because I've becomea danger to myself, who's going
to be in charge of my person inmy estate?
We've got our power of attorney, or our financial power of
attorney, that says if I can'tmake decisions for myself
financially, who's going to makethose decisions for me?
(26:58):
I think about that documentoften.
You know my dad has a creditcard that my mom's not on.
Well, my mom can't call and getinformation on that credit card
because it's not hers.
She'd need that power ofattorney to make sure he pays
the bill on time.
You've got your medical power ofattorney, which is a document
that says these people can makemedical decisions for me, which
goes hand in hand with the HIPAArelease that says these people
(27:22):
can have access to my medicalrecords.
And then, of course, you've gotyour advance directive, which
is also a morbid one that peopledon't want to think about,
which is, if I have a terminalor an irreversible condition, do
I want to remain onlife-sustaining treatment?
Those are hard conversations tohave, because spouses have
different viewpoints on that.
They have differentphilosophies on whether or not
(27:42):
they'd want to remain ontreatment, have their estate pay
for them to be in some sort ofstate where they're not
communicating, they're not ableto express their opinions and
their desires.
So we really try and thinkabout long-term.
Where do you need to be rightnow?
What decisions need to be made?
Alex Hunt (28:01):
and for those young people, for those young families
, you do need everything yeah,and that advanced directive also
called a living will and like,like you mentioned.
Just to elaborate on that point, a lot of these are
conversations that youngfamilies are just.
This is not at the forefront.
I mean, they've got little ones, they're changing diapers,
(28:22):
they're, you know, gettingschool lunches together.
Um, there's a lot of couplesthat don't have conversations
about, like, should somethinghappen to me, what should the
funeral process look like?
Um, where do I want to beinterred?
Where?
Bri Holcombe (28:37):
uh where.
Alex Hunt (28:38):
What do I want the service to look like?
Bri Holcombe (28:40):
How much money are you willing to spend?
Alex Hunt (28:42):
Yeah, and those are conversations, even just like
who should take care of our kids, and those are sometimes
uncomfortable conversations, butthey're necessary conversations
and you shouldn't have to waituntil something happens and then
you're in the midst of a crisisto have that conversation.
(29:02):
Have it now and make sure thatthe folks that are going to be
the ones affected by that areaware of it and that they're
going to have someresponsibility, even for your
kids, for a trust, for finances.
They need to know what yourplans are as well.
Bri Holcombe (29:19):
Well, and I'll tell you this too, even if
you've got a spouse who'sdragging their feet and they
don't wanna make these decisions, you should go ahead and do it,
make those decisions for yourfamily, because if something
happens to the both of you, atleast one of you has got a plan,
and so I think that that'simportant too, for if you can't
have those conversations withyour spouse, then you just go
out and you do it.
Alex Hunt (29:40):
Yeah, all right.
Well, brie, thanks so much forjoining us, until next time.
Bri Holcombe (29:45):
Thank you.
today I'm here with brie holcomb, an attorney with
hunt law firm.
Thanks for joining me thank youfor having me today and so
previously we did a deeper diveinto estate planning,
particularly for 18 to 24 yearolds.
Today we're going to be takinga little bit of a deeper dive
for younger families, a littlebit further on in their
adulthood Maybe they have,they've just gotten married,
(00:31):
they've just gotten a new childand some of the unique issues
that relate to that demographic.
So, just as a reminder, this isfor informational purposes.
This doesn't create anattorney-client privilege and it
doesn't create anattorney-client relationship,
but we're just out here tryingto educate and decode and
(00:53):
demystify some of the legalesethat is prevalent in our work.
So, brie, tell us, just as anoverview, just as a reminder,
what is estate planning?
What is an estate plan?
Bri Holcombe (01:06):
Yeah, so estate planning is planning for not
only your death but yourincapacity.
You only die once, so you wantto have a plan in place for when
that happens.
But there can be many instanceswhere you become incapacitated
and you need someone to makedecisions for you.
You can also gain capacitationback, so you want to have plans
in place for if either of thosethings happen, that people are
(01:26):
in charge and people are able tostep in.
Alex Hunt (01:29):
And certainly if you don't have a plan in place.
That's where we see,unfortunately, a lot of the
calls coming into our office.
There's no plan in place.
There's family members that arescrambling.
Bri Holcombe (01:40):
They don't know what to do.
Alex Hunt (01:42):
There's family members that are maybe quabbling
over an estate.
There's a contested probateprocess and the estate planning
process.
No matter what area, whateverstage of life you're in, is
going to be beneficial.
From when you're an 18-year-oldcollege student that's going
(02:02):
off for the first time, whetheryou're a young family, you've
just gotten married, you've gotyour first young child, whether
you are approaching end of life,it's important to have an
estate plan, not just for youand so that your wishes are
accomplished, but for who you'releaving behind for your family.
Bri Holcombe (02:24):
You minimize that family disruption and you take
that pressure off of your lovedones who are already grieving
your loss to make thosedecisions.
Alex Hunt (02:32):
So it's the responsible thing to do.
A lot of people are kind ofintimidated by the process
because it involves going to alawyer.
It involves complex terms likestatutory, durable power of
attorney things that we don'tuse in everyday, ordinary
(02:57):
language and certainly there's acost associated with it.
So let's talk about each ofthose things.
What does it look like fromstart to finish, when you call
our office or you email us oryou reach out to us on the web?
What is the process?
Bri Holcombe (03:09):
Yeah, so the first step is just our intake process
.
So that's getting informationabout you, learning what size
estate you may have, who theplayers are, and running a
conflict check.
We just want to make sure thatall of our bases are covered and
that we're checked and that wecan represent you in the estate
planning.
After that we set up theinitial consultation.
That's when you'd meet with oneof our estate planning
attorneys to go over in detailhere's what my estate is
(03:33):
comprised of.
Here's my probate property.
Here's my non-probate property.
We walk you through what thosethings mean.
We talk about each document inour estate plan and what those
specific documents do, who theplayers involved in those
documents will be, and then wetalk about your family and
decide who's going to be bestfor you in those certain
situations.
What we do then, once we've gotall the information from you,
(03:56):
is we prepare drafts of yourdocuments.
We send you those drafts byemail with a big draft watermark
.
You look them over and you letus know if you have any
questions.
We want you to know with 100%certainty what you're signing.
There's going to be a lot oflegalese.
There's going to be a lot ofthings that you feel overwhelmed
by.
But that's what we're here foris to walk you through and guide
you through what thesedocuments mean, so that you're
(04:18):
set up for success later.
Once you approve your drafts,we then bring you back into our
office for our signing ceremony.
We provide two witnesses,notary.
We try and make it aslighthearted and fun as possible
.
We sign your documents in theoriginal form and then we
provide you with our estateplanning binder that has all of
your original documents, as wellas a USB that you can
(04:39):
disseminate copies to.
Alex Hunt (04:41):
And I think that's certainly one of the things that
sets us apart from places likeLegalZoom or the other online
kind of aggregators they're likekind of turbo tax for for wills
is you know that you have thebacking of a licensed attorney
that is not only making surethat you have the right
documents but is able to explainit to you.
(05:04):
You don't get that.
On legal suing, you are goingto get witnesses provided to you
by our firm.
You would have to find your ownwitnesses if you did something.
Bri Holcombe (05:14):
Who are disinterested, and then that can
create.
What is that?
Yeah, is it?
Alex Hunt (05:18):
somebody that has a beneficial interest and then
that can cause issues afteryou're gone.
You're going to have to findyour own notary and there's just
nobody.
If you've got a question, whichyou should have questions
during this process, there'snobody to ask those questions to
, and it doesn't have to besomething that is
(05:39):
extraordinarily expensive orcumbersome, or is a three or
four month endeavor, it'ssomething that can be
accomplished pretty quickly.
What does the process, whatdoes the timeline look like when
?
Somebody comes to our office.
Bri Holcombe (05:51):
So when people come to our office, I typically
like to have drafts turnedaround within three business
days, so that's from the datethat I have all the information
from you.
I don't think that you shouldwait for attorneys weeks and
weeks to get drafts.
This should be a process thatmoves.
You took the step to come intoan attorney and we want to
provide you with that service ofgiving you your documents as
(06:13):
soon as we can, but knowing thatthey're right and that they're
done correctly, so it can be afast process.
I've had clients in and out intwo weeks.
I've had others who you knowreally want to get into the
nitty gritty of what thisdocument is and how it, how it
plays out once they're gone oronce they're incapacitated, and
we'll sit there and we willhandhold and make sure that you
(06:33):
feel comfortable with theinformation contained in the
documents.
Alex Hunt (06:36):
So I think it's important to take a deeper dive
on younger families, newmarriages, new kids, because,
I'll be perfectly honest, mywife and I, we didn't have a
state plan, we didn't have awill.
Bri Holcombe (06:49):
I thought you were going to say you didn't have a
will.
Alex Hunt (06:50):
No, no, no, we definitely have a will, and
every time that we've added anew member to our family, we've
updated the will, and that's afairly easy process too.
But a lot of young people don'tnecessarily decide that they
need a will until they haveeither they get married or,
(07:12):
especially, they have a youngfamily or a new child.
And so if you just go based offof what you see on TV and you
like the godparents are going toget your kids if you pass away.
Bri Holcombe (07:26):
Right, that's not how it works.
Alex Hunt (07:27):
That's not the way it works in reality.
One of the most importantdocuments that a new parent can
have is a declaration of who theguardian of their child is
going to be in the event oftheir death or you don't think
about this in the event of theirincapacity.
Say God forbid there is anaccident or something happens
(07:52):
and both you and your spouse orthe other parent are
incapacitated.
You want to be the one that'smaking the decision about who is
caring for your child.
You don't want a court to bemaking that decision.
You want to be helping makethat decision, and a declaration
of a guardian of your minorchild is the way to make that
(08:13):
happen and have your wishesheard, even if you're not able
to voice those wishes in themoment.
So tell me a little bit aboutsome of the unique aspects of
estate planning for people thatare part of a young family
families have started developingtheir estate.
Bri Holcombe (08:32):
You may have bank accounts, you've got retirement
accounts.
You've got a home that you mayhave purchased.
It may be a starter home andnot worth millions of dollars,
but you've got some property.
(08:52):
You've got vehicles.
You want to make sure that uponyour death, those assets are
easily transferable.
Two one of the things that wehave is you think about, when
you've passed, who's going to bein charge of your children,
who's going to manage theirday-to-day care, but also who's
going to manage the state thatyou leave them behind.
(09:12):
That's something that we alsowant to take care of for you,
and we include in our wills whatare called testamentary trust,
which is a trust that's createdin the will and it's contingent
upon certain events happening,which is a trust that's created
in the will and it's contingentupon certain events happening.
You've got a trust that onlycreates if your children are
(09:33):
under a certain age.
So if you get this will doneand you're a young family and
you forget about it and you pass, 40 years later, that trust may
not need to be created anymorebecause your children have grown
.
But when they're young and whenthey're little, we want to
create something that is afallback and so that there are
people in charge of your kidsand we've taken care of you from
all aspects or your children,I'm sorry, from all aspects.
So we've got our trust.
We also have our guardians thatare appointed.
(09:55):
They can be the same people.
They can be different people.
No-transcript.
Alex Hunt (10:12):
Okay, so let's say you do that Again.
Knock on wood, god forbid.
Something happens and you namesomebody to be the guardian of
your child, but they havepre-deceased you, they've passed
before you.
What do you do in thatsituation?
Bri Holcombe (10:25):
So one of the things that we always talk about
is appointing successor agents,appointing people who are the
backups in case somethinghappens, especially for young
children.
You never know.
You could you know namegrandparents and siblings, and
everybody unfortunatelyexperiences an accident together
.
But we want to catch ourselvesfrom going down the what if?
(10:46):
Rabbit hole because you couldwhat if?
Yourself into a situation thatwill never happen.
But it's good things to thinkabout.
If you were to pass without awill, without naming someone as
your guardian for your child,then you've got your family
fighting over those children,and that's something everybody
wants to avoid.
Is that turmoil?
Because, again, you're notthere.
(11:07):
They're grieving you andthey're fighting over these kids
.
Alex Hunt (11:11):
Yeah, no, that's certainly the last thing that
you want.
So, in a bad situation, I canthink of nothing that would make
it worse than as if you do havea sizable estate and you don't
have a plan in place, or if youdon't have a testamentary trust
in place.
And then you know, say you'vegot kids, that it would be
(11:34):
detrimental to them to get yoursizable estate as soon as they
turn 18.
Yeah, what do you suggest forpeople that you know they have
an estate, they're fortunateenough to have an estate and
they want to make sure thattheir child doesn't, on their
18th birthday, just go crazy?
Bri Holcombe (11:50):
Well, so you don't have to have your trust end at
18.
You can choose your age, whichis something that we talk about
in our consultation.
I always give the example.
You don't give a five-year-old$100,000.
They'd buy roadblocks and gocrazy and rack up purchases on
Apple.
Alex Hunt (12:06):
And you might not want to give an 18-year-old that
much either.
Bri Holcombe (12:12):
Or a 21-year-old.
You've got to think about yourchildren.
When they're young it's hard todo because you don't know who
they're going to blossom into.
But if you've got kids who aremaybe 18 to 21 and you say I
just don't think they'reresponsible, that trust can last
a lot longer.
It can go until they're 25, 28,30, 35, 40, whatever age you
choose you can do.
Alex Hunt (12:33):
So tell me worst case scenario if you don't have an
estate plan, what happens?
Bri Holcombe (12:38):
Yeah.
So if you pass without childrenor you pass with children, I'm
sorry.
There is a law the UniformTransfers to Minor Act that
allows for those assets thatwould go to a child to be held
in trust In Texas.
The highest that it canterminate is 21.
But then you're left with thatsituation.
What if I don't trust my21-year-old?
(12:58):
You know what if they'd spendall the money on booze?
That's not something that youwould want.
So it's very important to havethe plan in place so that you
plan for these situations.
But if you do pass without youknow a plan, the court system is
the one who determines who'sgoing to be in charge, and who's
not only going to be in chargeof your children but also their
assets.
Alex Hunt (13:19):
Yeah, and I think a lot of you know young parents
that might be watching this orlistening to this.
They might be less concernedabout the finances, more
concerned about what's going tohappen to my kids, and so that's
why it's important, you know,demystify the myth that you know
(13:40):
the godparents you know thatwere there at the christening or
whatnot, are going toautomatically get the kids.
There is a court process thatwould have to ensue to ensure to
see who's going to get yourkids, and it can either play out
in the family courts, it canplay out in the probate courts,
(14:01):
but no matter what, there'sgoing to have to be some sort of
process, even if it's notcontested.
There's going to need to besome involvement with the court
system, which is an unnecessarystress and in a ready, very
difficult time it brings uponuncertainty about what's going
to happen.
And the reality is and I saythis as a family lawyer, as
(14:26):
somebody who does estateplanning it's an unnecessary
cost that you're bringing uponthe folks that you're leaving
behind to take care of yourchild.
So what else you know?
Tell us a little bit about theintestacy rules and how not
having an estate plan wouldaffect the other aspects.
Bri Holcombe (14:47):
Absolutely so.
If you were to pass and youhave a spouse, automatically
your spouse is going to be theone who inherits.
But just because they inheritdoesn't mean that you snap your
fingers and boom, they have thehouse that you own together.
Things don't transfer easilylike that, especially things
with title designations.
So you have to go to the courtprocess in order to effectuate
(15:11):
those transfers and do itlegally.
I think there's a lot ofmisconception again that oh, my
spouse died, I get everything.
But that may not be the case ifyou have a blended family, if
you've got kids from a priormarriage, it could be 50-50.
You want your wishes to becarried out, and so writing
(15:31):
those wishes down are what'simportant to with the intestate
process.
You know somebody has to go tothe court and do those things
for you.
What if the person who's doingit is not someone that you
wanted to be in charge?
That's why a will is soimportant and having those
wishes laid out.
Alex Hunt (15:48):
And and that's why it's so important to just have
these conversations now Becauseif you do have a blended family
and you're in your maybe yoursecond marriage and you have
children with a previous spouse,there's also to consider the
fact that if you are paying achild support obligation, that
that child support obligation isstill going to be owed to the
(16:11):
parent of your first spouse.
And having those conversationsand being able to plan for it is
so incredibly important, andthese are things that you just
don't think of.
Legal Zoom certainly doesn'tprepare you for it, so having
those conversations now is justso incredibly important.
Is there anything that you cando to avoid some of these things
(16:36):
?
You mentioned the house, mayberetirement accounts, insurance
policies.
How do we get around as much aspossible that probate process?
Try to keep as much of this outof court as possible.
Bri Holcombe (16:50):
So the first thing to know is that there's probate
and non-probate asset.
Probate assets are things thathave title designations that's
gonna be your home, that's gonnabe vehicles, and then all of
just the general stuff that youhave.
Non-probate assets are thingslike life insurance, retirement
accounts, bank accounts,especially if they're payable on
death or have a joint owner.
(17:12):
Those items go directly to thebeneficiaries that are set up on
those accounts.
Those are third-party contractsthat you have with those
specific financial institutionsand upon death and presentation
of a death certificate, thetransfer occurs.
Meanwhile, the other probateassets have to have a workaround
.
It's also important to know.
Know, too, that if you know forsome reason your life insurance
(17:36):
didn't have a beneficiary, yourprobate it's going to fall into
that probate category and actas a catch-all and then will be
dispersed in the manner of whichyour will says or in the manner
of intestacy.
If you want to get aroundprobate, there are certainly
things that you can do.
One option is a transfer ondeath deed.
That is a document that isfiled with the property records,
(17:57):
which houses the deeds that youhave.
It's a living document, so itcan be revocable at any time in
the home, is going to go tothese individuals or this
specific person and what happensis, because it's filed in the
property records before theperson has passed, all you have
to do is take your deathcertificate down there and show
(18:20):
the property records.
Clerk, this person has passedand now it's mine, and you can
retitle that asset then in yourname and avoid probate.
It's important to know, though,if you've got kids, you're going
to work through that probateprocess.
However, one thing to know iswhat, if you've got that blended
family let's say that the mompasses and the dad is still
alive, that dad now becomes thesole guardian.
(18:42):
Even if mom declared I want myrights to make decisions for
those kids, it's important,though, for dad to know, in that
instance, to go and modify andmake sure the court knows you
(19:03):
know, now I'm no longer payingchild support, or hey, we can
stop her obligation, but youwant to make sure that that dad
has those rights and thoseduties to act now that the other
parent isn't there.
Alex Hunt (19:15):
So tell me, you mentioned the transfer on death
deed.
I had a client tell me oncethat was they had their first
home.
They were in their latetwenties and they told me it
sounds like something olderpeople need, not me.
Is it something that you wouldrecommend for younger families,
just for older folks?
Bri Holcombe (19:36):
It really just depends.
If you're going to stay in thishome for a year, maybe not,
it's not worth the time, like ifit's a starter home, well, and
not necessarily a starter home,because you could be in a
starter home for five years.
During five years somethingcould happen, but that's the
great thing about it is thatit's revocable.
So when you get ready to sellyour home, you take it back.
(19:56):
It goes away.
Now you've got to make sure,when you buy a new home, that
you do a new transfer on deathdeed.
But it depends on yoursituation and what you want.
I recommend it mostly for myclients that have children or
they have this home that theyknow they're going to stay in
for a while just.
Alex Hunt (20:16):
When you're a new parent.
Sometimes the last thing you'rethinking about is doing estate
planning and certainly ifthere's a lot of cost, it's one
of the last things you'rethinking about.
Holographic wills Tell me got ayoung family and the reason for
that is because you're going tojust generally say on a piece
of paper what it is that youwant.
Bri Holcombe (20:45):
Your wishes are not going to be specific enough,
like a will is going to be.
And two, there's a lot of keyand important language that you
want to make sure that isincluded in that holographic
will that our wills, whendrafted by an attorney, contain.
If you don't name a guardianfor your child in your will,
then, or your holographic will,well then what was the point of
(21:05):
doing that?
You know, I typically onlyrecommend holographic wills for
people who have no estate orthey're a young college student,
young professional with noassets.
Alex Hunt (21:15):
And just for to kind of decode holographic will.
It is not hologram, it's aholographic will and it's very
simply just a handwrittenwritten on a piece of paper.
Heck, could be written on theback of a napkin and then signed
, just saying what your wishesare, correct, it's important.
(21:38):
It can't be typewritten, it hasto be handwritten and then you
have to actually physically signit.
Don't do anything on thecomputer.
Get a legal pad, write it outand then save it.
If you're going to do that Inthe absence of anything else, if
it's doing a holographic willversus doing nothing at all, I
(22:06):
would certainly say.
I would suggest doing aholographic will, because it's
definitely better than nothingright, absolutely.
Bri Holcombe (22:09):
I had a friend who he just had a baby and he said
I don't have time and I don'thave money to get an estate plan
done.
Can I ride on the back of anapkin?
And I said put it on a legalpad.
But here's what you can do, andmaybe it's that you want to
have all your kids and then youwant to get these things done,
but you want something in placethat defines your wishes.
Alex Hunt (22:30):
And so that's.
Another good question is I'm ayoung family.
We've had our first.
We got our will done.
Now we're having our second.
Oh my gosh, do I have to dothis all over again?
Bri Holcombe (22:44):
and pay all the costs.
Alex Hunt (22:45):
What do you do?
Bri Holcombe (22:47):
In those situations we try, and when we
have young families, make surethat we cover those unborn
children.
We don't want you to justcontinually come back year after
year after year and makeamendments.
So we want to try and capturethe will and look at where
you're going to be in a coupleof years so you can do a codicil
(23:09):
.
Or you could just come back andredo the will completely If you
decide oh, I don't like mytwo-year-old right now and I
want to disinherit them and youwant to take them out.
Let's just get a new will anddo that.
The process can look likewhatever you want.
Sometimes people want to have afresh new will rather than an
amendment or a codicil that's onthe back of it.
Alex Hunt (23:29):
And that's all that a codicil is, and it can be as
simple as a one or two pagedocument just amending what
you've already done, so youdon't have to do the whole
process over again.
The cost is not going to be thesame as doing everything all
over again.
I think it's important, though,for people to know, like, if
you have one child and you useour standard language that we
(23:51):
use for young families, and youget a will done, and then you
put it in a drawer and then youhave three other kids and then
you pass it isn't, and then youhave three other kids and then
you pass it isn't necessarilythe case that, like your
firstborn, is going to geteverything it accounts for the
unborn kids and they would stillget an equitable portion right
(24:12):
Absolutely.
Okay, what else do you think ayoung like?
What would a young family needto know or want to know that you
think they should hear?
Bri Holcombe (24:22):
Yeah, I mean really, I think the primary
focus is your children, makingsure that they're taken care of.
Two, making sure your estate istaken care of.
But three, you know youngfamilies, often like young
professionals, they feelinvincible.
So having those documents forincapacitation is going to be
important because you never know, one person could get into a
car crash and then you'reincapacitated.
(24:44):
You need to make decisions andyou know who's going to do that
and who's going to have the easeto do that.
So planning for those worstcase scenarios, planning for
incapacity, is also important,along with planning for death.
Alex Hunt (24:57):
And you could just get the documents we talked
about, along with planning fordeath, and you could just get
the documents we talked about.
But there are some otherdocuments like that, at least,
that we include in our simplestate planning package.
It's very comprehensive.
One that we didn't talk aboutis a HIPAA release, and you
should be able to get somemedical information without a
HIPAA release on your spouse.
But, man, a HIPAA release isjust going to make it so much
(25:19):
easier, especially in the worldthat we're living in.
Hospitals have to deal with alot of laws, a lot of lawyers a
lot of bureaucracy.
Having a HIPAA release is goingto make sure that you get the
information on your loved oneshould an accident happen.
What else is in the full estateplanning package that, if a
(25:41):
young person comes to us, whatare they going to get?
Bri Holcombe (25:43):
Yeah.
So you're not only going to geta will, you're going to get an
appointment of disposition ofremains.
That's a document that sayshere's who's going to be in
charge of my body when I pass.
Alex Hunt (25:52):
Which is the most morbid title document that we
have.
Bri Holcombe (25:56):
And it's one that nobody wants to think about, but
it's necessary.
Yeah, well, and it's necessary.
You know I listen to a lot ofmurder podcasts and they're
oftentimes spouses whounfortunately harm their other
spouse and you know in thepodcast that I listen to when
that happens they go and theyturn around and they cremate the
body.
So nobody knows.
You know their DNA isn't on itand they get away with murder.
(26:17):
You, that appointment ofdisposition of remains will kind
of stop that and allow maybesomebody else to be in charge
rather than your spouse or say,hey, I want to be buried instead
of cremated.
It's going to contain all ofthat information.
You've got your appointment ofdisposition of remains, your
declaration of guardian, whichis a document that says if
(26:38):
guardianship which is a legallawsuit of guardian, which is a
document that says ifguardianship which is a legal
lawsuit has to be establishedover me and my rights have to be
taken away because I've becomea danger to myself, who's going
to be in charge of my person inmy estate?
We've got our power of attorney, or our financial power of
attorney, that says if I can'tmake decisions for myself
financially, who's going to makethose decisions for me?
(26:58):
I think about that documentoften.
You know my dad has a creditcard that my mom's not on.
Well, my mom can't call and getinformation on that credit card
because it's not hers.
She'd need that power ofattorney to make sure he pays
the bill on time.
You've got your medical power ofattorney, which is a document
that says these people can makemedical decisions for me, which
goes hand in hand with the HIPAArelease that says these people
(27:22):
can have access to my medicalrecords.
And then, of course, you've gotyour advance directive, which
is also a morbid one that peopledon't want to think about,
which is, if I have a terminalor an irreversible condition, do
I want to remain onlife-sustaining treatment?
Those are hard conversations tohave, because spouses have
different viewpoints on that.
They have differentphilosophies on whether or not
(27:42):
they'd want to remain ontreatment, have their estate pay
for them to be in some sort ofstate where they're not
communicating, they're not ableto express their opinions and
their desires.
So we really try and thinkabout long-term.
Where do you need to be rightnow?
What decisions need to be made?
Alex Hunt (28:01):
and for those young people, for those young families
, you do need everything yeah,and that advanced directive also
called a living will and like,like you mentioned.
Just to elaborate on that point, a lot of these are
conversations that youngfamilies are just.
This is not at the forefront.
I mean, they've got little ones, they're changing diapers,
(28:22):
they're, you know, gettingschool lunches together.
Um, there's a lot of couplesthat don't have conversations
about, like, should somethinghappen to me, what should the
funeral process look like?
Um, where do I want to beinterred?
Where?
Bri Holcombe (28:37):
uh where.
Alex Hunt (28:38):
What do I want the service to look like?
Bri Holcombe (28:40):
How much money are you willing to spend?
Alex Hunt (28:42):
Yeah, and those are conversations, even just like
who should take care of our kids, and those are sometimes
uncomfortable conversations, butthey're necessary conversations
and you shouldn't have to waituntil something happens and then
you're in the midst of a crisisto have that conversation.
(29:02):
Have it now and make sure thatthe folks that are going to be
the ones affected by that areaware of it and that they're
going to have someresponsibility, even for your
kids, for a trust, for finances.
They need to know what yourplans are as well.
Bri Holcombe (29:19):
Well, and I'll tell you this too, even if
you've got a spouse who'sdragging their feet and they
don't wanna make these decisions, you should go ahead and do it,
make those decisions for yourfamily, because if something
happens to the both of you, atleast one of you has got a plan,
and so I think that that'simportant too, for if you can't
have those conversations withyour spouse, then you just go
out and you do it.
Alex Hunt (29:40):
Yeah, all right.
Well, brie, thanks so much forjoining us, until next time.
Bri Holcombe (29:45):
Thank you.
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