Estate Planning with Digital Assets

     With each passing day, our society becomes more technology dependant. To illustrate this point, try going an entire day without the use of a smart phone, laptop, touchscreen, or old fashioned desktop.

     As always, the world of estate planning has fallen behind on this trend. Traditional estate planning concerns physical assets, like a house, vehicle, or bank account. In light of this ever increasing involvement of technology in our lives, what should happen to our digital assets when we are incapacitated or pass away? Is there anything we can do?

     First, let’s start with whether there is anything we can do. Here in good old Idaho, we have actually made a proactive step. Nationally, a legal group think-tank called the Uniform Law Commission set out to create a uniform law for all states to either adopt, modify, or reject, called the Fiduciary Access to Digital Property During Incapacitation or After Death act. Idaho was the fifth (5th) state in the US to adopt a law concerning the ability to access digital property. 

      Idaho Statutes § 15-3-715(28), signed into law March 16, 2011, gives the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate the powers “to take control of, conduct, continue, or terminate” a deceased person’s e-mail account, social networking account, microblogging account, or short messaging service Web site. Idaho Statutes § 15-5-424(3)(z) also grants similar powers to a person’s conservator. Unfortunately, these laws fall short of the current scope of online accounts and digital property, and they only apply to personal representatives and conservators.

     But, fear not, although this law falls short of the current technological landscape for online accounts, this is only a default rule. This means you can give any trusted person more access than the default rule calls for. In our will or trust agreements, we authorize more access than the statute allows.

     Jeppesen Law, PLLC provides to all of our estate planning clients a digital property inventory. On the inventory, the client writes down all usernames and passwords for all of their digital property. They store it in a safe place. If the time comes that a power of attorney or personal representative needs access to online accounts, they have all the information they need to ensure you are taken care of.

     What type of information is included on the digital property inventory? Aside from the accounts listed in the Idaho Statute, we include utilities, bank accounts, mortgage companies, services, and anything that would require a monthly fee to be paid.

     Why do we include so much information? We are preparing for incapacitation. If you are temporarily incapacitated, you would still want your house payment to stay current, with the lights on, internet to still work, and you wouldn’t want your car repossessed.

     Essentially, your attorney-in-fact stands in your place to ensure your bills are paid when you would pay them.

     Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your own estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now: (208) 477-1785.

Estate Planning DIY Dangers

We all have tried to save money by doing something ourselves instead of paying someone else to do it for us. In many instances this is a great practice; you learn a new skill, save money, and gain confidence. This snowballs into continuing to try DIY projects, save money, and gain confidence. This is especially helpful with a beginner-safe project.

If you have tried DIY projects before, you have probably run into situations where you realized you needed help from a spouse, neighbor, friend, or professional. That is the great aspect about DIY projects, if you aren’t equipped with the knowledge to complete the task, you learn this quickly.

Unfortunately, for DIY Estate Planners, you will never realize you aren’t equipped for the job. The ones learning that lesson will be the loved ones you leave behind after you died. To make matters worse, in many cases the cost of fixing this problem is more expensive than paying the professional to do it for you.

There are great professionals like Dave Ramsey or companies like Nolo and Legalzoom that champion the idea of getting an Estate Plan in place to provide you and your family the protections that they afford. They know it is important, that is why they tell you to do it. They also tell you things like this, “We are not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. We cannot provide any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms or strategies.”

As attorneys, we are called counselors-at-law. Which means we counsel people in regards to their legal matters.

If Dave Ramsey, Legalzoom, and NOLO are correct and an Estate Plan is that important, why would I trust such an important decision to a stack of papers I purchased off of the internet with any counsel? I encourage you to search for, not purchase, wills or trust documents online and read them. Do you understand in plain English what the provisions are saying? Do you understand the legal consequence of what the provisions are saying? What if it is missing a provision that would greatly affect your family? Last but not least, unfortunately this is the one I see the most, does the document even meet the minimum standards required by law in the state you live in?

What these websites have done is create an awareness for Estate Planning attorneys, especially when it comes to our pricing. Hypothetically, if our prices are so high that people are willing to risk taking a shot in the dark by doing their own Estate Plan as opposed to seeking our counsel, maybe we should reevaluate our pricing structure. Also, they have provided some much needed education to the general public regarding Estate Planning. The negative consequence is that people without the minimum seven years of post high school education and yearly continuing legal education classes focused solely on legal matters, are making very important legal decisions. They will never know whether their decisions were correct or not.

I invite you to read this commentary about some pitfalls this attorney has seen first hand caused by faults made in a DIY Estate Plan.

http://www.record-bee.com/guestcommentary/ci_27356067/your-legacy-and-peace-mind-pitfalls-do-it

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now. (208) 477-1785

Young Adults Need An Estate Plan

When a young person dies, it is generally sudden and unexpected. With youth and health, Estate Planning is not a priority. Except when death happens and those you leave behind would have been better off if you took the time to create a Will or a Trust.

When Glee star Cory Monteith passed away, he had an estate worth over $800,000 and had not taken the time to create a Will or Trust. Because of this lack of planning, it took over a year and a half for his estate to settle. You see without creating an Estate Plan of your own, your estate follows intestate rules found in Idaho’s State Statutes.

If you were in Cory’s position, single and without children, your mother and father would receive an equal share of your remaining assets.

In Cory’s situation, his divorced parents fought that entire time over whether his father was deserving of receiving one-half of Cory’s estate. Mom claimed Dad was an absentee father, who hadn’t seen Cory in years, and refused to pay child support. Eventually, Dad signed an agreement stating he did not want his legal share of Cory’s estate, but this was after much public humiliation.

Because the Probate court process is public, the bickering between his parents became news-worthy. Granted, if Cory had a Will, his estate would have still gone through Probate. However, with a Will, Cory could have dictated who he wanted to leave his estate to.

To add insult to injury, Cory’s money was probably being used to defend the State’s laws giving both parents an equal share of their son’s estate.

What about what Cory would have wanted? He had a serious relationship with Glee co-star Lea Michelle, certainly he would have wanted to leave her something. Tough. Without making your own Will or Trust, your particular wants are irrelevant. The Probate court will rely on the intestate statute of the state you live in, which generally provides what a general distribution would look like for someone in a similar situation.

Have you ever wondered how old intestate laws are? Most of them are very old. Imagine how different society and what we consider family is now, compared to a law originally written in the 1700 or 1800s.

So, regardless of how old you are, if you want certain people to receive a portion of your estate, or more importantly, if you have people you absolutely do not want to see receive any of your estate, make your decision known. Create a Will or Trust, otherwise a bunch of guys who are long gone will make that decision for you.

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now. (208) 477-1785

See Danielle Mayoras & Andy Mayoras, Cory Monteith Shows How Even Young Adults Need Wills, Forbes, Jan. 28, 2015.

Is A Will an Estate Plan?

             When clients and I first sit down to talk about an estate plan, they generally state that they need a Will. This regularly occurs because a Will, as far as estate planning is concerned, is a commonly talked about tool. But that is all it is, a tool in your estate plan. A very important tool, but not a complete plan.

             After asking a series of general and specific questions, the clients decide whether they need a will or a trust, and the additional documents which make up a complete estate plan. For a Will based plan those other documents include:

   

1. A durable power of attorney for financial decisions;
2. A durable power of attorney for medical decisions;
3. If the client is a parent of minor children, a springing power of attorney for minor children;
4. A health care directive (or living will); and
5. A HIPAA release.

             Each of these documents perform specific functions that the others cannot. The biggest distinction between these documents and a Will, is that the Will does not carry any authority until you pass away and it has been validated in a Probate court proceeding. The listed documents are for your protection while you are alive, but not able to speak for yourself. That can either be due to incapacitation, mental illness, or in some cases disappearance.

Because of this, all are needed. So although a Will is a great first step, and an important tool to have, it is not a complete plan.

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now. (208) 477-1785

What Type of Will Can an Idaho Attorney Draft?

What type of will can an Idaho attorney draft? First, a will can be drafted to meet many situations, but most wills can be categorized four ways; the simple will, the complex will, the pour-over will, and the living will.

    Simple Will

         The simple will is most basic estate planning tool, and because of that, it is the most widely heard of. It takes effect after the creator passes away, as long as the creator strictly adheres to Idaho’s technical requirements of a will. The main purpose of the simple will is to name an executor. The executor will carry out the terms of the will. The terms of the will generally cover who will inherit a person’s property, where and how a person desires to be laid to rest, and if that person has minor children, who will act as Guardian of the child and Conservator of that child’s estate. It does not include trust provisions.

    Complex Will

          The complex will is a more advanced estate planning tool than the simple will. These wills include testamentary trust provisions, but are similar to simple wills in that they are not controlling until the creator passes away and that they carry out similar purposes as the simple will. Commonly, trust provisions in a complex will deal with inheritance distribution provisions for minor children. It names a trustee to hold and manage the minor child’s inheritance according to the terms of the testamentary trust. The purpose for the inheritance distribution provision is that unless a trust is used and covers this topic, Idaho’s Uniform Transfers to Minors Act allows minor children to receive their entire inheritance at age 21. Imagine what you would do with that amount of money at age 21.

    Pour-Over Will

   

          A pour-over will should be prepared as part of your trust package. The purpose of the pour-over will is to gather any assets that were not properly titled in the name of your trust and place them within the ownership and authority of the trust and its provisions. A trust without a pour-over will is not a properly created trust package.

    Living Will

A living will is not really a will. A living will is often confused with a simple will. My belief is that the similarities between the terms “living trust” and “trust” lead people to believe a “living will” and a “will” are the same document with the same purpose. For this reason, I like to refer to them as health care directives. It is a more accurate representation of the purpose of the living will, which is controlling when you are no longer able to make health care decisions for yourself because death is imminent or you are permanently unconscious. You make the end of life decisions, not someone else.

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your estate plan! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. To help jump-start your own planning, download and complete the Client Information Form.

If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now.

New Year's Resolution to Review Your Estate Plan

Welcome to the New Year!

We hope your 2014 was full of memories, triumphs, and lessons learned. As you turn to the New Year and begin to list achievements you will accomplish in 2015, have you thought about updating your current Estate Plan?

    This may not seem like a typical item to place on your do-to list, but think about it this way. 2014 provided many opportunities for your life situation to change since your created your current Estate Plan.

Many of us have experienced additions to our lives; a new spouse, new child, new grandchild, new home, new investments, or new inheritance. Sadly, many of us have also experienced loss to our lives in 2014. Whatever your situation may be, your 2015 life looks different than your 2014 life.

First, locate your current Estate Planning documents. If you have difficulty finding them, imagine how difficult it would be for a grief stricken family member to find them. If your attorney gave you a folder to hold your documents, make sure all the documents you created are there. Locate the original, whether it be in the folder, a file, safe, or with the attorney who drafted the document.

After locating the originals, store them some place safe and make sure that others can find them if you are not able to retrieve them yourself. If the originals are with the drafting attorney, make sure that your loved ones know who that attorney is and how to reach the attorney.

Second, review the documents to make sure that the documents still accomplish your current goals and wishes. Life changes have a way of altering the goals of our Estate Plan. Are the people you have named to specific responsibilities still your desired choice for that responsibility? Are those people still willing and able to perform the names responsibility?

If you have minor children, are your chosen Guardians still the people you wish to have your children raised by? Has their life changed to a degree this year that has created doubt or concern about their ability or desire to take on your children in case something were to happen to you?

Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to ensure your estate planning documents are in order! With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. To help jump-start your own planning, download and complete the Client Information Form.

If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now.

Estate Plan as part of New Year's Resolution? You bet!

Welcome to the end of 2014!

We hope your 2014 was full of memories, triumphs, and lessons learned. As you turn to the New Year and begin to list achievements you will accomplish in 2015, have you thought about creating your current Estate Plan?

This may not seem like a typical item to place on your do-to list, but think about it this way. You have had up through 2014 to build your family and finances, why not take 2015 to build a plan just in case you are no longer here to care for those you love?

Without proper planning, all that we worked toward during our lives can end up being a source of heartache and strife for those we leave behind. The spouse left behind may not know what bills need to be paid, and when. The children, who seemed to get along during their adult years, unfortunately slip back into those adolescent, childhood rivalries without you around to keep the peace. Those people you asked to be God-parents to your children won’t really have any legal authority to raise them unless you create a legally binding document.

So, face your fears and build a plan that will allow your family the time to appropriately mourn you and not leave them to worry about what to do after you pass. Tell them what to do, they will thank you for it.

Remember, just because you create a plan in case you pass away, does not mean that you will actually do so this year.

                                   

Jeppesen Law can provide you with a comprehensive Estate Planning. With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now, 208-477-1785. 

We wish you all the best.