This week’s blog post is a very special Guest Post and interview with Attorney Robert “Bobby” Sawyer. The podcast is available for download from the iTunes Store, Google Play, Stitcher Radio, and TuneIn. You can also download the episode from the player above.
What’s the number 1 estate planning challenge for most of my clients? The answer depends on the client’s particular situation and stage in life.
Big picture – all of our estate planning goals can be summarized like this: first, we want to control what we have for as long as we are able; second, we want to make sure a trusted person is there to manage affairs when we become unable or pass away; third, we want to make sure our assets go to the right people; and finally, we want to do it as efficiently as possible and with as little government involvement as possible. When the government gets involved, it means taxes.
Where you are in life will dictate the details of each of those goals. For new parents or parents of minor children, the name of the game is making sure there will be a roof over the children’s heads, food on the table, and someone is going to take care of and love them as much as you do. Easier said than done, right? Here is a list of steps that will get the ball rolling.
If you’re on the other end of the spectrum – in retirement and enjoying the golden years of life – then your estate planning goals are drastically different. A big concern for you is how to handle the cost of long-term care. Depending on where you live and the level of care needed, the annual costs of long-term care could easily exceed $85,000. Without long-term care insurance, these costs could quickly eat through your retirement nest egg.
This list gives you some good steps to take in order to get a plan in place to help when a loved one becomes incapacitated.
To address the cost of long-term care, I generally recommend 2 things: a revocable living trust based plan and then a will that contains testamentary supplemental needs trust provisions. All this means is your will contains provisions to create a trust. The net effect of this is that between a husband and wife, when the first person passes away, a trust is created that has several protections and features that a standard revocable living trust does not.
There are several advantages to using a revocable living trust as the basis of your estate plan. One of the primary ones is avoiding the cost, time, and stress of the probate process.
Bobby is a partner with the Law Office of Craig S. Johannesmeyer, PLLC, a Real Estate and Estate Planning Firm based in North & South Carolina. Bobby is a United States Army Veteran, an Auburn University graduate, and lives with his wife and three children in Belmont, North Carolina. To order a copy of the book Bobby discussed in the podcast episode click here The Generals by Thomas Ricks or on the link below (The show receives a portion of each purchase made through these affiliate links.)
Have a question you want answered? Send it to me HERE, and we’ll answer your question on next week’s show.
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