Articles Posted in Estate Planning

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

As an Idaho estate planning attorney, I often get phone calls from clients or potential clients who have questions. I do my best to answer these questions and try to help each individual out as best I can. However, answering questions is usually best done through our free 30-minute consultation, where we can actually spend time with a client face-to-face and can answer their questions about either estate planning, or probate. If you have questions of this sort, we encourage you to contact us for this free 30-minute consultation.

Recently, I’ve had a series of phone calls and questions come in randomly having to do with family members and other loved ones who have passed away by suicide. The circumstance leading to the question that I’ve been asked is that the person who took their own life left a suicide note behind. The question I’ve been asked is whether the suicide note can qualify as a valid last will and testament under Idaho law.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

I’ve been an estate planning attorney now for more than 20 years. During this time, I’ve seen a lot of situations arise between parents and children when it comes to estate planning. In particular, there have been many instances where I have helped a parent complete a written estate plan that they have chosen for any number of reasons not to share with their children. Sometime later, I may have the children contact me and ask me what their parent’s estate planning documents say.

This situation leads to the question that is the title of this article. That is, do kids have a right to read their parents estate planning documents? The short answer is both no and yes. Really, the answer depends on the circumstances that exist. I’ll provide some examples below to illustrate what I mean by this answer.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

Several years ago, I posted an article about Casey Kasem’s death and how his children and other family members who were fighting over his estate. As I’ve said before, I often follow celebrities and other famous people when it comes to their estate planning or their estates after they’ve passed away because valuable lessons can be learned. In other words, regular people can learn from well-known mistakes made by celebrities when it comes to their own estate planning.

This article will follow up my original article about Casey Kasem’s family and the fight they had over his estate both before and after he passed away. The main reason for the fight was because Casey Kasem had been married several times and had children from each of his different marriages. Some of the children from a previous marriage filed a lawsuit over his estate and also against the wife he was married to when he passed away.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

As an estate planning attorney for more than 20 years I’ve seen just about every situation you can think of arise when it comes to dealing with family members and distributing estate assets. One of the questions that comes up regularly is whether a parent could actually leave nothing to their children. The short answer is yes. While this may seem harsh, there are a variety of reasons why this could be a good idea.

For example, suppose that one of your children suffers from an addiction to alcohol or drugs, or gambling or some other issue. Even though you love your child, it would probably not be a good idea to leave money, property, and other valuable assets to this child after you pass away. If you were to do this, it would likely only make the addiction your child suffers worse.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

As an estate planning attorney in Idaho for the last 20 years I am always interested in things that are done by celebrities when it comes to their estate planning or, after their deaths what occurs within their estate. The reason for this is that I believe many good lessons can be learned from the things that are either done or not done by these famous people.

Recently, the singer Rick Ocasek, from the 1980s rock group The Cars passed away. He died at the age of 75 from a heart attack brought on by cardiovascular disease. Mr. Ocasek, and his wife Paulina Porizkova, who is a famous model, were separated and were in the process of getting a divorce. Because of this, Mr Ocasek wrote in his Will:

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

When Christmas or birthdays roll around every year, we spend time thinking about the very best gifts that we can give to our family and loved ones. Sometimes we even think about the gifts that we are going to receive. We do this because these things are important to us. The purpose of this article is to talk about one of the very best gifts that you can actually give to your family and loved ones. This gift would be pre-planning and prepaying for your own funeral.

Why would pre planning and prepaying your own funeral be such a gift to your family? There are many reasons. Here are just a few.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

Maybe you’ve thought about estate planning. Perhaps you even got to the point where you’ve decided that you want to get your estate planning done. So, what do you do now?

When I talk to estate planning clients, I find that this is often where they are. They simply don’t know where to start to get their estate planning done even though they know they want to do it.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

When it comes to your Idaho estate planning you are in complete control if you have a well thought out and complete written last will and testament. If you do not have a written Will, then your estate will be distributed based on the statutes in Idaho. This simply means that some of your money, property, or other assets, could go to individuals or family members that you do not want them to go to.

I’ve worked as an Idaho estate planning and probate attorney for more than 20 years. This means that I’ve seen just about everything you can imagine when it comes to both estate planning, and probate. One of the common things that I have seen is when a parent wants to disinherit one of their children, but simply does it wrong. When it’s done wrong, then the child is not disinherited, and they receive a portion of the parents’ estate after all despite what the parent wants.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

There are many misunderstandings about probate. These misunderstandings often come from the stories we hear from family members or friends. Even when these stories happen in other states and places, I’ve found that many of my clients are concerned. The main reason: the stories we hear are mainly about how everything went wrong, sometimes really REALLY wrong. Think about it. When things go right, there is no story so we don’t hear about that.

As an Idaho probate attorney for more than 20 years, I’ve heard every story. I’ve even been involved in probates where things have gone badly wrong because of family fights and poorly drafted last wills and testaments or trusts.  Like they say on the Farmers Insurance commercials, I know a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

Over the 20-plus years that I’ve practiced as an estate planning attorney I’ve seen just about every situation you can imagine. Many of these situations include individuals on their actual deathbeds wanting to complete their estate planning, including getting their written last will and testament done. I’ve helped in many of these situations. However, I am also keenly aware that as an attorney I have to independently verify that the individual on their deathbed who is seeking to get their estate planning done, can really do it.

In my practice, I often tell my clients that I have specific goals to complete when I’m helping them with their estate planning. The first goal is that I want to accomplish exactly what my client wants to do within the bounds of the law. My additional goal is that by accomplishing the first goal, the written last will and testament will help keep peace in their family after my client passes away.