Planning on Dying? Not Planning on Dying? Cover All Your Bases First – *Article Written by William Hayes – You may be decades away from thinking about estate planning or you could be minutes away from needing it. I don’t have to convince you. All you have to do is look around to see evidence of this happening in the lives of people who did not expect to die when they still had so much living yet to do.
It is precisely for these reasons that the Hayes Law Firm in South Pasadena is now offering a free webinar on Estate Planning that you may view from the comfort of home.
There will be many things that you can learn by taking a short period of time out of your day to watch this important webinar. For instance, viewers will learn why it’s so very important that your home always be put into a living trust, and why putting your child’s name on your deeds or financial accounts could result in foreclosure, bankruptcy, creditor’s liens, and the inability of your family to properly inherit.
Many people are not aware that their health insurance does not pay for long-term care medical expenses. If you do not have long-term care insurance, more often than not, you will have to pay for those long-term care expenses out of your own pocket. This is why medical expenses are the overwhelming reason that people have to file for bankruptcy in this country. Find out why doing proper planning will enable you to avoid having to personally pay for your long-term care expenses or to otherwise find yourself in bankruptcy.
Improper planning will cause you to lose your home and other assets, if you should have to apply for Medicaid to take the overwhelming burden of long-term care medical bills off of your shoulders. The United States Department of Health and Human Services states that seven out of ten people over the age of 65 will have long-term care medical expenses. If you know that most people over the age of 65 will have long-term care health problems, wouldn’t you be less than responsible if you didn’t prepare for that? It would be a shame if you did not plan to protect your golden years and also make sure that you have something to leave to your heirs upon your eventual passing
A well drafted estate plan will also make sure that you have a plan in place if you should develop mental or physical disabilities as you grow older. Without proper planning you may fall into the trap of having your life subjected to court supervision through a probate court process known as conservatorship.
Conservatorship is the probate court process which is used when an adult person has mental or physical disabilities which make it difficult for them to care for themselves. It is extremely expensive, and all of the expense will come out of your pocket if you are the subject of the conservatorship. If you have a good estate plan, your plan should name who your legal caregivers will be in the event of your possible disability.
There are many other benefits to be gained by engaging in estate planning. The Hayes Law Firm will create a plan that specifically meets the needs of your family. For instance, if you are leaving your assets to a child who may wind up in an unstable marriage, you may want to have a divorce protection plan for that child.
If you have another child who is irresponsible, a plan can be created to make sure that the assets that you leave for that child can be used to encourage responsibility in that child rather than just giving that irresponsible child money which will just magnify his or her bad habits.
If you have a child with disabilities and the child is receiving any type of government assistance, you will want to create a special needs plan so that the money does not go directly to that child. If the money is directly received by that child, the government will expect to be reimbursed for the expenses which they have paid on behalf of that child.
If you are a pet owner, it is important that your plan include provisions for the care and feeding of your pet if you are disabled or have died.
Another area where inadequate planning occurs is when a married couple has created an estate plan and the plan is for the surviving spouse to receive the assets of the trust and thereafter the assets would go to the surviving children when this surviving spouse dies. However, no one ever considers what happens if the surviving spouse remarries and co-mingles his or her assets with the new spouse. Where do you think the assets are going to wind up when the surviving spouse dies? Will your children be unintentionally disinherited?
There are a lot of obvious places where you never want you or yours to be, and you should add the probate court to that list. If you do not do any planning and your assets wind up having to go through the probate court process, you’ll only have yourself to blame when your assets are subjected to exorbitant attorney and administrator’s fees, court costs, bonds, maintenance fees, public exposure of your private affairs, and a long and costly delay before any of your beneficiaries receive any of your assets. The truth is that the only people who wind up in probate court are people who have failed to plan.
Internet, do-it-yourself, and bargain-priced plans very often end up in court litigation. Perhaps you need to find out why.
To assist you in making your decisions regarding estate planning, the Hayes Law Firm offers informative and entertaining free online webinars which provide concise and clear explanations on what you need to do to protect yourself, your family and your assets. Do not continue to procrastinate. Register today for this important free webinar by visiting the Hayes Law Firm website at www.LosAngelesTrustLaw.com or you may call 626-403-2292 to make your webinar reservation with one of our friendly staff members.
Attorney William K. Hayes is a noted speaker on the subjects of Living Trusts, Wills, and Long-Term Care Planning.
His newspaper columns on estate planning topics have been syndicated throughout Southern California. The Hayes Law Firm has been cited as a resource for estate planning answers by NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX.
Mr. Hayes is also an active member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys which is highly recommended by Consumer Reports, Money Magazine, and Suze Orman, as a top resource for locating highly qualified estate planning attorneys.
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