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Because estate planning involves thinking about difficult topics like death, incapacity, and aging, it’s something many people understandably put off. As a Chicago estate planning attorney working with young families, I see this all the time—and unfortunately, that delay often creates unnecessary stress, expense, and complications for the people you love most. To make matters more confusing, the rise of online estate planning platforms like LegalZoom®, Rocket Lawyer®, and Trust & Will® has led many to believe estate planning is just about filling out forms. But in reality, creating a plan that actually works when your family needs it requires a much deeper understanding of how the law applies to your specific assets, relationships, and goals. In fact, without a thorough understanding of how the legal process works upon your death or incapacity, along with knowing how it applies specifically to your family dynamics and the nature of your assets, you’ll likely make serious mistakes when creating a DIY will or trust. And the worst part is that these mistakes won’t be discovered until you are gone—and the very people you were trying to protect will be the ones cleaning up the mess. Estate planning is definitely not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Even if you think your particular situation is simple, that turns out to almost never be the case. To demonstrate just how complicated estate planning can be, last week in part one , we highlighted the first five of 10 of the most common estate-planning mistakes, and here we wrap up the list with the remaining five mistakes. 06 | Not Updating Beneficiary Designations In addition to reviewing and updating your core estate planning documents like your will, trust, and power of attorney, it’s crucial that you also update the documentation for your other assets, especially those with beneficiary designations. Some of your most valuable assets, like 401(k)s, IRAs, and life insurance policies, do not transfer via a will or trust. Instead, these assets have beneficiary designations that allow you to name the person (or persons) you’d like to inherit the asset upon your death. Oftentimes, people forget to change their beneficiary designations to match their estate planning goals, which can lead to disaster. For example, if you get remarried and forget to update your 401(k), your ex-spouse from 20 years ago could end up inheriting your retirement savings. Additionally, some people assume that because they’ve named a specific heir as the beneficiary of their IRA in their will or trust that there’s no need to list the same person again as beneficiary in their IRA paperwork. Because of this, they leave the IRA beneficiary form blank or list “my estate” as the beneficiary. But this is a major mistake—and one that can lead to serious complications and expense for your loved ones. It makes no difference who is listed as the beneficiary in your will or trust; you must list the person you want to inherit the asset in the beneficiary designation, or your heirs will have to go to court to claim the asset. And you should never name a minor child as a beneficiary of your life insurance or retirement accounts, even as the secondary beneficiary. If a child inherits assets, the assets become subject to control of the court until they reach the age of 18, and then, the assets are distributed outright without any protection or direction . If you want a minor to inherit assets, you can create a special trust to hold the asset until the child comes of age, and name someone you trust to serve as a successor trustee to manage the assets until that time. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we can support you to choose the appropriate trust for this purpose to ensure your child gets the maximum benefit from their inheritance. 07 | Improper Execution You could have the best estate planning documents in the world, but if you fail to sign them, or sign them improperly, they will fail. This might seem trivial, but we see it all the time. A loved one dies, their family brings their estate planning documents to us, and we can’t help them because the documents were either not signed or were signed improperly. To be considered legally valid, certain estate planning documents like wills must be executed (i.e. signed, witnessed, and/or notarized) following very strict legal procedures. For example, many states require that you and every witness to your will must sign it in the presence of one another. If your DIY service doesn't mention that condition (or you don’t read the fine print) and you fail to follow this procedure, the document can end up worthless. 08 | Choosing the Wrong Executors or Trustees In addition to laws regarding execution, state laws are also very specific about who can serve in certain roles like executor, trustee, or financial power of attorney. In some states, for instance, the executor of your will must either be a family member or an in-law, and if not, the person you choose must live in the state. If your chosen executor doesn’t meet those requirements, he or she cannot serve. Moreover, some states require the person you name as your executor to get a bond, which is like an insurance policy before he or she can serve. Such bonds can be difficult to get for someone who has a less-than-stellar credit score. If your executor cannot get a bond, it would be up to the court to appoint your executor, which could end up being someone you would never want managing your assets or a third-party professional, who could drain your estate with costly fees. 09 | Unintended Conflict Between Family Members Family dynamics are—to put it lightly—quite complex. This is particularly true for blended families, where spouses have children from previous relationships. If you try to go it alone using a DIY document service, you won’t be able to consider all of the potential areas where conflict might arise among your family members and plan ahead to avoid such disputes. After all, even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate these complex emotional matters—but we can. Every day we see families end up in lifelong conflict due to poor estate planning. Yet, we also see families brought closer together as a result of handling these matters the right way. When done right, the estate planning process is actually a major opportunity to build new connections within your family, and we are specifically trained to help you with that. 10 | Failing to Properly Name Guardians for Minor Children If you are a parent with children under the age of 18 at home, your number-one estate planning priority should be selecting and legally documenting both long and short-term guardians for your kids. Guardians are the people legally named to care for your children in the event something happens to you. If you’ve named guardians for your minor children in your will—even with the help of another lawyer—your kids could still be at risk of being taken into the care of strangers. For instance, if you’ve named guardians for your kids in your will, what would happen if you became incapacitated and were no longer able to care for them? Did you know that your will only becomes operative in the event of your death, and it would do nothing to protect your children in the event of your incapacity? Or perhaps the guardians you named in your will live far from your home, so it would take them several days to get there. If you haven’t made legally-binding arrangements for the immediate care of your children, it’s highly likely that they will be placed with the authorities until those guardians arrive. And does anyone even know where you will is located and how to access it? How can they prove they are your children’s legal guardians if they can’t even find your estate plan? These are just a few of the potential complications that can arise when naming legal guardians for your kids, whether in your will or as a stand-alone measure. And if just one of these contingencies were to occur, your children would more than likely be placed into the care of strangers. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we offer a comprehensive system known as the Kids Protection Plan, which is included with every estate plan we prepare for families with young children. If you have already named long-term guardians in your will or as a stand-alone measure, either on your own or with a lawyer, we can review your existing legal documents to see whether you have made any of the most common mistakes that could leave your kids at risk. From there, we will revise your plan and put the proper protections in place to ensure your children are fully protected. Life & Legacy Planning: Do Right By Those You Love Most The DIY approach might work for simpler projects, but estate planning is one area where thoughtful, personalized guidance makes all the difference. If you’re looking for a Chicago estate planning attorney to help you put the right plan in place—or to review an existing plan—we’re here to help. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we guide you through a Life & Legacy Planning Session designed to give you clarity around your assets, your options, and what would actually happen for your loved ones in different scenarios. And if you already have a plan in place, reviewing it with a Chicago estate planning attorney can help ensure everything is properly aligned, updated, and fully working the way you intend. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we believe estate planning is about more than documents—it’s about making intentional decisions today to protect the people you love and create a legacy that reflects what matters most. Contact us today for a free initial consult to get your plan started.

Because estate planning involves actively thinking about and planning for frightening topics like death, old age, and crippling disability, many people put it off or simply ignore it all together until it’s too late. Sadly, this unwillingness to face reality often creates serious hardship, expense, and trauma for those loved ones you leave behind. To complicate matters, the recent proliferation of online estate planning document services, such as LegalZoom®, Rocket Lawyer®, and Trustandwill.com, may have misled you into thinking that estate planning is a do-it-yourself (DIY) affair, which involves nothing more than filling out the right legal forms. However, proper estate planning entails far more than filling out legal forms. In fact, without a thorough understanding of how the legal process works upon your death or incapacity and applied specifically to your family dynamics and the nature of your assets, many people make serious mistakes when creating a DIY will or trust. And the worst part is that these mistakes won’t be discovered until you are gone—and the very people you were trying to protect will be the ones stuck cleaning up the mess. Estate planning is definitely not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Even if you think your particular situation is simple, that turns out to almost never be the case. To demonstrate just how complicated estate planning can be, here are 10 of the most common estate planning mistakes, starting with the worst blunder of all: failing to create an estate plan. 01 | Leaving No Estate Plan at All If you die without an estate plan, the court will decide who inherits your assets, and this can lead to all sorts of problems. Who is entitled to your property is determined by our state’s intestate succession laws, which hinge largely upon whether you are married and if you have children. Spouses and children are given top priority, followed by your other closest living family members. If you are single with no children, your assets typically go to your parents and siblings, and then more distant relatives if you have no living parents or siblings. If no living relatives can be located, your assets go to the state. It’s important to note that state intestacy laws only apply to blood relatives, so unmarried partners and close friends would get nothing. If you want someone outside of your family to inherit your assets, having a plan is an absolute must. If you’re married with children and die with no plan, it might seem like things would go fairly smoothly, but that’s not always the case. If you’re married, but have children from a previous relationship, for example, the court could give everything to your spouse and leave your children with nothing. In another instance, you might be estranged from your kids or not trust them with money, but without a plan, state law controls who gets your assets, not you. Moreover, dying without a plan could also cause your surviving loved ones to get into an ugly court battle over who has the most right to your property. Or if you become incapacitated, your loved ones could even get into conflict around your medical care. You may think this would never happen to your loved ones, but we see families torn apart by it all the time, even when there’s not significant financial wealth involved. At Kaplan Estate Law, we help Chicago families create plans that handle your assets and your medical care in the exact manner you wish, taking into account all of your family dynamics, so your death or incapacity won’t be any more painful or expensive for your family than it needs to be. 02 | Thinking a Will Alone is Enough Lots of people believe that a will is the only estate planning tool they need. While a will is a fundamental part of nearly every adult’s estate plan, which can ensure that your assets go where you want them to go in the event of your death, using a will by itself comes with some serious limitations, including the following: Wills require your family to go through the court process known as probate, which can not only be lengthy and expensive, it’s also completely open to the public and frequently creates ugly conflicts among your loved ones. Wills don’t offer you any protection if become incapacitated by illness or injury and are unable to make your own medical, financial, and legal decisions. Wills don’t cover jointly owned assets or those with beneficiary designations, such as life insurance policies and 401(k) plans. Wills don’t provide any protection or guidance for when and how your heirs take control of their inheritance. Naming guardians for your minor children in your will can leave them vulnerable to being placed in the care of strangers. Given these facts, if your estate plan consists of a will alone, you are missing out on many valuable safeguards for your assets, while also guaranteeing your family will have to go to court if you become incapacitated or when you die. Fortunately, all of the above issues can be effectively managed using a trust. That said, as you’ll see below, trusts are by no means a cure-all —these documents come with their own unique drawbacks, especially if you try to prepare one on your own. 03 | Creating a Trust & Not Properly Funding It Many people now know that a trust can keep your family out of court, and you may think you can just go online to set up your own trust, or have a lawyer do it with you as a one-size-fits all solution. And while that might be true, particularly if you have very simple assets and few family members, even in that case, you are likely to overlook one of the most important parts of creating a trust: “funding” it. An unfunded trust is a trust that exists, but that doesn’t hold any of your assets because you didn’t retitle them properly, or because you acquired new assets after creating your trust. This is all too common, and if this is true for you, it will leave your family with a big mess, even though you have officially created your trust. Funding your trust properly is extremely important, because if any assets are not properly funded, the trust won’t work, and your family will have to go to court in order to take ownership of that property. And when you acquire new assets after your trust is created, you must make sure those assets are properly funded into your trust as well. At Kaplan Estate Law, we will not only make sure all of your assets are properly titled when you initially create your trust, but we will also help ensure that any new assets you acquire over the course of your life are inventoried and properly funded to your trust. This keeps your assets from being lost, and prevents your family from being inadvertently forced into court because your plan was never fully completed. 04 | Not Leaving an Up-To-Date Inventory of Assets As mentioned above, even if you’ve properly funded your assets into your trust, your estate plan will be worthless if your heirs don’t know what you have or where to find it. In fact, there’s more than $58 billion dollars worth of lost assets in the U.S. Department of Unclaimed Property right now. And that’s all because someone died or became incapacitated without letting anyone know how to locate their assets. This is especially critical for digital assets like cryptocurrency, social media, email, and data stored in the cloud, because if you haven’t properly addressed these assets in your estate plan, there’s a good chance they will be lost forever if something happens to you. For all of these reasons, creating and maintaining a comprehensive inventory of all of your assets is a standard part of every estate plan we create. With our support, you can rest assured that your family will know exactly what assets you own and how to locate them should anything happen to you. 05 | Failing to Regularly Review & Update Your Estate Plan In addition to keeping an updated asset inventory, it’s vital that you regularly review and update all of your planning documents. Far too often people prepare a will or trust , then put it into a drawer or on a shelf, and forget about it. Yet, an estate plan is not a one-and-done deal. As time passes, your life circumstances change, the laws change, and your assets change, you must update your plan to reflect these changes—that is, if you want your plan to actually work for your loved ones and keep them out of court and conflict. We recommend reviewing your plan annually to make sure its terms are up to date. And be sure to immediately update your plan following major life events like divorce, births, deaths, and inheritances. We actually have built-in processes to make sure this happens—be sure to ask us about them. Beyond sheer necessity, an annual life review can be a beautiful ritual that puts you at ease, and helps you to set the course of your life and keeps your life on course, knowing that you’ve got your affairs in order, all handled, and completely updated each year. Next week, in part two, we’ll wrap up our list of the 10 most common estate-planning mistakes. Until then, if you are ready to get your estate planning handled and taken care of the right way with ease and affordability, start by contacting us for a Life & Legacy Planning Session . Your Life & Legacy Planning Session is custom-designed to your assets, your family, your wishes, and to educate you on the best way to reach your objectives for the people you love most. If you'd like to learn more, click here to schedule a free 15 minute Initial Consult or contact Lauren at lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com.

You've taken the important step of creating an estate plan, and it includes a trust—congratulations! This shows you care deeply about keeping your family out of court and conflict, ensuring your wishes are known and honored, and you do not want to leave behind a mess for the people you love. Great work. But here's something you may not realize: an estate plan, a will, or a trust isn't a "set it and forget it" type of thing. Your estate plan is a living set of documents and tools that need regular attention to ensure they work when your loved ones need them and that they don’t fail at the worst possible moment. Think about it this way: You wouldn’t drive the same car for ten years without regular maintenance—oil changes, tire rotations, and inspections—to make sure it’s still running smoothly and safely. Similarly, your estate plan, including your trust, needs routine checkups to ensure it’s still aligned with your life circumstances, assets, legal changes, and wishes. Let’s explore why regular estate plan reviews are crucial and how often you should be checking in on your plan. Life Changes, and Your Trust Should Too Life rarely stays the same for long. Since you created your trust, you've likely experienced changes in your personal and financial life. Each of these changes can impact how effective your trust will be in protecting your assets and providing for your loved ones. Consider major life events like marriage, divorce, or the birth of children or grandchildren. These milestones fundamentally alter your family structure and potentially your wishes regarding who should benefit from your estate. For example, if you've recently welcomed a new grandchild, you might want to include them as a beneficiary. Or if you've gone through a divorce, you'll likely want to remove your ex-spouse from your trust. Your financial situation evolves as well. Perhaps you've purchased new property, started a business, or received an inheritance. These assets need to be properly incorporated into your trust. Otherwise, they may end up going through probate, defeating one of the primary purposes of having a trust in the first place. Even changes in your relationships can necessitate updates to your trust. The person you appointed as successor trustee five years ago might no longer be the best choice. Without regular reviews, your trust may not accomplish what you intend, potentially leading to conflict among your loved ones or assets being distributed in ways you never would have wanted. Laws Change, Even When Your Wishes Don't Even if your personal situation has remained relatively stable, the legal and tax landscape constantly evolves. These changes can significantly impact how your trust operates and its effectiveness in protecting your assets. Tax laws, in particular, frequently change with new administrations and shifting political priorities. For instance, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the federal estate tax exemption, dramatically changing estate planning considerations for many families. If your trust was created before this change, it might contain provisions that are no longer necessary or beneficial under current law. State laws governing trusts and estates also change regularly. These modifications can affect everything from how your trust is administered to the rights of beneficiaries. Without regular reviews, your trust might not take advantage of beneficial new laws or might run afoul of new requirements. By reviewing your trust periodically, you can ensure it remains compliant with current laws and takes advantage of any new beneficial provisions. This proactive approach helps protect your assets and your loved ones from unexpected legal complications. How Often Should You Review Your Trust? Given the importance of keeping your trust updated, you might be wondering how frequently you should review it. While there's no one-size-fits-all answer, there are some general guidelines that can help you determine the right schedule for your situation. As a baseline, I recommend reviewing your trust every three to five years, even if you don't think anything significant has changed. This regular schedule helps ensure you don't overlook gradual changes that might have occurred in your life, your assets, or the law. However, certain life events should trigger an immediate review, regardless of when you last updated your trust: Marriage, divorce, or the death of a spouse Birth or adoption of children or grandchildren Death of a named trustee, guardian, or beneficiary Significant changes in your financial situation Moving to a new state, as trust laws vary by state Major changes in tax or estate planning laws The Consequences of an Outdated Trust Can Be Severe Failing to review and update your trust regularly can lead to serious consequences that undermine your initial reasons for creating it. These consequences can range from financial losses to family conflicts that could have been avoided with proper planning. One of the most significant risks is that assets you've acquired since creating your trust may not be properly funded into it. Trust funding—the process of transferring assets into your trust's ownership—is crucial for avoiding probate. If you've purchased new property, opened new accounts, or acquired valuable assets without transferring them to your trust, these items will likely go through probate despite your efforts to avoid it. An outdated trust can also lead to unintended beneficiaries receiving your assets. If you haven't updated your trust after major life changes, your assets might go to people you no longer wish to benefit—or might not go to those you do want to include. Family conflict is another potential consequence of an outdated trust. Unclear or outdated provisions can leave your loved ones arguing over what you really intended. These disputes can damage family relationships and lead to expensive, time-consuming litigation. Tax consequences can also arise from an outdated trust. Changes in tax laws might mean your trust no longer minimizes estate taxes effectively. Without updates to address these changes, your beneficiaries might face larger tax bills than necessary, reducing their inheritance. Finally, know that reviewing your trust doesn't always mean you'll need to make changes. Sometimes you'll find that your current trust still perfectly reflects your wishes and circumstances. Even then, the review process is valuable for refreshing your understanding of your plan and giving you peace of mind. Don't Leave Your Family's Future to Chance Your trust is more than just a legal document—it's a reflection of your care for your loved ones and your desire to provide for them even when you're no longer here. By reviewing your trust regularly, you demonstrate that same care and foresight. You also save your loved ones from potential confusion, conflict, and costly legal proceedings during an already difficult time. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we're here to support you in this ongoing process. I understand that reviewing legal documents isn't high on anyone's list of favorite activities, but I work to make the process as simple and painless as possible, and build it into my own service ongoing, once we are working together. Don't leave your family's future to chance. Schedule a plan review with me today and ensure the plan you've created will work exactly as you intend when your loved ones need it most. Book a call here to learn how to get started.

You’ve no doubt heard of a Will, a document that says what happens to your money and belongings after you die. You may even have a Will, or know you should get one. And maybe you’ve heard of a Trust and wondered what it is and how it works. You may have even done research on Google about how to do your own Will or Trust. In fact, it’s hard to poke around the internet and not  find do-it-yourself (“DIY”) Wills and Trusts services. Legal Zoom, TrustandWill.com , and even some media personalities offer cheap DIY documents. You can even create your own Will or Trust for free by downloading a few forms. What these websites won’t do, however, is explain the potential consequences that can happen if you use one of their services.  Legal Documents Have Legal Consequences The truth is that Trusts and Wills, and other documents that all adults should have in place, like a health care directive and power of attorney, are legal documents with legal consequences. They contain lots of legal language. Even if you understand the words, you may not fully understand the nuances in the terminology. There’s a reason lawyers have to complete college, graduate from law school , then pass a bar exam before they can practice. It takes time and effort to learn the law, the legal terminology, the application of the law, and the potential consequences if something goes wrong.  Even then, many lawyers who don’t specialize in estate planning, or Wills and Trusts, put in place legal documents that fail when you become incapacitated or die, for various reasons.  And, yet, you may be getting sold on the idea that you can draft legal documents on your own, using an online website.  The promise is you can save money, and completely protect yourself and your loved ones from expensive legal consequences of not having planning in place. Unfortunately, this isn't usually the case. A Real Life Cautionary Tale Let’s keep you from being fooled by illustrating what can happen when you draft legal documents on your own without understanding the consequences. What follows is a true story: A woman passed away and her husband came into his lawyer’s office to get legal advice on what to do next. The woman (we’ll call her “Jane”) received an inheritance from her first husband (let’s call him “John”). She was also close to her adult children and her grandchildren, and wanted to make sure they received what was left of her inheritance from their father. And while she intended to leave her second husband some money, she made it very clear to her family that she wanted to provide for her children and grandchildren. Jane was frugal. She didn’t want to spend money on an attorney. So she did some research on Google about Wills and Trusts, downloaded some forms, and wrote out her own documents. She learned from Google that a Trust can keep her family from going through a court process called probate, which would save them money and leave more for them to inherit. So she drafted her own Trust thinking that she’d achieve her goals and save money at the same time.  You may already see where this is going… When John’s lawyer read Jane’s DIY Trust, they realized that what Jane actually did was leave her entire inheritance  to her second husband. Jane legally disinherited her children and grandchildren. Jane’s DIY Trust was also subject to laws of a different U.S. State than the one she lived in, meaning that any legal process related to the Trust would be more complicated than it needed to be. Surely this was not the result Jane wanted. Jane not only disinherited her children, but she failed to transfer her house to the Trust, despite drafting and filing a deed on her own, and she left assets out of her Trust altogether. So while she thought she was doing the right thing, what she really did was leave her loved ones with a giant, expensive mess.  Not surprisingly, the family ended up in court and remained there for several years. You Don’t Have to Make the Same Mistakes Jane must have believed what she heard from well-meaning folks about doing a Will and Trust on her own. She probably thought she understood the legal documents she drafted and signed. She most definitely thought she was making things easy for her family and that she was giving her children money from their father. But Jane was fooled.   Don’t be Jane. If Jane had worked with an experienced estate planning attorney, she would have created a plan that would accomplish her goals, and keep her family out of court and out of conflict. She would have saved her family years of heartache and pain, not to mention the expense.  Jane’s story teaches us that it’s absolutely worth it to work with a lawyer whenever you’re dealing with a legal document - including a Will or Trust. Don’t “Trust” those (see what we did there?) who say you can do it cheaply or do it yourself. Don’t be Jane.  What to Do Instead You owe it to your loved ones to take the time and put in the investment to do your estate planning right, and keep it up over time.  In fact, it’s the last and greatest gift you can leave them. Having your affairs buttoned up so they don’t have a mess on their hands and are allowed to process their grief in peace is your final act of love.  If you want to leave your family the gift of your love, we can help. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we don't merely dispense legal counsel or draft documents; we safeguard your family. We look at your specific family dynamics and your goals and then work with you to create a plan that ensures you and your loved ones avoid the stress, conflict, and chaos that comes from DIY documents.  To learn more about how we approach estate planning from a place of heart so you can leave your family with love, schedule a complimentary 15-minute cal l with our office or email lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com .

Last week , we covered how it works when you create a trust through your will. This week, I'll show you how a trust created during your lifetime (called a revocable living trust) functions differently, what your family experiences when you've set up a living trust, and how to decide which approach truly fits your situation. As a quick refresher, a “testamentary trust” is created in your will and only comes into existence after your estate goes through probate. As a result, your  family could wait many months, and sometimes even years, while the court oversees the process of probating your will and establishing your trust. If your objective is to keep your family out of court, and have total privacy after your incapacity or death, a testamentary trust won't accomplish that. A living trust, created during your life, and properly “funded” will keep your family out of court, provide the privacy you likely want for them, and generally make things a lot easier for the people you love, when something happens to you.  In this article, I'll explain how living trusts provide those  benefits, help you weigh the tradeoffs between the two  approaches, and explain how to be your own best advisor, and make informed decisions. How a Living Trust Works  A living trust, often called a revocable living trust, is created and funded while you're living and have legal capacity to make decisions. You transfer ownership of your assets into the trust now, naming yourself as the initial trustee. This means you maintain complete control during your lifetime. You can buy property, sell property, change investments, and manage everything exactly as you did before. The trust doesn't restrict you in any way. The trust agreement includes detailed instructions about what happens to trust assets when you die or if you become incapacitated. Within the trust agreement, you will name a successor trustee, the person who will take over management of the trust assets when you can no longer serve as trustee. You specify who receives trust assets, when they receive them, and under what conditions. All the protective provisions you might include in a testamentary trust can be included in a living trust. Here's the crucial distinction between a living trust and a testamentary trust: when you die or if you become incapacitated and cannot make decisions for yourself, the living trust already exists and already owns your assets. Your successor trustee doesn't need court permission to begin managing trust property. There's no probate filing. No waiting for court approval. No public disclosure of your assets or beneficiaries. The successor trustee simply follows the instructions you've provided in the trust agreement. This means your family avoids the delay, expense, and public exposure of probate court. Your trustee can immediately pay bills, manage property, and begin distributing assets to your beneficiaries according to your timeline. If you've included provisions protecting your children's inheritance until they reach a certain age, those protections start working immediately. Your family gets the benefit of your planning right when they need it most. The living trust also provides protection if you become incapacitated before you die. If illness, injury, or cognitive decline leaves you unable to manage your own affairs, your successor trustee can step in and handle things for you without requiring your family to go to court for guardianship proceedings. Your chosen successor simply steps into the role you've defined for them. However - and this is critically important - living trusts only control assets that are actually transferred into the trust. In the world of estate planning lawyers, we call this  "funding" the trust, and it's a crucial step many people overlook, even when working with a lawyer. If you create a living trust but never change the title on your house or retitle your bank accounts, then those assets aren't protected by the trust. When you die, those assets will need to go through probate. The trust can only control what it owns. This is why working with a lawyer who has systems and processes set up specifically for estate planning is so important. Creating a trust agreement is just the first step, and needs to be part of a full plan that covers all of your assets, ensures all of your assets are titled properly, all beneficiary designations are clarified and updated, and you are clear on how to keep everything up to date throughout the rest of your life. We have processes in our office for supporting just that.  Now that you understand how both types of trusts function, the question becomes: which one makes sense for your specific situation? Understanding the Real Tradeoffs Why would anyone choose a testamentary trust if living trusts offer so many advantages? The main reason comes down to upfront effort and cost. Creating a testamentary trust is usually less expensive initially because you're just adding provisions to your will. You don't have to transfer assets into a trust during your lifetime. All that happens in the probate process after you die. For some, the cost of probate might not be substantial enough to justify the upfront expense of creating and funding a living trust. Others aren’t concerned about the probate process at all.  But consider the hidden costs your family will face. Even a simple probate proceeding typically costs several thousand dollars in legal fees and court costs. The process usually takes at least months, and often years. Your family must handle this while they're grieving, gathering documents, communicating with attorneys, and dealing with ongoing stress. Compare that to the experience with a properly funded living trust. Your family meets with your successor trustee, who already knows what you wanted. They work together to handle immediate needs, notify beneficiaries, and distribute assets according to your wishes. The process is private, usually faster, and doesn't require court oversight. For most families, this experience is far less stressful and ultimately less expensive than probate. Consider your family dynamics as well. If you have family members who might contest your wishes, the public nature of probate can fuel disputes. Anyone can access probate files and see what you left to whom. A living trust keeps everything private, which can help minimize conflict. In addition, consider your specific assets and their complexity. If you own real estate in multiple states, you're facing probate proceedings in each state where you own property. A living trust holding all your real estate avoids this entirely. If you own a business, probate delays can harm business operations. A living trust allows seamless continuation of business management. Understanding these tradeoffs helps clarify which approach makes sense for your situation. But you don't have to figure this out alone. Work with an experienced attorney - who’s also your trusted advisor - who can walk you through your specific circumstances so you’re confident you’re doing the right thing by those you love. How I Help You Create a Plan That Actually Works At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we don't push everyone toward one type of trust. Instead, we start by helping you understand what will actually happen if you become incapacitated or when you die, based on the specifics of your family dynamics and your assets. We’ll walk you through the real costs, the real timeline, and the real experience your loved ones will face. Then we'll help you evaluate what matters most to you and make an informed decision that fits your desires and budget. If a living trust makes sense for your situation, we won’t just create the document and send you on your way. We'll help you fund the trust properly, making sure assets are retitled correctly and nothing is overlooked. Then, we’ll make sure your plan stays up to date throughout your lifetime, and you have support when you need it throughout life. Most importantly, we'll be there for your family when you're gone or if you become incapacitated. That ongoing relationship makes all the difference. Your loved ones won't be left alone trying to figure out what to do. They'll have a trusted advisor who knows you, knows your wishes, and can guide them when you can’t. Click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call to get started. Don't forget to register for our 3/24 webinar! Learn more and sign up here .

You've probably heard that trusts help families avoid probate court and protect assets for the people you love. Maybe you've even talked to a lawyer who mentioned including a trust in your will. It sounds like a good solution, but here's what most people don't realize: a trust created in your will works very differently from a living trust you create today, and the difference will have a major impact on your loved ones when you die. Both options use the word "trust," which makes them sound similar. But the experience your family will have after your death depends entirely on which type you choose. More importantly, these different approaches serve different goals, and understanding what you're actually trying to accomplish is the most critical part of making the right choice. In this two-part series, I'll help you understand what each type of trust actually does and how to choose the approach that matches what matters most to you and your loved ones. Here in Part 1, let’s dive into what happens when you create a trust in your will and help you evaluate what you're really trying to achieve.  What Happens When You Create a Trust in Your Will A trust created in your will, called a testamentary trust , only comes into existence after you die, and after your executor has navigated a court process to establish the trust. Your will might say something like "upon my death, I direct that my assets be held in trust for my children until they reach age 25." This provision offers some protection by controlling when your children receive their inheritance. But it doesn't keep your family out of court. All wills must go through probate court . Therefore, when you die with a will containing trust provisions, your loved ones must go through probate before the trust can be created. This process typically takes months, sometimes years. While your loved ones wait for the process to unfold, your assets are basically frozen, potentially putting your loved ones in an unstable financial position.  Here’s what the probate process looks like:  Your family must first locate your original  will and file it with the probate court.  The court then officially appoints your named executor, who must notify all potential heirs and creditors of your death.  Your executor must gather all your assets, have them appraised, pay your debts and taxes, and prepare detailed accounting reports for the court.  Only after the court reviews and approves everything can your assets be distributed into the newly created trust, which must be approved by the judge. Your family may also face significant costs. Probate involves court filing fees, legal fees, appraisal costs, and sometimes accounting fees. These expenses come directly out of your estate, reducing what's left for your loved ones. And because probate is a public court process, anyone can access information about what you owned and who you left it to. Here's what really matters: you're essentially doing double the work to achieve the same outcome  you could have accomplished with a living trust, but with added expense, a longer timeline, and far greater possibility for family conflict. You're creating a trust that provides the same protections a living trust offers, but you're forcing your family to go through an entire court process first. And that's only part of the problem. Because a will only takes effect when you die, it also leaves a critical gap in protection while you're still alive. What a Will Can't Do While You're Still Alive A will only takes effect when you die, which means it does nothing to protect you if you become incapacitated first. Most people rely on a Power of Attorney, or “POA,” to authorize someone to manage their finances if they're unable to do so. But here's the catch: a POA automatically ends the moment you die. That creates a dangerous gap. The second you pass, your POA's authority disappears — but your executor has no power either until the probate court officially appoints them. Accounts get frozen, bills go unpaid, and your family can't touch a thing while they wait. A living trust eliminates this gap entirely. Because it exists right now, your successor trustee has uninterrupted authority to manage your assets through incapacity and seamlessly at your death — no court approval required, no delay, no financial limbo for your family. All of this brings us to the most important question: what are you actually trying to accomplish? The gaps we've just covered - probate delays, frozen accounts, the POA cliff - aren't inevitable. They're the result of choosing a planning tool without first understanding your real goals. What Are You Really Trying to Accomplish? Before you can decide between a testamentary trust and a living trust, you need to get clear about what you're actually trying to achieve. Most people know they want "a trust" because someone told them trusts are good planning tools. But trusts accomplish different things depending on how they're structured. Is your primary goal avoiding probate court? If keeping your family out of court matters to you, then how you create your trust makes a huge difference. A testamentary trust doesn't avoid probate. A living trust does. If probate avoidance is your main concern, that answer alone might determine your choice to create a living trust. Do you want to control how and when your beneficiaries receive their inheritance? Maybe you have young children, and you don't want them inheriting everything at age 18. Both testamentary trusts and living trusts can accomplish these distribution goals. From a distribution control standpoint, both types of trusts can be structured identically. However, assets will not be available for your children during the probate process, so if availability is a concern for you, a living trust may be a good choice. Do you want to protect your assets if you become incapacitated before you die? This is where the timing of trust creation makes a critical difference. A testamentary trust doesn't exist until you die, so it offers no protection during your lifetime. If you become unable to manage your affairs, your family would need to pursue guardianship or conservatorship proceedings in court. A living trust, however, allows your chosen successor trustee to step in and manage things for you without court intervention. Understanding your true priorities helps clarify which approach makes sense. If your goals center entirely on controlling distributions and you're not concerned about probate costs or delays, then a testamentary trust might suffice. But if you want probate avoidance, incapacity protection, or immediate access to trust protections when you die, then the timing of when you create the trust becomes critically important. Next week, in Part 2, I'll explain how living trusts work and how to make the final decision about which approach fits your situation. How I Help You Identify What Matters Most At Kaplan Estate Law, we don't focus on the documents themselves because we believe documents are the byproduct of good planning. Planning starts with getting clear on what matters most, so our Life & Legacy Planning process starts with education and understanding during a Life & Legacy Planning Session. During your session, you’ll get clear about what would actually happen to your family when you die or if you become incapacitated. We'll walk through the real costs, the real timeline, and the real experience your loved ones will face. Then we'll identify your true priorities so you can make an informed decision and create the right plan for you. Click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call to get started. Don't forget to register for our 3/24 webinar! Learn more and sign up here .

As parents, we're hardwired to prioritize our children's well-being above all else. We work tirelessly to provide for them, nurture them, and ensure they have every opportunity to thrive. Yet, amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life, it's easy to overlook a crucial aspect of their future: what happens to them if we're no longer here to care for them? It's a sobering thought, but one that deserves your attention. You may assume that in the event of your untimely passing, your children will automatically be cared for and inherit your assets. However, the reality is far more complex and potentially unsettling. Let's unpack why relying on these assumptions could leave your children's future in uncertain hands. The Myth of Automatic Care Yes, it's true that your children will inherit your assets upon your passing. However, without advance planning, the management of those assets will fall into the hands of a court-appointed trustee. This is an expensive proposition for the people you love most, and worse, the trustee may not necessarily align with your values or financial philosophy, leaving your hard-earned assets vulnerable to mismanagement. On top of that, and maybe worst of all, under current laws, once your child reaches the age of 18, they gain unfettered access to their inheritance. While you may have envisioned these assets providing a foundation for their future endeavors, the reality is that many 18-year-olds lack the financial maturity to handle such responsibility. From impulsive spending to falling prey to financial scams, the risks are significant.   The Importance of a Kids Protection Plan So, what's the solution? Enter the Kids Protection Plan—a comprehensive legal planning system designed to safeguard your children's well-being and financial future in the event of your incapacity or passing. A Kids Protection Plan empowers you to designate a trusted guardian who will step in to care for your children if you're unable to do so. This ensures your children will be in the loving care of someone you know and trust, rather than leaving their fate to the discretion of a judge who may lack intimate knowledge of your family dynamics. Moreover, a complete Kids Protection Plan goes beyond long-term guardianship appointments. It includes a detailed roadmap for the management of your assets on behalf of your children, specifying how funds should be allocated for their upbringing, education, and other needs. By setting clear guidelines, you mitigate the risk of financial mismanagement and ensure that your children's inheritance serves its intended purpose: supporting their growth and development. Leave Behind Detailed Instructions Naming legal guardians is just the first step. Your Kids Protection Plan won’t do much good if the people named in it aren’t aware of your plan or your wishes. You want to make sure your children’s guardians know your desires for their upbringing. Some things to include might be: ●       Faith and religious practices ●       Philosophy on education and where you’d want them to go to school ●       Activities you’d want your children involved in ●       Nutrition, medical care, or any other health considerations One of the benefits of working with our office is that I make sure that everyone named in your plan is informed of what to do if the unthinkable happens to you. And, if you are working with me, I’ll be there to guide them each step of the way. Planning for the Future At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we understand the gravity of planning for your children's future. That's why we offer personalized Life & Legacy Planning Sessions designed to consider your family dynamics, and your assets, and then help you choose the right planning package and fees to safeguard and protect what matters to you most. Whether you're a new parent or revisiting your estate plan, our team is here to provide the guidance and expertise you need to secure your family's future for generations to come. Schedule a complimentary 15-minute call to learn more about our unique Life & Legacy Planning process. During your complimentary 15-minute call, we'll explore your current arrangements and identify any gaps that may leave your children vulnerable. Don't leave your children's future to chance. Take the first step toward peace of mind and lasting security. Schedule a complimentary 15-minute call to get started.

A comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan is about creating a strategy that lets you enjoy your life to the fullest while protecting your loved ones' future when you can no longer be there. It might seem like life insurance is an easy way to help secure your loved ones’ future – and it is – but your policy must be set up in the right way to have the best possible impact on your family. The way you set up your beneficiary designations on your insurance policy can significantly impact its effectiveness, how it’s used, and who controls it after you die. In this blog, we'll explore how not to name beneficiaries on your life insurance and how to name beneficiaries to ensure your loved ones have the funds they need to thrive when something happens to you.  DO NOT Name a Minor As The Beneficiary of Your Life Insurance Policy   Naming your child or grandchild as a direct (or even backup) beneficiary of your life insurance policy may seem like a natural choice, but if you do that you’re guaranteeing a bad outcome for the people you love. First of all, if a minor child is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, it guarantees a court process called “guardianship” or “conservatorship” must occur to name a legal guardian or conservator to manage the assets for your minor beneficiary until they turn 18. Then, at 18, your minor child who is just barely an adult receives everything left in the account, outright, unprotected, with no oversight or guidance. This is the worst possible outcome for everyone involved.  If you are buying life insurance, you are doing it to make the life of your loved one’s better. However, naming a minor child as a beneficiary will make things harder and more complicated. You might think the answer is to name a trusted family member or friend as the beneficiary of your life insurance, hoping they’ll use the funds for your kids, but don’t do that!  If you name another adult as the beneficiary for a life insurance policy intended for your kids, your kids will have no legal right to the money  – which means the adult you named as beneficiary can use the money however they want and don’t have to use it for your kids at all!  So what’s the solution? Keep reading until the end to find out what to do instead. Be Careful When Naming Adult Beneficiaries Directly Direct payouts to adult beneficiaries may seem straightforward, but can have unintended consequences. Life circumstances change, and the lump sum received from a life insurance policy might be at risk if not managed properly. By avoiding direct payouts, you can ensure that the financial security provided by the insurance is preserved for the long term. One key concern is the potential for beneficiaries to hastily misuse or exhaust the funds. A sudden windfall might lead to imprudent spending, leaving your loved ones without the financial support you intended. Additionally, if your beneficiaries are not financially savvy, they may struggle to manage a lump sum effectively, meaning the policy might lose money over time. Even if an adult beneficiary is financially responsible and savvy – or knows enough to speak to a financial advisor – life events can put the funds at risk. Because the life insurance proceeds now belong entirely to your beneficiaries in this case, the proceeds of the policy are now completely vulnerable to any future divorces or lawsuits that your beneficiary may go through in the future. That means that if your beneficiary is divorced, sued, or accumulates debt, all the money they received from your insurance policy could be lost. Plan For Your Life Insurance The Right Way: Use a Trust  A Trust is an agreement you make with a person or an institution  you choose. This person is called your Trustee, and their directive is to manage the assets you put into or leave to your Trust, according to the rules you create.  Instead of naming minors or adult loved ones as the direct beneficiaries of your life insurance, name your Trust as the beneficiary of your policy instead. By doing this, your loved ones will still receive the funds you intend for them while maintaining control over how the funds are managed and distributed. This ensures that your wishes for your assets and your loved ones are carried out even after you're gone.  How does it work? A well-drafted Trust allows you to specify conditions for distributing the Trust funds , ensuring that the funds are used for intended purposes such as your beneficiaries’ education, homeownership, or other specific needs. Distributions from the Trust can also depend on the ages and circumstances of each beneficiary. This level of control can prevent the misuse of funds and promote responsible financial behavior for everyone involved. Plus, assets held in a Trust bypass the probate process, ensuring a more efficient and timely distribution of funds to your beneficiaries. This can be crucial in providing immediate financial support to your loved ones when they need it the most.  And while you can choose to have your Trustee distribute life insurance proceeds directly out to your beneficiaries outright, at specific ages and stages, you may want to provide even more protection for your beneficiaries. One of the considerations we’ll help you make is whether to retain the assets in trust, giving your beneficiaries control over the Trust assets, but in a manner that keeps the inherited life insurance protected from lawsuits, future divorces, and creditors. Let Us Set Up Your Entire Plan In The Best Way Possible Setting up your life insurance policy with the right beneficiaries involves careful consideration of your unique family dynamics, financial goals, and long-term objectives while being proactive to avoid future issues. By doing so, you maximize the benefits of your life insurance to provide a lasting legacy of financial security and support for your loved ones.  But planning for your life insurance is only one step in creating a plan for everything you own and everyone you love today and in the future. As your attorney, my mission is to guide you to create a comprehensive estate plan, which I call a Life & Legacy Plan, that ensures your wishes are fulfilled and your family's future is protected no matter what the future holds. Schedule a complimentary call with my office to learn more.

When planning for your death, there’s one issue you may not have thought about, but is so important to your beneficiaries: will your loved ones have to pay taxes on what you leave them? As a Chicago estate planning attorney, I see this confusion all the time. The answer isn't straightforward because it depends largely on the types of assets you're passing down, how much you are passing on, and where you reside at the time of your death. For families in Chicago and throughout Illinois, state-specific estate tax rules add another important layer to consider. Understanding how different accounts and assets are taxed can help you make informed decisions that minimize the tax burden on your beneficiaries. In this article, I'll break down the tax implications of various types of inheritance, from cash accounts to retirement plans, so you can plan strategically and protect more of your wealth for the people you love. Estate Taxes: Will They Apply? There are three things we’ll never know about you, no matter how much planning we do now, and how proactive we are about your future planning: when you’ll die, what your assets will be when you die, and what the federal estate tax exemption amount will be when you die. Over the past 25 years, the federal estate tax exemption has been as low as $675,000 and, today, as high as $15,000,000 per person. This means that in  2026, the federal estate tax only applies to estates exceeding $15 million for individuals or $30 million for married couples. If your estate falls below this amount, your estate won't pay federal estate taxes. If your estate’s value exceeds the exemption, taxes will need to be paid before beneficiaries receive their distributions. And, if you are married, it’s critically important that estate planning is reviewed and updated after the death of the first spouse to use and preserve the full estate tax exemption of the first spouse. Also know that some states, including Illinois, impose their own estate or inheritance taxes with much lower exemption amounts. In Illinois, the estate tax exemption is $4 million - far lower than the federal exemption. For families in Chicago and throughout Illinois , this state-level estate tax often creates planning needs even when no federal estate tax is due. Understanding both federal and state requirements is crucial for comprehensive planning. Finally, note that estate tax, income tax, and capital gains tax all matter when we’re talking about inheritance (trust taxes may apply, too, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll discuss trust taxes in a future article). Even though you’re planning for your death, there is much more to consider than the federal or state estate tax. You need to also create a strategy for each type of asset you own. With this framework in mind, let's explore how different types of assets are taxed when your loved ones inherit from you. Cash and Bank Accounts: The Simple Answer When your beneficiaries inherit cash from checking accounts, savings accounts, or money market accounts, they receive favorable tax treatment. If you leave someone $50,000 in your savings account, they receive the full $50,000 without federal income tax consequences. There's one small exception to note. If your account earns interest after your death but before distribution, that interest becomes taxable income to the beneficiary. However, the principal amount itself remains tax-free. This straightforward treatment makes cash accounts one of the most tax-efficient assets to inherit, which is why many estate plans include liquid assets alongside other investments. Investment Accounts: The Step-Up in Basis Advantage Taxable investment accounts, including brokerage accounts holding stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, benefit from what's called a "step-up in basis." This tax provision can save your beneficiaries a significant amount of money. Here's how it works. When you purchase an investment, your "basis" is typically what you paid for it. If you bought stock for $10,000 and it grew to $100,000, you'd normally owe capital gains tax on that $90,000 gain if you sold it. However, when your beneficiaries inherit that stock, their basis "steps up" to the fair market value at your death, which is $100,000 in this example. If they immediately sell it for $100,000, they owe no capital gains tax at all. However, if they sell it later and the stock has appreciated, they will owe capital gains tax - but only on the amount above $100,000. This step-up in basis is one of the most powerful tax benefits in estate planning, effectively erasing all capital gains that accumulated during your lifetime. Your beneficiaries only pay capital gains tax on appreciation that occurs after they inherit the asset. Understanding this benefit can influence your gifting strategy. Sometimes it's more tax-efficient to hold appreciated assets until death rather than gifting them during your lifetime, when the recipient would inherit your lower basis, and therefore pay taxes on capital gains incurred via a sale after the gift of the asset. Retirement Accounts: A More Complex Picture Retirement accounts like 401(k)s and traditional IRAs present more complicated tax considerations. Unlike other inherited assets, these accounts don't receive a step-up in basis, and they come with income tax obligations. When your beneficiaries inherit a traditional retirement account, they must pay ordinary income tax on distributions. If you had $500,000 in your IRA and your daughter inherits it, she'll owe income tax on every dollar she withdraws. The tax rate depends on her income bracket, which means careful withdrawal planning becomes essential. The SECURE Act of 2019 (and amended in 2022) changed the rules significantly for most beneficiaries. Previously, non-spouse beneficiaries could "stretch" distributions over the balance of the rest of their lifetime, which can have significant tax benefits, keeping beneficiaries in a lower tax bracket and deferring taxes over a longer period of time. Now, in most cases, all retirement benefits must be paid to your beneficiaries (and taxed for income tax purposes) within 10 years of your death. This compressed timeline can push beneficiaries into higher income tax brackets if they're not strategic about timing their withdrawals. Spouses who inherit retirement accounts have more flexibility. They can roll the inherited account into their own IRA, allowing them to defer distributions until they reach the required minimum distribution age. Roth IRAs offer a distinct advantage. While beneficiaries still face the 10-year distribution rule, qualified Roth IRA withdrawals are tax-free. If you've paid taxes upfront by contributing to a Roth account, your beneficiaries receive the funds without owing any income tax. For many of our Chicago clients at Kaplan Estate Law, retirement accounts are one of the largest assets in their estate, which makes strategic beneficiary planning especially important. Life Insurance: Generally Tax-Free Life insurance death benefits typically pass to beneficiaries income-tax-free, making them an excellent estate planning tool. If you have a $1 million life insurance policy, your beneficiary receives the full $1 million without paying income tax on it. There's an important caveat regarding estate taxes. If you own the policy on your own life, the death benefit may be included in your taxable estate. For very large estates, this could trigger estate taxes even though the beneficiary won't owe income tax. Advanced planning strategies, such as irrevocable life insurance trusts, can remove life insurance from your taxable estate. Strategic Planning Makes All the Difference Understanding how different assets are taxed when inherited allows you to structure your estate strategically. You might choose to leave tax-efficient assets like cash or appreciated stocks to certain beneficiaries while directing retirement accounts to others who can better manage the tax consequences. At Kaplan Estate Law, we help you create a Life & Legacy Plan that considers not just what you're leaving behind, but how to structure your assets to minimize taxes and maximize what your loved ones receive. Tax laws change frequently, and your circumstances evolve over time, so having ongoing, strategic guidance makes all the difference between a plan that works when your loved ones need it to. That’s where we come in.  If you’re looking for a trusted Chicago estate planning attorney to guide you through Illinois estate tax planning, we’re here to help. Don't leave your beneficiaries struggling with unexpected tax bills. Click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call and learn how we can support you.

Every year on February 1st, we observe National Unclaimed Property Day - a reminder of the staggering $60 billion in forgotten and abandoned assets currently held by state governments across America. And this isn't just spare change we're talking about. These are life insurance policies, forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks, retirement funds, and other valuable assets that have lost their connection to their rightful owners. I regularly see the consequences of overlooked assets and inadequate estate planning. Let's explore how assets are lost and become "unclaimed," how to prevent your assets from ending up in this $60 billion pool, and, most importantly, how to ensure your hard-earned assets reach your loved ones the way you want. How Assets Become "Lost" You might wonder how billions of dollars in assets could go missing. The truth is, it happens more easily than you'd think. Think about this: you become incapacitated or die, and someone in your family (either someone you named legally or someone chosen by a judge) has the job of finding all of your assets. Would they be able to find everything? How easy would it be for you to find everything, and you know what you earned, the accounts you set up, when you worked for that one company that set up a retirement account for you, got that insurance policy, etc.  What we see commonly when someone passes away without an updated estate plan (including a comprehensive asset inventory), is that their loved ones often have no idea what assets exist or where to find them. Those assets could eventually end up in state custody instead of going to the people you love. That money could be used to fund your children’s education, an investment in a loved one’s business, or to enhance the lives of the people you love most. If you try to DIY your estate plan, either on your own or with an online service, you typically receive a set of documents to review and sign. You might take these documents home, put them on a shelf or in a drawer, and never look at them again. There's usually no inventory of your assets, which means that some of your assets could be lost or overlooked and end up part of that $60 billion in unclaimed property.  Why an Asset Inventory and Regular Review is Crucial I know that effective estate planning isn't a one-time event - it's a lifelong process that includes an inventory of what you have, as well as regular updates to your inventory, as well as the legal documents that go along with it. My process begins with a Life & Legacy Planning Session, where you’ll create an inventory of your assets, ensuring nothing gets overlooked or forgotten. This inventory includes not just the obvious assets like your home and bank accounts but also: Life insurance policies Retirement accounts from all previous employers Investment accounts Business interests Valuable personal property Intellectual property rights Digital assets and cryptocurrency Digital assets present a particular challenge in today's world. Cryptocurrency, online banking accounts, social media profiles, and digital business assets can be especially difficult for loved ones to track down and access without proper planning. Many people don't realize that without proper documentation and access instructions, their digital assets could become effectively lost forever, even if their family and friends know they exist. When you work with me, I’ll also help you keep your inventory updated throughout your life. I do this by conducting regular reviews of your Life & Legacy Plan to ensure your asset inventory stays current and properly aligned with your goals, wishes, and values. This comprehensive approach helps prevent your assets from becoming lost so they can go to the people you want in the way you want. Beyond the Financial Impact While creating an asset inventory is crucial, my Life & Legacy Planning process goes several steps further. It's not enough to simply list what you own - you need to ensure these assets are properly titled, beneficiary designations are up to date, and your loved ones know how to access everything when the time comes. I support you with it all. I will also be there for your loved ones when you no longer can. In addition, there’s another crucial part of planning that’s often omitted from traditional or DIY planning. It’s the realization that the value of many assets isn't financial. Family photographs stored in the cloud, emails containing important family history, and digital collections of music or art can have tremendous sentimental value. Yet without proper planning, these too can become effectively "unclaimed property" - inaccessible to the very people meant to inherit them. When these invaluable family legacies are lost, they become another kind of unclaimed property, though their value can't be measured in dollars. Remember, proper estate planning isn't just about having the right documents - it’s about taking all the steps needed to make things as easy as possible for your loved ones. It's the greatest act of love you can give to the people you cherish most. Your Next Step As your attorney, I can help you create a comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan that includes a complete asset inventory, regular reviews, and updates to ensure nothing gets lost or forgotten. I’ll also support you to create a Life & Legacy Interview so your most valuable assets - your values, traditions and love - get passed on to the people you love most. Let's work together to protect your legacy. Click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation and learn more about how I can help.

In the first part of this series, we discussed one of the most frequent causes for dispute over your estate plan. Here, we’ll look at another leading cause for dispute and offer strategies for its prevention. No matter how well you think you know your family, you can never predict how they’ll behave when you die or if you become incapacitated. Family dynamics are complicated and prone to conflict during even the best of times, but when tragedy strikes a key member of the household, minor tensions and disagreements can explode into bitter conflict. And when access to money is involved, the potential for discord is exponentially increased. No one wants to believe their family would ever end up battling one another in court over inheritance issues or a loved one’s life-saving medical treatment, but we see it all the time. This is especially true for those who rely on do-it-yourself estate planning documents found online. The good news is you can dramatically reduce the odds of such conflict by enlisting the support of an experienced lawyer like us to assist you in creating your estate plan. Even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate the complex emotional dynamics that make up your life and family, but we can. Last week, we discussed one of the most common reasons for dispute, poor fiduciary selection, which involves selecting the wrong trustee, executor, or guardian for your kids. Today, we focus on another leading catalyst for conflict: contests to the validity of your will and/or trust. 02   | CONTESTS OVER THE VALIDITY OF YOUR WILLS AND TRUST The validity of your will and/or trust can be contested in court for a few different reasons. If such a contest is successful, the court declares your will or trust invalid, which effectively means the document(s) never existed in the first place. Obviously, this would likely be disastrous for everyone involved, especially your intended beneficiaries. However, just because someone disagrees with what he or she received in your will or trust doesn’t mean that person can contest it. Whether or not the individual agrees with the terms of your plan is irrelevant; it is your plan after all. Rather, he or she must prove that your plan is invalid (and should be thrown out) based on one or more of the following legal grounds: The document was improperly executed (signed, witnessed, and/or notarized) as required by state law. You did not have the necessary mental capacity at the time you created the document to understand what you were doing. Someone unduly influenced or coerced you into creating or changing the document. The document was procured by fraud. Furthermore, only those individuals with “legal standing” can contest your will or trust. Just because someone was intimately involved in your life, even if they’re a blood relative, doesn’t automatically mean they can legally contest your plan. Those with the potential for legal standing generally fall into two categories: 1) Family members who would inherit, or inherit more, under state law if you never created the document. 2) Beneficiaries (family, friends, and charities) named or given a larger bequest in a previous version of the document. SOLUTION There are times when family members might contest your will and/or trust over legitimate concerns, such as if they believe you were tricked or coerced into changing your plan by an unscrupulous caregiver. However, that’s not what we’re addressing here. Here, we’re addressing—and seeking to prevent—contests that are attempts by disgruntled family members and/or would-be beneficiaries seeking to improve the benefit they received through your plan. We’re also seeking to prevent contests that are a result of disputes between members of blended families, particularly those that arise between spouses and children from a previous marriage. First off, working with an experienced lawyer like us is of paramount importance if you have one or more family members who are unhappy—or who may be unhappy—with how they are treated in your plan. This need is especially critical if you’re seeking to disinherit or favor one part of your family over another. Some of the leading reasons for such unhappiness include having a plan that benefits some children more than others, as well as when your plan benefits friends, unmarried domestic partners, and/or other individuals instead of, or in addition to, your family. Conflict is also likely when you name a third-party trustee to manage an adult beneficiary’s inheritance because he or she is likely to be negatively affected by the sudden windfall of money. In these cases, it’s vital to make sure your plan is properly created and maintained to ensure these individuals will not have any legal ground to contest your will or trust. One way you can do this is to include clear language that you are making the choices laid out in your plan of your own free will, so no one will be able to challenge your wishes by claiming your incapacity or duress. Beyond having a sound plan in place, it’s also crucial that you clearly communicate your intentions to everyone affected by your will or trust while you’re still alive, rather than having them learn about it when you’re no longer around. Indeed, we often recommend holding a family meeting (which we can help facilitate) to go over everything with all impacted parties. Outside of contests originated by disgruntled loved ones, the potential for your will or trust to cause dispute is significantly increased if you have a blended family. If you are in a second (or more) marriage, with children from a prior marriage, there’s an inherent risk of dispute because your children and spouse often have conflicting interests. To reduce the likelihood of dispute, it’s crucial that your plan contain clear and unambiguous terms spelling out the beneficiaries’ exact rights, along with the rights and responsibilities of executors and/or trustees. Such precise terms help ensure all parties know exactly what you intended. If you have a blended family, it’s also essential that you meet with all affected parties while you’re still alive (and of sound mind) to clearly explain your wishes in person. Sharing your intentions and hopes for the future with your spouse and children is key to avoiding disagreements over your true wishes for them. PREVENT DISPUTES BEFORE THEY HAPPEN The best way to deal with estate planning disputes is to do everything possible to make sure they never occur in the first place. This means working with us as your attorney to put planning strategies in place aimed at anticipating and avoiding common sources of conflict. Moreover, it means constantly reviewing and updating your plan to keep pace with your changing circumstances and family dynamics. Meet with us today to learn more or e-mail lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com with questions.

No matter how well you think you know your loved ones, it’s impossible to predict exactly how they’ll behave when you die or if you become incapacitated. Of course, no one wants to believe their family would ever end up battling one another in court over inheritance issues or a loved one’s life-saving medical treatment, but the fact is, we see it all the time. Family dynamics are extremely complicated and prone to conflict during even the best of times. And when tragedy strikes a key member of the household, even minor tensions and disagreements can explode into bitter conflict. I hear all the time "my kids get along", however, when access to money is on the line, the potential for discord is exponentially increased. The good news is you can drastically reduce the odds of such conflict through estate planning with the support of a lawyer who understands and can anticipate these dynamics. This is why it’s so important to work with an experienced lawyer like us when creating your estate plan and never rely on generic, do-it-yourself planning documents found online. Unfortunately, even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate complex emotional matters like this, but we can. By becoming aware of some of the leading causes of such disputes, you’re in a better position to prevent those situations through effective planning. Though it’s impossible to predict what issues might arise around your plan, the following two things are among the most common catalysts for conflict. 01   |  POOR FIDUCIARY SELECTION Many estate planning disputes occur when a person you’ve chosen to handle your affairs following your death or incapacity fails to carry out his or her responsibilities properly. Whether it’s as your power of attorney agent, executor, or trustee, these roles can entail a variety of different duties, some of which can last for years. The individual you select, known as a fiduciary, is legally required to execute those duties and act in the best interests of the beneficiaries named in your plan. The failure to do either of those things, is referred to as a breach of fiduciary duty . The breach can be the result of the person’s deliberate action, or it could be something he or she does unintentionally, by mistake. Either way, a breach—or even the perception of one—can cause serious conflict among your loved ones. This is especially true if the fiduciary attempts to use the position for personal gain, or if the improper actions negatively impact the beneficiaries. Common breaches include failing to provide required accounting and tax information to beneficiaries, improperly using estate or trust assets for the fiduciary’s personal benefit, making improper distributions, and failing to pay taxes, debts, and/or expenses owed by the estate or trust. If a suspected breach occurs, beneficiaries can sue to have the fiduciary removed, recover any damages they incurred, and even recover punitive damages if the breach was committed out of malice or fraud. SOLUTION Given the potentially immense responsibilities involved, you need to be extremely careful when selecting your fiduciaries, and make sure everyone in your family knows why you chose the fiduciary you did. You should only choose the most honest, trustworthy, and diligent individuals, and also be careful not to select those who might have potential conflicts of interest with beneficiaries. Moreover, it’s vital that your planning documents contain clear terms spelling out a fiduciary’s responsibilities and duties, so the individual understands exactly what’s expected of him or her. And should things go awry, you can add terms to your plan that allow beneficiaries to remove and replace a fiduciary without going to court. We can assist you with selecting the most qualified fiduciaries; drafting the most precise, explicit, and understandable terms in all of your planning documents; as well as ensuring that your family understands your choices, so they do not end up in conflict when it’s too late. In this way, the individuals you select to carry out your wishes will have the best chances of doing so successfully—and with as little conflict as possible. Next week, we’ll continue with part two in this series discussing common causes for dispute over estate planning. At Kaplan Estate Law, we can guide you to make informed, educated, and empowered choices to protect yourself and the ones you love most. Contact us today to get started with a complimentary Initial Consult or email lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com with questions.