Whom should you name as the beneficiary of your IRA or Qualified Plan? Sometimes, it can be best to name a trust for your intended beneficiary. Read on to see the protections a trust can offer that a direct designation of the individual would not.
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Happy National Estate Planning Awareness Week!
Happy National Estate Planning Awareness Week!
In recognition of the fact that over 120,000,000 Americans don’t have an estate plan, Congress designated the third week of October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Over the next few days, join us as we discuss the basics of any estate plan, and how you can best protect yourself and your family from the twin perils of Guardianship and Probate. But first, you may be asking,
First off, you’ll be in very good company! Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, didn’t have an estate plan in place when she died a few months ago. For that matter, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Bob Marley, Kurt Cobain, or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all died without an estate plan. Even President Abraham Lincoln, who was himself a lawyer, failed to make even a basic will.
If you die without a Will or Trust, state law determines who will be your ultimate heirs, and what procedures those heirs will go through in order to receive your assets. For residents of Nevada, or for non-residents of Nevada who leave real estate in Nevada, the applicable succession statutes can be found in Nevada Revised Statutes 134. In general, the more assets you leave, the longer and more complicated the process becomes. If you have a spouse and no children, the spouse will inherit all of your interest in community property, and at least half of your separate property, depending on whether you are survived by parents or siblings. If you have a spouse and one child, the surviving spouse received half of your separate property, and the child receives the other half. If you have a spouse and more than one child, the spouse gets one-third of the separate property while the kids share the remainder.
The important take-away is that without a document in place, you give up your right to make your own decisions about who receives what and when.
Planning for Lottery Winners
A lucky winner recently won $320 million in the lottery. As of today, the Mega Millions has soared to $1 billion. There are countless tales of lottery winners who suffered the curse of the lottery and wound up broke within a few years, but foolish spending is only one of many mistakes that can be made.
This article looks at an example of a prior winner’s mistakes.
Planning for Frequent Flyer Miles
This article examines the transfer of frequent flyer mile accounts to beneficiaries. It looks at Anthony Bourdain’s will and its disposition of his miles. The article points out that these are contractual rights and you may or may not be able to transfer them at death.
You Never Know: Planning for the Unexpected
This article examines the deaths of two people who died from doing very typical things. You never know what risks might be around the corner, even in seemingly safe endeavors, so you should be prepared. The article looks at the elements of a basic plan.
