0:00 Estates weekly I'm Kevin bemel your host and this is the kickoff to season two wow we made it to 2024 and we are here every Monday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time that's 1 pm eastern time and an hour in for Central and Mountain to talk about all things related to trusts Estates probates both from the standpoint of an individual who's doing a state planning which you may be or as from this uh from the perspective of professionals who help
0:36 people in their Estate Planning and execution of their Estates so we're going to start the year off right just like it said in our social media posts and our our emails and such by talking about putting our best foot forward uh for for this year in making sure that we take take care of our estate planning that we're covering the right things that we're keeping things up to date all of that and excuse me as is my usual practice I
1:12 have a uh a a a little um what do you call it uh PowerPoint actually before I do that notice here we we have I have my new studio so um I'm not streaming from uh Zoom anymore I'm streaming directly from restream and and so it's you know it's it's much fancier we got the ticker here down at the bottom and and uh you can see that we're live and it it ticks off uh you know all all the information there so um let's go ahead and let's let's bring up the PowerPoint oops got
1:48 the wrong thing here there we go okay so um as it says here on on the slide we're going to start the year off right and that is by getting properly prepared right um let's see there we go okay so a lot of this is is is new to me as well so uh you know there you go um so uh let's see um everything we do on the
2:23 uh way to while shows relates to the three pillars of attainment uh for for those of you who are longtime View ERS or or veteran viewers of the show you know all this uh for those of you who are new um there is a show on our web on our um I'm sorry YouTube channel um that talks about the three pillars of attainment and I invite you to to check that out okay we're going to be deal we deal on this show primarily in the finances Realm of the Pursuits pillar uh we also deal with family and friends relationships in general and of of
2:59 course there is an aspect of self anytime um we're dealing with this and and you're going to see we're going to talk about health today a little bit Etc okay so here we go so let's okay so when we talk about preparing for estate planning um really what it comes down to is um what I recommend is you put together a notebook just a a simple you know three binder that's all it has to be um that
3:34 has all of the um information that we're going to talk about today in it now you might say well wait a minute in these days um we can just keep everything on computer well yes you can um but after you die or after if you're you know if you're an advisor after your client dies you know who's going to have access to that if if nobody has access to the client uh phone or computer or whatever so then the Gathering of all those documents uh isn't going to matter now what the client may do or or what you may do for
4:11 your own plan is gather all your documents in a folder on your computer but then print them out and put them in a in a in in hard copy in a binder um so that um other people who need it will have um access to it all right so um I would not put original documents in them and you'll see why in certain cases um but I put copies of documents okay and then you know keep your Originals in a safe place um you
4:49 may want to get a fireproof safe in the in the case of tit you know title documents that sort of thing um I've heard you know different issues about whether safe deposit boxes are a good place to keep things these days um that maybe is something to talk to your advisers about um I was advised not to keep things in a safe deposit box because um if um for example the IRS were to put a lean on they can they can put a lean on a safet depit box as well and all of a sudden you had you don't
5:24 have access to it so uh you know I have I haven't looked into the truth of that um but but I I you know um I I will say that um having dealt with getting into safe deposit boxes um as as a fiduciary it's it's a bit of a challenge so um you know that that may not be the best choice um but anyway you you you you want to keep your Originals in a safe place put copies in your notebook and then make sure you inform your executive or your executrix that's a female uh
6:00 female version of an Executor your successor trustee or trustees make sure they know where the notebook is okay in fact you know show it to them so they know what it looks like and you can you know show them here here's where I keep it you know that kind of thing um and that way you will um they will you know be prepared to handle matters for you uh when the time comes all right so let's get into then what goes into the notebook so first and foremost you want to inventory your
6:36 assets okay so there's basically three types first you have physical assets this would be any real estate like a home a vacation home rental properties that you have um etc etc okay those are all in terms of real estate you it could be cars um it could be valuable so you might have a coin collection you might have artwork um you might have I'm trying to think of other things that people have that are valuable right uh you know
7:11 China um you know plates China plates that sort of thing expensive glassware uh sculptures whatever all of those are physical assets and they should be inventor and indeed um this is kind of a sidelight because this is not directly on point but um you know if they're valuable you probably want them insured and I would talk with your insurance agent to make sure that they are indeed covered because these days policies can have a number of exclusions so for example I have some valuable jewelry
7:47 it's not covered in a typical um homeowners policy or a typical personal property policy I had to get a special High Value Jewelry policy and in fact was requireed requ ired to have appraisals of the jewelry in order to get the insurance amounts that I wanted okay and and and luckily so because um I was burglarized and and and had to make a claim on that insurance okay so again your physical assets um you want to have all of those inventoried um and um I in my inventory
8:24 um I have everything valued um even smaller things that maybe are only worth you know $100 or a couple hundred dollar whatever it is I keep all of that value just just so I know um if nothing else for insurance coverage okay then Financial assets okay these things like bank accounts bro stock accounts brokerage accounts um insurance policies life insurance policies okay anything that is monetary okay um but doesn't have have a
9:00 you know physical form okay so it could be um Commodities Investments okay now generally the way you're going to inventory them is to get a copy of statements for all of those various accounts okay so and most of us don't have all of our financial Assets in one institution anymore okay so I know for myself I've got you know the bank that I deal with I have a second bank that I have secondary dealings with um I have another Financial organization where I
9:35 have um uh um uh stock you know the brokerage accounts um and and then I have um other parties that i' I have Investments with they're not physical Investments okay they're like you know limited Partnerships or whatever okay so all each and every one of those needs to be in your inventory okay and and and you need you know collect a statement on them you should be getting statements periodically in any event so then just you know print a copy of them and put them in in your
10:12 notebook finally there's digital assets um those are things you know like cryptocurrencies um and and I those other um shoot um tokens and that those sort of things okay so you you're if you have a crypto wallet you should be able to get a print out a statement of what's in your crypto wallet okay otherwise you know your heirs are probably not going to know anything about what's what's in them okay so um I I again I would um make sure that you um
10:48 you know print those out any kind of digital assets you have and and and put those in your notebook now I I realized before I go on to the next slide I did leave out something these are are not typic these are not actually assets but they are things that um that take away from the value of your assets and those are liabilities so you there could be a mortgage on your home there could be a loan on your car you may have credit cards you may have other types of consumer debts okay any of those debts you should also have statements um in in
11:24 your notebook okay keep in mind that if you have a loan if you have a mortgage on your home your dying does not cancel that mortgage okay so if the person handling your Affairs doesn't know that there's a mortgage on the home okay or doesn't know who your mortgage lender is um the mortgage could potentially go unpaid and that could be a problem okay so um I I would include um copies of any uh you know loan or credit card statements in your notebook as well so
12:00 that your in so that your assets can be handled appropriately by the way any property tax bills I would also include um in your inventory of assets again to make sure that um you know the person handling things for you has has that information easily it'll be much easier for you to put it in then it will be for the person to track it down or have to go through maybe stacks of records that you have or what ever okay so first of all inventory your assets
12:35 next gather documents okay so this this is fairly straightforward so birth certificates you if you have a if you have a spouse your children okay put those in your notebook next if you're married put in a copy of your marriage license or marriage if you've been married more than once there may be multiple marriage licenses okay and also then divorce decrees okay now especially if you're disinheriting somebody okay so you you know if you
13:11 want to make sure that say an ex-spouse doesn't make a claim against your assets um I I would put you know that divorce decree in there so it's it's clear that you know you indeed there's there's a valid divorce um number one and number two when you prepare your do when the documents are prepared you there's typically to exclude somebody that takes a particular language okay um let me hasten to add that Um this can be an issue with social security benefits after you die so I know interestingly
13:46 enough um after my father died even though he and my mother hadn't been married at that point for let's see he died in 200 9 I believe it was and they got divorced in 73 so 2730 they had been divorced for over 35 years um my father had been married and divorced a second time and yet my mother was entitled to his social security benefits after he died wow right who would have known so
14:24 um having these documents again in the notebook can make it much easier for the person handling things for you to deal with them okay if you have any existing Wills uh Powers of Attorney put copies of those in there as well okay um you know the power of attorney may have only been for a specific period of time but if it doesn't if it hasn't been cancelled presumably that power still exists okay so who has that power um does that power of attorney need to be terminated okay if you have a will is it
15:00 the most upto-date one okay so um if there were previous Wills okay I would put previous Wills in your notebook and if they're no longer valid if they've been superseded by another will or a trust or something Mark over them they know superseded or this this document has been superseded so if someone comes along with a copy of it and says no no this is his will you know your your um you know your representative can say well no that's that's this one here and see right here it says superseded and it's got the signature of the decedent
15:35 on it or something like that I don't know that that would stand up in court I'm just saying that again it makes things clear what your wishes are and that's that when it comes down to it an estate plan is making clear what your wishes are okay and then finally deeds and titles to property this is what I brought up a moment ago about not putting um Originals in there you don't want to have original deeds and original title documents in in the notebook just put a copy of these in there that that will suffice and then you may want to list um with them where the originals
16:11 can be found just you know safe deposit box at such and such bank or you know fireproof safe located in such and such a location in my home or whatever that is okay so gather up all those documents next think about and write down who are your beneficiaries who do you want to be your beneficiaries and who are your dependence okay this comes down to first of all who they are and what proportion of your estate do you want them to get okay by
16:50 the way if you want them to get zero again that has to be specifically documented that you are affirmatively disinheriting that person typically okay again these laws can vary jurisdiction to jurisdiction but if you want to be if you you know maybe you have um you know someone who has abused you and you don't want them benefiting from um from from you know your estate well then make sure that they're specifically
17:25 disinherited okay um and then what proport now this will come down to who is advising you um you know the advice that I've heard and again I'm not giving legal advice I'm just giving you examples okay so um to to designate specific assets for specific beneficiaries or dependents can be problematic because it can cause um uh conflict when it comes time to uh a portion out the State okay so typically
18:01 a percentage portion is a a better way to do it however there can be exceptions to that okay especially if it's a piece of a particular piece of personal property that one of your your children say you know really likes or really would love to have to remember you or whatever so in that case you know the individual property will will be designated okay this is definitely an area that you're want going to want to get advice about based on who your beneficiaries and dependents are and you know how you want
18:36 your estate divided up okay now if you have minor children or children who may be minors you know at the time of your death right um so then you're you're going to need to appoint some kind of Guardian for them okay um you know now if you have a spouse so then presumably your spouse is going to take care of the children but if if you and your spouse pass away while your children are still minors so then um you know you're going to want to appoint a guardian otherwise it may fall to you know some relative
19:12 and maybe that relative doesn't really want to do it could be a very difficult situation for the child or children so much better off to figure out in advance um who will care for your children if they're still you know minors okay and then do any of your beneficiaries and and or dependents have special needs okay do you have a child who's neurodiverse for example and who needs extra support maybe in in order to live independently or at least relatively independently um that other children
19:48 don't and so then in that case you may want to make special Provisions for that child maybe you want to set up a Special Needs Trust um or some sort of pourover arrangement um so that that child's special needs are are taken care of after you're uh a after you're gone okay next uh Medical Care and funeral arrangements okay do you have um specific issues about how you want Medical Care rendered to you okay are
20:26 there religious issues okay so so there are there are um faiths that don't permit certain times certain types of Health Care procedures to be used on them so that should be documented there are certain face that would not allow um uh life maintaining um equipment to be withdrawn okay so all of those and you may just have certain preferences you may not want to um be left you know
21:03 lingering for a long time um you know um uh completely unaware and and and unresponsive and just sort of you know vegetating in a hospital bed okay do you want to go into hospice toward the end of your life do you not want to go into hospice right all of these issues should be thought about discussed with your advisors and documented and you'll you'll probably need some kind of living will or Health Care power of attorney okay and and and if it's a health health care power of attorney you'll be appointing someone to make
21:38 these decisions so the person you appoint should understand what your wishes are and especially if there's any religious considerations they should understand um and or be um fit to make decisions within that context okay with respect to to um really Medical Care and funeral arrangements what are your specific wishes so we talked about that a little bit in terms of health care what about your funeral arrangements okay I mean do you want a big funeral where anybody can
22:14 come um and pay their respects or do you want something that's small and private maybe just for immediate family or immediate family and close friends do you want to be interned in the ground do you want to be cremated again there there could be for example religious issues um that are present so um traditional Judaism does not permit uh cremation okay for because um um there's no vessel in in which within which the
22:50 person can be resurrected at during the end of days I know that sounds you know very sort of woooo W but that's that's essentially the the idea behind it so um in in in Judaism you're supposed to be buried in in the ground even when they're buried in a crypt um some dirt will be put in the Crypt with them uh with with a casket I should say all right um but maybe you want to be cremated okay so then you need to express your wishes so I I had a situation where um the person um really
23:28 wanted a very simple casket um and nonetheless her husband had ordered a really fancy casket for her um which was just way out of keeping with what she wanted right so um when it came time to actually put together her funeral um you know I I went with what her wishes were her husband had pred deaser so there wasn't there wasn't going to be any kind of dispute at that point um but you know if her husband had still been alive well presumably he would have been handling the funeral arrangements but perhaps you
24:04 know if he had been you know too old or frail or whatever to handle them um and and as the fiduciary I was called in to handle it so then you know I would sit down with them and I would say I I I see here this is you know this is the casket you ordered for your wife and here in her estate plan where where it talks about what she wants for her funeral it says here she wants a very simple casket um you know wouldn't you rather um you know have the funeral performed within um what your wife's wishes are uh or how do you want to address um that your wife's wishes seem to be different than
24:40 yours right um obviously you don't want to cause conflict especially at that time on the other hand you know these things need to be worked out diplomatically that sort of thing okay um is there someone specifically that you want to speak at your funeral assuming that you predes that person is there someone you definitely do not want speaking at your funeral right those kind of specific wishes um should be um documented and then do you want to have a memorial service so um let let's let's
25:15 say that um uh you know the the you want to have a very small actual funeral okay but you know you'd be comfortable a memorial service maybe at your church uh or your synagogue or whatever for you know people who want to express um their you know their their loss but you know they're not close friends or family or something like that so again all of that can be worked out I know in the military so we had a situation one time where um
25:51 a uh a pilot um within the airwing that I was theair chaplain for um died and he was located in one of the East Coast squadrons but everybody well not literally everybody but he was very well known um in in the airwing um a very beloved individual um and um so they they did the his funeral on the East Coast here on the West Coast where I was located so we did a memorial service for
26:26 him so that people who knew him here on the West Coast could express their grief have that opportunity um you know in his case as far as I know he didn't Express um One Way or Another what he wanted done in this case the the Commodore of the airwing and talking with him um you know we we worked out that it would be a good idea to do a memorial service because he had especially because he had been so well known okay so those are medical care and funeral arrangements okay next um what kind of instruments
27:02 need to be prepared in order to execute your instructions um and and see to with it your wishes are carried out do you need a will do you need a trust or do you need a power of attorney or more than one power of attorney do you need some Health Care directives all of these can be part of a comprehensive estate plan okay and um you know you may I mean if like if you're in the military and you're going to be deployed they're going to require you minimally to have a will and a power
27:37 of attorney um especially if you're married it's going to go to your spouse um but even outside of the military and civilian life um you're going to want to most likely talk to some advisers and figure out based on your specific situation which of these instruments are necessary NE now I've talked about in previous shows so for example with bank accounts B you can put a designation in a bank account U paperwork that as to who will get that the money in that bank account after you die and in that way
28:13 you can avoid uh probate and it doesn't need to be in a trust it depends on you know depends on the type of account so for example if you have a joint account with rights of survivorship when you die that the the funds in that account are automatically going to transfer to the surviving uh owner okay surviving joint owner I should say all right so um there may be other ways of holding property holding assets um that maybe you don't need any of these if you don't have a whole lot of assets okay so could be you
28:50 you know you can do a very simple estate plan just with using some of those techniques okay this is definitely defitely something though you'll you'll want to get some advice on okay and I think this is going to be the last slide yeah um so and this is this is the final Point here is you're probably going to need professional guidance you may need an estate well estate planning attorney probably top on the list okay because they're the ones who can more BR can look at what you've got look at all the information you've collected and
29:26 assuming you've been comprehensive and thorough those are somewhat redundant right um they can pretty quickly tell you what will work best for you given your circumstances okay um you may want to talk to a financial advisor or two depending on what kind of assets you have an accountant or a tax professional especially if you have a large estate um you're GNA you're going to want to deal with the tax planning issues of it and you may want to talk to a fiduciary as well in this what I mean is more of a professional fiduciary so I'm a professional fiduciary that's a flesh
30:02 and blood individual but there are trust companies banks have trust departments that accs as fiduciaries Etc if especially if you have some um complications in your estate you may not want to put that burden on one of your children especially if the children are young okay they may just they just may not have the capacity to deal with this and so you may want to make some kind of provision so that whoever does have to handle things after you pass away they
30:37 have the ability to do so and that may be much more prudent in the long run because they can handle all of these matters faster than someone who maybe is only going to do this once in their life okay again something to talk to your estate planning attorney about or your financial advisor Etc make sure you get good advice okay all all the things we on this show that we talk about unless it's coming from the mouth of an accountant in which case it's General accounting advice if it's coming from the mouth of a lawyer it's it's General legal advice nothing here is targeted
31:13 specifically for you because we don't know your individual situation okay so that's why you want to get that professional guidance it's why it's so so important okay and that's that's what we've got today so here are some places to um get some get some help um these uh links will be in the show notes after the um episode posts so you can you can always find them there you can always um email me if you have a question and we got our legal stuff there it is
31:51 oh and I just realized I gotta change the date there um okay so let's let's go ahead and see how do I close this out like that there we go wow okay got through my first show on re stream look at that um went pretty pretty smoothly um so hopefully you like this new format I I I kind of do it it it it just it looks nicer um and um it gives you some information there at the bottom in case you want to you want to um uh uh you know know you know where to find the
32:27 show etc etc also by the way by using restream so if you want to post comments if you're watching on social media and you want to post a comment so I'll get those comments here on the show so we can we can um interact in live time and I will respond to uh to any of the comments that that you post so thank you very much for joining me today I I probably should have started today out by wishing you Happy New Year since today is the first of the year um and hopefully you you had a a a fun uh New
33:05 Year's Eve and you're looking forward to uh a year of of good health of of prosperity and and good things for uh family friends all of our um fellow citizens and and people through throughout the world so uh again thank you very much for joining me tomorrow uh at 10:00 a.m. is business lessons from the military so I hope you'll join me for that have an interesting topic we're we're going on in season two we're starting on a variety of new topics um tomorrow we're
33:40 going to be talking about something called a hot wash this is not getting into the shower okay and then um on Wednesday at 10: a is people making money season five it's I you know I can't believe that I I started that show four years ago because now we're heading into season five but there you have it um you know here we are in 2024 starting season five so um all the shows now um as as has been the case for the last few weeks are at 10: am so we can
34:15 uh Pacific Time 1 pm eastern time so we can visit together at the same time each day so wishing you a wonderful rest of the day and some signing off Marie you are my bell all the best folks