Everyone needs a basic estate plan. This involves putting the documents in place that will take care of you in case you become disabled and will take care of your loved ones once you pass away. However, there are certain circumstances where additional planning is necessary. This is where Advanced Estate Planning comes in. Here are some of the areas Advanced Estate Planning covers:
1) Tax Planning: If your estate is large enough, you’ll need to work with your estate planning attorney to minimize or reduce estate taxes and generation skipping transfer (GST) taxes.
2) Asset Protection Planning: Your estate planning attorney can help you structure the way you hold title to your property so as to limit creditors’ ability to access it.
3) Planning for Disabled Beneficiaries: A Special Needs Trust can help you leave money to a disabled beneficiary without interfering with his or her government benefits.
4) Planning for Beneficiaries with Special Circumstances: If you have a beneficiary with trouble handling finances or may be in a rocky marriage, your estate planning attorney can help you establish a trust that will allow that beneficiary access to money or property without leaving him an outright distribution. This will help protect his or her legacy in case of divorce proceedings or creditors’ claims.
5) Business Succession Planning: If you’re the owner of a closely held business, special planning is required to smooth the transition of ownership in the event of your disability or death. Your attorney can help you anticipate potential problems and tailor solutions to meet your needs.
For more information about estate planning and asset protection techniques and to schedule your free consultation with one of our attorneys, please contact the attorneys of Wild Felice & Pardo at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com. Protecting what you value most.
This article is tricky, as every person’s estate is different. “Prioritizing assets” is usually a term used in an emergency situation, when someone does not have an estate plan and the clock is ticking. So, currently, with COVID-19 being the huge threat that it is, estate planning has taken on an emergency function for many people.
Which asset should you protect first? This article will give suggestions as to what you should prioritize. The list runs from “most important” to “less important,” but it is all relative. At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide. Contact an estate planning attorney to determine how your particular estate plan should look.
Most Important: Living Assistance, Healthcare Decisions, POA
Living Assistance
Most people will need long-term living assistance once they get older. You may not know this, but Medicare does not pay for living assistance, such as a nursing home or assisted living. Medicaid does pay for this assistance, but many people are rightfully concerned about the quality of care they will receive if they use Medicaid.
Setting aside a sufficient fund (even if you have to liquidate property to do so) for your living assistance is a top priority. You deserve to have a good retirement, and that includes the portion of your life where you require assisted living.
Healthcare Decisions
A healthcare directive allows you to delineate medical decisions before they happen. This document contains your wishes for your medical care, and doctors and nurses will abide by it. A healthcare directive is a useful document to have if you are unable to communicate these wishes (such as a Do Not Resuscitate order) yourself.
POA
POA stands for “Power of Attorney.” A power of attorney is a document that grants someone the authority to make financial, medical, business, and/or legal decisions on your behalf. The person who you designate as POA in the legal document should be someone you trust to be level-headed and make decisions that would mirror what you would want.
Moderately Important: Business Succession, Trusts
Business Succession
This is definitely in the “most important” section for people who own a business, but for people who don’t own a business, it is not relevant, so business succession planning evens out somewhere in the middle.
If you own one of the 30.2 million small businesses in America, it is vitally important that you have a succession plan in place if you pass away. Who will get your business? Do you want your business liquidated or sold? Perhaps you want it to merge with another company, based on a pre-arranged agreement. It is never too early to plan for a business succession.
Trusts
A trust is a legal document that sets up an immediate asset transfer. You, the donor, transfer title to an asset to a trustee. The trustee acts as a third-party representative until such a time as he or she transfers his or her legal title to a beneficiary. The beneficiary is the person you want to end up with the property after you die.
This type of document avoids probate court. It goes into effect immediately, so, in an emergency, a trust is not a bad tool to look into.
Relatively Less Important: Gifts, Last Will and Testament, Miscellaneous Transfers
Gifts
When you’re thinking of the less-important transfers, gifts would likely qualify. Once you have everything else settled, deciding who gets what gift from your estate can become your main priority.
Last Will and Testament
Many of the courts are closed for another month until COVID-19 passes, so a last will and testament will not be probated for a long time. This document, which specifies where you want your property to go after you die, is not ideal in an emergency.
Misc. Transfers
Small transfers (such as a favorite painting or other, non-essential item) likely can occupy the back-burner for now until more pressing matters are taken care of.
If you’re reading this article and questioning the order of the list, that is perfectly valid. Only you understand your estate situation, and everyone’s property is different. What is important to one person may be unimportant to another. Consult with a lawyer to create an estate plan that is right for you and your loved ones.
Don’t leave your assets vulnerable to attack. Much like a goalie, asset protection planning will help to shield your assets from attack.
Asset protection is a broad term, encompassing many different techniques, but here at our South Florida law firm, we focus our asset protection on two areas: estate planning and business formation. In the area of estate planning, the main approach is to use trusts to dispose of your assets rather than a will. A trust protects your assets by first avoiding probate and all of the costs (both monetary and time) associated with that process. Secondly, trusts protect your assets by keeping them in your family. With a will, the asset is no longer yours to control following the first disposition, a trust allows you to control the asset for multiple generations. This makes sure that the inheritance will never be taken by divorce or remarriage. For example, if you want to give all of your estate to your daughter and then to her children, a trust allows you to do this without giving any to her spouse. Furthermore, a trust protects your beneficiaries from themselves, if they are either too young or not fiscally responsible. Because they are the beneficiary and not necessarily the trustee, you can name a trustee who will make the financial decisions for them. Finally, trusts offer asset protection by being creditor protected. Assets that are in a trust can not be reached by creditors, assuring that the inheritance remains with the beneficiary.
Choosing the proper business form also works as asset protection. If you own a business as a sole proprietor or even in a general partnership, you can be personally liable for all of the debts of the business. Limited partnerships, LLCs, and corporations can protect your asset from business debts. A limited partnership consists of two classes of partners: a general partner, who manages and is more active, and a limited partner, who is more like an investor. The limited partner’s liability is limited to whatever they have put into the company, whereas the general partner remains liable for all the debt. An LLC offers limited liability as well, while allowing for more active participation. The manager of a multi-member LLC makes the decisions and runs the company, but is still afforded protection. If someone sues an LLC, they can only recover the company’s assets. Subsequently, if a person sues the manager of an LLC for a personal matter, the assets of the LLC are protected from this personal creditor. Finally, a corporation offers protection to all of its shareholders while also offering increased flexibility with the management structure. A corporation allows for different classes of stock with different voting abilities. Corporations also allow you to raise capital by issuing stock.
Regardless of what business form you end up choosing, you must also engage in business succession planning. Because all of these business forms are separate legal entities, they will survive after you are gone. Therefore, you must plan for what happens to your companies or you risk them dying. If you have multiple members or partners in your company, you can arrange a plan beforehand in which they buy your shares at a predetermined price. The company could then purchase life insurance in that amount to make sure that the company does not have cash flow issues and does not have to sell off company assets to buy your stake.
Whether you are looking at asset protection from an estate planning or business formation standpoint, our attorneys can help be your goalie and protect the assets you’ve worked so hard to acquire.
For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation, or visit our website at www.wfplaw.com
Yesterday, after one hundred and twenty one minutes of play, the US Men’s National Team was eliminated from the 2014 World Cup by Belgium. Despite the loss, US goalie Tim Howard had a historic performance, recording a World Cup record 16 saves. Because of Howard’s outstanding plays protecting the goal, the USA was in the game until the final whistle was blown. Protection is the name of the game, whether it’s soccer or your assets and our attorneys can make sure all your goals are met.
Asset protection is a broad term, encompassing many different techniques, but here at our South Florida law firm, we focus our asset protection on two areas: estate planning and business formation. In the area of estate planning, the main approach is to use trusts to dispose of your assets rather than a will. A trust protects your assets by first avoiding probate and all of the costs (both monetary and time) associated with that process. Secondly, trusts protect your assets by keeping them in your family. With a will, the asset is no longer yours to control following the first disposition, a trust allows you to control the asset for multiple generations. This makes sure that the inheritance will never be taken by divorce or remarriage. For example, if you want to give all of your estate to your daughter and then to her children, a trust allows you to do this without giving any to her spouse. Furthermore, a trust protects your beneficiaries from themselves, if they are either too young or not fiscally responsible. Because they are the beneficiary and not necessarily the trustee, you can name a trustee who will make the financial decisions for them. Finally, trusts offer asset protection by being creditor protected. Assets that are in a trust can not be reached by creditors, assuring that the inheritance remains with the beneficiary.
Choosing the proper business form also works as asset protection. If you own a business as a sole proprietor or even in a general partnership, you can be personally liable for all of the debts of the business. Limited partnerships, LLCs, and corporations can protect your asset from business debts. A limited partnership consists of two classes of partners: a general partner, who manages and is more active, and a limited partner, who is more like an investor. The limited partner’s liability is limited to whatever they have put into the company, whereas the general partner remains liable for all the debt. An LLC offers limited liability as well, while allowing for more active participation. The manager of a multi-member LLC makes the decisions and runs the company, but is still afforded protection. If someone sues an LLC, they can only recover the company’s assets. Subsequently, if a person sues the manager of an LLC for a personal matter, the assets of the LLC are protected from this personal creditor. Finally, a corporation offers protection to all of its shareholders while also offering increased flexibility with the management structure. A corporation allows for different classes of stock with different voting abilities. Corporations also allow you to raise capital by issuing stock.
Regardless of what business form you end up choosing, you must also engage in business succession planning. Because all of these business forms are separate legal entities, they will survive after you are gone. Therefore, you must plan for what happens to your companies or you risk them dying. If you have multiple members or partners in your company, you can arrange a plan beforehand in which they buy your shares at a predetermined price. The company could then purchase life insurance in that amount to make sure that the company does not have cash flow issues and does not have to sell off company assets to buy your stake.
Whether you are looking at asset protection from an estate planning or business formation standpoint, our attorneys can help be your goalie and protect the assets you’ve worked so hard to acquire.
For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.
Today marks the five-year anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death. Though the King of Pop left a huge mark on the music industry, with 13 Grammy awards and a record setting 26 American Music Awards, he will also be known in legal circles for the mistakes he made with his estate planning. As far as celebrities go, Jackson did more estate planning than most. He had a will and he also set up a living trust. However, Jackson failed to adequately fund the trust, meaning he did not transfer his assets into it. You can think of a trust like a safe. It doesn’t matter how great the safe is if you don’t put anything in it. The funding caused an issue for Jackson’s estate as it created ambiguity in ownership, allowing the usually private trust documents to become public record in probate court.
Since he is gone, Jackson will never have the chance to fix his mistakes and change his estate planning. You, however, are lucky. You don’t have to be a megastar like the King of Pop to benefit from estate planning, and looking at where Jackson went wrong, you can learn from his mistakes. When done properly, a will and living trust pair well together. As previously stated, a trust is a private document, but a will is not. Therefore, the use of a pour-over will can be used to maximize your privacy while assuring that all your assets make it into your trust. By making sure that your trust is properly funded with an assignment of property and a pour-over will, you will be able to avoid probate (in turn keeping your estate matters private) and provide asset protection to your beneficiaries.
Jackson’s trust mistake also led to the question of who owned the estate’s share of the business that owned many of The Beatles’ songs. If you own a business, business succession planning should be part of your estate plan. Through a combination of life insurance, business forms, and agreements, you can plan for exactly what happens to your business at your death and help to make sure that the business lives on after you are gone (or that your beneficiaries are compensated, depending on your goals.)
One thing Jackson did right that all estate plans with minor children should have is that he named a guardian. When you and your children are older, a guardian isn’t important, but it could change the life of a minor child. If you and your spouse were to die on the way back from a nice dinner or on your way to an anniversary trip, who would look after your children? This is a major reason why younger people should take the time to look into an estate plan now.
Michael Jackson is one of many celebrities who have made mistake planning mistakes, but you don’t have to follow them. Look at proper estate planning today.
For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.
