The Vegas Voice 8-20

Wake Up!
By: Jerry Creed / Trust Jerry
Have your estate plan reviewed before it’s too
late. Many people think they are on safe
ground when in fact they have climbed way out
on a limb or are walking on a high wire.
Most people discover their
estate planning is poorly done or
inadequate to their needs only after
it’s too late to correct the errors. A
few examples from the last few
months.
First, a couple that has been
together more than 40 years has
done only a Will. One spouse loses
capacity due to disease and the
other spouse needs to sell their
family home but finds in order
to do the sale, they need a court
order (guardianship) or a Durable
Power of Attorney for their spouse, which they can no longer get.
Second, a spouse is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; the healthy spouse
has COPD but wants to do some advanced planning for his spouse. They
have a trust and a durable power of attorney for financial matters, but
when you look at the details within the power of attorney, the spouse is
not allowed to create or fund irrevocable living trusts.
This means no advanced planning is allowed. No advanced planning
means the spouse was going to have to live out their golden years
impoverished, without financial options.
Third, a family’s three adult children were all special needs and
on disability and government assistance. Their trusts did not have
adequate Special Needs provisions.
When the parents passed, all
three children had their assistance
disrupted. Had the parents done
proper planning the children could
have gained benefit from their
inheritance without interrupting
their disability assistance.
Proper skilled nursing planning
or memory care planning can
result in saving people hundreds
of thousands of dollars. If your
estate planning did not include
a discussion of paying for a
skilled nursing or memory care facility, you are way out on a limb, or
unknowingly walking on a high wire.
The simple way to avoid these tragic outcomes is to have your Trust or
Estate plan reviewed by an attorney who specializes in Estate Planning
or Elder Law.
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