Life Happens

June 21st, 2025. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good morning and welcome to Life Happens Radio. Are you prepared?
This is our weekly radio program where we address the
challenges we all face an agent. We talk about aging
as a lifestyle and the issues that must be confronted,
and the careful planning that's required to avoid crisis in
the future. Life Happens will provide you with the tools
to educate and prepare yourself for events like preparing for retirement,
protecting your income and assets, planning to pay for nursing

(00:23):
home and other long term care needs, special needs, establishing
wills and trusts, planning for untimely debts, and all the
other necessities for planning and care as they continue to
evolve over the course of our life, so that we
make smart decisions and ensure that those goals are reached
and your needs are met for you and your family.
We have a great show this morning. I'm accompanied here
by my friend and colleague, Anthony Kachewe.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Good morning, Anthony, Good morning Tommy, and good morning to
everyone out there in radio land.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Thank you for joining us. Bud. We're going to be
talking today about what not to do after we've set
up a plan.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Right.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
We don't want to just set it and forget it.
The important thing is is not just establishing a plan,
but making sure that we're performing the routine maintenance on
that plan to make sure that it remains as effective
as the first day that we created it. So we're
going to break it down into two parts. The first
portion of the show is going to be based on
making sure we have a plan. What does a good
plan look like? What are the foundations of a good plan?

(01:20):
And then the second is going to be how do
we maintain and making sure that our plan is always
kept up to date and serving our needs that we
need to satisfy. So one other thing, I'd like to
just have a quick little shout out for anybody who
is in the area. We invite you to attend a
community event that we are going to be co hosting
with other businesses this upcoming Thursday, June twenty sixth. It

(01:43):
is a barbecue bash. It's going to be held at
our office building at forty three British American Boulevard and
Latham to benefit two local charities, Living Resources and the
Veterans Miracle Center. Ticket proceeds of thirty dollars per person
will get you a chicken dinner to eat under the
tent or to take home, plus music and gets including
Dunk the Soldier and Raffles, face painting and balloons for kids.

(02:03):
So sign up to attend the barbecue Bashlal on June
twenty six by calling our office during the work week
at five pine eight four five nine two to one
zero zero or send an email to info at pierolaw
dot com and we hope that you'll be able to
join us. So getting started any building requires a good foundation.
And likewise, in planning, it's not just what happens when

(02:25):
we are no longer here and when we die, but
also while we are alive, there is a true importance
of making sure that we have the right documents in
place to assist us. So, Anthony, why don't you tell
our listeners some of the most important documents that we
use as a foundation to any estate plan.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Sure we often recommend the clients that they start off
with the core core, which is which includes a healthcare proxy,
a power attorney, a disposition of remains appointment, and a
last moal investment. Healthcare proxy is a document that you
appoint an agent to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.
Any event you're incapacitated and you can't make decisions for yourself.
The healthcare proxy is different than power attorney in the
sense that the healthcare proxy you can only have one

(03:03):
agent serve at a time. You can have coagents. New
York State doesn't want you to appoint your spouse and
a child and your spouse has to do one procedure
and then your child says no that or mom would
never want that procedure. So to eliminate that sort of confusion,
you cannot have co agents act in concert, but you
could have as many agents as you want act in succession.

(03:24):
We also recommend in the healthcare proxy to have a
living will component, and that says typically that what's going
to happen to you if you have some sort of injury, illness,
disease and you cannot or if there's a small chance
of a recovery to having a cognitive or sentient life,
what do you want to have done? Do you want
to be kept on artificial life support or not. Most

(03:46):
people will say that if they have some sort of
disease or injury, there is no chance or very remote
chance of a sentient life, or no reasonable chance that
they don't want to be kept on life supporting, definitely.
They don't want to be just hooked up to a
machine and not really enjoying life. And I feel like
when clients take the time to put those decisions in
a document like a healthcare proxy Tommy, it makes the

(04:08):
decision easier for their family members. So that's a heavy
decision to make. Your God forbid, you had some sort
of injury happen to you. Do you want to put
that burden on a family member? Do you want to
put that responsibility or ownus to possibly pull the plug?

Speaker 1 (04:23):
And just to piggyback off of that, Anthony, A couple
of things is that sometimes people think, well, I have
a immediate family member, I have a spouse, I have
a child, Like, wouldn't they just be able to step
in and make medical decisions for me? And the law
has some exceptions that could allow that, but sometimes we
don't all have traditional families or even close relationships with
those family members who have the exception under the law.

(04:44):
So if it's somebody that's a close friend or maybe
it's a life partner that yes, you never got married,
but they're the person. They are your person. The only
way that you're going to allow for them to be
able to step in that position is by designating them
in this document. And just to further one of the
points that Anthony made about the living will and the
end of life decisions, I mean, I've had families get

(05:04):
torn apart just from that basic decision. So it could
be something that perhaps the person who is in need
of that decision making may have made an expression during
their lifetime of something that they want to happen, but
they never formalized it, they never put it on paper.
And that's a very difficult situation to step into and
the burden to put on that person to make that
decision on their own. There's a lot of guilt that's

(05:25):
associated with that, on top of the fact that it's
already so difficult of a decision to make. And I
personally have had a brother and sister whose dad was
on life support and the son was the healthcare proxy,
and dad had expressed his wishes that he did not
want to be kept in that type of situation, but
the daughter had very strong beliefs the opposite way. I

(05:46):
believe that there was a religious component that was part
of it, but she was just saying, hey, you're killing
him that and to this day, from my understanding is
they still don't have relationships. So very important to make
sure that these things are spelled out.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
And New York does have the same Healthcare Decisions Act,
and that applies when someone's in a hospital or a
nursing home or receiving hostese care. And it says who
would make the decision if you don't have a health
care proxy, a legal guardian, a spouse, and an adult child.
But what if you want someone else right? What if
you don't want that order, or what if you have
multiple adult children and you just want wanted them to
make that decision right? So I always think it's best

(06:20):
to be proactive, to do things ahead of time, to
have a plan. It's something as important as a living
will component. It's critical for clients. Something also to consider
is we often have clients come into the through a
consult and they'll say, well, I want to I want
a dn R. And DNR is something that if you
have a heart attack and your heart stops right, but

(06:41):
you're going to have a normal life. Someone gets a defibrillator,
they put it to your chest, your back, you continue
eating dinner at your table. That is something that most
people would want. So there's a confusion between the DNR
and the healthcare proxy and the living will. Most people
want a DNR. If someone could do CPR to you,
someone could do a defibrillator and you're going to have
a normal life.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
You want that.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
You don't want people to say, oh my god, his
heart stop. Let's just continue our meal and let the
person die. So just wrapping up healthcare proxy, if you're incapacitated,
can't make decisions for yourself, you appoint an agent to
make those decisions for you. Tommy, why don't you go
over the next document, which is the power of attorney.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
I believe that the power of attorney is probably one
of the most powerful tools that anybody could have in
their arsenal when it comes to a state planning. And
the purpose of a power of attorney is to designate
an agent who is permitted to step in on your
behalf to be able to make financial and legal decisions
in place of view. Now, why is this so important?
We don't know when things are going to happen to us.

(07:39):
We don't know if and when we may become incapacitated.
And what's so important is that in the event that
should happen. We need to have a mechanism in place
that somebody could step in and to be able to
make the decisions that we would need to make to
put us in the best position possible. So I'll give
you another example, because I find that's how I like

(08:00):
to learn and seeing things in how they play out
in actuality rather than just these theories and things that
we're talking about put them into play. I had a
couple who weren't married. They were together for forty years,
and they did have some separate financing, and they never
did a power of attorney. They just never knew that
it was something that they needed. They just figured, oh,

(08:22):
this is my partner, I should be able to step in.
We've been together for forty years. I've also heard that from spouses. Right,
I've been we were married. What do you mean I
can't go in and just make decisions. Well, if you
have separate accounts, and unless they're authorized or you have
a power of attorney, guess what, you do not have
the right to just step in. It's not the same
as with the healthcare proxy, where there's specific special carve

(08:43):
outs that allow you to be able to step in
with a power attorney. That doesn't exist without a power
of attorney. Actually, you have to go to court and
get what's called a guardianship in order to be able
to start making those decisions on behalf of this individual.
So in the example that I'm giving, it was a
couple who weren't married. They did have separate finances for
one other reason, they didn't have the authority on the account,
and they never had a power of attorney. Fast forward,

(09:05):
I'll call her the wife. In this situation, she ended
up suffering from stroke and never recovered. She was incapacitated. Now,
they had money saved that put them beyond the Medicaid
limit for eligibility purposes, but they did not have that
kind of money that they could afford to pay a
long term care facility on a monthly basis, which could
be anywhere between fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. Now had

(09:28):
had the power of attorney, I could have been able
to set up a trust, move money around, implement some
spend downs, implement a strategy to get her Medicaid eligible,
to get her the care that she needed, while also
preserving their assets to the best of our ability. And
in that situation, I had to get a guardianship and
that took months, it was expensive, and meanwhile she's in

(09:52):
this facility incurring a private bill of several tens of
thousands of dollars that they're basically they're just giving a
way that they could have used for let's just say
the healthy, the healthy partner that was still in the community,
who could use that to live off of right, they
end up losing it. So the power attorney is vital. Now,
unlike the healthcare proxy, you can have more than one
agent at a time, So if you have a spouse,

(10:15):
they can always be the first. And in any of
these documents that we're talking about, there's always a mechanism
of including successors. We'd ever know if something's going to
happen to someone or if they're not or if they're
able or capable to be in the position of serving
in that role when the time comes, So you can
name backups. But let's just say, after my spouse, I
have two children, I would like them for both to
act as agents with the power of attorney. You do

(10:35):
have the ability, but the most important thing is having
it and making sure it's filled out correctly. Anthony tell
me a couple of When I say that, tell tell
tell our listeners what I mean by that.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Well, for first of all, the power attorney, you're gonna
want it to have gifting provisions. Sometimes going to say, oh,
I have a power attorney, but you're going to be
severely limited if the power attorney does not allow you
to do gifting. To transfer assets out of your state.
Like Tommy mentioned, you may be incapacitated or loved one
may be incapacitated. You want to do additional estate planning
for that person. You want to create a trust, you

(11:06):
want to get assets out of their state right now,
currently New York, for home health Aids, there is no
look back period. So you would be able to form
a trust, which we will discuss in further detail later
on the show, and transfer assets out of your state,
and by doing so, you could become eligible for Medicaid.
A lot of kinds of people will say, oh, I
hear the five year look back, but the five year

(11:26):
lookback period is specifically for nursing home care. It's not
applicable for home health AIDS at this time. One of
the pushback that I get from clients sometimes with a
power attorney is that they are concerned about giving up control.
But I would say that if you're first of all,
you keep control, you're still the principle you can act
on your beat. And second of all, if you're concerned
that your agent won't do the right thing by you,

(11:47):
then I would say you're picking the wrong agent. Don't
not have the document. Don't say to yourself, well, I'm
not going to have a power attorney because I don't
need it. You never know when you're going to need
the power attorney. Pick the right people, pick the people
that you trust. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
I couldn't agree more with that, And that's absolutely true
and essential. So those ancillary documents, again, those are during
our lifetime to be used in the event of our incapacity,
and they're always amendable. So between now and five ten
years from now, things can change. You always have the
freedom to go back in and change the decisions that
you've made. And again, while you have that autonomy, you

(12:20):
are still the primary person who are calling the shots.
So we're going to take a quick break. When we
get back, we're going to be talking about testamentary provisions,
wills and trusts, and we'll go into that when we
return stay tuned and we're back. Welcome again on this
Saturday morning. Thank you for tuning in. I'm here with
my colleague Anthony Kachuwi, and we are talking about not

(12:42):
only just the essentials and basics of a good foundation
of estate planning, but also what we need to do
to make sure that that planning stays up to date.
So far, we review the power of attorney and healthcare
proxy and the last ancillary document we're going to discuss
is what's called a disposition of remains appointment. Now, this
allows you to designate an agent to be in charge
of your after your death, your burial, and your funeral arrangements.

(13:06):
And this the document just allows you to further expand
upon what those wishes are, especially if they're really important
to you. Again, and also who you want to make
those decisions. It's not just implied that any given person
is going to be able to do that. So if
it's not necessarily a family member or a spouse, but
it's a partner, a close friend, or someone else that's
more remote, and you know that they are the ones
that you'd want to make those decisions, this document is

(13:27):
very important to make sure you appoint the right people
the right backups to that person, and then also to
be able to spell out your wishes on what it
is you want, whether that's cremation, a burial, or if
there's a specific kind of ceremony. I had a really
nice one. I had a client and said they wanted
a cocktail party, which was I hadn't heard that one before.
But be creative. The whole idea behind these documents is
to preserve your autonomy when you are no longer here.

(13:49):
It's picking the people who can act as your voice,
that can carry out what it is that you always intended.
So besides those three documents, anything.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
But before quickly this position of remains appointment. I often
ask clients if they ever thought about what they want
for their sort of final remains final wishes, and often
clients will say no. But then if I ask do
you want to be buried to cremate it, almost everyone
then has an answer. So sometimes you think you don't
know what you want, but if you give it a
little thought, then you find out that you actually do
have a preference. And this is a way to make
it easy for your loved ones. When people die, it's

(14:20):
a challenging time and the whole purpose of having an
estate plan in place is to make it a little
bit easier for them. Right, they have grief, they're going
through a lot of emotions. You don't want people arguing
over if someone wants to be cremated or buried, And
these are the sort of things that I feel like
in a sad or stressful time could make things even worse.
So I think when you do an estate plan, not
only is it a service to yourself, but it's a

(14:40):
service to your family members because you're eliminating potential conflict
in disagreement.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more with that. I always tell
my clients when we're doing our plan that the purpose
of the plan is to control the chaos, right, because
when you're in that situation, when that event happens, when
that stroke happens, that fall, or whatever that case might be,
we're not always going to be able to think straight.
We're going to be emotional. Reason is not really going
to find it's way to the equation. So by having
the roadmap, by having everything laid out, it makes it
easier on the people who have to perform those actions

(15:07):
because they're going to they're getting the direction, they're not
going to be forced to have to really think or
have to insert their own opinion, which could, as Anthony
was saying, conflict with maybe what someone else is thinking
in an already high stress, chaotic environment, something that you
might think is so inconsequential could be the reason why
relationships fall apart in the future. So it's extremely vital

(15:28):
and bearing on that same note, going on to well,
now what happens when we die? Okay, the fourth component, right,
we discussed power, attorney, healthcare, producty, disposition of remains. So
the core for the fourth document is the last will
and testament. Anthony, why don't you tell our listeners exactly
how that's used, what it's used, or what are the implications.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Of sure, thanks Tommy. So last one and testament to
legal document. It's in an outline. When you're deceased, who
is going to inherit your property? People don't realize, you know,
sometimes people don't like to think about dying, and they say, hey,
it's really stressful. I don't want to complete a plan.
But if you don't have a plan that New York
State gives your plane has a plan. It's just a
matter of do you want to be the one making
those decisions on your spook, on your own behalf, or
do you want the state to dictate who's to inherit

(16:07):
those assets? Right, So, if you don't have a will,
then the laws of intestacy will kick in, and if
you have a spouse, your spouse will inherit everything. If
you have a spouse and children, then your spouse will
inherit the first fifty thousand dollars and half of your
remaining assets, and your children will inherit the other half.
But hopefully if you learn anything from this segment is
that we want to empower our clients and our listeners

(16:27):
to be the masters of their own destiny and to
come up with their own plan and to decide who
gets what and how much. So last will and Testament
is a document that you dictate who will be the
beneficiars of your state and who will be the executor
of your state. Who's the person who is going to
sort of gather your assets, be in charge of filing
your will with the surrogance court along with the petition
and the death certificate, and being in power to be

(16:49):
named as the executor, to get all your assets, pay
off all your debts, and give your assets to your beneficiaries.
There's many ways that people can inherit through a will.
They can inherit outright, which is just they get a
check for a certain sum of money for they can
inherit things that are in trust, and the trust has
many benefits that an outright disposition does not have. If
you get something outright, it's part of your state God forbid.

(17:11):
If your beneficiary then get sued or they have a
lot of assets and now they're inheriting even more assets,
that could cause an a state tax issue for them.
So to circumvent that, they can inherit assets through a
trust which is credit or protected and not includable in
their estate. And that trust could be formed in their will.
That's called the testamentary trust. But temmy, a will is
a public document, and a lot of the clients come

(17:33):
to me and they say, I hear bad things about
a will. And one of the things that people will
always mentioned, especially in New York, is probate. People always say,
and even just layman, if you say do you know
anything about the probate process, they'll say, oh, family member
died and I had to go through probate. And people
say it's expensive and it's time consuming. Whyting you give

(17:53):
the listeners just a little bit more of a background.
What is this probate and how them we're able to
find out about some very well known celebrities and their
state plans. You always hear, oh there was a so
and so and so Jimmy Buffett, I believe is a
recent one in the news. Everyone knows they're a state plan.
Why is that?

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, So that's it's a good point to make. Now,
the wills are very important, as you know, for all
the things you've mentioned. It gives us the opportunity to
be able to make sure we have our wishes spelled
out because, as Anthony said, otherwise, New York State's going
to make the determination for us. But when we do
pass with assets in our name alone, it requires us
to go through probate and probate processes, filing a petition

(18:33):
with the court, to present them with the will for
them to approve it, and also prove the appointment of
the fiduciary that you appointed or fiduciaries to be able
to take the action on behalf of the estate. Now,
what does that entail? First, it requires filing a petition
and also serving notice on all of the beneficiaries next
of ken and other people named in the will. And

(18:54):
that means that even if it's someone that you would
have been able to who would have been able to
inherit from you under the laws of DestinE, even if
you didn't provide for them in the will, you're still
required to provide them notice. And not only do I
just have to give them notice, I either have to
get what's called a waver and consent, and if they
don't want to sign that, then I have to cite them.
I have to actually issue them a citation and give
them the opportunity to show up. And if they want

(19:15):
to contest the will, they can and it costs them nothing. Okay.
That means that all they need to do is make
that appearance, and that will cause a severe delay in
the actual administration of your estate. On top of the
fact that it's a long process to begin with. I
mean in New York, depending on where you are upstate, downstate,
I mean anywhere between six nine twelve months at a minimum,

(19:35):
it's going to take to be able to go through
this process. And while that's going on, you have to
keep in mind that whatever assets are tied to your
estate are frozen and inaccessible until the executors appointed. So
a lot of people their biggest assets are real estate,
the real property taxes, or if you have a condo
or co op, the maintenance fees, if there's a mortgage
that's still outstanding. All of these costs are accruing and

(19:57):
I don't have any access to an account, let's say,
to be able to pay that money, and I don't
have anything access to the property itself to maybe to
sell it or do anything to try and unload that liability.
So there's a lot of different components of why someone
would want to avoid provid and thankfully there are quite
a few methods to do that. But like just to recap,

(20:18):
you have to file it, go through court serve. Notice,
there's the waiting game, okay, and then you have the
other complications that could arise if someone wants to bring
up a contest. And so what we tell our clients
when we're also preparing this plan is I need to
be prepared with it no matter what. I need to
have a will And we'll explain why when we talk

(20:39):
about trusts in the future, because we're gonna say, well,
I took all these steps to try and avoid having
to go to probate. Why would I still need a will, Well,
because there's still ways that money could come to us
after we die. Assets can still come to us when
we're no longer here. And it doesn't matter whether you
have a trust, doesn't matter whether you're married, didn't matter
if you had a bank account that had a beneficiary
or a joint owner on it. If it's payable to
you after death, that means that it's payable to you only,

(21:00):
and so it would be required to go through your estate.
I have one example where a client was tied in
litigation prior to dying. It's been three years and now
we finally reach the settlement. That settlement money is going
to have to go through his estate, even though he
did have a trust to set up during his lifetime.
But thankfully we have a will. The will spells out
clearly what it is that he needs, So for that
particular asset that came into his estate after death, that's

(21:23):
the only asset that will require probate. But again, it
acts as a safety net, and that is why it's
one of the core documents why we always.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Need it, just to sort of reemphasize something that you
said is during the probate process, the accounts are frozen.
If they're not beneficiary designations on those accounts, all the
assets are frozen. So if you're in a probate for six, nine,
twelve months, that's a heavy burden on the estate. How
are people getting access to this money? And maybe be
a preliminary letters that that'll take several months as well.
So probate is one option having a will, that's one

(21:51):
of delay to an expense because you're hiring a law
firm during that time. Three the will becomes a public document,
and some people want to have privacy. They don't want
everyone to know. Right. That's how we're able to see
what all these celebrities give their money to because wills
are public. So what's another approach to me? We don't
want to have a will. We don't want to be
stuck in the probate. We don't want to have to
pay law firms and wait for several months or a

(22:12):
year and have accounts frozen and be responsible have our
state's responsible for paying maintenance or real estate taxes. What's
another approach that people could do? What's this revocable living
trust that I hear so much about.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Well, we're going to talk AboutUs, but I want to
touch upon one other one. That's the one of the
easier ways of implementing but also some of the caution
tales behind that as well. One of them is by
naming beneficiaries on accounts. Now, we can't do that with
every single asset we own, but that is one of
the easiest ways of avoiding provate. So what does that
look like. I have a checking account in my name,
I might have one that's joint with my spouse, so

(22:41):
joint ownership, that's another way. Upon the death of the
first the second joint owner that's surviving will automatically come
into possession. But then what happens when that person dies,
or what happens if I was the only name on
the account. Well, I have the ability to name a
beneficiary on that account. So upon my passing or upon
the passing of the second survivor in a joint case,
the beneficiary would automatically become in titled to that account.
But there's a problem with that, and that's that we

(23:03):
maybe not able to foresee right now, and that is
what is the position of that individual and their circumstances
in life at the time that they are going to
inherit it. That's the one thing that naming a beneficiary
does not contemplate. And then what if I have multiple beneficiaries? Right,
let's just say I have two kids and I have grandkids. Now,
if one of my children predecease me when I die,
it's not that that person's that sees child's children are

(23:26):
automatically going to get their share. It's not set up
like that. So if I had two children both their
name one past, well, the one who's surviving is the
one who's going to end up with that account. Okay,
let's take it a step further. What happens if that
person's disabled at the time. They could be healthy now,
but that doesn't mean that they remain that way unfortunately. Right,
there's accidents happen all the time. What if they're in
a position, what if they're in a bad financial struggle,

(23:46):
what if they're in the process of being suitor or
in litigation, or any other imaginable situation you can think of.
Naming a beneficiary is definitely a good quick fix for
short term but the more absolute and concrete way is
by making sure we have more flexibility and control over
our planning, and that's where trusts really come into play.
It gives you the same abilities that a will does,

(24:08):
except it's a private document, does not require probate, and
it allows you to account for all that contingency planning
that you cannot necessarily account for with simply naming a
beneficiary on an account. So what we're going to do
is we're going to take another break and when we return,
we're going to dive into trusts, different kinds of trusts,
and the different options that are available to you by

(24:29):
pursuing that type of plan. So stay tuned and we'll
be back shortly. Sure, and we're back. Thanks again for
joining us this Saturday morning. Again, it's myself Tom Morasco
and my colleague Anthony Kachewi. We are talking about the
basics and fundamentals of a good estate plan and how.

Speaker 4 (24:51):
To maintain it.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
So far, we've discussed certain documents that are important during
our lifetime in the event of our incapacity. We've also
talked about wills, and we've talked about the probate process.
We talked a little bit about how we can avoid
the probate process and what we believe in Anthony I'm
sure agrees with me that the most useful tool that
we can utilize in avoiding probate and maintaining the flexibility

(25:15):
that we want in estate planning is through a trust. Now,
there are several kinds of trusts. Categorically we can break
them down to revocable and irrevocable trusts. I'm going to
pass this off to Anthony to give us a little
bit more information about revocable trusts, how they're set up,
how they're used, and what they can do for us.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
So, revocable living trust is a legal document in which
you are going to be outlining who is going to
inherit your assets, just like a will, except there as
many benefits to it. Like Tom already mentioned, you don't
have to go through probate, and it's not a public document,
so you avoid the expense and delays of probate, and

(25:57):
you avoid having the neighbors and everyone you know knowing
who got your assets. So what is a revocable living trust.
It's an agreement. And in this trust agreement, the client
is creating the trust. It's called the grant floor, and
there is a trustee and the trustees job is to

(26:18):
manage the assets of the trust. The trustee is the
one that holds legal title to the assets, and that
is also typically the client. And then there's a beneficiary,
and the beneficiary is who the trust assets are held
for the benefit of, and that is also the client.
So the client is the grants or the trustee and
the beneficiary. And a revocable living trust, just like it

(26:42):
has in the name, could be amended, restate it, revote
all the income and principle of the assets that are
transferred to the trust are held for the client's benefits.
So you prepare a revocable living trust, and during your lifetime,
the client has complete control of the principal and the income,

(27:02):
just like they have with the bank account. They take
money in, they take money out, They answer to absolutely
no one, And it has provisions in that document that
says who will inherit those assets upon the grants tour's death,
but at any time before that, as long as the
grantsweur has capacity, they could change that trust. They could
amend it, restate it, relocated. If a family member bothers you,

(27:23):
they don't call you for your birthday, they don't show
up and call you for Father's Day, you write the
now immedia, you have complete control at all times. There's
also an incapacity management system built into the documents, so
in the event you're incapacitated you can't make decisions on
your own. There are successor trustees didu sharies that have

(27:47):
to act on your behalf and in your best interests.
This is similar to what a power attorney does, but
the revocable living trust is a much more comprehensive document
and often what we have What we find with clients
is that even if the power of attorney is valid
you signed it at a law firm, the clients typically

(28:07):
won't have a problem that requires the power attorney. Even
though the power attorney is effective immediately, the principle is
not giving up control, and the principle is doing everything
on their off and really the agent's only going to
be asked to step in if something happens to the
principles that that may be ten or fifteen years later
from when that document was signed. And it's not uncommon

(28:28):
to hear that the back office of a bank doesn't
want to accept that power attorney. They may say that
document is scale, get us a new one, even though
that's legally inaccurate.

Speaker 5 (28:39):
Now you're in a.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Situation where the bank isn't going to adhere to your wishes,
to your agent's wishes, and now you're editing pass. So
with the revtable living trust, all the assets that are
within that trust that you have transferred to your trust
are now under the control and authority of yourself when
you're trying trust, and if something happens to you, to

(29:01):
your success or trustees so they can immediately step in
and act on your behalf. Tommy was mentioning before that
when clients are incapacitated, sometimes they need to have a
guardianship because the other spouse may not have access to
their bank accounts. This is another technique that would not

(29:23):
require having a guardian. When you have all the documents
working together as a comprehensive plan, you have the power
attorney for assets that are not included in their revocable trust,
certain assets can't be transferred, such as retirement accounts, and
then for all your other assets you have in the
revocable trust where you have complete control. So you have

(29:44):
the revocable trust, the power attorney, the healthcare proxy. All
these documents, when they're together start forming a comprehensive plan
so that no matter what happens to you, you're protective.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
That's really good and very insightful because the other thing
is that with those certain assets like such as real estate,
for instance, you can go to the point of co
owning it with somebody, but then when you're the last
person in line, where does it go. Now? There are
other methodologies that could be implemented, such as life estate,
but there are certain downsides to even utilizing that. But

(30:19):
with the trust, if I transfer that piece of real
property into the trust, it allows me to avoid that probate,
and it allows me the opportunity to name and address
what happens to that property, and I don't have to
do the weight game that I have to do with
the probate like in the situation of a will. So
it's very important for that.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Also the revotable living trust, you identify who your beneficiaries are,
but then you also identify or state the method in
what you're going to inherit those assets. Am I going
to inherit the ass or my beneficiary is going to
inherit the assets out right? Are they going to have
it in a continuing trust for them? So you could

(31:03):
almost do a state planning for your beneficiaries. By having
these continuing trusts, what we like to call a beneficiary
control trust, you could have assets remain in trust for
their benefit rather than having the assets go out right.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, and that goes back to exactly what I was
saying before with the issue with naming a beneficiary on
an account where we can't account for future circumstances. In
a trust, we can, so we can say right off
the bat again, how do I want them to get
it outright or in trust? There's several benefits of having
it provided to them in further trust, because now it

(31:39):
becomes an asset protected asset for them in the future
that they can continue to access on but nobody can
can touch that or have access to it, whether it's
a judgment, credit or divorce, bankruptcy, or even if you
need some type of government benefit or aid. So it's
extremely important. So now in the event that someone who's

(32:03):
going to inherit as a minor or if they have
special needs, we have that contingency planning built into the trust,
so no matter what situation occurs, it would just trigger
something different in the trust and then that would get
activated and it would be able to just both not
only the needs of that individual, but also making sure
that that asset is acquired in the right way.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
I often hear from clients when I say about the
benefits of having these sort of continuing trusts built within
the trust. See, when you have a comprehensive plan, you
have a plan for yourself, you have the revocable trust,
and then upon your debt that you could do the
planning like we said for your beneficiars. And now you
have these continuing trusts which your asset protected. And clients
will often say, what do I need assid protection? I

(32:47):
kind doesn't have any creditors, and they don't realize that
the number one predator is a divorcing spouse. Now, an
inheritance is technically separate property. But when you get an inheritance,
and typically when you're married, after you in the beginning,
everyone has separate accounts, but after years of marriage, the

(33:08):
accounts become one deer's joint accounts. And now you take
that inheritance and you throw it in a joint account,
and several years later there's a divorce. Now that asset
may be subject caquitable distribution by having the continuing trust
for the benefit of your children or your loved ones,
you can ask to protect it or provide another layer
of protection that they wouldn't have if it just went

(33:28):
out right.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Yeah, So obviously these are invaluable, and that to most
clients is a complete game changer. The fact that what
we try to do, or what we've worked so hard
to establish during our lifetimes, we have a means of
being able to pass it down in the right way,
but in a way that's going to be protected and
basically a security for our loved ones when you're longer

(33:51):
here and barring it from some kind of circumstances that
we don't have the control over and we don't know
what's going to happen, right, it's in the name of
our radio show, happens. We need to be prepared and
having this kind of a document gives you that type
of flexibility to be able to mold and morph depending
on the situations. Now, we spend some time talking about

(34:12):
the revocable trust, and I want to spend a little
bit of time talking about irrevocable trusts. And I know
a lot of people have heard about it, and some
nerd are unclear about the differences. So the irrevocable trust
has all of the same benefits and components that we
just describe with the revocable trust, with some key differences

(34:33):
and when they're used, why they're used, and how they're used. Right,
So with an irrevocable trust, that's really more for asset protection.
This is when you're contemplating some kind of long term care.
Maybe I need Medicaid, I'm going to need help having
to pay for my health care in the future. I
might need AIDS at home, or I might need a

(34:54):
facility that I'm going to have to have round the
clock care for and how am I going to pay
for that? And do I want to spend all the
money that I've accumulated during my lifetime to not pass
it on to my loved ones and only use it
to pair for my long term care. So the irrevocable
trust is different in a few different ways because the
purpose of this trust is to create some kind of

(35:14):
distance between you and the asset, so that for purposes
of Medicaid, when they're looking at this trust, they view
it as not belonging to you per se. Now, that
doesn't mean like against contrary notions of people thinking like, Oh,
it's an irrevocable trust, I can never touch it. I've
lost access to everything. No, so let's go over the
key differences with an irrevocable trust. You are not allowed

(35:37):
to be your own trustee, but you always reserve the
power to change and determine who those trustees are. So,
if you believe that a trustee is not acting in
your best interests or for any other reason, let's say,
maybe you don't believe they're the right person to be
able to take on that situation, or there's just simply
not doing what you need them to do, you can

(35:57):
replace them at any given time. Continue to still have
access to income, but you do not have unfittered access
to the principle. And how does that mean it's completely
cut off that you can never use it. No. What
we do is we adpoint lifetime beneficiaries who are able
to access principle, and then they could indirectly use that
to pay for things that you need it for.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Okay, So, just so the listeners understand, if you put
a million dollars into a trust that's going to be
considered the principle, you would not have direct access to
that million dollars. Now, that million dollars is invested in
the constividends and that's going to be the income. That's
what you would have direct access to. So in the

(36:40):
document it would say that the grants work can have
access to the income, but not the principle. But it
doesn't mean, like Tommy was saying, that you don't have
access to the principle at all. There are indirect methods
where there could be distributions to your beneficiaries, typically your children,
who would then have those assets and could pay things
on the path. Never give the money directly back to you,

(37:03):
but to take that money and then out of the
generosity of their heart, pay your expenses or whatever you
may need.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, and that's and that's the very is the key
difference there. And like I said, that's really more for
long term care. We have a great resources on our
website pure law dot com. We have Medicaid Mondays where
we go in and explore deeply into medicaid and how
Medicaid asset protection trusts interplay with actual medicaid. We're not

(37:34):
going to have the time to go into medicaid specifically,
but just as far as the trust and how it operates.
But the most important thing that I want you to
take away from is that the trust has the flexibility
and the ability to not only pass on our assets
in a private way, a protected way, but in a
manner that can suit all needs and changes in life

(37:56):
that we can necessarily anticipate. Right now, stay tuned. When
we get back, we're going to be talking about what
you should be doing and what is the best way
to maintain your estate plan. Stay tuned, and welcome back
for our last segment of today's show. Thank you for
those who've been able to join us. Thank you Anthony
for joining us today. I appreciate your time and your expertise.

(38:20):
So today we've talked about establishing a solid plan and
a good foundation. We talked about the documents that we
need during our lifetime are power of attorney and healthcare proxy,
and then those when we die our disposition of remains appointment,
as well as a last will and testament. We talked
about trust planning and approbate and certain challenges that they

(38:42):
pose and how we can get around it. And so
now let's fast forward. You did what you had to do,
you put your plan in place, you sign your documents.
What now now, one of the biggest pitfalls that I
see clients fall into, and this is usually people who've
come to us after they've been somewhere else, is they said, yeah,
I have all these documents, I went through the trouble,

(39:03):
I signed them all, I did everything I was supposed
to do, and then I'm looking at their plan and
there are some crucial elements that they've left out. And
it's not always necessarily how the documents are drafted, which
of course are extremely important.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
But the one thing to.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Keep in mind with the trust is that the mere
creation of a trust doesn't mean that all of my
assets are now magically in my trust and that if
anything happens to me, oh it's belonged by my trust.
That is a misconception. You need to actually fund your trust.
That means you need to deposit assets into the trust
for the trust to own. And that is the only

(39:37):
way we actually get a benefit from having that trust.
So what does that look like. That looks like retitling
accounts or naming a trust as a beneficiary, so upon
passing it eventually funnels through an account. If it's real estate,
it's doing a d transfer. If it's a co op,
it's getting a stock certificate transfer. So the most important
thing is not only do you have to create the plan,

(39:58):
you have to set it up, you have to followed through.
So that is one of the biggest things that I've noticed, Anthony.
I mean, you tell me. I get people all the time.
I asked them, I'm like, great, so what's in the trust?
And they're saying, well, is in everything in the trust already?
I mean, what have you seen.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
I often have clients come up to come to us
from other law firms and they have wonderful trusts Picasso
trust everything that they need and then I say what's
in there? And they say, what do you mean? I say, well,
what assets did you put in here? You listed all
these accounts, you have all these assets, did you actually
transfer to the trust? And they didn't take that critical

(40:38):
step like you're saying, Tommy. They usually keep the assets joint.
If you have joint assets, they're not in the trust.
And in fact, if you're doing state tax planning, that
will inhibit your plan because instead of utilizing the trusts
that are developed or created in your trust agreement, right
as a sub trust ever goes there, it'll just go

(41:01):
directly to your spouse, which prevents your plan from from
having the full benefit of what was intended. So when
we have clients come to the firm, we always say
that signing the trust is like halftime. Right now you
have to go and fund your trust, like Tommy was saying,
transferring those accounts, signing those assignments, doing the deeds, having

(41:24):
it in there. Your trust is only as good as
it is funded. Another mistake that I see with clients
is that, and this sounds minor, but on every trust
there's something called the schedule A, and typically there's just
a placeholder. It'll say ten dollars cash. But if your
beneficiaries and.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Don't welcome with that trust for our last segment, they
don't have.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
To go for those Now they have to start opening
upcount figure out joining how many people know where you
have your bank.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
So today we've talked about all the all.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
The real estate that they own, or every intry that
you may have usually client on.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
Bank, accounting, life, several different health care.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
If you don't transfer those accounts, you then don't update
my schedulay. Someone going to be able to determine that.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
It makes it very difficult.

Speaker 4 (42:13):
And we talked about planning to remember that prop during the.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Different challenges that they pose and have.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
The only round and really is someone going below your trust?

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Now, let's what you have to do.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
So now you don't want to give on your additional
burden you think now tecking through your mail or going off.

Speaker 5 (42:30):
Gavenue to figure out what to us after they put
in that trials transferring out.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Yeah, I have all these documents. I went through schedule,
I signed them like we did everything I was supposed
to do.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
And then I'm looking at their.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
Plan and maybe can't go include the at the timent account.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
You have documents sometimes to say to me, oh my god,
are pauses but the automatical role Bill, I have all
these automatic I want to have the account of my trust.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
But that may give me if anything, that everything all trust.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
That's a that is a misconception.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
You could just put that there are ways.

Speaker 5 (43:06):
That we do need to deposit with your life to
trust for the.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
And that is the only thing to benefit from.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
How you can put any on it.

Speaker 5 (43:15):
It looks like accounts don't have trust from their bank account.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
Twenty five years ago.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
Maybe they need their parents, another parent. It's doing many
of its bank accounts well before we met a.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Certificate transfer and so the most important thing is you
have to create the plan.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
You will know it up as the full who's the.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Benef That is one of the biggest things that I
you know, I mean you tell me, I get people
want to make.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Give it to the trust and they're saying, well that
you want.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Every trust that I mean, what have you seen? Yeah,
that's that's a great point. And this goes into the
portion that we're talking about with regards.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
To maintenance they have.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
So if you're in this, if you're this type ever
this person, and then what I always recommended the clients
is and maybe actually asked them to do.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
PRIs you can list all the accounts you have, all
these that and.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
It's just pays to be forthcoming. And they did get
a little cage when it comes to finances.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
They usually comfortable point, you.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
Know, if you have the point of they're not served
and when we're.

Speaker 3 (44:19):
Trying to set up if you want to make.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
The planning, and that was the plant.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
Said, because you're going through that, I've.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Literalized alliance trust that are development created.

Speaker 5 (44:30):
Seen how many institutions not knowing wherever it goes.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
And it's very like we actually have.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
A program within our food we offer to our clients, which.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
Is your plan to trap having acts benefit.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
So we have a running list of everything where it is.
So that way we always say and I agree with
the whole idea, like I'm.

Speaker 5 (44:49):
Not really coming to my first like saying transferring trust
them to be penalty, But I only want to know
what's going.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
On and when that time comes, it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Your trust is only as good as my business.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Another mistake that I see it is.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
That it's recording.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
Have it that when that there, they can be called
the schedule and this typically they're just a placeholder.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
It will take them.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
Where they're supposed to go.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
They know where they could sure don't.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Know what's in that trust. It's so very helpful for them.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
They're then it needs to go on show within the.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Now they have where now trying to figure out where people.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Said, oh I signed everything, they didn't follow through on
the fund or that's a huge.

Speaker 5 (45:31):
They get to pay the real estate or everything. You
know at the time, I'm usually client bank account that's
that's several different locations.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
If you know cars for those accounts, you then don't.

Speaker 5 (45:42):
Help their schedule able to determine that I've got and
I don't want to have to remember the going to
the shot or I acquired the only reason really harder
than to be looking at your trust or I was
out of your incapacity to things.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
You have an impact.

Speaker 5 (45:58):
You know you don't want to give them the additional
they get this relief now or knowing it is when
you know you're out for whatever, But then it requires
that met So transferring out you.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Need to revisit it. And that's one of.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
The big schedules I want you to before.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Aside from setting up a plan. Right, So, if you're
in a position.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Where you're going to make the defarment account.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
You need a PLO. If you the founder about what
the recipics are that you should have any give automatically anybody,
it doesn't matter how if you're that may give me
different acount numbers.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
I got it all up.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
People can step in to help you when you need
to be helped.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
You could just making sure that we are way set
up for good. Ones are no longer work.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
So you're in that.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
Position, you're in that bucket where I never got star
this that's okay.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
And you can hitting area if you're in the bucket
called I did planning, I don't really.

Speaker 4 (46:53):
Know bank account what I did or they formed their
bank account.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
You're because maybe they couldn't have to review their parents.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
What did you do?

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Right?

Speaker 5 (46:59):
Who many of us open a bank account the wrong
before the people you would want today?

Speaker 1 (47:03):
And I often to be able to make how much
do you have about people that we left.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Bend will will know you're repenting and then what are
the same thing benefit?

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Did we do the problem, contingency planning, whatever the know
your essay.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
But your whole life for them or any.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
Other one to make sure you need then given to
how we're going to provide for.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
Them, then you're in that category.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Where I did the fund, I put up this plan. Yeah,
that's that's a great point. And this goes into the
portion that we're talking about with regards to any So
if you're this, if you're this, if you're this person
a right that I always.

Speaker 5 (47:36):
Recommend my clients and they have those dogs to do
produe you make a list of the minor children that
they have.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Are's and it trust if the relationship.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
With sometimes want people want kids that we got their.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Name know you want your kids, you know. But the
point and that.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
That we serve and when we're trying to set up
just like you go to the doctor.

Speaker 5 (47:55):
Every year, and I don't recommend that you view that
you're going now.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
I've literally that.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
I've had lots of our clients who had a revenuele
living trust. They transferred their.

Speaker 5 (48:05):
Whole instituting not knowing where anything is. And then they
call the item they say, we actually have a program
within our mind, when does it go to the.

Speaker 6 (48:15):
Trout as we have a running transfer, you're out to
where it is, So that way that begin right And
I I agree with the whole idea, like I'm not
in my name with wanting to share on my personal information.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
Okay to join trust trustee, but I only want you
to know what's going on and to what about it?
And I want to buy all of.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
My business right now the pros I have it someplace.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
It's what about when you open up your habit that
when the name of the trust is.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
You put in your own You put in your own name.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
Do you have and they have all their instructions right
so you know where you your going.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
They know where they are and how to get like to.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
You mentioned with them.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
So your produciary is manding is but then you may
not this thing. Is that where the right person to
be that.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
We have those people said, oh I signed everything up in.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
On the fund up.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
That's a huge fan as a people.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
Your healthcare f and I spent the maybe.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
Time I remember with my lawyer anything I did it,
I'm like, maybe they have.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Their own that's great.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
How long was that issue?

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Didn't like that it was like five years ago.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Don't give them the flexibility or.

Speaker 4 (49:17):
The invention that's required.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
Well, yeah, you know I've gotten marrits so and those
are all or great points and really should be mindful of.
What we would suggest is to get over the business.
If you do have doctor or I was getting out
together all look at these things. Take no as far
as you're asking what the taking inventory, create a friendship.
They get them to leaf once schedule and aplan is

(49:38):
it is an attorney and they know any attorney and
go over is that did I follow all the steps up?
We need to red or you might not really want
to be able to readily identify from today changes you
know from yeah setting up a plane right, So if
you're in the position where organizing a puls deck, you
need the last time you reviewed the foundations that consider
things about what the specifics are the place should have

(50:00):
any given plant, anybody over the age of it's great
to haven't matter how many made you. If you do,
there's a lot of people who do. If you're but
you also now need to need to have to maintain
just like anything else, and people can so help. We
hope that you found today very making sure that we
have to think our life mornings with us just like again,
you're the you never got barcu bash, get started to Carol,

(50:31):
you have to review, thank you? What did you do?
Have a beautiful weekend? Enjoy its still around? Are they
still the people you would want today to be able
to make those decisions? What about people that we left
as beneficiaries? Are they around? What are the circumstances in
their life? Did we do the proper contingency planning? What
if one of them had become disabled or any other
number of situations do we need to change now how

(50:53):
we're going to provide for them. Then you're in that
category where I did the fund I I put up
this plan, we have to revisit it and then making
sure that it was funded properly.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Yeah, I've had clients tell me, Oh, Anthony, I have
a plan and it was ten years ago, and these
are all the people that I want to serve. But
often they have signed those documents five, ten, fifteen years
and the minor children that they have are now adults.
And even if you have a good relationship with your
brother or your sibling, most people once their kids have
reached a certain age, Now you want your kids to

(51:24):
sort of step up and be in that sort of
piduciary capacity. So just like you go to the doctor
every year for a checkup, we strongly recommend that you
review your state planning documents, your assets. I've had lots
of clients who had a revocable living trust. They've transferred
their home, they did the d everything is great, and
then they call me up and they say, Anthony, I

(51:47):
have this house in my name. When does it go
to the trust? And I say, what do you mean.
They said, oh, well, so we did a de transfer.
We transferred your assets. It was part of your plan.
And I said, oh, well, I sold that property and
I bought a new one and it's in my name
with my wife, and okay, it's a joint asset. Upon
the death of the first client of the first person there,
it won't be a probate asset. But what about upon

(52:09):
the death of the surviving speffs right now it's a
probate asset. What about when you open up new bank accounts,
isn't in the name of the trusted did you put
it in your own name? If you put in your
own name, do you have a beneficiary? So it's important
to review your documents, not just to have them, because,
like I said, like Tommy mentioned, your produciaries may move,

(52:29):
they make it sick. You may not think that they're
the right person for that position. You may have named
someone as a as an agent under your healthcare proxy.
Well maybe that person right now is experiencing their own
health issues, or maybe they have their own issues in
life that don't give them the flexibility or the attention

(52:52):
that's required to serve in that capacity.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
So and those are all great points and really should
be mind. So what we would suggest is get organized.
If you do have documents, get them together, look at them,
take notes as far as your assets. Take an inventory,
create a spreadsheet, write them down, Schedule an appointment to
come to see an attorney and to stay planning attorney
and go over make sure, Hey, did I follow all

(53:17):
the steps I was supposed to? Or you might really
able to readily identify changes you know that. Oh yeah,
I know this needs to get changed. So the point
is get organized. Do a post check, see when the
last time you touched it, see things that consider, things
that have done that have taken place since then. Just
make sure you stay on top of your plan. It's
great to have a plan. I commend you if you do.

(53:39):
There's a lot of people who don't. But you also
now need to take steps to maintain it, just like
anything else in life. So we hope that you found
today very useful. You had a lot of good information.
We thank you for spending your Saturday mornings with us.
Just like to again repeat, if you'd like to join
us for our barbecue bash this upcoming Thursday at June
twenty sixth, Please feel free to register by calling our

(54:00):
office at five Pe eight four five nine twenty one hundred,
or you can send an email to info at Pierolaw
dot com. Thank you all, have a beautiful weekend and
join us next time.