April 30, 2024 • 17 mins
Do college students really need a will? What documents young adults need when they leave the nest? You'll learn the essential estate planning documents a young person needs to ensure they are safe when leaving home for the first time.
Join Texas family law attorneys Alex Hunt and Bri Holcombe of Hunt Law Firm, PLLC in this inaugural episode!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alex Hunt (00:08):
our first guest is um attorney with hunt law firm,
brie holcomb, and she is one ofour family law attorneys um, but
she also has a focus in estateplanning as well.
So welcome, brie thank you.
Bri Holcombe (00:21):
Thank you for having me okay, so let's start
first.
Alex Hunt (00:24):
Just tell us very briefly what is an estate plan?
What is estate planning?
Bri Holcombe (00:30):
So estate planning is not only planning for death,
but also planning forincapacity, and when you're
young, you know dying is notsomething that is near in the
future.
You feel invincible.
So what we want to do is wewant to have a plan in place for
if that happens, but also inthe event that you become
incapacitated.
Alex Hunt (00:49):
Okay.
So 18 year olds, we often willget questions either from their
parents or from them what do Ineed to have?
I'm about to go off to college,I'm about to go off to the
military, I'm about to start mylife, and a lot of them think,
like you said, they'reinvincible and that they don't
need anything.
(01:09):
In fact, there are quite a fewdocuments that would be really,
really helpful.
Among those are a HIPAA release, a durable statutory power of
attorney and a medical power ofattorney attorney.
At the very least, I would saythose three documents are the
must-haves for people that arein that 18 to 24 age range.
(01:30):
Beyond that, there are somenice-to-haves.
A lot of 18 to 24-year-oldsdon't have a large estate and so
there maybe isn't that urgentneed for a complex will.
Things like a living will,where you're having to make
decisions about end-of-lifedecisions, things about a
(01:51):
declaration of guardian in casethe need exists.
Those are nice to haves, butthey're certainly not must-haves
.
Take us through some of thosemust-haves, starting with the
HIPAA release.
Bri Holcombe (02:02):
Yeah, so the HIPAA release is a document that says
these individuals can haveaccess to my medical records.
We always want our medicalpower of attorney to have access
to our medical records.
Reason being is because they'remaking a decision for us.
They're making a medicaldecision when we are not able to
.
You want your medical power ofattorney to be informed and have
(02:25):
information related to yourcare and related to the medical
conditions that you may have.
Just because you are 18 doesn'tmean that your parent has
access to your medical records.
You've become an adult and theparent can't necessarily just go
and request those medicalrecords because they're
protected and they're yours.
Just go and request thosemedical records because they're
(02:46):
protected and they're yours.
So having a HIPAA releaseallows your medical power of
attorney to not only make aninformed decision, but also make
one that's going to be in yourbest interest, with the full
picture and the full information.
Alex Hunt (02:55):
And you were telling me you know off camera, as we're
preparing for this that therewas a situation that arose in
your own life with a friend ofyours where HIPAA reliefs would
have come in handy for thisperson.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Bri Holcombe (03:08):
So when I was in college playing intramural
softball, my roommate got hit inthe head with a softball.
You know, you're in college.
You're nowhere near yourparents who can make those
decisions for you.
We had to get on the phone,call her parents, have them come
down here and or have them comecome down to Waco to make
decisions and make calls.
(03:28):
But they had to jump throughsome hoops appro from a broken
family or have strainedrelationships and you don't want
your parent making caredecisions, or you don't want
your mom, you'd rather have yourdad.
(03:55):
You want to make sure that yourwishes are laid out and that
there is a clear plan in placethat is meant for you.
Alex Hunt (04:02):
I can't think of a worse scenario than you know
I've got.
My oldest is 11, but I can'timagine your oldest goes to
college, there's an accident,you find out something happens,
you're at the hospital andcertainly you're next of kin,
but you are having to go throughbureaucratic paperwork trying
(04:23):
to just get information on yourchild.
A HIPAA release would alleviatethat.
You'd be able to talk todoctors, you'd be able to get
the information, you'd be ableto get medical records
immediately.
All right, so you've got yourHIPAA release in place.
And tell me a little.
I mean, is that complex?
What does that look like?
Bri Holcombe (04:39):
Very, very generalized document that just
says these people can haveaccess to my medical records
when I can't consent to give it.
This authorization doesn'tallow me to.
You know if I had one for you,just go to your doctor and get
all of your records.
They're going to ask well, whyare you needing them?
This is in place for when youcannot consent, so that's why
(05:00):
it's so important.
Alex Hunt (05:01):
Okay, you've got your HIPAA release in place.
Two documents powers ofattorney.
One is durable statutory powerof attorney.
That's definitely some legalesethat needs some decoding, and
then a medical power of attorney.
Tell me about durable statutorypower of attorney and what does
that do?
Bri Holcombe (05:18):
So a durable statutory power of attorney,
often referred to just as ageneral power of attorney or a
financial power of attorney, isa document that says these
people can come alongside me andhelp manage my finances when I
can't.
For our younger generation, youknow you may have bank accounts
or credit cards that yourparents no longer have access to
(05:38):
, and if something were tohappen to you and bills needed
to be paid or obligations neededto be fulfilled, you want to
make sure someone has theability to step into your shoes
and do that for you.
So the financial power ofattorney is very important,
especially for our youngergeneration, because you want
someone there in the worst casescenario, in the event that
(06:00):
something happens and you can'tmanage your finances anymore.
Alex Hunt (06:03):
Okay, and all of these forms?
When should a parent for achild that say they're a senior
in high school, say they'regoing off the military?
When should a parent startthinking about these things for
their child?
Bri Holcombe (06:16):
I would say the summer, between graduating and
going off to school.
You want to make sure thatbefore your kiddo goes off,
you've got these documents inplace and that things are ready
to go in that worst casescenario.
You know, oftentimes peopledon't want to think about the
worst case, but planning aheadand planning for that worst case
is going to make it so mucheasier and alleviate the
pressure that you may be facingin those moments.
Alex Hunt (06:38):
Yeah, and I think a lot of people they hear these
terms, they see these forms theythink I'm engaging a law firm.
This is going to be expensive.
It's going to be time intensive.
One thing that I'll say aboutour firm and your service that
you provide to the clients is itis as easy as could be.
(06:59):
It is not expensive.
The initial consultation isfree.
We give you a quote on how muchthese forms are going to be.
You don't have to do the fullpackage.
You can just do the forms thatyou need, and we even have a
bundle.
We have a bundle depending onwherever you are in life, and it
(07:20):
is pretty quick too.
Yeah, I mean some of our caseswhere we have had parents that
have come during the summer inbetween their child, you know,
senior year of high school,freshman year of college we'll
be able to get these things donein like maybe two weeks.
Bri Holcombe (07:34):
Oh, I would say less than that.
Yeah, it's in and out, becausein most cases, the parent is
going to be the one who'sauthorized to make the decisions
.
We need your name, address,phone number.
We can get these documentsmoving.
I like to think of our practice, and the service that we
provide is you shouldn't bewaiting on us.
You shouldn't wait for me to bedragging my feet.
You made the step, and this isso important, for you to get in
(07:55):
the door.
I'm going to do all I can topush you through.
Alex Hunt (07:58):
Yeah, and it's so easy for folks to go look on,
like LegalZoom or you knowthere's other websites like that
.
Um, and I just can't stressenough, you're, you're not,
that's not being reviewed by anattorney, it doesn't have, like,
the blessing of an attorney.
Um, these forms are gettingdrafted and have the blessing of
(08:21):
our office and you know thatit's going to be right.
Okay, the last one medicalpower of attorney.
What is that?
Why do you need it?
Bri Holcombe (08:29):
Yeah.
So a medical power of attorneysays when I can't make decisions
for myself, these people aregoing to step in and make
healthcare decisions.
It's not financial decisions.
That's what our power ofattorney is for.
So this specifically relates toany sort of healthcare decision
.
There are things that yourmedical power of attorney cannot
consent to.
So some people worry oh what ifthis power gives them broad
(08:51):
authority?
They can't confine you into amental institution, they can't
consent to an abortion, andthere are a couple of other
things that your medical powerof attorney is prohibited from
acting upon.
Having this document in placeallows you to make medical
decisions for someone whenthey're not able to.
Alex Hunt (09:09):
And I think that's what a lot of folks that their
kids are starting adulthood.
They don't have a family oftheir own.
That's what they're looking foris just if the worst happens,
I'm going to make sure that myloved one, my child, is
protected and that I'm going tostill be able to be involved for
them.
You mentioned a little bitabout you know if there is a
child or a new, a young adultthat has a family, you know
(09:33):
they're a child of divorce.
Tell me a little bit about howthat plays into this process.
Bri Holcombe (09:39):
Yeah.
So if you don't have thesedocuments, the first thing that
they're going to ask is do youhave a spouse?
Most 18 to 24 yearolds aren'tthere yet, so if they don't have
a spouse, it then reverts toyour parents.
If you've got two parents whowent through a contentious
divorce or they're no longerspeaking with each other, the
two of them are going to have tomake a decision together, and
(09:59):
that is oftentimes verydifficult when you're already in
a situation.
For example, you know, if oneof your kids was in a car crash
and you're no longer speaking tothe other parent, the two of
you have to act in that child'sbest interest.
You can't even be in the sameroom as each other, so that
creates a lot of conflict thatdoesn't need to be there.
If you would have executed thismedical power of attorney and
(10:21):
said this parent is going to bethe one in charge.
Alex Hunt (10:23):
Yeah, like conflict at the worst possible.
Bri Holcombe (10:25):
Absolutely.
Alex Hunt (10:27):
Okay, so those are the must-haves.
Tell me about the nice-to-havesor you know, things that are
kind of optional for youngerpeople starting their lives.
Bri Holcombe (10:38):
So I would say first is the will.
You know, the will is thedocument that says when I die,
here's where I want my stuff togo and here's who's going to be
in charge.
A lot of 18 to 25 year olds maynot have any property that is
ready to be distributed, and theproperty that they do have
might be held in a non-probateasset, which is things like
payable on death accounts, jointaccounts with maybe, a parent,
(11:01):
any life insurance if they'vegot retirement.
Those things go to thebeneficiary designations on
those policies or the otheraccount owners.
A will is just nice becauseyour wishes are laid out.
What if, instead of yourparents obtaining your property,
you wanted to give it to yoursibling?
If your wishes aren't on paper,there's no, you know I don't
(11:23):
know what the word is guideline,if you will, for how that
property should go.
Alex Hunt (11:28):
Sure, and certainly if you know, some 18 to 24 year
olds are fortunate, they do havean estate.
Sometimes that comes as aresult.
You know the Justin.
Bri Holcombe (11:39):
Bieber's of the world.
Alex Hunt (11:42):
They have their, they have an estate.
They should certainly go and getsome more complex estate
planning and they have a needfor a will.
If a younger person that's 18 to24, though they want to have a
will and they don't have thefunds in order to put forward to
go to an attorney to get thewill, they can get a holographic
(12:05):
will.
A holographic will is verysimply handwriting out your will
, not typing it out handwritingout your will and then citing it
at the bottom and simplystating what your wishes are,
and in Texas, that has the sameeffect as a regular will written
out by an attorney.
Of course, there are going tobe some things that, if you get
(12:27):
a will from an attorney thatwe'd certainly like to include
it'd help make it a little biteasier for you should there be a
probate process, but in theabsence of anything else, having
a holographic will, which is ahandwritten will with your
wishes that's just signed by youat the bottom, is something
that you can very easily do andthen just put it away for
(12:50):
safekeeping, like with yourparents or your loved ones give
them a copy give them a copy,make sure it's in a safe place,
um, and that's going to set youup a lot better than a lot of
other people that are in that 18to 24 year old age range.
Is that what you would recommend, um, you know?
Bri Holcombe (13:26):
So if they do a will either with us or they do a
holographic will, should it goto their parents?
Got two living parents, yourparents are going to be the one
who inherits.
Your siblings are not.
Where we find more complexitiesis what if you know one parent
is no longer with us, or bothparents aren't with us?
Then where does the property go?
Account, a holographic will isdefinitely for you, but if you
(13:54):
have, you know, created asuccessful influencer career,
you want to make sure thateverything in your estate is
taken care of.
Alex Hunt (13:59):
Okay, so take me somebody that wants to do one of
our packages, either like thekind of the 18 to 24 package or
the whole package.
What does the process look likefrom the time that they're
either reaching out on ourwebsite or they're calling us to
the closing out the case?
What is the process?
Bri Holcombe (14:15):
So the first step is our intake coordinator just
makes sure she's got all of ourinformation.
There's typically not manyconflicts of interest when we
have our estate planning, butour intake team runs a conflict
check.
And then what they do is theyset us up with an initial
consultation.
A consultation can be anywherefrom 30 minutes to an hour where
we talk through all thedocuments, we talk through what
(14:37):
they are, what they do and whoyou think would be best to be in
charge of each of thosedocuments.
Sometimes you have parents whomaybe are more financially savvy
, while another one may be moreable to make health care
decisions.
You can pick and choose who youwant to make these decisions
for you.
So once we talk it over and youdecide who you want to be in
(14:58):
charge of each of thesedocuments, then what we do is we
prepare drafts.
What we do is we send youdrafts with a big draft
watermark on them.
You look them over, you reviewthem and you make sure that you
understand what they say.
I don't want you signingdocuments if you don't know
what's inside.
There's a lot of legalese.
People often get scared, but wewant to break it down for you
and make sure that you know whatpowers you're giving these
(15:20):
people and what these documentsdo.
So once you've approved yourdocuments, we bring you into the
office for our signing ceremony.
We'll have two witnesses and anotary.
We'll sign all the documents intheir original form, prepare a
estate planning binder where weput the actual original copies,
but we also provide you with aUSB.
That way you can make copies,give them to your agents so that
(15:45):
they can act when the timecomes.
Alex Hunt (15:46):
Okay, great, you have a golden doodle.
I do.
He's your child.
Bri Holcombe (15:53):
He is.
Don't ask me how manybeneficiaries in the will for my
son.
Alex Hunt (15:59):
So a lot of 18 to 24 year olds may not have children,
but they do have pets.
Is that something that can beaccounted for in that estate?
Bri Holcombe (16:07):
Absolutely so.
The thing about pets is thatpets are personal property.
So if you want your pet to goto someone specific, you want to
make sure that your wishes arewritten out.
My son has a line of sevenpeople that he would go to.
In the event, the first one'snot there, we've got a second,
third, fourth, fifth, sixth andseventh, in the event there's
some sort of cataclysmic eventthat he survives, yes, exactly.
(16:29):
Or you know, we're all onvacation and you've got his his
line going to be very well taken.
He is.
Alex Hunt (16:37):
Is there anything else that you think parents or
young people need to know orshould know?
Want to know about this?
Bri Holcombe (16:48):
important for you to have those conversations with
your now young adult.
It's hard because you look atthis child who just turned 18
and is going off to college andyou still think that they're
your baby, but they have reachedthe age of majority and they're
able to go and act on their ownand you want to have these
tough and these hardconversations to appoint people
(17:09):
and make sure that they're takencare of when you leave.
Alex Hunt (17:13):
Certainly Well, Brie.
Thanks for joining us in ourinaugural podcast, and if folks
want to find more informationout about Hunt Law Firm, they
can go to familylawyerkatiecom.
Thanks for joining us.
Bri Holcombe (17:28):
Yes, you're welcome, thank you.
our first guest is um attorney with hunt law firm,
brie holcomb, and she is one ofour family law attorneys um, but
she also has a focus in estateplanning as well.
So welcome, brie thank you.
Bri Holcombe (00:21):
Thank you for having me okay, so let's start
first.
Alex Hunt (00:24):
Just tell us very briefly what is an estate plan?
What is estate planning?
Bri Holcombe (00:30):
So estate planning is not only planning for death,
but also planning forincapacity, and when you're
young, you know dying is notsomething that is near in the
future.
You feel invincible.
So what we want to do is wewant to have a plan in place for
if that happens, but also inthe event that you become
incapacitated.
Alex Hunt (00:49):
Okay.
So 18 year olds, we often willget questions either from their
parents or from them what do Ineed to have?
I'm about to go off to college,I'm about to go off to the
military, I'm about to start mylife, and a lot of them think,
like you said, they'reinvincible and that they don't
need anything.
(01:09):
In fact, there are quite a fewdocuments that would be really,
really helpful.
Among those are a HIPAA release, a durable statutory power of
attorney and a medical power ofattorney attorney.
At the very least, I would saythose three documents are the
must-haves for people that arein that 18 to 24 age range.
(01:30):
Beyond that, there are somenice-to-haves.
A lot of 18 to 24-year-oldsdon't have a large estate and so
there maybe isn't that urgentneed for a complex will.
Things like a living will,where you're having to make
decisions about end-of-lifedecisions, things about a
(01:51):
declaration of guardian in casethe need exists.
Those are nice to haves, butthey're certainly not must-haves
.
Take us through some of thosemust-haves, starting with the
HIPAA release.
Bri Holcombe (02:02):
Yeah, so the HIPAA release is a document that says
these individuals can haveaccess to my medical records.
We always want our medicalpower of attorney to have access
to our medical records.
Reason being is because they'remaking a decision for us.
They're making a medicaldecision when we are not able to
.
You want your medical power ofattorney to be informed and have
(02:25):
information related to yourcare and related to the medical
conditions that you may have.
Just because you are 18 doesn'tmean that your parent has
access to your medical records.
You've become an adult and theparent can't necessarily just go
and request those medicalrecords because they're
protected and they're yours.
Just go and request thosemedical records because they're
(02:46):
protected and they're yours.
So having a HIPAA releaseallows your medical power of
attorney to not only make aninformed decision, but also make
one that's going to be in yourbest interest, with the full
picture and the full information.
Alex Hunt (02:55):
And you were telling me you know off camera, as we're
preparing for this that therewas a situation that arose in
your own life with a friend ofyours where HIPAA reliefs would
have come in handy for thisperson.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Bri Holcombe (03:08):
So when I was in college playing intramural
softball, my roommate got hit inthe head with a softball.
You know, you're in college.
You're nowhere near yourparents who can make those
decisions for you.
We had to get on the phone,call her parents, have them come
down here and or have them comecome down to Waco to make
decisions and make calls.
(03:28):
But they had to jump throughsome hoops appro from a broken
family or have strainedrelationships and you don't want
your parent making caredecisions, or you don't want
your mom, you'd rather have yourdad.
(03:55):
You want to make sure that yourwishes are laid out and that
there is a clear plan in placethat is meant for you.
Alex Hunt (04:02):
I can't think of a worse scenario than you know
I've got.
My oldest is 11, but I can'timagine your oldest goes to
college, there's an accident,you find out something happens,
you're at the hospital andcertainly you're next of kin,
but you are having to go throughbureaucratic paperwork trying
(04:23):
to just get information on yourchild.
A HIPAA release would alleviatethat.
You'd be able to talk todoctors, you'd be able to get
the information, you'd be ableto get medical records
immediately.
All right, so you've got yourHIPAA release in place.
And tell me a little.
I mean, is that complex?
What does that look like?
Bri Holcombe (04:39):
Very, very generalized document that just
says these people can haveaccess to my medical records
when I can't consent to give it.
This authorization doesn'tallow me to.
You know if I had one for you,just go to your doctor and get
all of your records.
They're going to ask well, whyare you needing them?
This is in place for when youcannot consent, so that's why
(05:00):
it's so important.
Alex Hunt (05:01):
Okay, you've got your HIPAA release in place.
Two documents powers ofattorney.
One is durable statutory powerof attorney.
That's definitely some legalesethat needs some decoding, and
then a medical power of attorney.
Tell me about durable statutorypower of attorney and what does
that do?
Bri Holcombe (05:18):
So a durable statutory power of attorney,
often referred to just as ageneral power of attorney or a
financial power of attorney, isa document that says these
people can come alongside me andhelp manage my finances when I
can't.
For our younger generation, youknow you may have bank accounts
or credit cards that yourparents no longer have access to
(05:38):
, and if something were tohappen to you and bills needed
to be paid or obligations neededto be fulfilled, you want to
make sure someone has theability to step into your shoes
and do that for you.
So the financial power ofattorney is very important,
especially for our youngergeneration, because you want
someone there in the worst casescenario, in the event that
(06:00):
something happens and you can'tmanage your finances anymore.
Alex Hunt (06:03):
Okay, and all of these forms?
When should a parent for achild that say they're a senior
in high school, say they'regoing off the military?
When should a parent startthinking about these things for
their child?
Bri Holcombe (06:16):
I would say the summer, between graduating and
going off to school.
You want to make sure thatbefore your kiddo goes off,
you've got these documents inplace and that things are ready
to go in that worst casescenario.
You know, oftentimes peopledon't want to think about the
worst case, but planning aheadand planning for that worst case
is going to make it so mucheasier and alleviate the
pressure that you may be facingin those moments.
Alex Hunt (06:38):
Yeah, and I think a lot of people they hear these
terms, they see these forms theythink I'm engaging a law firm.
This is going to be expensive.
It's going to be time intensive.
One thing that I'll say aboutour firm and your service that
you provide to the clients is itis as easy as could be.
(06:59):
It is not expensive.
The initial consultation isfree.
We give you a quote on how muchthese forms are going to be.
You don't have to do the fullpackage.
You can just do the forms thatyou need, and we even have a
bundle.
We have a bundle depending onwherever you are in life, and it
(07:20):
is pretty quick too.
Yeah, I mean some of our caseswhere we have had parents that
have come during the summer inbetween their child, you know,
senior year of high school,freshman year of college we'll
be able to get these things donein like maybe two weeks.
Bri Holcombe (07:34):
Oh, I would say less than that.
Yeah, it's in and out, becausein most cases, the parent is
going to be the one who'sauthorized to make the decisions
.
We need your name, address,phone number.
We can get these documentsmoving.
I like to think of our practice, and the service that we
provide is you shouldn't bewaiting on us.
You shouldn't wait for me to bedragging my feet.
You made the step, and this isso important, for you to get in
(07:55):
the door.
I'm going to do all I can topush you through.
Alex Hunt (07:58):
Yeah, and it's so easy for folks to go look on,
like LegalZoom or you knowthere's other websites like that
.
Um, and I just can't stressenough, you're, you're not,
that's not being reviewed by anattorney, it doesn't have, like,
the blessing of an attorney.
Um, these forms are gettingdrafted and have the blessing of
(08:21):
our office and you know thatit's going to be right.
Okay, the last one medicalpower of attorney.
What is that?
Why do you need it?
Bri Holcombe (08:29):
Yeah.
So a medical power of attorneysays when I can't make decisions
for myself, these people aregoing to step in and make
healthcare decisions.
It's not financial decisions.
That's what our power ofattorney is for.
So this specifically relates toany sort of healthcare decision
.
There are things that yourmedical power of attorney cannot
consent to.
So some people worry oh what ifthis power gives them broad
(08:51):
authority?
They can't confine you into amental institution, they can't
consent to an abortion, andthere are a couple of other
things that your medical powerof attorney is prohibited from
acting upon.
Having this document in placeallows you to make medical
decisions for someone whenthey're not able to.
Alex Hunt (09:09):
And I think that's what a lot of folks that their
kids are starting adulthood.
They don't have a family oftheir own.
That's what they're looking foris just if the worst happens,
I'm going to make sure that myloved one, my child, is
protected and that I'm going tostill be able to be involved for
them.
You mentioned a little bitabout you know if there is a
child or a new, a young adultthat has a family, you know
(09:33):
they're a child of divorce.
Tell me a little bit about howthat plays into this process.
Bri Holcombe (09:39):
Yeah.
So if you don't have thesedocuments, the first thing that
they're going to ask is do youhave a spouse?
Most 18 to 24 yearolds aren'tthere yet, so if they don't have
a spouse, it then reverts toyour parents.
If you've got two parents whowent through a contentious
divorce or they're no longerspeaking with each other, the
two of them are going to have tomake a decision together, and
(09:59):
that is oftentimes verydifficult when you're already in
a situation.
For example, you know, if oneof your kids was in a car crash
and you're no longer speaking tothe other parent, the two of
you have to act in that child'sbest interest.
You can't even be in the sameroom as each other, so that
creates a lot of conflict thatdoesn't need to be there.
If you would have executed thismedical power of attorney and
(10:21):
said this parent is going to bethe one in charge.
Alex Hunt (10:23):
Yeah, like conflict at the worst possible.
Bri Holcombe (10:25):
Absolutely.
Alex Hunt (10:27):
Okay, so those are the must-haves.
Tell me about the nice-to-havesor you know, things that are
kind of optional for youngerpeople starting their lives.
Bri Holcombe (10:38):
So I would say first is the will.
You know, the will is thedocument that says when I die,
here's where I want my stuff togo and here's who's going to be
in charge.
A lot of 18 to 25 year olds maynot have any property that is
ready to be distributed, and theproperty that they do have
might be held in a non-probateasset, which is things like
payable on death accounts, jointaccounts with maybe, a parent,
(11:01):
any life insurance if they'vegot retirement.
Those things go to thebeneficiary designations on
those policies or the otheraccount owners.
A will is just nice becauseyour wishes are laid out.
What if, instead of yourparents obtaining your property,
you wanted to give it to yoursibling?
If your wishes aren't on paper,there's no, you know I don't
(11:23):
know what the word is guideline,if you will, for how that
property should go.
Alex Hunt (11:28):
Sure, and certainly if you know, some 18 to 24 year
olds are fortunate, they do havean estate.
Sometimes that comes as aresult.
You know the Justin.
Bri Holcombe (11:39):
Bieber's of the world.
Alex Hunt (11:42):
They have their, they have an estate.
They should certainly go and getsome more complex estate
planning and they have a needfor a will.
If a younger person that's 18 to24, though they want to have a
will and they don't have thefunds in order to put forward to
go to an attorney to get thewill, they can get a holographic
(12:05):
will.
A holographic will is verysimply handwriting out your will
, not typing it out handwritingout your will and then citing it
at the bottom and simplystating what your wishes are,
and in Texas, that has the sameeffect as a regular will written
out by an attorney.
Of course, there are going tobe some things that, if you get
(12:27):
a will from an attorney thatwe'd certainly like to include
it'd help make it a little biteasier for you should there be a
probate process, but in theabsence of anything else, having
a holographic will, which is ahandwritten will with your
wishes that's just signed by youat the bottom, is something
that you can very easily do andthen just put it away for
(12:50):
safekeeping, like with yourparents or your loved ones give
them a copy give them a copy,make sure it's in a safe place,
um, and that's going to set youup a lot better than a lot of
other people that are in that 18to 24 year old age range.
Is that what you would recommend, um, you know?
Bri Holcombe (13:26):
So if they do a will either with us or they do a
holographic will, should it goto their parents?
Got two living parents, yourparents are going to be the one
who inherits.
Your siblings are not.
Where we find more complexitiesis what if you know one parent
is no longer with us, or bothparents aren't with us?
Then where does the property go?
Account, a holographic will isdefinitely for you, but if you
(13:54):
have, you know, created asuccessful influencer career,
you want to make sure thateverything in your estate is
taken care of.
Alex Hunt (13:59):
Okay, so take me somebody that wants to do one of
our packages, either like thekind of the 18 to 24 package or
the whole package.
What does the process look likefrom the time that they're
either reaching out on ourwebsite or they're calling us to
the closing out the case?
What is the process?
Bri Holcombe (14:15):
So the first step is our intake coordinator just
makes sure she's got all of ourinformation.
There's typically not manyconflicts of interest when we
have our estate planning, butour intake team runs a conflict
check.
And then what they do is theyset us up with an initial
consultation.
A consultation can be anywherefrom 30 minutes to an hour where
we talk through all thedocuments, we talk through what
(14:37):
they are, what they do and whoyou think would be best to be in
charge of each of thosedocuments.
Sometimes you have parents whomaybe are more financially savvy
, while another one may be moreable to make health care
decisions.
You can pick and choose who youwant to make these decisions
for you.
So once we talk it over and youdecide who you want to be in
(14:58):
charge of each of thesedocuments, then what we do is we
prepare drafts.
What we do is we send youdrafts with a big draft
watermark on them.
You look them over, you reviewthem and you make sure that you
understand what they say.
I don't want you signingdocuments if you don't know
what's inside.
There's a lot of legalese.
People often get scared, but wewant to break it down for you
and make sure that you know whatpowers you're giving these
(15:20):
people and what these documentsdo.
So once you've approved yourdocuments, we bring you into the
office for our signing ceremony.
We'll have two witnesses and anotary.
We'll sign all the documents intheir original form, prepare a
estate planning binder where weput the actual original copies,
but we also provide you with aUSB.
That way you can make copies,give them to your agents so that
(15:45):
they can act when the timecomes.
Alex Hunt (15:46):
Okay, great, you have a golden doodle.
I do.
He's your child.
Bri Holcombe (15:53):
He is.
Don't ask me how manybeneficiaries in the will for my
son.
Alex Hunt (15:59):
So a lot of 18 to 24 year olds may not have children,
but they do have pets.
Is that something that can beaccounted for in that estate?
Bri Holcombe (16:07):
Absolutely so.
The thing about pets is thatpets are personal property.
So if you want your pet to goto someone specific, you want to
make sure that your wishes arewritten out.
My son has a line of sevenpeople that he would go to.
In the event, the first one'snot there, we've got a second,
third, fourth, fifth, sixth andseventh, in the event there's
some sort of cataclysmic eventthat he survives, yes, exactly.
(16:29):
Or you know, we're all onvacation and you've got his his
line going to be very well taken.
He is.
Alex Hunt (16:37):
Is there anything else that you think parents or
young people need to know orshould know?
Want to know about this?
Bri Holcombe (16:48):
important for you to have those conversations with
your now young adult.
It's hard because you look atthis child who just turned 18
and is going off to college andyou still think that they're
your baby, but they have reachedthe age of majority and they're
able to go and act on their ownand you want to have these
tough and these hardconversations to appoint people
(17:09):
and make sure that they're takencare of when you leave.
Alex Hunt (17:13):
Certainly Well, Brie.
Thanks for joining us in ourinaugural podcast, and if folks
want to find more informationout about Hunt Law Firm, they
can go to familylawyerkatiecom.
Thanks for joining us.
Bri Holcombe (17:28):
Yes, you're welcome, thank you.
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