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Categories of Legally Speaking
 

Your Responsibilities for Paying Credit Card Debt as Trustee

August 24th, 2015

By Liza Weiman Hanks NABBW’s Estate Planning Associate Dear Liza,  My father passed away recently, and all of his and my mom’s assets are held in a living trust (except an individual checking account), of which I am now the Trustee.  A few collection agencies are now contacting me about collecting on some credit card balances, which are fairly significant.   From what I’ve read online, it sounds like debt collectors might not be able to lay any claims against the trust, but they can collect from the personal estate of the deceased (i.e. checking account or other assets held in the... Read More

Who Inherits When There’s No Beneficiary?

May 18th, 2015

Dear Liza: My dad named his mother as his beneficiary, but she passed away in 2004.  My dad died in 2013 but didn’t change his beneficiary. I am my father’s only child and he has no wife, so who gets the money ?  When a person dies and there’s no surviving beneficiary named for an account, the assets would go that person’s “estate.” You don’t say what kind of account this is, but the most common kind of account with beneficiary designations would be a retirement account, so I’ll make that assumption (though most beneficiary accounts work the same way). What that means is that,... Read More

Buying Mom’s House: Be Careful

November 20th, 2012

Buying Mom’s House: Be Careful By Liza Weiman Hanks NABBW’s Estate Planning Expert Dear Liza, The only asset funding my Mother’s Trust is her primary residence. However, she recently moved from CA to live with me in WA. My sister would like to purchase the home but doesn’t have the full amount. She would pay a down payment of $150,000 which would assist with my Mother’s caregivers and in-home health care. The balance approx. $150,000-$200,000 would be recorded as a Deed of Trust naming the Trustee of the Trust as the beneficiary. Would this affect or invalidate the Trust in any... Read More

What Do I Put In a Living Trust?

September 22nd, 2012

What Do I Put In a Living Trust? By Liza Weiman Hanks NABBW’s Estate Planning Expert Dear Liza: I am trying to prepare a living trust on behalf of my father. He owns his home and vehicles outright and also has two bank accounts. I am the POD beneficiary of all of his accounts, as well as being a secondary signer on his checking and savings accounts. My confusion comes from not knowing what assets should be put in the living trust. Should it just be the home, since that has the highest value? Or should the cars and bank accounts also be included? Or can everything but the house be designated... Read More

Recovering Stolen Property in Probate

June 6th, 2012

Recovering Stolen Property in Probate By Liza Weiman Hanks NABBW’s Estate Planning Expert Dear Liza: I have a sister who came into my father’s house after he passed away and took the only valuable item in the house. My grandmother gave it to my father over 30 years ago. It was in the house as long as I can remember. I strongly protested and requested for her to return it back to my father’s estate since. No positive response as to date. It has been now over 2 years and we are not on talking terms. I have just been appointed as the administrator of my father’s estate. What is the... Read More

What’s The Difference Between An Estate and a Trust?

April 6th, 2012

A person’s estate is all of their property owned at death. If you have a Will, that document states who inherits your estate.  If you die without a Will, state law determine who will inherit your estate.   In both cases, if you have enough assets, a probate court has to supervise the settling of the estate. A trust is a legal agreement in which a person (called a Grantor) states that one or more people (called Trustees) hold the Grantor’s assets for certain people (called the beneficiaries) subject to certain duties and the terms of the agreement. The most common type of trust is called... Read More

What’s Keeping YOU From YOUR Estate Planning?

April 6th, 2012

So, I have a weird job in that I, literally, talk to people about getting their estate plans up to date many times a week. And I\’ve done this for TEN YEARS. Over and over, people tell me that they\’ve been procrastinating and feel badly that they haven\’t gotten things taken care of. And I listen. In fact, my first question is almost always what prompted my clients to finally make the appointment and get the job done. It\’s almost always one of these four things: An upcoming trip. A scary diagnosis or test. A death in the family or a death of a friend. The birth of a... Read More

Selecting Professional Executors for Your Estate

April 6th, 2012

Many Baby Boomer aged clients come to me needing to update existing wills which have become terribly out of date as their children age out of needing legal guardianship and the size of their estates become more significant. A question they frequently wrestle with is who should be named Executor/Co-Executor of their estates. They know that they each want to serve as the executor of the other’s estate, but a dilemma they often  wrestle with is who should be named as a third party Executor/Co-Executor,  a role only necessary if and when something happens to both of them. Often, they choose to... Read More

Time for Not Being Selfish

September 15th, 2006

He had that look. That look that he was busy, rich and important. I could tell from the moment I walked into the plane that he thought he should be flying alone and certainly not in coach. He glared as each passenger walked down the aisle. We mere mortals were apparently holding him up from something important. I was inclined to give the man the benefit of the doubt. After all, I\’ve had bad days and bad flights. As I tried to stuff my briefcase into the overhead compartment, I tossed some light joke across the aisle to break the tension. While one gentleman got up to help me, the oh-so-important... Read More

Commercial Leasing From the Landlord\’s Perspective

July 1st, 2006

The terms of the lease will bind the parties for a considerable period of time and it is important, therefore, to carefully draft the lease up front. Also, often times, when the lease term is coming to an end and the parties want to negotiate an extension of the lease term, landlords are tempted to just amend the lease time and time again to extend the term. Certainly that is the quickest method to keep the lease going, but after a series of amendments, the underlying (original lease) may be 10 years or older. It may well be time to engage counsel, reevaluate the lease, and be sure it meets current-day... Read More