We have
made it to the first week of 2013 and have survived a lot of obstacles: the
Mayan Apocalypse, a plethora of bread, pies, alcohol, cheese, and turkeys,
holiday family gatherings, New Years Eve, and the sleep-through-it first day of
the new year. After overcoming the last two months of celebrating and being with
family and friends in copious amounts, the first week of January is a time
where people all around the world feel a sense of renewal and a chance to make
beneficial changes for their years to come. Some people make resolutions, some
begin some pre-spring cleaning and organizing, and others just strive to do
things brand new and exciting in the New Year. What many people are not
thinking about, and probably should be, is setting up a plan to protect his or
her family with an estate plan, will or trust.
The New Year is a time where people
are feeling optimistic about their future and their lives, and are not usually
thinking about planning for their death or the death of their loved ones, but
setting up a plan in which a person’s personal wishes are legally documented is
an important task that should be a part of anyone’s New Years Resolution list.
There are a lot of reasons for this preparation: obviously it will protect a
person’s wishes in case their life ends suddenly or after a long illness, but
establishing the people who will make medical decisions for yourself if you
happen to become unfortunately incapacitated is something many people do not
think about when debating establishing an estate plan, will or trust.
Some people choose not to worry
about the fate of their lives after they become seriously injured or deceased,
and that choice has lead to disastrous ends in many circumstances. Here, in Los
Angeles, the California court system will decide how a person’s end of life
health care decisions are made if there are no legal documents giving those
directions. Many families spend years in nasty court battles trying to sort out
a loved ones assets because a proper will or trust was not established. Hugely
public estate feuds have been apparent for many years involving many high
profile celebrities and wealthy individuals, and in each case the need for an
established estate plan becomes evermore apparent. Wealthmanagement.com gave a
list of celebrities and famous individuals whose end of life plans did not go
over as swimmingly as they might have hoped, and they serve as lessons of why
these documents are so important for every adult, young or old.
Here are a couple of
examples:
Presidents:
President Lincoln is one of four presidents who did not have
a plan for their death established, and Lincoln’s financial estate was such a
mess that it took years to settle.
Musicians:
Sonny Bono, musician and California Congressman experienced
a sudden death after a tragic skiing accident without a will or trust
established, that left his wife, Mary, to open up a probate estate and needed
to be granted permission to have authority over his music rights after claims
from his second wife, Cher, and an alleged love child conflicted the security
of his estate of over 1 million dollars.
James Brown wished to leave his entire 100 million dollar
fortune in a special trust that was set up to benefit needy children, but
because he had not updated his will during the time of his most recent marriage,
his money did not get sent to the children in need, or to his family.
Although there are a lot of horror stories of celebrities
estates gone wrong, one of the most inspiring high profile estate stories comes
from the King of Rock and Roll himself, Mr. Elvis Presley. He had a will, along
with tools that were put in place to make sure that his finances would be
handled appropriately, despite greedy music executives trying to get a hold on
his assets.
These are obviously grandiose stories that seem far fetched
to most of us, especially considering the sheer amount of money involved in
their estates, but similar things happen to people with less assets and wealth
every day. These kinds of missteps leave families involved with the court and
probate teams for years, and the security that would come with a will or trust
is gone.
The beginning of the year is a great time to make
“resolutionary” changes to start making life decisions that leave you and your
family healthier and happier than years past. One of the best ways to ensure
that your family can continue to live in this way is to plan for the future of
your family, even if you aren’t around. Add this to your resolution list this
year: it’s a big one.
For a free consultation please call 818 241 4238 or go to www.la-lawcenter.com
(Information found for this blog here: http://wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/lessons-rich-and-famous-death)
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