Don’t Let Your Kids Move Out Without Signing These Documents

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Although I haven’t experienced it yet, I’ve seen clients, friends, and family watch their kids leave home to attend college or start their career. It can be an emotional time as a parent. On one hand, moving out on their own is a major accomplishment that makes parents proud. On the other hand, having your kids leave the nest and face the world can also induce anxiety and fear.

And it is critical to know that once they reach age 18, your kids become legal adults, and many areas of their lives that were once under your control will be solely their responsibility. Make sure they know that one of the very first items on their to-do list as new adults should be estate planning.

While you may believe that planning is the last thing your kids need to be thinking about, it’s actually the first, because once they turn 18, you no longer have automatic access to their medical records and/or financial accounts should anything happen to them.

Before your kids head out on their own, you should discuss and have them sign the following three documents:

1. Medical Power of Attorney

Medical power of attorney is an advance directive that allows your child to grant you (or someone else) the legal authority to make healthcare decisions for them in the event they become incapacitated and cannot make such decisions for themselves.

For example, a medical power of attorney would allow you to make decisions about your child’s medical treatment if he or she is knocked unconscious in a car accident or falls into a coma due to an illness. And with a properly drafted medical power of attorney, you will be able to access your child’s medical records, whereas without one you would not.

Should they become incapacitated without a properly executed medical power of attorney, you’d have to petition the court to become their legal guardian. While a parent is typically the court’s first choice for guardian, the court process can be slow (not to mention expensive)—and in medical emergencies, every second counts.

2. Living Will

Whereas medical power of attorney allows you to make healthcare decisions on your child’s behalf during their incapacity, a living will provides specific guidance about how your child’s medical decisions should be made while they’re incapacitated, particularly at the end of life.

For example, a living will allows your child to let you know if and when they want life support removed, if they ever require it. In addition to documenting how your child wants their medical care handled, a living will can also include instructions about who should be able to visit them in the hospital and even what kind of food they should be fed.


If your child has certain wishes for their medical care, it’s important you discuss these decisions with them and have those wishes documented in a living will to ensure they’re properly carried out.

3. Durable Financial Power of Attorney

Should your child become incapacitated, you’ll also need the ability to access and manage their finances, and this requires your child to grant you durable financial power of attorney.

Durable financial power of attorney gives you the immediate legal authority to manage their financial and legal matters, such as paying bills, applying for Social Security benefits, and/or managing banking and other financial accounts. Without this document, you’ll have to petition the court for such authority.

Start adulthood off right
As parents, it’s natural to experience anxiety when your kid leaves home. But with the support of a trusted attorney, you’ll at least have peace of mind knowing that he or she will be well taken care of in the event of an unforeseen accident or illness. Contact us today to discuss our Young Adult Estate Planning Package to ensure that if your child ever does need your help, you’ll have the legal authority to provide it.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Buyer Beware: The Hidden Dangers of DIY Estate Planning—Part 2

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Last week, I shared the first part of this series on the dangers of do-it-yourself estate planning. Here, we’ll look at how online legal documents can also put your minor children at risk.

Given how far web-based technology has evolved, you might think online legal document services have advanced to the point where they’re a viable alternative to having your estate plan prepared by a lawyer.

After all, you’ve been able to prepare and file your taxes online for years, so what makes estate planning different? Aren’t lawyers using the very same forms you find on these document websites?

This kind of reasoning is exactly what do-it-yourself (DIY) planning services would like you to believe—but it’s far from true. Indeed, relying on generic, fill-in-blank planning documents can be one of the costliest planning mistakes you can make for your loved ones.

Online planning documents may appear to save you time and money, but keep in mind, just because you created “legal” documents doesn’t mean they will actually work when you (or most importantly, the people you love) need them. Without a thorough understanding of how the legal process works and impacts family dynamics upon your death or incapacity, you’ll likely make serious mistakes when creating a DIY plan.

Even worse, these mistakes won’t be discovered until it’s too late—and the loved ones you were trying to protect will be the very ones forced to clean up your mess or get stuck with a huge nightmare.

Putting your children at risk
Knowing that your DIY plan could fail and force your family into court and conflict is distressing enough. But imagine how you’d feel if you knew that your attempt to save money on your estate plan caused your children to be taken into the care of strangers, even temporarily.Yet this is exactly what could happen if you rely on a generic will and/or other legal documents you find online to name legal guardians for your kids. In fact, this could happen even if you create a plan with a lawyer who isn’t trained to plan for the unique needs of parents with minor children.
Naming and legally documenting guardians for your kids might seem like a straightforward process, but it entails a number of complexities most people aren’t aware of. Even lawyers with decades of experience typically make at least one of six mistakes when naming long-term legal guardians.

What’s so complicated about naming guardians?
Some DIY wills allow you to name legal guardians for your kids in the event of your death, and that’s a good start. But does it allow you to name back-up candidates in case your first choice is unable to serve?

If you named a married couple to serve and one of them is unavailable due to injury, death, or divorce, what happens then? Would it still be okay if only one of them can serve as your child’s guardian? And does it matter which one it is?

What would happen if you become incapacitated by illness or injury and are unable to care for your kids? You might assume the guardians named in your DIY will would automatically get custody, but did you know that a will only goes into effect upon your death and does nothing to protect your kids in the event of your incapacity?

Do the guardians you named live far from your home? If so, how long would it take them to make it to your house to pick up your kids: a few hours, a few days, a few weeks? Who would care for your kids until those guardians arrive? Did you know that without legally binding arrangements for the immediate care of your children, they are likely to be placed with child protective services until those guardians arrive?

Even if you name family who live nearby as guardians, what happens if they are out of town or otherwise can’t get to your kids right away?

And assuming the guardians you named can immediately get to your home to pick up your kids, do they even know where your will is located? How will they prove they’re your children’s legal guardians if they can’t find your planning documents?

These are just a few of the potential complications that could arise if you try to create your own plan naming legal guardians for your kids. And if just one of these contingencies were to occur, your children would more than likely be placed into the care of strangers, even if it’s only for a short period of time.

The Child Protection Plan™
Seeing all of the things that could go wrong, you should never trust the safety and care of your children to a DIY plan—or for that matter, a plan created by a lawyer unfamiliar with the unique needs of planning for parents of minor children.  To ensure your children are never raised by someone you don’t trust or taken into the custody of strangers, even temporarily, consider creating a Child Protection Plan™ – a comprehensive system designed specifically to address the inherent gaps in the way most estate plans document legal guardians.

Consider what’s at stake
The DIY approach might be a good idea if you’re looking to build a new deck for your backyard, but when it comes to estate planning, it’s one of the worst choices you can make. Are you really willing to put your family’s well-being and wealth at risk just to save a few bucks?

If you’ve yet to do any planning, stop putting it off and get started today – especially if you have minor children.

If you’ve already created a plan—whether it’s a DIY job or one created with another lawyer’s help—contact us if you’d like to schedule an Estate Plan Review and Check-Up. We’ll ensure your plan is not only properly drafted and updated, but that it has all the protections in place to prevent your children from ever being placed in the care of strangers or anyone you’d never want to raise them. 

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Buyer Beware: The Hidden Dangers of DIY Estate Planning—Part 1

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Do a Google search for “online estate planning documents,” and you’ll find dozens of different websites. These sites let you complete and print out just about any kind of planning document you can think of—wills, trusts, healthcare directives, and/or power of attorneys—in just a matter of minutes. And the documents are typically quite inexpensive.

At first glance, such DIY planning documents might appear to be a quick and cheap way to finally cross estate planning off your bucket list. These forms may not be perfect, many consumers reason, but at least they’re better than having no plan at all.

However, relying on DIY planning documents can actually be worse than having no plan at all—and here’s why:

An inconvenient truth
Creating a plan using online documents, can give you a false sense of security—you think you’ve got planning covered, when you most probably do not. Relying on DIY planning documents is one of the most dangerous choices you can make. In the end, such generic forms could end up costing your family even more money and heartache than if you’d never gotten around to doing any planning at all.

At least with no plan at all, planning would likely remain at the front of your mind, where it rightfully belongs until it’s handled properly.

Planning to fail
Many people don’t realize that estate planning entails much more than just filling out template driven legal forms. These websites offer a one-size-fits-all solution to your unique situation, needs, and goals. Even worse, they provide no real guidance or counsel, which leads to a plan that misses the mark often—and the loved ones you were trying to protect will be the very ones forced to clean up the mess.

The whole purpose of estate planning is to keep your family out of court and out of conflict in the event of your death or incapacity. Yet, as cheap online estate planning services become more and more popular, millions of people are learning that taking the DIY route can not only fail to achieve this purpose, it can make the court cases and family conflicts far worse and more costly.

One size does not fit all
Online planning documents may appear to save you time and money, but keep in mind, just because you created “legal” documents doesn’t mean they will actually work when you need them. Indeed, if you read the fine print of most DIY planning websites, you’ll find numerous disclaimers pointing out that their documents are “no substitute” for the advice of a lawyer.

Some disclaimers warn that these documents are not even guaranteed to be “correct, complete, or up to date.” These facts should be a huge red flag, but it’s just one part of the problem.

Even if the forms are 100% correct and up-to-date, there are still many potential pitfalls which can cause the documents to not work as intended—or fail all together. And without an attorney to advise you, you won’t have any idea of what you should watch out for.

Estate planning is not a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. Even if you think your particular situation is simple, that turns out to almost never be the case. To demonstrate just how complicated the planning process can be, here are 4 common complications you’re likely to encounter with DIY plans.

1. Improper execution
To be considered legally valid, some planning documents must be executed (i.e. signed and witnessed or notarized) following very strict legal procedures. For example, California requires that you and every witness to your will must sign it in the presence of one another. If your DIY will doesn’t mention that (or you don’t read the fine print) and you fail to follow this procedure, the document can be worthless.

2. Not adhering to state law
State laws are also very specific about who can serve in certain roles like trustee, executor, financial power of attorney, and witnesses. Having an invalid person serving in an important role can cause your entire plan to fail.

3. Unforeseen conflict
Family dynamics are—to put it lightly—complex. This is particularly true for blended families, where spouses have children from previous relationships. A DIY service cannot help you consider all the potential areas where conflict might arise among your family members and help you plan to avoid it. When done right, the estate planning process is a huge opportunity to build new connections within your family.

4. Thinking a will is enough
Lots of people believe that creating a will is enough to handle all their planning needs. But this is rarely the case. A will, for example, does nothing in the event of your incapacity, for which you would also need a healthcare directive and/or a living will, plus a durable financial power of attorney.

Furthermore, because a will requires probate, it does nothing to keep your loved ones out of court upon your death. And if you have minor children, relying on a will alone could leave your kids vulnerable to being taken out of your home and into the care of strangers.

Don’t do it yourself
Given all these potential dangers, DIY estate plans are a disaster waiting to happen. And as we’ll see next week, perhaps the worst consequence of trying to handle estate planning on your own is the potentially tragic impact it can have on the people you love most of all—your children.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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4 Year-End Tax-Saving Strategies for 2019

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As we head towards the end of the year, we’re fast approaching the deadline to implement your family’s tax strategies for 2019. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) completely overhauled the tax code, and if you’ve yet to take full advantage of the benefits offered by the new tax law, now is the time to do so.

To qualify for some TCJA’ tax benefits, you’ll need to act by December 31, so don’t wait to get started. The following 4 tips could save your family big money on your 2019 tax bill.

1. Rethink itemization
Under the new tax law, itemizing your deductions might no longer make sense. That’s because the TCJA increased the standard deduction up to $12,200 for individuals and $24,400 for married couples filing jointly. So, if you’re filing a joint return, you need more than $24,400 in itemized deductions to make itemization worth it.

The law also places new limits on itemized deductions, including a $10,000 cap on property taxes, and the elimination of state and local income-tax deductions.

Given these changes, taking the standard deduction might be the best option, but other factors, such as your health expenses and charitable giving, could affect your decision, so consult with your CPA to make sure.

2. Maximize contributions to retirement accounts
By maximizing your contributions to tax-deferred retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s, you can not only save for retirement, but also reduce your taxable income for 2019.
In 2019, you can contribute up to $6,000 to an IRA and up to $19,000 to a 401(k) if you’re under 50, and up to $7,000 to an IRA and $25,000 to a 401(k) for those 50 and older. If you can’t afford the maximum amount, try to contribute at least the amount matched by your employer, since that’s basically free money

You have until December 31, 2019 to contribute to a 401(k) plan and until April 15, 2020, to contribute to an IRA for the 2019 tax year.

3. Defer your income if you’ll make less next year
If you’re expecting to make significantly more income this year than in 2020, try to defer as much income into next year as possible. However, this strategy only makes sense if you’ll be in the same or a lower tax bracket next year.

This might mean asking your boss to delay paying a year-end bonus until after Jan. 1, 2020, or if you’re self-employed, waiting to invoice some clients until the new year. And whether you’re an employee or self-employed, you can also defer income by taking capital gains in 2020 instead of in 2019.

On the other hand, if you think you’ll be in a higher tax bracket in 2020, you may want to do the opposite and accelerate income into 2019 to take advantage of a lower tax bracket.

4. Save on the child tax credit
 The child tax credit now offers up to $2,000 per qualifying dependent child. To qualify, your child must be 16 or younger at the end of 2019. The first $1,400 of the credit is refundable, so the credit could reduce your tax liability to zero, and you’d still receive a refund.

The cut-off for the tax credit is $400,000 for married couples filing jointly, and $200,000 for everyone else.

Take advantage of 2019 tax savings
Implementing these—and other—year-end tax-saving strategies could save your family thousands of dollars on your 2019 tax bill.  Don’t miss out!

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts: Airtight Asset Protection For Your Child’s Inheritance—Part 2

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In the first part of this series, we discussed a unique planning tool known as a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust. Here we explain the benefits of these trusts in further detail. 

If you’re planning to leave your children an inheritance of any amount, you likely want to do everything you can to protect what you leave behind from being lost or squandered.

While most lawyers will advise you to distribute the assets you’re leaving to your kids outright at specific ages and stages, based on when you think they will be mature enough to handle an inheritance, there is a much better choice for safeguarding your family wealth.

A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust is a unique estate planning vehicle that’s specifically designed to protect your children’s inheritance from unfortunate life events such as divorce, debt, illness, and accidents. At the same time, you can give your children the ability to access and invest their inheritance, while retaining airtight asset protection for their entire lives.

Today, we’ll look at the Trustee’s role in the process and how these unique trusts can teach your kids to manage and grow their inheritance, so it can support your children to become wealth creators and enrich future generations.

Total discretion for the Trustee offers airtight asset protection
Most trusts require the Trustee to distribute assets to beneficiaries in a structured way, such as at certain ages or stages. Other times, a Trustee is required to distribute assets only for specific purposes, such as for the beneficiary’s “health, education, maintenance, and support,” also known as the “HEMS” standard.

In contrast, a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust gives the Trustee full discretion on whether to make distributions or not. The Trust leaves the decision of whether to release trust assets totally up to the Trustee. The Trustee has full authority to determine how and when the assets should be released based on the beneficiary’s needs and the circumstances going on in his or her life at the time.

For example, if your child was in the process of getting divorced or in the middle of a lawsuit, the Trustee would refuse to distribute any funds. Therefore, the Trust assets remain shielded from a future ex-spouse or a potential judgment creditor, should your child be ordered to pay damages resulting from a lawsuit.

What’s more, because the Trustee controls access to the inheritance, those assets are not only protected from outside threats like ex-spouses and creditors, but from your child’s own poor judgment, as well. For example, if your child develops a substance abuse or gambling problem, the Trustee could withhold distributions until he or she receives the appropriate treatment.

A lifetime of guidance and support
Given that distributions from a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust are 100% up to the Trustee, you may be concerned about the Trustee’s ability to know when to make distributions to your child and when to withhold them. Granting such power is vital for asset protection, but it also puts a lot of pressure on the Trustee, and you probably don’t want your named Trustee making these decisions in a vacuum.

To address this issue, you can write up guidelines to the Trustee, providing the Trustee with direction about how you’d like the trust assets to be used for your beneficiaries. This ensures the Trustee is aware of your values and wishes when making distributions, rather than simply guessing what you would’ve wanted, which often leads to problems down the road. 

In fact, many of our clients add guidelines describing how they’d choose to make distributions in up to 10 different scenarios. These scenarios might involve the purchase of a home, a wedding, the start of a business, and/or travel.

An educational opportunity
Beyond these benefits, a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust can also be set up to give your child hands-on experience managing financial matters, like investing, running a business, and charitable giving. And he or she will learn how to do these things with support from the Trustee you’ve chosen to guide them.

This is accomplished by adding provisions to the trust that allow your child to become a Co-Trustee at a predetermined age. Serving alongside the original Trustee, your child will have the opportunity to invest and manage the trust assets under the supervision and tutelage of a trusted mentor.

You can even allow your child to become Sole Trustee later in life, once he or she has gained enough experience and is ready to take full control. As Sole Trustee, your child would be able to resign and replace themselves with an independent trustee, if necessary, for continued asset protection.

Future generations
Regardless of whether or not your child becomes Co-Trustee or Sole Trustee, a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust gives you the opportunity to turn your child’s inheritance into a teaching tool.

Do you want to give your child the ability to leave trust assets to a surviving spouse or a charity upon their death? Or would you prefer that the assets are only distributed to his or her biological or adopted children? You might even want your child to create their own Lifetime Asset Protection Trust for their heirs.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts: Airtight Asset Protection for Your Child’s Inheritance—Part 1

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As a parent, you’re likely hoping to leave your children an inheritance. But without taking the proper precautions, the wealth you pass on is at serious risk of being accidentally lost or squandered. In some instances, an inheritance can even wind up doing your kids more harm than good.

Creating a will or a revocable living trust offers some protection, but in most cases, you’ll be guided to distribute assets through your will or trust to your children at specific ages and stages, such as one-third at age 25, half the balance at 30, and the rest at 35.

If you’ve created estate planning documents, check to see if this is how your will or trust leaves assets to your children. If so, you may not have been told about another option that can give your children access, control, and airtight asset protection for whatever assets they inherit from you.

A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust safeguards the inheritance from being lost to common life events, such as divorce, serious illness, lawsuits, or even bankruptcy.

But that’s not all they do.

Indeed, the best part of these trusts is that they offer you—and your kids—the best of both worlds: airtight asset protection AND use and control of the inheritance. What’s more, you can even use the trust to incentivize your children to invest and grow their inheritance.

Not all trusts are created equal
Most lawyers will advise you to put the assets you’re leaving your kids in a revocable living trust—and this is the right move. But most lawyers would structure the trust to distribute those assets outright to your children at certain ages or stages.

And if you’ve used an online do-it-yourself will or trust-preparation service like LegalZoom®, Rocket Lawyer,® or any of the newer options frequently coming online now, you will most likely be offered only two options: outright distribution of the entire inheritance to your kids when you die, or partial distributions when they reach specific ages and stages as described above.

Either of those options leaves their inheritance—and your hard-earned and well-saved money—at risk. Indeed, once assets pass into your child’s name, all the protection previously offered by your trust disappears.

For example, say your son racked up debt while in college, which can sometimes happen. If he were to receive one-third of his inheritance at age 25, creditors could take his inheritance if it’s paid to him in an outright distribution.

The same thing would be true if your daughter gets a divorce after receiving her inheritance, only it would be her soon-to-be ex-spouse who would claim a right to the funds in a divorce settlement. And despite what you may have heard about an inheritance remaining separate property, once it’s in your child’s hands, outright and unprotected, those assets are at risk.

There’s just no way to foresee what the future has in store for your kids—these kind of events happen to families every day. And that’s not even taking into consideration that your kids might simply blow through the money and spend it all on unnecessary luxuries.

Airtight asset protection—and easy access
Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts are specifically designed to prevent your hard-earned assets from being wiped out by such risks. And at the same time, your children will still be able to use and invest the funds held in trust as needed.  

For example, even though the assets are held in trust, your kids would be able to invest those funds in things like stocks, a business, or real estate, provided they do so in the name of the trust. Plus, if your child needs to pull money out to pay for college, a new home, or medical bills, they can do that by asking a Trustee—who’s chosen by you to oversee the money—for a distribution.

Or, as will cover next week, you may even allow your child to become Sole Trustee at some point in the future, allowing him or her to make decisions about the trust’s management.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Understanding Your Life Insurance Settlement Options

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Following the death of the policy holder, the way in which proceeds from a life insurance policy are paid to the beneficiary (or beneficiaries) is known as the settlement option. And you might be surprised to learn that there are a variety of settlement options available besides the most common method—a lump-sum payout.
 
Depending on the life insurance company and policy, these options may be selected by the policy holder ahead of time or chosen by the beneficiary upon the insured’s death. Whether you’re the policy holder or beneficiary, it’s important that you understand these options in order to maximize the policy’s financial benefit and reduce potential taxes.

Here are six popular life-insurance settlement options:

1. Lump sum: The beneficiary receives the full death benefit all at once in a single payment.

2. Interest Income: The insurance company retains the original death benefit and makes interest-only payments to the beneficiary. The original benefit may be paid in full to the beneficiary after a certain time period or to a contingent (alternate) beneficiary upon the primary beneficiary’s death.

3. Fixed Amount: The beneficiary is paid a fixed amount on a regular basis until the total death benefit (plus any interest accrued) has been paid out. If the beneficiary dies before all the funds have been paid, a contingent beneficiary may receive the remaining amount.

4. Fixed Period:  The beneficiary receives regular payments of both principal and interest over a fixed period, typically up to 30 years. If the beneficiary dies before the time period is over, the remaining balance may pass to a contingent beneficiary.

5. Life Income: The beneficiary receives guaranteed payments over the remainder of his or her life. The amount of the payments is determined by the insurance company and based on the beneficiary’s age and gender. The payments continue until the beneficiary dies. If he or she dies earlier than expected, the insurance company keeps the unpaid amount.

6. Life Income Period Certain: Unlike the life income option above, where payments stop when the beneficiary dies, this option guarantees fixed payments for a certain time period such as 10 or 20 years. If the beneficiary dies before the term expires, a contingent beneficiary may receive the remaining payments.

What about taxes?
Life insurance payouts made in a lump sum are not subject to income taxes. With other settlement options that pay out in installments over time, the original death benefit (principal) is not taxed, but any interest that accrues IS taxed as income when it is paid to the beneficiary.

Choosing a settlement option
We work with your trusted life insurance adviser (or if you don’t have one, introduce you to someone you can trust) to select the settlement option that’s best suited for your particular needs. And if you receive a life insurance payout it’s a great time to review your current estate plan to ensure it properly protects that gifted asset.  Please feel free to get in touch if you have questions about any of this.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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A Lesson For All Parents: Who Will Be Emani’s Legal Guardian?

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In the aftermath of rapper Nipsey Hussle’s murder this March, his family and ex-girlfriend have been locked in a bitter battle for custody of one of his young children. And as this ugly drama plays out in the courtroom and tabloids, it highlights the single-most costly estate-planning mistake a parent can make.

Hussle, 34, was gunned down outside his South Los Angeles clothing store in March. The young rapper’s death was tragic on many levels. But perhaps most tragic is what’s happening to Hussle’s kids. Because Hussle never named legal guardians, the decision of who will raise his two children—daughter Emani, 10, and son Kross, 2—is now up to the courts. And this mistake is already having unfortunate consequences. 

In addition to not naming guardians for his kids, Hussle also failed to create a will, which makes their guardianship even more contentious. Hussle’s estate is estimated to be worth $2 million, and under California law, in the absence of a will, that money is to be split equally between his two kids. 

Given that both children are minors, however, they’re ineligible to access their inheritance until they reach the age of majority. This means that whomever ultimately wins guardianship of the children will likely gain control over their money as well.

Caught in the middle
Guardianship of Hussle’s son Kross, while still undecided, is currently not a source of conflict. Who will be awarded guardianship of Hussle’s daughter Emani, however, is very much in contention.

Since the day of the shooting, Hussle’s sister, Samantha Smith, has been caring for Emani. Following Hussle’s shooting, Smith petitioned the court to obtain Emani’s guardianship. But Emani’s mother, Tanisha Foster, an old girlfriend of Hussle’s, is also seeking guardianship.

The competing parties have filed court documents alleging criminal conduct and making other terrible accusations against each other.  This war is taking its toll on the whole family with poor Emani caught in the middle.

Don’t leave your child’s life in a judge’s hands
As Hussle’s case so dramatically demonstrates, if you’re the parent of minor children, it’s imperative that you select and legally document long-term guardians for your kids. In fact, as a parent, naming guardians for your children should be your number-one planning priority.

The fact that Hussle didn’t create a will is obviously another terrible mistake. But when it comes to your children’s well-being, all the money in the world is meaningless in comparison. For this reason, I’m going to focus solely on the consequences resulting from Hussle’s failure to name legal guardians, and how easily this whole ugly mess could have been avoided.

As we’re seeing with Hussle, leaving it up to the court to name guardians for your kids
can lead to conflict, as otherwise well-meaning family members fight one another over custody. This process is not only costly, but it can be terribly traumatizing for everyone involved, especially your kids.

Hussle’s case also shows how agonizingly slow this process often is. There have already been numerous court hearings related to Emani’s custody since her father’s death in March, and the saga remains ongoing. Indeed, these custody battles often drag on for years, making the lawyers wealthy, while your kids are stuck in the middle.

But the most tragic consequence of Hussle’s failure to name legal guardians is that a judge will be the one who decides who’s best suited to care for his kids.

Though we can’t be sure exactly who Hussle would have wanted to raise Emani, it’s almost certain he wouldn’t have wanted a total stranger to make that decision for him. Yet, because he didn’t take the time to document legal guardians, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Child Protection Planning™
A Child Protection Plan™ is a comprehensive methodology to guide you step-by step through the process of legally documenting guardians for your kids for the short-term, long-term, and so much more. If you are a parent, you absolutely must put in place a Child Protection Plan™ for your minor children and/or children with special needs.

Get started immediately
Because naming legal guardians for your kids is so critical, you can’t afford to wait to get the process started.

You must name long-term guardians and grant the people you choose (along with backups) the legal authority to temporarily care for your children, until the long-term guardians can be located and granted custody by the court. And you should also confidentially exclude any person you know you’d never want to raise your kids.

A Child Protection Plan™  provides for the well-being and care of your kids no matter what happens to ensure your family never falls victim to the same tragic circumstances as Hussle’s.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Use Estate Planning to Ensure Your Legacy Doesn’t Get Lost

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When you think about those loved ones who’ve passed away, you probably don’t think very much—or even at all—about the “things” they’ve left you. And when they do leave something behind, what you likely cherish most about the object are the memories and feelings it evokes, not the thing itself.

Preserving your intangible assets
We recognize that estate planning isn’t just about preserving and passing on your financial wealth and property when you die. When done right, planning allows you to share your family’s stories, values, and life lessons, so your legacy carries on long after you—and your money—are gone. 

“Priceless Conversations” is part of a process that’s designed to not only ensure these intangible assets never get lost, but also to make the process of documenting them as easy and convenient as possible. In this process, we guide clients to create a customized recording in which they share their most insightful memories and life lessons, not just for their children and grandchildren, but for generations to come. My favorite part about this process is that most of our clients tell us that going through it helps them surface things they would have never thought about regarding how they want to parent differently or things they want to share now, during life, not just leave behind a lasting legacy of love.

To help inspire clients, we’ve developed a series of helpful questions and prompts, which makes the process not only easy, but enjoyable. And this isn’t something you have to do on your own, which you’d probably never get around to doing, despite your best intentions. Instead, this is something we include as an integral part of our planning services—and it’s included at no extra charge with each plan we create.

In the end, your family’s most precious wealth is not money, but the memories you make, the values you instill, and the lessons you hand down. And left to chance, these assets are likely to be lost forever.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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Use Estate Planning to Avoid Adult Guardianship—and Elder Abuse: Part 2

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In the first part of this series, we detailed how criminally minded individuals can take advantage of an overloaded court system and seize total control of seniors’ lives and financial assets by gaining court-ordered guardianship. Here we’ll dive deeper into how seniors and their adult children can use proactive estate planning to prevent this from happening.

It’s important to note that any adult could face court-ordered guardianship if they become incapacitated by illness or injury, so it’s critical that every person over age 18—not just seniors—put these planning vehicles in place to prepare for a potential incapacity.

Keep your family out of court and out of conflict
Outside of the potential for abuse by professional guardians, if you become incapacitated and your family is forced into court seeking guardianship, your family is likely to endure a costly, drawn out, and emotionally taxing ordeal. Not only will the legal fees and court costs drain your estate and possibly delay your medical treatment, but if your loved ones disagree over who’s best suited to serve as your guardian, it could cause bitter conflict that could unnecessarily tear your family apart and open the door to potential abuse.

Planning for incapacity
The potential turmoil and expense, or even risk of abuse, from a court-ordered guardianship can be easily avoided through proactive estate planning. Upon your incapacity, an effective plan would give the individual, or individuals, of your choice immediate authority to make your medical, financial, and legal decisions, without the need for court intervention. What’s more, the plan can provide clear guidance about your wishes, so there’s no mistake about how these crucial decisions should be made during your incapacity.

There are a variety of planning tools available to grant this decision-making authority, but a will is not one of them. A will only goes into effect upon your death, and even then, it simply governs how your assets should be divided. To this end, a will does nothing to keep your family out of court and out of conflict in the event of your incapacity—nor does it help you avoid the potential for abuse by professional guardians.

Your incapacity plan shouldn’t be just a single document. It should include a variety of planning tools, including some, or all, of the following:

  • Healthcare power of attorney: An advanced directive that grants an individual of your choice the immediate legal authority to make decisions about your medical treatment in the event of your incapacity.
  • Living will: An advanced directive that provides specific guidance about how your medical decisions should be made during your incapacity.
  • Durable financial power of attorney: A planning document that grants an individual of your choice the immediate authority to make decisions related to the management of your financial and legal interests.
  • Revocable living trust: A planning document that immediately transfers control of all assets held by the trust to a person of your choosing to be used for your benefit in the event of your incapacity. The trust can include legally binding instructions for how your care should be managed and even spell out specific conditions that must be met for you to be deemed incapacitated.
  • Family/friends meeting: Even more important than all of the documents we’ve listed here, the very best protection for you and the people you love is to ensure everyone is on the same page. As part of our planning process, we’ll walk the people impacted by your plan through a meeting that explains to them the plans you’ve made, why you’ve made them, and what to do when something happens to you. With a team of people who love you, watching out for you and what matters most, the risk of abuse from a professional guardian is low.

Don’t wait to put your plan in place
It’s vital to understand that these planning documents must be created well before you become incapacitated. You must be able to clearly express your wishes and consent for these planning strategies to be valid, as even slight levels of dementia or confusion could get them thrown out of court.

Not to mention, an unforeseen illness or injury could strike at any time, at any age, so don’t wait to get your incapacity plan taken care of.

Finally, it’s crucial that you regularly review and update these planning tools to keep pace with life changes, including changes in your assets or the nature of your relationships. If any of the individuals you’ve named becomes unable or unwilling to serve for whatever reason, you’ll need to revise your plan.

Dedicated to empowering your family, building your wealth and defining your legacy,

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