Articles Posted in Estate Planning

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Estate planning is the process where you put into writing the objectives that you have that you want to accomplish and the distributions of property that will occur when you pass away. I feel that my job as an estate planning attorney is to identify clearly what it is my clients want to achieve in their estate planning. Next my job is to look down the road into the future with my client’s objectives in mind and try to perceive all the worst possible things that could happen that would mess up my client’s objectives. The final step is to plan for these bad events in a way that allows my clients objectives to be fulfilled. Essentially, what I mean is hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

Here are just a few areas that I tried to give instruction to my clients about when it comes to estate planning.

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

In the course of being an estate planning attorney for nearly two decades I can tell you that I often have clients who want to have more than one of their children named as a co-personal representative. Whenever this happens I have a lengthy discussion with my clients about the reasons this is a bad idea. Here the purpose of this post is to provide a description of the main reasons I give to my clients for why having co-personal representative is a bad idea.

UNNECESSARY DISAGREEMENTS

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

I’ve come to understand that my estate planning clients are always well-meaning, but often make mistakes in their estate planning simply because they don’t understand the legal effect of their actions. One of the areas that I find is often a concern is when an older parent puts a child’s name as a co-owner on their banking accounts.

Typically this occurs when a person is getting older and they are concerned about their ability to continue paying their bills and doing the financial things that they would normally do with their bank accounts. In this circumstance this older adult will often name one of their adult children as a co-owner on their bank accounts so the child can sign checks for bills and the like. Their reasoning is that by doing this they are assured that their bills will get paid and all of their financial obligations will continue to be met. The problem is, the legal effect of naming a child on your bank account is way different than what you may understand.

In second marriages, when one or both spouses have children from a previous marriage, it is common for husband or wife to draft their estate planning documents in a way to ensure that their children from the previous marriage will inherit. One way to accomplish this desire is to devise all community property to the new spouse and all separate property to the children from the previous marriage. However, if this is not done properly, the surviving spouse may be able to swoop in under the homestead allowance and take the separate property that was meant to go to the deceased spouse’s children from the previous marriage.

Idaho Code § 15-2-402 states that:

“The homestead allowance is exempt from and has priority over all claims against the estate…The homestead allowance is in addition to any share passing to the surviving spouse…by the will of the decedent unless otherwise provided in the will, or by intestate succession, or by way of elective share. The amount of the homestead allowance shall be fifty thousand dollars ($50,000)…The right to a homestead allowance is determined as follows:

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

The estate planning blogs that we have posted on our website mainly talk about the importance and reasons why you should complete your own personal estate planning. I do have a number of clients who have their estate planning done. When this occurs, many of them come to me and ask me about when it would be important for them to update their estate planning. I explain to my clients that there are several major life changes that could occur that are a good reason to pull out their estate planning documents and decide if changes need to be made. Here is a list of these major life changes:

1. DEATH OF A PERSON

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

For nearly two decades I have been practicing estate planning law by providing estate planning advice and creating estate planning documents for my clients. These documents often and usually include a Last Will and Testament. The purpose of this post is to describe several of the important functions that can be accomplished through a Last Will and Testament. Here is a list of some of the basic things that a Last Will and Testament can accomplish:

1. SPECIFIC GIFTS

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Whenever I am working with my estate planning clients I have the opportunity to help them appreciate and understand everything that getting their estate planning done can accomplish. In particular, I am able to point out to them that getting their estate planning done is not just about their death but is also about their life. What I mean by this is that estate planning for an individual can help them plan for their own future and life. here is a list of documents that are used in estate planning to care for a person while they are alive.

DURABLE POWERS OF ATTORNEY

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

Unless you have been living under a rock, it is common knowledge that the famed singer and songwriter who called himself Prince, died in April of 2016, at the age of 57. 　It is also well known that he died without a written Last Will and Testament. What you may not know but could probably guess is that his family, which mainly includes his siblings and half siblings, are now fighting over who will get his $300 million estate. He had two ex-wives, no (known) surviving children, and his parents had died years before. He does have one full sister, and he has five half-siblings through each of his parents.

Under Minnesota law, which is where Prince resided when he died, his estate would be divided between his full sister, and his five surviving half-siblings. This is because of the applicable intestate laws and the fact that Prince’s parents are deceased, he wasn’t married, and he has no known children.

By Lane V. Erickson, Attorney

As an estate planning attorney I find that people most often fail to get their estate planning done because they don’t know where to begin. I feel that my job as an estate planning attorney is to help people get on the right path to completing their estate planning. Often all it takes is providing a basic estate planning checklist to my clients to help them get started. Here are some of the basic things that I discuss with my estate planning clients:

1. BANK ACCOUNTS, LIFE INSURANCE AND RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS

By Lane V. Erickson, attorney

Almost everyone I talk to claims to know what a Simple Will is. However, when asked to describe what goes into a Simple Will or what statements are made in one, very few people actually know. 　I don’t ask this question to make people feel dumb, I really use it as a way to illustrate the fact that most people really do not understand what a Simple Will is or how to create one.

A Simple Will is exactly what it is described to be: simple. In fact, it can actually all be contained on one page. Here are the basics that should be in a Simple Will