You’ve built a life with someone you love - sharing a home, experiences, and maybe even finances - but without legal marriage, the law doesn’t automatically recognize your relationship. That means if something happens to you, your partner could be left without legal rights to your property, finances, or even decisions about your medical care. In this article, you’ll learn why unmarried couples face greater legal risks, what key planning steps you can take to protect each other, and how my Life & Legacy Planning process ensures your wishes are honored, no matter what life brings. Why the Law Doesn’t Protect Unmarried Partners When married couples face illness or death, state law provides automatic rights and protections. But for unmarried partners, those rights don’t exist unless you’ve put them in writing. Without an estate plan: Your partner can’t access your bank accounts or manage bills if you’re incapacitated. They might be excluded from medical decisions, even if they know your wishes best. Your property could go to biological family members, not your partner, regardless of how long you’ve been together. For example, if you own your home in your name alone and you die without a plan, your partner could lose their home overnight - even if they’ve lived there for years or helped pay the mortgage. And while some states recognize “common law marriage,” those laws vary dramatically and apply only under very specific circumstances. Many couples assume they’re covered because they’ve lived together for years, but unless your state legally recognizes that relationship and you’ve met every technical requirement, your partner still has no rights under the law. These outcomes aren’t just unfair, they’re avoidable. With the right plan, you can give your partner the legal authority and protection the law won’t automatically provide. Essential Legal Tools Every Unmarried Couple Needs The good news is that with thoughtful planning, you can ensure your relationship is legally recognized in the ways that matter most. Here are tools I use in my Life & Legacy Planning process to protect unmarried couples: 1. Health Care Documents Without legal authorization, hospitals must turn to your next of kin, not your loved one, for decisions if you’re incapacitated. A Health Care Power of Attorney gives your partner the right to make medical decisions for you. Pair it with a Living Will or Advance Directive that outlines your wishes for end-of-life care, so your partner can advocate for you confidently. You can also include a HIPAA Authorization, which allows medical professionals to share information with your partner. Without this, privacy laws may prevent them from even knowing what’s happening. 2. Financial Power of Attorney This document gives your partner legal authority to handle financial matters if you’re unable to. Without it, someone will have to go to court to gain control, delaying urgent decisions like paying your mortgage or medical bills, keeping your life running smoothly during a crisis. 3. A Will or Trust A Will determines what happens to your assets after you die, and a Trust determines what happens after you die and if you are incapacitated. Without a Will or Trust state law dictates who inherits, and unmarried partners are not recognized heirs. Moreover, if you only have a Will, your loved ones will have to go through probate. Probate is a court process that can take months or years, often becoming expensive and emotionally draining - especially for someone who isn’t legally recognized as family. It’s also a public process. Anyone can view the court records to see what assets you had, the value of your assets, who your loved ones are and where they live, as well as other personal information you may not want available for public consumption. A Trust, on the other hand, avoids probate. Trusts can ensure your partner receives the home, joint property, or financial accounts you want them to have, without the delays and public nature of probate court. It also gives you flexibility to provide for other loved ones, like children, parents, or friends, while protecting your partner’s right to remain in the home or access shared funds. 4. Property and Beneficiary Designations Even the best plan fails if your assets aren’t titled properly, and beneficiary designations don’t match your intentions. If this happens, your assets may bypass your partner entirely. 5. A Written Cohabitation Agreement While not traditionally thought of as part of “estate planning,” a cohabitation agreement can be invaluable for unmarried couples. This document outlines how you’ll handle shared property, expenses, and financial contributions both during your relationship and if it ends. It can help prevent disputes and make sure each partner’s contributions are respected and accounted for. Don’t Forget Emotional and Practical Planning Estate planning for unmarried couples isn’t just about protecting assets; it’s about protecting the person you’ve chosen as family. You have the power to decide if your partner will deal with chaos, conflict, uncertainty and unnecessary expenses after you die, or if your partner will know exactly what to do, when, and how, with the right support to make it as easy as possible. The difference depends on whether you’ve planned for the emotional and practical aspects of death, in addition to the legal tools. When you work with our office at Kaplan Estate Law LLC, I’ll help you not only get the right legal tools in place, but we’ll also cover the emotional and practical aspects of planning, such as: Creating a comprehensive asset inventory and keeping it updated over time. Without a complete inventory, even the best legal document ever written can fail if your partner can’t locate everything you own. Recording a Life & Legacy Interview so you can pass on your stories, values, and love. Your partner will cherish this forever and have guidance directly from you if they’re ever forced to navigate difficult decisions in your absence. Creating open communication among your loved ones. I will support you to have difficult conversations with everyone you love about your wishes for medical care, funeral plans, and what you’d want done with your home and possessions. These conversations relieve your partner from the burden of guessing and ensure they can act with confidence when the time comes, rather than fighting your family in court. Take the Next Step to Protect the Life You’ve Built If you and your partner aren’t legally married, estate planning isn’t just important - it’s essential. Without it, the person you love most could lose everything you’ve worked for together. But with the right guidance, you can make sure your wishes are honored, your partner is cared for, and your love story is legally protected. When you work with me, I’ll help you: Clarify what would happen if either of you became incapacitated or died today. Create a clear plan that gives each of you legal authority and protection. Build an updated inventory of assets so nothing gets overlooked. Schedule ongoing reviews, so your plan evolves as your life and relationship change. Most importantly, your partner will know exactly what to do and who to call when something happens—because I’ll be there to guide them. Schedule your 15-minute initial consult today and find out how I can help you protect your partner, your home, and the life you’ve built together.

As we prepare for National Estate Planning Awareness Week later this month, now is a great time to shed light on this often misunderstood and frequently avoided topic. You might think estate planning is only for the wealthy or too complicated and expensive. These are just a few myths surrounding estate planning that I hear often. In reality, estate planning is critical for everyone, including you, regardless of age or financial status. Many people don’t really understand what estate planning is - even attorneys sometimes don’t really understand it. So, I’ll take this opportunity to set the record straight and debunk some common myths, then explore why you need an estate plan, and how to get the right one, at the right price. Myth 1: Estate Planning is Only for the Wealthy One of the most persistent myths about estate planning is that it's only necessary if you have significant wealth or valuable assets. This couldn't be further from the truth. Estate planning isn't about the size of your estate; it's about making sure that when something happens to you - as it will - the people you love aren’t left with a big mess to deal with. Consider this: Do you have a bank account? A car? Personal belongings with sentimental value? A life insurance policy? If you answered yes to any of these, you have an estate. But even more importantly, do you have people you care about? Family members who depend on you? Or people you love who are going to be stuck dealing with your mess, if you don’t take care of these things while you can. If so, you need an estate plan. Estate planning isn't just about distributing assets. It's about making important decisions that will affect your loved ones. For instance: Who will take care of your minor children if something happens to you? And, how will they take care of them? Who will make medical decisions on your behalf if you're incapacitated? And, how will they make those decisions? Who will manage your digital assets, like email, social media accounts or cryptocurrency? Who will make sure your bills get paid? These questions apply to everyone, regardless of their net worth. By creating an estate plan, you're not flaunting wealth; you're taking responsibility for your life and the people you care about. After all, someone will have to deal with these things. It’s unavoidable. You can do it now and make it easy on your loved ones (and have more control over outcomes), or you can procrastinate it or avoid it altogether, and leave the people you love with a complicated and expensive mess to clean up, if you become incapacitated or after you die. Myth 2: Estate Planning is Complicated and Expensive Another common misconception is that estate planning is an overly complex and costly process. While it's true that estate planning involves legal documents and careful consideration, it doesn't have to be overwhelming or break the bank. In fact, we promise to make it as easy as possible for you, at the right budget based on your family dynamics, assets, and needs. The complexity and cost of your estate plan will depend on your specific situation and goals. Our Life & Legacy Planning process is specifically designed to start with getting you educated and organized, so we can support you to choose the right plan for you and your loved ones. You can either start with one of our educational presentations or a 15-minute call with our office. From there, we guide you through a Planning Session that will have you relieved at how educated you are. One of the main purposes of the Planning Session is to look at the cost of the “state’s plan” or your current plan (if you created a will or a trust in the past), and to ensure you are 100% clear about what would happen, if you become incapacitated or when you die. And, then, we look at exactly what you would want, and the cost to create a plan that meets your wishes. You are then able to make an informed, educated decision about what you want to do for yourself, and the people you love. When you consider the peace of mind and potential savings in time, stress, and money for your loved ones down the line, Life & Legacy Planning is often the best way to save your loved ones time and money, while also creating optimal value and use of your resources, during your own lifetime. Think of it as insurance for your legacy – a small cost now can save your loved ones significant trouble and expense later. Myth 3: I'm Too Young to Need an Estate Plan You might think estate planning is something you can put off until you're older, but this is a dangerous assumption. Life is unpredictable, and having an estate plan in place is crucial regardless of your age. If you're a young adult, you might not have accumulated much wealth yet, but you still have important decisions to make. For instance: Who will manage your social media accounts if something happens to you? Who will take care of your pets? If you have a small business or side hustle, what will happen to it? Who will be responsible for paying off your student loans or other debts? Moreover, estate planning becomes even more critical if you're a young parent. Your estate plan can designate guardians for your children and set up trusts to manage any assets they might inherit. Without these provisions, the court may have to decide who raises your children, leading to family disputes and potentially placing your children with someone you wouldn't have chosen. Even if you're single with no dependents, an estate plan is critical, maybe even more so because it’s up to you to determine who will care for you, if you cannot care for yourself. You really don’t want to leave that to a judge to decide. Your plan will ensure your wishes are respected if you become incapacitated, designate who will make medical decisions for you, and specify how you want your assets distributed. This can prevent potential conflicts among family members and ensure your hard-earned assets go to the people or causes you care about most. Remember, estate planning isn't about planning for your death; it's about planning for life, and the uncertainties sure to come. It's about taking control of your future and caring for the people and things you love, no matter your age. Myth 4: Once I Create an Estate Plan, I'm Done Another common misconception is that estate planning is a one-time event. In reality, your estate plan should evolve as your life changes. Major life events that might necessitate updates to your estate plan include: Marriage or divorce Birth or adoption of children Death of a beneficiary or executor Significant changes in your financial situation Purchase of a home or other major asset Starting a business Moving to a different state Even if you haven't experienced any major life changes, it's important to review your estate plan at least every three years, though we recommend you review your assets and how they are titled, annually. Laws change, and what was optimal a few years ago might not be the best strategy now. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 significantly increased the federal estate tax exemption. If your estate plan was created before this change, it might need adjusting to take advantage of the new tax laws. Regular reviews also give you a chance to reconsider your choices. Maybe the person you initially chose as your children's guardian is no longer the best fit. Or perhaps your financial situation has improved, and you'd like to include charitable giving in your estate plan. Keeping your estate plan up-to-date ensures it continues to reflect your wishes and provides the best possible protection for your loved ones. Think of it as a living document that grows and changes with you, rather than a static set of instructions. It’s so important that we include regular reviews at least every three years in all our Life & Legacy Plans, and have systems to keep your plan up to date. It's time to move past these myths and recognize the true value of estate planning. It's not a luxury for the wealthy, a complex process beyond your reach, or something you can put off until later in life. It's a fundamental aspect of responsible financial planning that everyone should consider. By creating and maintaining an estate plan, you're taking control of your legacy, ensuring your wishes are respected, and providing invaluable peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones. Don't let misconceptions hold you back – consult with a qualified estate planning attorney today and take the first step towards securing your future. How We Help You Take Action Today Don't let common estate planning myths prevent you from securing your future. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we help you create a comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan that goes beyond basic estate planning. We'll outline strategies for your assets, prepare for potential incapacity, and ensure your family is cared for, even if the unexpected happens. Our approach includes regular reviews to keep your plan current with life changes, and we even help capture family memories and traditions. With our guidance, you can rest easy knowing your wishes will be honored, your loved ones cared for, and your property protected. Take the first step towards peace of mind - click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation and learn how we can help you create your personalized Life & Legacy Plan, or e-mail us with questions!

Unless you’ve created an estate plan that works to keep your family out of court, when you die (or become incapacitated) many of your assets must go through probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be time-consuming, costly, and open to the public, and because of this, avoiding probate—and keeping your family out of court—is often a central goal of estate planning. To spare your loved one’s the time, cost, and stress inherent to probate, last week in part one of this series, we explained how the probate process works and what it would entail for your loved ones. Here in part two, we’ll discuss the major drawbacks of probate for your family, and outline the different ways you can help them avoid probate with wise planning. WHAT’S AT STAKE FOR YOUR FAMILY Probate court proceedings can take months, and sometimes even years, to complete. In the immediate aftermath of your death, that’s the last thing you likely want your loved ones to have to endure. And the cost of their time and emotional strain are just the start of the potentially devastating consequences your family could face if you don’t plan ahead. Without easy and immediate access to your assets, your family could face serious financial hardship at a time when they need the most support. Not only that, but to help them navigate the legal proceedings, your loved ones will almost certainly need to hire a lawyer, which can result in hefty attorney’s fees and the real risk of them hiring a lawyer who is uncommunicative, which only creates more stress for them. All of that is on top of the court costs, executor’s compensation, and all of the various other administrative expenses related to probate. By the time all of those costs have been paid, your estate could be totally wiped out, or at the very least, seriously depleted. Another drawback of probate is the fact that it’s a public process. Whether you have a will or not, all of the proceedings that take place during probate become part of the public record. This means that anyone who’s interested can learn about the contents of your estate, who your beneficiaries are, and what they will inherit, which can set them up as potential targets for scammers and frauds. Probate also has the potential to create conflict among your loved ones. This is particularly true if you have disinherited someone or plan to leave significantly more money to one relative than the others, in which case, a family member may contest your will. And even if those contests don’t succeed, such court fights will only increase the time, expense, and strife your family has to endure. HOW TO AVOID PROBATE Before we discuss the more advanced ways you can use estate planning to allow your loved ones to avoid probate, it’s important to point out that not all of your assets will have to go through the probate process—and that’s true even if you don’t have any estate plan at all. Assets That Do Not Require Probate Certain assets, such as those with beneficiary designations like 401(k)s, IRAs, and the proceeds from life insurance policies, will pass directly to the individuals or organizations you designated as your beneficiary, without the need for any additional planning. The following are some of the most common assets that use beneficiary designations and therefore, bypass probate: Retirement accounts, IRAs, 401(k)s, and pensions Life insurance or annuity proceeds Payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts Transfer-on-death (TOD) property, such as bonds, stocks, vehicles, and real estate Outside of assets with beneficiary designations, other assets that do not go through probate include assets with a right of survivorship, such as property held in joint tenancy, tenancy by the entirety, and community property with the right of survivorship. These assets automatically pass to the surviving co-owner(s) when you die, without the need for probate. However, it’s critical to note here that if you name your “estate'' as the beneficiary of any of these assets, those assets will go through probate before being distributed. The same goes if you overlook a beneficiary designation, or if you die at the same time as a joint property owner—each of those assets will also go through probate, even though they have beneficiary designations. In addition, we generally recommend that you do not rely on beneficiary designations to handle the distribution of your assets. These designations give you little to no control over how your assets are distributed, and they can result in negative outcomes you did not intend, especially if you have a blended family with children from a prior marriage or if you have no children at all. Although there are several different types of assets that automatically bypass probate, the majority of your assets will require slightly more advanced levels of planning to ensure your loved ones can immediately access them, without the need for any court proceedings in the event something happens to you. The primary estate planning tool for this purpose are trusts. AVOIDING PROBATE WITH A REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST Trusts are a popular estate planning tool for avoiding probate. Although there are a variety of different types of trust, the most commonly used trust for probate avoidance is a revocable living trust, also called a “living trust.” A trust is basically a legal agreement between the “grantor” (the person who puts assets into the trust) and the “trustee” (the person who agrees to manage those assets) to hold title to assets for the benefit of the “beneficiary.” With a revocable living trust, this agreement is typically made between you as the grantor and you as the trustee for the benefit of you as the beneficiary. You act as your own trustee during your lifetime, and then you name someone as a “successor trustee” to take over management of the trust when you die or in the event of your incapacity. It might seem odd to make an agreement with yourself to hold title to assets for yourself in order to benefit yourself. Yet by doing so, you remove those assets from the court’s jurisdiction in the event of your incapacity or when you die. Instead, those assets transfer to your successor trustee, without any court intervention required. At that point, your successor trustee is responsible for managing the trust assets and eventually distributing them to your beneficiaries, according to the terms you spell out in the trust agreement. This is how a trust avoids probate, saving your family significant time, money, and headache. The Key Benefits of a Living Trust Unlike a will, if your trust is properly set up and maintained, your loved ones won’t have to go to court to inherit your assets. Instead, your successor trustee can immediately transfer the assets held by the trust to your loved ones upon your death or in the event of your incapacity. And since you can include specific instructions in a trust’s terms for how and when the assets held by the trust are distributed to a beneficiary, a trust can offer greater control over how your assets are distributed compared to a will. For example, you could stipulate that the assets can only be distributed upon certain life events, such as the completion of college or marriage, or when the beneficiary reaches a certain age. In this way, you can help prevent your beneficiaries from blowing through their inheritance and offer incentives for them to demonstrate responsible behavior. And as long as the assets are held in trust, they’re protected from the beneficiaries’ creditors, lawsuits, and divorce—which is something else wills don’t provide. Finally, trusts remain private and are not part of the public record. So, with a properly funded trust, the entire process of transferring ownership of your assets can happen in the privacy of our office, not a courtroom, and on your family’s time. Transferring Assets into a Living Trust For a trust to function properly, it’s not enough to simply list the assets you want the trust to cover. When you create your trust, you must also transfer the legal title of any assets you want to be held by the trust from your name into the name of the trust. Retitling assets in this way is known as “funding” a trust. Funding your trust properly is extremely important, because if any assets are not properly funded to the trust, the trust won’t work, and your family will have to go to court in order to take ownership of that property, even if you have a trust. In light of this, it’s critical to work with us to ensure your trust works as intended. While many lawyers will create a trust for you, few will ensure your assets are properly inventoried and funded into your trust, and then ensure the inventory of your assets is kept up-to-date as your life and assets change over time. We will not only make sure all of your assets are properly titled when you initially create your trust, but we will also ensure that any new assets you acquire over the course of your life are inventoried and properly funded to your trust. This will keep your assets from being lost, as well as prevent your family from being inadvertently forced into court because your plan was never fully completed. LIVING TRUSTS, TAXES, CREDITORS, & LAWSUITS When you create a revocable living trust, you are free to change the trust’s terms or even completely terminate the trust at any point during your lifetime. Because you retain control over the assets held by a living trust during your lifetime, those assets are still considered part of your estate for estate tax purposes. Similarly, assets held in a living trust are not protected from your creditors or lawsuits during your lifetime. This is an important and often misunderstood point. Again, a revocable living trust does not protect your assets from creditors or lawsuits, and it has no impact on your income taxes. However, as mentioned earlier, as long as the assets are held by a living trust or a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust, those assets can be protected from your beneficiaries’ creditors, lawsuits, and even divorce settlements. Be sure to ask us about the different trust-based estate planning options we offer to find one that’s best suited for your particular situation. The primary benefit of a living trust is to pass your assets to your loved ones without any need for court or government intervention, and to ensure your assets pass in the way you want to the people you want. LIFE & LEGACY PLANNING: DO RIGHT BY THOSE YOU LOVE MOST Although a living trust can be an ideal way to pass your wealth and assets to your loved ones, each family’s circumstances are different. This is why we do not create any documents until we know what you actually need and what will be the most affordable solution for you and your family—both now and in the future—based on your family dynamics, assets, and desires. The best way for you to determine which estate planning strategies are best suited for your situation is to meet with us for a Life & Legacy Planning Session. During this process, we’ll take you through an analysis of your assets, what’s most important to you, and what will happen to your loved ones when you die or if you become incapacitated. Get started today by scheduling a complimentary initial consult.

Unless you’ve created a proper estate plan, when you die many of your assets must first pass through the court process known as probate before those assets can be distributed to your heirs. Like most court proceedings, probate can be time-consuming, costly, and open to the public, and because of this, avoiding probate—and keeping your family out of court—is a central goal of most estate plans. During probate, the court supervises a number of different legal actions, all of which are aimed at finalizing your affairs and settling your estate. Although we’ll discuss them more in-depth below, probate typically consists of the following processes: Determining the validity of your will (if you have one). Appointing an executor or administrator to manage the probate process and settle your estate. Locating and valuing all of your assets. Notifying & paying your creditors. Filing & paying your taxes. Distributing your assets to the appropriate beneficiaries. In most cases, going through all of these steps is a real pain for the people you love. It’s expensive, can take a long time, and be highly inconvenient, and sometimes, even downright messy. By implementing the right estate planning strategies, however, you can help your loved ones avoid probate all together—or at least make the process extremely simple for them. To spare your family from the time, cost, and stress inherent to probate, here in this two-part series, we’ll first explain how the probate process works and what it would entail for your loved ones, and then we’ll outline the different ways you can avoid probate with wise planning. When Probate is Required As mentioned previously, if you fail to put in place a proper estate plan, your assets must go through probate before they can be distributed to your heirs. In general, this includes those individuals who have no estate plan at all, those whose estate plan consists of a will alone, and those who have a will that’s deemed invalid by the court. It’s important to point out that even if you have a will in place, your loved ones will still be required to go through probate upon your death. Therefore, if you want to keep your family out of court and out of conflict when you die, you cannot rely solely on a will, and you’ll need to put in place additional estate planning vehicles, which we will cover in further detail later. If you die without a will, it’s known as dying intestate, and in such cases, probate is still required to pay your debts and distribute your assets. However, since you haven’t expressed how you wish your estate to be divided among your heirs, your assets will be distributed to your closest living relatives based on our state’s intestate succession laws. These laws typically give priority to spouses, children, and parents, followed by siblings and grandparents, and then more distant relatives. If no living heirs can be found, then your assets go to the state. Some states allow estates with a relatively low value to bypass probate and use an abbreviated process to settle the estate. Illinois law allows estates with a total value of less than $150,000 to skip probate. In those cases, beneficiaries can claim the estate’s assets using simpler legal actions, such as by filing an affidavit or other form. Additionally, when an individual’s debts exceed the value of their assets, or a person has no assets at all, probate is often not initiated, and the estate is settled using alternative legal processes. How Probate Works How probate plays out is largely determined by whether or not you had a valid will in place at the time of death. However, even in cases where no will exists, or the will is deemed invalid, the probate process is quite similar. Indeed, once the court appoints someone to oversee the probate process on your behalf, the process unfolds in a nearly identical manner, regardless if you had a will or not. 01 | AUTHENTICATING THE VALIDITY OF YOUR WILL: Following your death, your executor is responsible for filing your will and a Petition with the court, and this initiates the probate process. From there, the court must authenticate your will to ensure it was properly created and executed in accordance with state law, and this usually involves a court hearing. Notice of the hearing must be given to all of the beneficiaries named in your will, along with all potential heirs who would stand to inherit under state law in the absence of a will. This hearing gives these individuals the opportunity to contest the validity of your will in order to prevent the document from being admitted to probate. For example, someone might contest your will on the grounds that it was improperly executed (signed, witnessed, and/or notarized) as required by state law, or someone might claim that you were unduly influenced or coerced to change your will. If such a contest is successful, the court declares your will invalid, which effectively means the document never existed in the first place. 02 | APPOINTING THE EXECUTOR OR ADMINISTRATOR: If you created a will, the court must formally appoint the person you named in your will as your executor before they can legally act on your behalf. If you died without a will, the court will appoint someone—typically your closest living relative—to serve in this role, known as your personal representative or administrator. In some cases, the court might require your executor to post a bond before they can serve. The bond functions as an insurance policy to reimburse the estate in the event the executor makes a serious error during probate that financially damages the estate. 03 | LOCATING & VALUING YOUR ASSETS: Once probate begins, the executor must identify, locate, and take possession of all of your assets, so they can be appraised to determine the total value of your estate. This includes not only those assets listed in your will and other estate planning documents, but also those you may have not included in your estate plan. This is why keeping a regularly updated inventory of your assets is so important. Any assets the executor is unable to locate will end up in our state’s Department of Unclaimed Property. Across the U.S., there is more than $58 billion (yes, that’s billion with a ‘b’) of assets stuck in state Departments of Unclaimed Property. Fortunately, this is easy to prevent when you work with us. We will not only help you create a comprehensive asset inventory, we will make sure this inventory stays updated throughout your lifetime In the case of real estate, although the executor is not expected to actually move into your home or other residence, he or she is required to ensure that your mortgage, homeowners insurance, and property taxes are paid while probate is ongoing. These and all other debts can be paid from your estate. Once all of your assets have been located, the executor must determine their value, which is typically done using financial statements and/or appraisals. From there, the combined value of all of your assets is used to estimate the total value of your estate. 04 | NOTIFYING & PAYING YOUR CREDITORS: To ensure all of your outstanding debts are paid before your assets are distributed, the executor must notify all of your creditors of your death. In most states, any unknown creditors can be notified by publishing a death notice with your local newspaper. Creditors typically have a limited period of time—six months in Illinois—after being notified to make claims against your estate. The executor can challenge any creditor claims he or she considers invalid, and in turn, the creditor can petition the court to rule on whether the claim must be paid. From there, valid creditor claims are then paid. The executor will use your estate funds to pay all of your final bills, including any outstanding medical and funeral expenses. 05 | FILING & PAYING YOUR TAXES: In addition to paying all of your outstanding private debts, the executor is also responsible for filing and paying any outstanding taxes you owe to the government at the time of death. This includes personal income and capital-gains taxes, as well as state and federal estate taxes, if your estate is valuable enough to qualify. In Illinois, the estate tax exemption is currently set at $4 million. For those who exceed that threshold, there are several strategies you can use to reduce the size of your estate to avoid these taxes, if you plan ahead of time. Any taxes due are paid from estate funds. In some cases, this may require liquidating assets to raise the needed cash. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we will not only support you during your lifetime to implement tax-saving strategies to minimize your tax bill, but we will also work with your loved ones following your death in the same capacity to ensure the wealth and legacy you’ve built provides the maximum benefit to those you leave behind. 06 | DISTRIBUTION OF YOUR REMAINING ASSETS: Once the court confirms all of your debts and taxes have been paid—which typically requires the executor to file an accounting of all transactions he or she engaged in during the probate process—the executor can petition the court for authorization to distribute the remaining assets in your estate to the beneficiaries named in your will, or according to state intestate succession laws, if you didn’t have a will. Once all assets have been distributed, the executor must file a petition with the court to close probate. If all creditors and taxes have been paid, your assets have been distributed, and there are no other outstanding issues to be addressed, the court will issue an order formally closing the estate and terminating the executor’s appointment. Keep Your Family Out of Court and Out of Conflict At Kaplan Estate Law, one of our primary goals when creating your estate plan is to keep your family out of court and out of conflict no matter what happens to you. Yet, as you can see, if your family has to go through probate, your estate plan falls woefully short of that goal, leaving those you love most stuck in an unnecessary, expensive, time-consuming, and public court process. Fortunately, it’s easy for you to spare your family the burden of probate with proactive planning. Next week, we’ll look at the ways you can do just that in the second part of this series. Until then, if you haven’t put an estate plan in place or have one that would force your family to go through probate, contact us to schedule an initial consult. Next week, in part two, we’ll discuss the estate planning strategies that you can use to avoid the need for your loved ones to go through probate. Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this blog or contacting Kaplan Estate Law LLC does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws may change, and their application depends on your individual circumstances. You should consult with a qualified attorney regarding your specific situation.

As a parent, you have probably thought about the importance of naming permanent legal guardians for your child in case something happens to you, and maybe you have already done it. If you haven’t yet, take this as the sign that now’s the time to do it, in case the unthinkable happens to you. But in some cases, naming permanent legal guardians for your child may not be enough to guarantee your kids will always be cared for in the way you want by the people you want. And, there may even be a risk of your kids being taken into the care of strangers or someone you would never want. Read on to find out if that’s the case for your family, and if it is, contact us ASAP to get your Kids Protection Plan in place. You Leave Your Kids With Non-Related Caregivers If you ever leave your minor kids with a caregiver who isn’t a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other family member that the authorities would naturally leave your kids with if something happens to you, this is what could happen. Your kids are home with the babysitter. You don’t make it home, and the authorities are called. The authorities show up at your house, and what would they do? Would they leave your children at home with the person taking care of them while they attempt to find your Will or legal guardian nomination? Would they even be able to find your legal documents? Would your legal documents name someone who would be immediately available to come to stay with your children, and would the authorities leave your children with those people without a court order? If not, you need a Kids Protection Plan to fill in the gap. Permanent guardian nominations only take effect upon your passing and are made official through the court system. This means that they do not give any legal authority to your chosen guardians in an emergency or if you become incapacitated. Because of this, law enforcement could place your child into protective custody with social services in the event of your sudden absence or incapacity due to an illness or injury. To minimize the chances that would happen, we can name legal guardians for the short-term, and give those named guardians the legal documentation they would need and instructions on what to do immediately if something happens to you. In addition, we will give you the tools to ensure that anyone staying with your children while you aren’t there knows exactly what to do if something happens to you. You Have Someone In Your Life You Would NEVER Want Raising Your Kids While this may not apply to you, if it does, you absolutely, 100%, without question need to contact us for a Kids Protection Plan STAT. If you have anyone in your life you would never want raising your kids if you aren’t able to due to illness or injury, we can ensure that person is confidentially excluded from your plan using a Kids Protection Plan. And, we can structure it so that this confidential document is only brought forward if necessary to keep your children out of the care of the person you would never want to raise them. You Have Unique Desires For Your Kids’ Education, Health Care or Financial Well-Being You’ve probably given a lot of thought to how you want to educate your children, the kinds of healthcare decisions you make for them, and how you want them to experience reality from a financial perspective. If that’s the case, then you absolutely want to ensure that anyone raising your children, if you can’t, will know how you would have wanted these decisions to be made. Otherwise, if you don’t take the time to leave instructions to the people who could raise your children, they will not know how you would make decisions if you cannot be there to communicate your hopes, dreams, wishes, and desires. And, here’s the great thing about this … there’s a strong chance that you are not going to become incapacitated or die while your children are minors (phew), and yet taking the time to write down your unique desires for their well-being and care is an illuminating process in and of itself that will make you a better parent right now. We hear it again and again from our clients that when they create their Kids Protection Plan with us, they immediately feel a great deal of relief and a belief that they are being the best parents they can possibly be. They have more clarity about what’s really important to them, what they want to emphasize, who they want their children to develop relationships with, and where they can better focus their own time, energy, and attention. If you aren’t sure where to start when creating these instructions, don’t worry. We will support you with the whole process when we create your Kids Protection Plan. Comprehensive Protection for The Ones You Love Most Nominating permanent legal guardians is an essential piece of your estate plan, but in reality, it often isn’t enough to ensure your child remains in the care of people you choose, know, love, and trust if something happens to you. If your children are ever left with a relative, or if there is anyone in your life you wouldn’t want raising your kids, or if you have unique high-value wishes for the way your children are raised when it comes to their education, health, or financial well-being, you need a full-fledged Kids Protection Plan. If you’re ready to create a Kids Protection Plan for your child, the first step is to schedule your Life and Legacy Planning Session. During the Session, I’ll look at everything you own and everyone you love to get to know your family and your wishes on a personal level. Then I’ll explain how the law would affect your family if something happened to you today, and together, we’ll design a plan that will protect your assets and your loved ones, no matter what. To get started, click here and schedule a complimentary 15-minute call or e-mail lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com.

You've brought it up before. Maybe it came up after watching a friend go through something hard, a probate process that dragged on for years, or a family left scrambling without the right documents in place. Maybe a health scare prompted the conversation, or a birthday that snuck up faster than expected. Whatever brought it to mind, you've tried to talk to your spouse about getting a plan in place. And it went nowhere. Not because they were openly against it. Maybe they changed the subject. Maybe they agreed and then nothing happened. Maybe they said, "We don't need to worry about that yet," and somehow that became the final word on the matter. Whatever the reason, nothing is in place, and you feel stuck. This is one of the most common situations I hear about: not "I don't know where to start," but "I know what needs to happen, and I can't get my partner to come along." It puts you in a genuinely difficult position, because estate planning often requires both of you to participate. So what do you do? Here's what you need to know, and where you can start even when you're not fully aligned. Why Your Spouse Is Resisting (It's Not What You Think) Before you try harder to convince your spouse, it helps to understand what's actually holding them back. For most people, resistance to estate planning isn't really about not caring. It's about what the planning represents. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney: these conversations point directly at something most of us would rather not think about. Death. Incapacity. The possibility that something goes wrong. For some people, planning for those scenarios feels like inviting them. There's also a quiet kind of optimism that can quietly derail every attempt. If your spouse genuinely believes everything will be fine, talking about "just in case" feels unnecessary. Not selfish, not even unreasonable from where they're standing. Just not urgent. There is a third kind of resistance I see in practice, and it is harder to name. Sometimes the reluctance has nothing to do with mortality. It is about the decisions that planning forces to the surface: what happens when there are children from a previous relationship, how to navigate a situation with an adult child whose struggles the family does not talk about openly, or dynamics that feel far easier to leave unresolved than to put on paper. For some spouses, the avoidance is not about death. It is about conflict, or about making visible something that has been quietly managed for years. That kind of resistance looks like apathy. Underneath it is usually something specific. Understanding this matters because it tells you something important: logic and risk statistics are probably not the approach that will move them. This isn't a logic problem. It's an emotional one. The bottom line: Most reluctant spouses aren't indifferent about protecting the family. They're uncomfortable with what planning requires them to confront. That's a solvable problem, with the right approach. What's Actually at Stake While You Wait Here's what doesn't pause while you're working toward alignment: risk. If you become incapacitated without a healthcare directive or durable power of attorney in place, your spouse may not automatically have the legal authority to make certain decisions on your behalf, depending on your state's laws and the nature of the decision. If you die without a will or trust, the law decides what happens to your assets. That default plan may not match what you want. And if something happened to both of you at once, without guardianship designations and the right protections for your children, a court steps in to fill the gap you left. These are not remote scenarios reserved for tragedies. They happen to regular families, including families that fully intended to get around to it. There's a real cost to waiting. It shows up as probate fees, court proceedings, assets going to the wrong people, and decisions being made by someone you wouldn't have chosen. None of that is hypothetical. It's what happens when families don't have a plan in place. The bottom line: Every day without a plan is a day your family's future depends on legal defaults you didn't write. The risk doesn't wait for you to be ready. A Different Way to Have the Conversation If the risk-based approach hasn't moved your spouse, it may be time to try a different angle entirely. Instead of leading with what could go wrong, try leading with what you both want. Most couples, even when they're on different pages about the process, share the same values underneath it. You both want your children to be cared for by people you trust. You both want financial decisions handled by the right person if one of you can't handle them. You both want to avoid leaving a mess for the other person to sort out at an already-hard time. Framing planning as an act of love, rather than a response to fear, often lands very differently. This isn't about paperwork. It's about making sure the people you love most are protected no matter what. Another approach worth trying: suggest a single low-stakes conversation with a professional. Not a commitment to complete a full plan, just a free 15-minute call to understand what your family actually needs. Spouses who resist "doing estate planning" are often open to "hearing what our options are." A knowledgeable, caring advisor can often address concerns in one conversation that you haven't been able to address in years of trying, because the conversation stops feeling like one partner pushing their agenda on the other. The bottom line: The goal isn't to win the argument. It's to get both of you into the same room with someone who can help you both see what's actually needed. What You Can Do and What Requires Both of You Some planning steps do require both spouses. Not all of them do. Here's what you can start right now, on your own: Review your beneficiary designations. If you have retirement accounts, life insurance, or any account with a named beneficiary, check who's listed. These forms control where that money goes when you die, regardless of what your will says. They often have outdated information on them: an ex-spouse, a deceased parent, or no beneficiary named at all. Inventory what you own and how it's titled. Knowing what assets you have and in whose name they're held is the foundation of any planning conversation. You can do this today. Review any existing documents. If you have a will, power of attorney, or healthcare directive from years ago, does it still reflect your wishes? Are the right people named? What typically does require your spouse's involvement: decisions about jointly held assets, most trust structures, and your individual healthcare directives and financial powers of attorney. Each person needs their own, because your documents protect only you. The goal isn't to work around your spouse. It's to take the steps that are yours to take, stay informed, and keep the door open. This is especially true in blended families, where planning that covers your own children, your healthcare decisions, and your financial authority belongs to you regardless of where your spouse stands. And it is worth knowing: sometimes watching you take this step is what finally moves them. Seeing the process happen, and realizing it is manageable, can shift things in a way that years of conversation alone rarely does. The bottom line: You don't have to wait for perfect alignment to take meaningful action. Starting with what's in your control builds the foundation for everything else. Why a Professional Conversation Changes the Dynamic In this situation, at Kaplan Estate Law, we can do more than help you create a plan. We serve as a thoughtful third party who help both of you understand what's actually needed, without either spouse feeling like the other is pushing their agenda. This is the conversation we have with families upstream, before anything goes wrong. When the first real conversation happens with a professional present, something often shifts. Both people get to ask questions. Fears get addressed by someone knowledgeable and neutral, not someone with a personal stake in the outcome. Planning stops feeling like one person's agenda and starts feeling like a decision you're making together. Part of what I do is make sure the legal decisions coordinate across your full picture, so the plan works alongside what your financial and other advisors have already put in place. I'll ask both of you: What do you want for your children if something happened to you? Who do you trust to manage your finances if you couldn't? What does "taking care of each other" actually look like when things get hard? These aren't scary questions. They're the ones that make planning feel real, personal, and worth doing together. And the relationship doesn't end when the documents are signed. When something happens, your family knows to call me. What You Can Do Right Now If you've been waiting for your spouse to be ready, the most important step you can take is starting the conversation in a new setting, with someone who can help you both get clear on what your family actually needs. At Kaplan Estate Law, I help couples and individuals create a Life & Legacy Plan that reflects what matters most, not just what happens by default. I've guided families through exactly this kind of conversation, and I know how to make the process feel manageable rather than overwhelming. Schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call and let's talk about where you are and what makes sense for your family.

You hired a lawyer, signed your estate planning documents, and filed them safely away. Or maybe your financial advisor created your documents, or you might have done them yourself online, for free using AI. You think your work is done. But then you die, and your loved ones are left battling court delays, family conflict, and financial loss. It’s a scenario I’ve seen too many times. Families who thought they were protected learn—too late—that their loved ones' estate plan failed them. The problem? Traditional and DIY estate planning focuses on creating legal documents, not on building a plan that works when your loved ones need it most. In this article, I’ll share real stories I’ve heard and read about that show why documents aren’t enough—and how Life & Legacy Planning offers a better solution. When Legal Documents Create Legal Disasters Let’s start with a few families who did everything “right.” They worked with lawyers, signed estate plans, and trusted the process. But those plans didn’t work when it mattered most. The Father Who Tried to Protect His Eight Children A loving father created a trust to divide his assets among his eight children. But the attorney he worked with missed one small—but critical—detail: a strip of land near the family beach home wasn’t titled in the name of the trust. When the father died, that oversight sparked a costly legal mess. His children faced delays, infighting, and a breakdown in trust—not only with each other, but with the attorney. And the very plan meant to protect them became a source of conflict. The Blended Family That Fell Apart Overnight One man left his entire estate to his second wife, trusting her to “do right” by his daughter from his first marriage. But when he died, that trust was shattered. His wife kept everything - which she was entitled to do because he intentionally left all his assets to her - and cut off his daughter completely. The daughter was left with two painful options: spend thousands in court with little hope of winning, or walk away with nothing. This father never imagined that grief and money would change family dynamics. But they often do. The DIY Planner Who Unintentionally Disinherited Her Family Another woman was proud of her financial savvy and used online templates to create a trust. Later, she wrote out a list of personal gifts for her children and grandchildren. But she didn’t realize that list had no legal standing. She also didn’t realize that the online trust document stated that the law in a different state dictated how the trust would be interpreted. It was a state she had never lived in, and thousands of miles from her home. When she died, her second husband inherited everything. Her children went to court, and the case became expensive and contentious - exactly the outcome Jane was trying to avoid by drafting a trust in the first place. Each of these people thought they were making smart decisions. They believed having legal documents meant they were protected. But, as the stories illustrate, documents alone aren’t enough. Why “Simple” Plans Often Cost the Most Another dangerous myth? Thinking your estate is “simple.” I can’t tell you how many people call my office and say something to the effect of, “My situation is very simple, I don’t need anything complicated.” Then we meet for a Life & Legacy Planning Session, and they discover that what they thought was “simple” actually wasn’t. Most estates are more complicated than people think. The truth is, even basic plans can fall apart without guidance. The Daughter Who Lost the Family Home After her father passed away, a woman discovered his house was still under mortgage—and behind on payments. She only found out because she was cleaning out his house and saw the bank’s letters in the mail. He did not have an inventory of his assets and liabilities she could find and know what to do. She couldn’t afford to catch up on his mortgage with her own money. She tried to negotiate with the bank, but she lacked legal authority to do so. That meant she had to file paperwork and had to wait for the court to appoint her as estate administrator before negotiating with the bank. The court process took months because the courts were backed up with cases. Before she had authority to act, the bank foreclosed. The equity in her inheritance vanished. A Better Approach: Life & Legacy Planning These stories show why traditional estate planning fails. It treats planning like a one-time transaction—a stack of documents to sign and forget. But the documents alone won’t ensure your kids aren’t disinherited, the equity in your home is lost, and that your loved ones aren’t left with a mess. That's why Life & Legacy Planning is different. With this approach, you don’t just get documents. You get a comprehensive plan that addresses: Your assets: including a complete and updated inventory where your loved ones can find it and no assets get lost Your wishes: from how assets are divided to how children are raised Your family dynamics: so that conflict is minimized, not created, and you don’t accidentally disinherit your children Ongoing updates: to ensure your plan stays relevant as your life changes And most importantly, your loved ones get a trusted advisor—someone to call when the worst happens, who knows your plan and can guide them step-by-step, relieving them of stress, time off from work, extra expenses out of their pockets, and who provides support when they’re grieving. Documents alone cannot do that. Real Protection Means More Than Documents on a Shelf When you create a Life & Legacy Plan with me, your family will know where to find important documents and how to access accounts. They’ll know what steps to take, what bills to pay, and who to turn to for help. A Life & Legacy Plan goes further to protect your family: I will ensure your documents are not only signed, but that your trust is properly funded so your loved ones don’t have to go to court. I will create and maintain a detailed asset inventory, including life insurance, retirement accounts, digital assets, and more. I will review your plan regularly because your life, your finances, and the law all change over time - and if your plan doesn’t accurately reflect your life when you die or become incapacitated, it will fail. Your life isn’t static, and so your plan shouldn’t be either. Planning Isn’t for You—It’s for the People You Love Planning is about the people who will be left behind. They’re the ones you do it for. So, ask yourself these questions: Do you want them to waste months in court? Struggle to locate assets? Argue with siblings? Lose a home or miss an inheritance? Or do you want them to feel secure, supported, and cared for—because you took the time to put a real plan in place? Take Action Today The stories I've shared aren't isolated incidents. They represent what happens to thousands of families every year who thought they were protected by traditional estate planning. Each person believed their situation was different, their family was closer, they could trust their spouse to carry out their wishes, and that their planning was sufficient. They never imagined they'd become cautionary tales. Don't let your family become another story of estate planning gone wrong. The families in these stories thought it could never happen to them, but it did. The difference is that you still have time to create a plan that will actually protect the people you love most. Click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call to learn more about how I can support you.

As summer comes to a close, and back-to-school excitement fills the air, there is one crucial task that is often overlooked: designating legal guardians for your minor children. Legal guardians are the individuals you entrust with the care of your children if, for any reason, you are unable to do so yourself. In the hustle of back-to-school shopping and end-of-season summer fun, it might seem like naming legal guardians for your kids is a low priority, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Children with colorful backpacks walk together towards school on a sunny day, surrounded by lush greenery. As kids return to school, they’ll spend most of their day in the care of other people - their teachers, coaches, and babysitters. That means that your children will spend most of their time with people who do not have any legal authority to take care of them for more than a brief time in the event you are in an accident or can’t be reached for any reason. And, if your kids are going off to college, you’ll no longer be able to make decisions for them or have access to their medical records in an emergency unless your adult kids create Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives. Don’t Rely on Informal Agreements They say it takes a village to raise a child, and as parents, you usually have a network of friends or family you feel you can rely on to step in and care for your child if needed. But it's essential not to rely solely on informal arrangements with relatives or friends to care for your kids if you can’t. Whether you are unconscious in the hospital or have passed away, there’s a chance your child could be taken into protective custody by social services until you recover or until a permanent arrangement can be made. But here’s the thing, the person who ends up taking your child may not be someone your child knows or loves, but a complete stranger in the foster care system. Or, maybe even worse, that person could be someone you never want to raise your kids but who is appointed anyway by a well-meaning court system that doesn’t know what you would want or how you would want your children to be raised. In addition, if you don’t name legal guardians for your kids you risk creating conflict among family members who want to care for your children and may subject your loved ones to a lengthy and costly court process—an unnecessary burden that can easily be avoided. You know your child and your family better than anyone else, and you know who would be the best fit for raising your child if something happened to you. But unfortunately, unless you document your choice of guardian in advance, the decision of who would raise your child if you can’t is ultimately left to a judge who doesn’t know you or your family dynamics. Instead, naming short-term and long-term guardians for your kids ensures they are always cared for by people you know and trust. A group of college students sharing a joyful moment while walking across campus, captured in front of a historic brick building. And, if your kids are off at college, you cannot rely on the fact that you know they’d want you to have access to their medical records and financial accounts if something happened to them. The hospital or banks need official legal documents for you to get access if needed. That’s why we provide all of our client families with young adult planning documents for kids away at college. Comprehensive Protection for Your Child To make sure your kids are always protected and cared for by people you trust, it’s essential to create a comprehensive Kids Protection Plan. Every Kids Protection Plan enables you to name short-term temporary guardians who have immediate authority to care for your children in an emergency and long-term permanent guardians who can raise your children if you are no longer able. My Kids Protection Plan also equips you with emergency ID cards that contain instructions for first responders to contact your child’s guardian if you’re in an accident so they can travel to be with your child right away. Plus, all caregivers, like babysitters and nannies, are provided with precise instructions on how to reach your short and long-term guardians, and that everyone involved in your plan has the necessary legal documents on hand to ensure a smooth process if the need for a guardian arises. In this way, not only have you legally named guardians for your kids, but you’ve created an entire safety plan to ensure they are always cared for in the way you’d want in any situation. And for your college-bound kids, it means having young adult planning documents in place like Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives that allow you to access your kids’ accounts or make medical decisions for them if they become incapacitated by an illness or injury. A joyful family adventure unfolds as they run along the beach, bundled up in cozy winter gear, with their energetic dog leading the way. A Thoughtful Approach for Your Peace of Mind At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we are dedicated to securing the well-being of your children under all circumstances. As the back-to-school season approaches, don't overlook this essential homework for parents - naming legal guardians and creating your own Kids Protection Plan. The first step is to go through our unique planning process to choose the right plan for you, your kids and everyone you love. We begin with a Life & Legacy Planning Session. During the Session, I get to know your family on a personal level to understand your family dynamics and your assets. I’ll share the law with you, and together we’ll look at exactly what would happen to your assets and your loved ones if something happened to you right now. From there, we choose the right plan for you - at the right budget and that achieves your personal objectives - based on the specifics of your family situation. This ensures your kids and family are cared for and protected no matter what happens, so you can embrace the excitement of this new academic year with peace of mind. To learn more and get started with your own Life and Legacy Planning Session, click here schedule a complimentary discovery call or e-mail lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com.

August is Make-A-Will Month, and the urgency is real. Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report, a nationally representative survey of 5,000 U.S. adults fielded in early 2026, found that only 26% of adults currently have a will, down from 31% the year before, and 56% have no estate planning documents at all. The nudge matters. But a will and a real plan are not the same thing, and most families don't find that out until the moment it is too late to fix it. Here is what your family actually needs. Why Will Ownership Is Falling, Not Rising Most people still don't have a will for reasons that are remarkably consistent: they believe they are too young, they think they don't have enough assets to make it worth doing, they find the conversation uncomfortable, or they have simply never gotten around to it. Make-A-Will Month exists because people need an annual push. And the push matters. Getting something in place is better than getting nothing in place. But here is the more important reality: many of the people who do have wills are walking around with documents that are outdated, incomplete, or that don't accomplish what they think they do. A will drafted when the first child was born may not account for a second child, a divorce, a remarriage, or the fact that the named guardian moved across the country. A will sitting untouched in a drawer for fifteen years may name someone who has since passed away. The bottom line: Not having a will is a real problem. But having one and assuming your family is protected can be just as dangerous. What a Will Can Do (And What It Cannot) A will does important things in estate planning. It directs who receives your assets. It can name a guardian for your minor children. It lets you express your wishes for your belongings and your estate. What a will cannot do is almost never explained at the moment you sign one. A will does not avoid probate. In most states, any assets that pass through a will must go through probate, which is a public court process that can take months or years and costs your estate money along the way. During that time, your assets are frozen. Your family cannot access what you left them while the courts work through it. A will does not protect your family if you become incapacitated rather than die. If you are in an accident or suffer a medical event and cannot make decisions for yourself, your will does nothing. You need separate legal documents, typically a healthcare directive and a financial power of attorney, for someone to have legal authority to act on your behalf. A will does not automatically control assets with beneficiary designations. Your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and jointly held property pass outside your will entirely. If those designations are outdated, the will cannot override them. The bottom line: A will is an important first step in estate planning. By itself, it does not create the protection most families assume it does. The Piece Most Parents Forget Entirely For parents with minor children, the most urgent reason to have a plan is not your assets. It is your kids. Here is what most families do not think about: if both parents die, there is a window of time before any legal proceeding can happen. In those first 72 hours, there may be no one with legal authority to pick your children up from school, take them to a doctor, or ensure they are somewhere safe and familiar. A will names a guardian for the long term. It does not address what happens in that first critical window. In my planning sessions, I always ask parents: have you thought about who has legal authority in the first few days, not just the long-term guardian? The answer is almost always no. And even once a guardian is named, a will alone does not answer the most important questions. Does your chosen guardian know how you want your children raised? Have you had a real conversation about your values around education, technology, money, and faith? Does the guardian have the financial support they would need without it becoming a burden? What happens if that guardian later becomes unable or unwilling to serve? This is where the Kids Protection Plan matters. Beyond naming a guardian, this part of a Life & Legacy Plan ensures your children are never taken into the care of strangers, never left in a gap between emergency and legal proceedings, and always in the hands of someone who knows your wishes. A will names a guardian. The Kids Protection Plan equips that person to step into your role. The bottom line: The 72-hour window matters as much as the long-term plan. Most families have addressed neither. What Estate Planning Looks Like When It Actually Works Make-A-Will Month is a good prompt. But the goal is not a signed document sitting in a drawer. The goal is a plan that works when your family actually needs it. Through the Life & Legacy Planning Session, I work with families to build something complete: a plan that avoids probate where possible, protects children immediately through a Kids Protection Plan, puts the right people in the right legal roles, and coordinates with your financial advisor and accountant to make sure every piece aligns. It gets reviewed and updated as life changes. Documents alone don't accomplish that. A relationship does. Documents are tools. A will is a tool. A trust is a tool. The real protection comes from a trusted advisor who helps you think through what your family actually needs, not just what the minimum legal requirement is. The bottom line: A Life & Legacy Plan is built around your actual life and your actual family. It is how you become a thoughtful steward of what you have spent a lifetime building. A Plan Built Around What You Actually Value Most estate planning conversations start with fear, and fear is a reasonable place to start. But the families I work with who feel most at peace with their plan have moved through the fear and into something more useful: clarity about what they care about, and a deliberate decision to act on it. A Life & Legacy Plan is not just a legal structure. It is a chance to get aligned with your own values. Who do you trust with your children's wellbeing, and have you told them why? What do you want your children to understand about how you thought about money, responsibility, and family? What does it mean to you to be a thoughtful steward of the relationships and wealth your life has built? These are not questions a form can answer. They are conversations. The right planning relationship creates the space to have them, and the documents that come out of those conversations are built around something real: not just what you own, but what you stand for. Planning from that place is not just more meaningful. It produces a better plan, one your family can actually use, because it reflects who you are and what you intended, not just the minimum legal requirement. The bottom line: The best plans are not built around fear. They are built around what you value. That is what makes them worth having. Why This Is Not a DIY Decision I've taken the call from a family who used an online form and thought they were done. The will was technically valid. But it named only one guardian with no backup, had no provision for incapacity, and left beneficiary designations pointing to accounts that no longer existed. Online platforms have made it easier than ever to generate paperwork. But a form does not know that your state has specific signing and witnessing requirements that affect whether the document is even valid. It does not know that your child has special needs that require a specific kind of trust to protect their benefits. It does not know that the beneficiary designations on your life insurance still point to a parent who passed away years ago. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, we ask all of those questions and build a plan around the real answers. The relationship doesn't end when the documents are signed. When something happens, your family knows to call me. The bottom line: A form gets paperwork done. We help keep your family protected. What You Can Do Right Now August is Make-A-Will Month. Use it. But don't stop at a will. At Kaplan Estate Law LLC, I help families build a Life & Legacy Plan that goes beyond documents to create real, lasting protection for the people you love most. I take the time to understand your specific family situation and design a plan that actually works when it matters. Schedule a complimentary 15-minute discovery call and let's find out where your family stands.

Imagine this: You're in your twenties, just starting your career. You fill out a form at work, naming your live-in significant other as the beneficiary of your retirement account. You start contributing to your retirement account, and it begins to grow. Fast forward 28 years - you've long since ended that relationship, lived your life, and then died. But you never changed that beneficiary designation, and now that ex-partner is entitled to your million-dollar retirement nest egg while your family is left with nothing. Sound far-fetched? It's not. This is precisely what happened in a high-profile lawsuit involving Margaret Losinger and her former boyfriend, Jeffrey Rolison, and his estate and Proctor and Gamble, the Company he worked for during those 28 years. Here’s a closer look at this shocking real-life story, the lessons we can learn, and how having a trusted advisor at every stage of life can protect you from making a million-dollar mistake like this or any other mistakes that you just might be overlooking. A joyful couple enjoys a playful piggyback ride through a lush, green forest, capturing a moment of carefree happiness. What Happened? In the 1980s, Jeffrey Rolison dated Margaret Sjostedt, and the two lived together. Rolison worked at a Procter & Gamble (P&G) plant, where he signed up for a profit-sharing and savings plan. In 1987, he listed Sjostedt as the sole beneficiary of his retirement account. The relationship ended two years later, and both moved on. Sjostedt eventually married, taking on the last name Losinger. Rolison, however, never updated his beneficiary designation on his retirement plan. In 2015, Rolison passed away at age 59, single and childless, with no will and no guidance on who should inherit his assets. His retirement account, which had grown to $1.15 million, was still designated to Losinger, nee Sjostedt. Rolison’s brothers, Brian and Richard, were shocked when they learned that Losinger was the beneficiary of Rolison’s retirement account. They believed their brother wouldn't have intended for his long-ago ex-girlfriend to receive his retirement savings. The brothers filed a lawsuit against P&G and Losinger in 2017, trying to get the money directed to Rolison’s estate. On April 29, 2024, an appeals court issued an order, ruling that Losinger was entitled to the money. After fighting for four years, Rolison’s family lost their claim, the million dollars in Rolison’s retirement account, and all the legal fees and court costs invested in the fight. Because we have no doubt you wouldn’t want this to happen to your family, read on … Why Even “Simple Estates” Require Trusted Guidance Before we go on, I’ll clarify what estate planning is, how beneficiary accounts factor in and why you likely need the guidance of a trusted advisor, even if you think you don’t have an estate, your estate is “simple” or you don’t really need an estate plan. What estate planning is. Many people consider estate planning something only needed by the wealthy or the elderly. As you can see from this case, that’s just not true. Rolison wasn’t wealthy when he chose to name Losinger as the beneficiary of his retirement account. And he probably wasn’t wealthy when they broke up. Nevertheless, not having an estate plan or the trusted guidance he would have needed to know what he needed, he ended up making his ex-girlfriend a wealthy woman and cost his siblings quite a lot of time and money in the process. At the most basic level, estate planning is about ensuring all of your assets pass to the people you want, in the way you want, with the right guidance and support to ensure that happens with the least effort, cost and mess possible. And, it’s about ensuring that if you become incapacitated, your wishes are known, honored and able to be followed with the least amount of cost and most amount of privacy possible. Most importantly, estate planning is about your choices and your freedom. So, how important is it to you that you have a say in what happens to you, your hard-earned assets, and your loved ones when the time comes? If it’s important, you need an estate plan. It’s truly as simple as that. Otherwise, the government gets to decide on your behalf. When you create an estate plan, your wishes override the government’s plan for you and your loved ones. How Beneficiary-Designated Accounts Factor Into Your Estate Plan Beneficiary-designated accounts - like retirement accounts or life insurance - are part of your estate plan. Beneficiary designations override the government’s plan for you, and they also override whatever you might have written in your will or trust, if you created one. From the case I shared here, we learn that Rolison did not have a will, but it would not have made a difference even if he had. Beneficiary designations come before any will or trust, even if you made the designations years ago. Beneficiary forms are powerful documents. They alone determine who gets your retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts, often taking precedence over your will. If you filled out a beneficiary form years ago and haven't updated it, the person named on that form will likely receive the assets, regardless of your current wishes. So the biggest takeaway from the Rolison/Losinger story is that beneficiary accounts are an integral part of your estate plan and should be reviewed on a regular basis. This is why we include a review of all of your accounts, your beneficiary designations and an inventory of all of your assets - plus we have updating programs for ongoing review - in all of our Life & Legacy Plans. Business professionals engaged in a detailed discussion, reviewing documents during a meeting. Why You Need Regular Reviews of Your Accounts and Beneficiary Designations Rolison’s case highlights the fact that it’s easy to forget about your beneficiary designations, especially if they were filled out years ago. However, the case also tells us that neglecting to update your accounts can lead to unintended consequences and legal battles for your loved ones. In Rolison’s case, his brothers argued that P&G failed to adequately inform him about his beneficiary designation. They claimed the company provided insufficient warnings when it changed service providers and in its monthly statements. However, most companies do not remind you to review and update your beneficiary accounts. When was the last time your bank reminded you to review the beneficiary designations on your checking account (if ever)? What about your life insurance company? And if not, have you taken it upon yourself to check your beneficiary designations regularly? Your life is busy enough. Is this a priority? If not, it should be. In its decision, the court stated that it ruled in favor of P&G and Losinger because the responsibility for keeping beneficiary information current rests on the individual. How Accountability Makes All the Difference Your life is busy. Sometimes, just making it through the day with all your responsibilities can be a challenge, right? Probably the last thing on your mind is planning for your death and incapacity. And maybe the second-to-last thing is reviewing and updating your beneficiary accounts. You’re probably thinking you can do it later. But the truth is this: “later” could be tomorrow. We all know we will die; we just don’t know when. Death doesn’t care about your age or how busy you are. I’m not saying this to scare you. It’s a fact, and I want you to be prepared so that what happened to the Rolison family won’t happen to yours. Death doesn’t have to be scary. When you plan for it, you’ll find that you can live your life with more purpose and peace of mind, knowing you’ve done the right thing for your loved ones. A joyful family moment as parents share laughter with their young child in a sunlit living room. If this sounds good to you, know that having a trusted advisor who is there for you throughout your lifetime can make all the difference. I’ll be there for you as life changes so your plan reflects your current wishes. Together, we’ll make sure your family inherits your accounts, not an ex-girlfriend you dated 40 years ago. We Do the Heavy Lifting So You Don’t Have To When it comes to planning for your death and incapacity, we do the heavy lifting for you, freeing you to concentrate on your responsibilities to your family, your work, and yourself. As your attorney, we help you create a Life & Legacy Plan so that your loved ones stay out of court and conflict and that your plan works when you need it to. Once you’ve created your plan, you can rest easy knowing your wishes will be honored, your loved ones cared for, your property protected, and your plan updated throughout your lifetime. And if you’ve already created your Life & Legacy Plan with us, keep an eye out for our reminders to review and update your plan. If you know now that you need to update your plan due to a life change, don’t hesitate to call us right away. Click here to schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation to learn more.

Including a Trust as part of your estate plan is a smart decision. It allows you to avoid probate, maintain privacy, and distribute your assets to your loved ones while also providing them with a lifetime of asset protection, if you choose it for them. But, here’s the thing you might not know, and is critically important to remember: simply creating a Trust is not enough. For your Trust to work, it has to be funded properly and may need to be updated over time. Funding your Trust means transferring ownership of your assets from your own name into the name of your Trust. This can include bank accounts, investments, real estate, and other valuable possessions. By funding your trust properly, you ensure your assets are managed according to the terms of your Trust and will be distributed according to your wishes when you die or if you become incapacitated. But, if you fail to fund your Trust, it becomes nothing more than an empty vessel. Your assets will not be protected or distributed as intended, at least partially defeating the purpose of creating a Trust in the first place! While your assets can still get into your trust and be governed by your Trust after your death, that means that your family still goes to court to get your assets there, and that is a costly endeavor. To make sure your Trust works for you, avoid these funding fiascos and work with an attorney who will ensure that everything that needs to get into your Trust does. Forgetting to Update Your Account Beneficiaries Many people mistakenly believe that a Will or Trust alone is enough to dictate how their financial accounts should be distributed after they die. However, this isn’t the case. Without proper beneficiary designations on your accounts, your wishes may not be honored and your assets could end up in the wrong hands. Remember, the beneficiaries you designate on your accounts supersede any instructions in your Will or Trust, so this step is vitally important. Take a moment to review your various accounts, such as bank accounts, retirement plans, and life insurance policies. Ensure that each account has your Trust named as your designated beneficiary, unless you’ve made different plans for that specific account. When you are working with a lawyer, make sure your lawyer has a plan for each one of your beneficiary-designated assets, communicates that plan to you, and that the two of you decide who will handle updating your beneficiary designations. Then, make sure you review your beneficiary designations annually. In our office, we support our clients to do all of this with well-documented asset inventories, and a regular review process built into all of our plans. Your Attorney Didn’t Move Your Home Into Your Trust For many of us, our home is our most important and valuable asset. But if your attorney doesn’t deed your home into your Trust, your home won’t be included under the terms of your Trust if you become incapacitated or pass away. That means your home could end up going through the long and expensive probate court process in order to be managed during an illness or passed on to your loved ones after you die. If you own a $300,000 home, that means your family could lose up to $15,000 or more just to transfer your home to your trust and then distribute your home pursuant to the terms of the trust - and that’s not including any other assets that would have to go through probate. A knowledgeable estate planning attorney shouldn’t miss this step, but it happens. And if you’re using a DIY service online to create a Trust without the help of any attorney at all, it’s bound to happen! That’s why it’s so important to work with a lawyer who takes the time to make sure every asset you own is in your Trust before they say their farewells. Not Reviewing Your Plan and Accounts Every Three Years You might wonder how not reviewing your estate plan every few years could really make your plan worthless. Well, the good news is that failing to review your plan is unlikely to completely eliminate the benefits it provides you because an estate plan is made up of a number of moving parts, not just a Will or a Trust. But, failing to keep your financial assets up to date and aligned with your estate plan can result in huge issues for you and your family and can even make the Trust you invested in worth little more than the paper it’s printed on! That’s because your Trust can’t control any assets that don’t have the Trust listed as the owner or beneficiary. By reviewing your accounts every 3 years, you can help catch any accounts that don’t have your Trust listed in this way. For example, it’s very common for clients to open a new bank account and forget to open the account in the name of their Trust or add their Trust as a beneficiary. Thankfully, by comparing my clients' financial accounts to their estate plan at least every 3 years, I’m able to catch simple oversights like this that could cause their assets to be completely left out of their Trust. Make Sure All of Your Assets Are Included In Your Plan with Our Help Getting your legal documents in place is an important step, but it's equally important to know that the documents themselves are not magic solutions. Merely creating a Trust or naming beneficiaries on your accounts does not guarantee that your wishes will be carried out unless all of the pieces of your plan are coordinated to work together. If you aren’t experienced in the area of estate planning, trying to coordinate all these pieces yourself can be a recipe for disaster. That’s why I work closely with my clients to not only create documents but to create a comprehensive plan that accounts for all of your assets and how each one needs to be titled to make sure your plan works for you the way you intended. Plus, I offer my clients a free review of their plans and financial accounts every three years to ensure that their plans accurately reflect their lives and their wishes for their assets and loved ones. If you want to know more about my process for funding your Trust and making sure nothing is ever left out of your plan, click here to schedule a free 15-minute initial call. As always, feel free to reach out to us at lauren@kaplanestatelaw.com or (312) 833-2199 if you have any questions.

The call came four days after her husband died. A credit card company. Forty-one thousand dollars on his account. The representative told her she was responsible for the balance and asked when she could begin making payments. She was grieving, overwhelmed, and certain she had no choice. She started writing checks. She called me six weeks later, after she had made three payments on accounts that were held in her husband’s name alone and signed a repayment agreement for a debt that was never legally hers to pay. The bottom line on what families need to know: Debt does not transfer to your heirs the way your assets do. What it does is make a claim against your estate before your heirs receive anything. Understanding the difference is what determines whether your family pays what they owe, or pays what they never had to. What Debt Collectors Do Not Tell You Federal law prohibits debt collectors from falsely representing whether a surviving family member is legally responsible for a debt. It does not stop them from calling, implying liability that does not exist, or asking for payment from someone who has no legal obligation to make it. Debt held in the deceased’s name alone belongs to the deceased’s estate. Not to a surviving spouse. Not to adult children. Not to any family member who did not co-sign or jointly hold the account. When the estate pays its debts, what is left goes to the beneficiaries. When there is not enough in the estate to cover all the debts, the creditors absorb the loss. They do not get to pursue heirs for the difference. There are exceptions, and they matter, which is what the next section covers. One more protection worth knowing: creditor claims against an estate are time-limited. Most states require creditors to file their claims within a specific window after the estate is opened for probate. In Illinois, the time period is six months from the date the notice to creditors is published. Claims filed outside that window are generally barred. An estate that is properly administered under legal guidance will publish the required notice, start the clock on that deadline, and give the estate the leverage to reject late-filed claims entirely. The bottom line: Debt in the deceased’s name alone is the estate’s responsibility, not the family’s. Creditors who suggest otherwise are misrepresenting the law. The Exceptions That Matter This protection is real, and it has limits. Three situations create genuine personal liability for surviving family members. Joint accounts. If you held a credit card, bank account, or loan jointly with another person, that person was always a co-borrower. The death of one account holder does not change the other’s obligation. Joint account holders are responsible for the full balance, because they agreed to be when they opened the account. It is also important to note that being an authorized user or secondary cardholder is not the same as holding the account jointly. Authorized users did not sign the credit agreement and have no legal obligation to pay the balance. Co-signed loans. A co-signer is a backup borrower. They agreed to pay if the primary borrower could not. That agreement does not expire at death. If you co-signed a loan for a family member who then died, you are responsible for that loan. Community property states. Nine states treat most debt incurred during marriage as shared between spouses: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. In these states, a surviving spouse may be responsible for debt the deceased spouse took on during the marriage, even on accounts held in the deceased’s name alone. The rules vary by state and sometimes by the type of debt. If you do not live in one of these nine states, this exception does not apply to you. Alaska operates an opt-in community property system, which means married couples there may choose to have their assets and debts treated as shared. If you live in Alaska and are unsure whether this applies to your situation, that is worth confirming with an attorney who knows your specific circumstances. The bottom line: Joint accounts, co-signed loans, and community property marriages create real personal liability for surviving family members. Every other situation requires careful review before anyone agrees to pay anything. The Debts That Are Often Discharged Not all of what a person leaves behind becomes the estate's problem to solve. Some debt types have built-in discharge provisions that families are rarely told about upfront. Federal student loans. Federal student loans are discharged upon the borrower's death. The loan servicer requires proof of death, and once provided, the remaining balance is forgiven regardless of how much is owed. This applies to all federal student loan types, including Direct Loans and Parent PLUS loans held in the deceased's name. Private student loans. Private lenders vary significantly. Some include death discharge provisions in their loan agreements. Others do not. If there is a co-signer on a private student loan, that co-signer may still be responsible even if the lender would otherwise discharge the loan. Anyone managing a private student loan after a death should request the original loan agreement and contact the lender directly before assuming any payment obligation. Car loans and leases. A car loan is secured debt tied to the vehicle. The estate has the same options as with a mortgaged home: pay the loan and keep the car, sell the car and use the proceeds to pay the loan, or allow the lender to repossess the vehicle. Heirs do not become personally responsible for the balance simply because they inherit the car, but they cannot keep the vehicle without addressing the loan. Car leases are handled differently. Most auto leases include a provision for what happens when the lessee dies, but the terms vary by manufacturer and lender. Some allow a surviving spouse or the estate to assume the lease. Others require the vehicle to be returned and may charge early termination fees. The estate is responsible for whatever obligation remains, but heirs should review the actual lease agreement before making any payments or signing any new agreements. Medical debt. Healthcare providers can file claims against the estate. If the estate cannot cover the balance, medical bills generally go uncollected. Surviving family members who did not personally agree to pay a medical bill, and who are not in a state with specific spousal medical debt liability rules, are typically not responsible for a deceased family member's medical expenses. Some states have filial responsibility laws that can hold adult children liable for a parent's unpaid medical bills. Pennsylvania is the most notable and the most aggressive. A 2012 court case (Pittas) held an adult son liable for his mother's $93,000 nursing home bill with no signing and no wrongdoing, simply for being the adult child of an indigent parent. In most other states, liability is more limited and typically arises when an adult child has personally signed as financially responsible for a parent's care, or has misused the parent's assets. Liability under these laws typically arises when an adult child has personally signed as financially responsible for a parent's care, or has misused the parent's assets, such as redirecting a parent's Social Security income without paying the care facility. Simply being an adult child does not create automatic liability in most states. If you are in a state with filial responsibility laws or have signed anything related to a parent's care, that is worth reviewing with an attorney. Unsecured personal loans. A personal loan held in the deceased's name alone, with no co-signer, follows the same logic. The lender's claim is against the estate. If the estate is insufficient, the remaining balance is typically discharged. The bottom line: Federal student loans, medical bills, and unsecured personal loans are among the debts that may never be fully paid if the estate cannot cover them. Knowing which debts die with the borrower and which follow the people who signed for them is the difference between a family that pays what it owes and one that pays what it never legally had to. What Happens to the House A mortgage is secured debt, which means the debt is tied to a specific asset. When someone dies with a mortgage, the mortgage does not disappear. It stays attached to the property. Whoever inherits the home has a choice: pay the mortgage and keep the house, sell the house and use the proceeds to pay the mortgage, or allow the lender to foreclose if neither of those is possible. What does not happen is this: a family member does not become personally liable for the mortgage simply because they inherited the property. The lender can pursue the asset. They cannot pursue the heir’s personal accounts, savings, or other property, unless the heir separately agreed to take on that debt. One additional note: federal law requires lenders to work with certain surviving family members, including spouses and children who inherit and want to keep a property, on loan assumption or modification options. A family member who wants to stay in a home the deceased owned should not assume foreclosure is the only path. In some states, inheriting real property creates its own tax obligation. Five states impose an inheritance tax on beneficiaries who receive property: Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The rates vary and depend on the relationship between the deceased and the heir, but for a home with meaningful equity, the tax owed can reach tens of thousands of dollars. A beneficiary who inherits a home in one of these states may face a choice between selling a property they intended to keep, or finding another source of funds to pay the tax. Life insurance structured to address inheritance tax liability is one way families solve this problem before it becomes a forced decision. The bottom line: Inheriting a mortgaged home means making a decision about that mortgage. It does not mean automatically inheriting the debt. The options are broader than debt collectors or lenders may initially suggest. What Happens with a Reverse Mortgage A reverse mortgage allows older homeowners to borrow against their home equity while continuing to live there. When the borrower dies, the full loan balance becomes immediately due. Heirs typically have six months to decide: pay off the loan and keep the home, sell and pay the loan from the proceeds, or allow foreclosure. What makes a reverse mortgage different from a conventional mortgage is the timeline pressure. Lenders move quickly once the borrower dies. If the home is tied up in probate, that creates a serious problem — the home cannot be sold or refinanced without court approval, and probate can stretch for a year or more while the lender's clock is running. Families have come within days of foreclosure waiting for probate courts to act. A home held in a revocable living trust avoids probate entirely, which means the successor trustee can act immediately. Some reverse mortgage lenders actually require the home to be in a trust as a condition of the loan. Either way, having the home in trust is the right structure if a reverse mortgage is part of the picture. The bottom line: A reverse mortgage creates a loan due at death with a narrow window for heirs to act. A trust gives them the authority and time to respond before the lender's deadline. When the State Has a Claim: Medicaid Estate Recovery When someone receives Medicaid benefits for long-term care after age 55, the state has the right to seek reimbursement from their estate after they die. This is called the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, and every state participates. In most states, recovery is limited to assets that pass through probate. Assets held in a revocable living trust, accounts with named beneficiaries, and jointly held assets that transfer by operation of law may fall outside the reach of estate recovery. In Illinois, for example, the state has a right of reimbursement when a matter goes to probate — but a properly funded trust can change what the state is able to reach. The rules vary significantly by state and require legal analysis. But the point is this: if a parent received Medicaid-funded long-term care, the structure of the estate determines how much of what you expected to inherit actually reaches you. The bottom line: Medicaid recovery is a real claim against the estate. In states that limit recovery to probate assets, keeping assets in trust can meaningfully protect what passes to the family. What Heirs Should Not Do The days and weeks after a death are exactly when families are most vulnerable to making financial decisions that cannot be undone. Do not pay any debt from an individual account using personal funds unless you have confirmed in writing that you are legally required to do so. Voluntary payment can sometimes be interpreted as an assumption of liability. Do not sign any repayment agreement or acknowledgment without legal review. What you sign in the immediate aftermath of a death can create an obligation that did not previously exist. Do not give debt collectors access to account information, financial records, or any payment information beyond what they are legally entitled to request. Do ask for written documentation of any claimed debt. Federal law gives you the right to request validation, including the account number, the original creditor, and the amount claimed. Do contact an attorney before responding to collection calls on accounts held in the deceased's name alone. The estate handles those debts through the probate process. That is not a conversation heirs need to manage on their own. The bottom line: Heirs are not required to act as their own advocates against debt collectors. The estate has a process. The right plan puts me in that role, not a grieving family member fielding calls alone. How the Right Plan Changes What Your Family Faces I have had this conversation on both ends. The families I think about most are the ones who call me on the day the debt collector calls. Day one. Not six weeks later. Because their loved one had a plan, and that plan included having my number. I already know the estate. I already know which debts belong to it and which do not. A call that would have cost six weeks and three payments becomes a ten-minute conversation. That is what good planning looks like from the inside. Not the absence of grief. Not creditors who never call. It is a family that knows exactly who to call the moment they do. Assets held in a revocable living trust typically pass outside of probate, which is the process through which creditors make their formal claims against an estate. Retirement accounts and life insurance with named beneficiaries also pass directly to those beneficiaries, generally outside the reach of the deceased's creditors. A Life & Legacy Plan is what puts those protections in place before they are ever needed. This does not make debt disappear. What it does is determine how much of what you built reaches the people you intended to benefit, and who is already positioned to protect them when it matters. The relationship does not end when the documents are signed. When something happens, your family knows to call me. The bottom line: The right estate plan does not eliminate debt. It makes sure your family has someone who already knows the answers when the calls start coming. What You Can Do Right Now If your family has never had a real conversation about what debt exists, how accounts are titled, or what would happen in the days after a death, now is the moment to change that. The families who are most protected are not the ones who never deal with debt collectors. They are the ones who already know exactly what to do when those calls come in. That starts with understanding which debts are the estate's responsibility and which are not, which accounts are joint, whether community property rules apply in your state, and whether your beneficiary designations still reflect what you intend. When I work with families on this, we look at the full picture. How accounts are titled. What kind of debt exists. How the estate would be administered. And whether everyone your family would turn to in a crisis already has my number. That is exactly the kind of conversation a Life & Legacy Planning Session is built for. This is not a one-size-fits-all conversation. What the right plan looks like depends on how your accounts are titled, what state you live in, and what your specific debt picture looks like. Schedule a complimentary Initial Call and let's make sure your family already knows who to call, what they owe, and what they do not.