As I prepare for the inevitable, I am realizing how important it is to consolidate my records. I haven’t done this. I have plans . . . for what is to happen with my estate when I die. I have all the paperwork in order. Or so my advisors tell me.

But I haven’t prepared the kinds of records that will enable my survivors easily to tie up whatever loose ends my death will create. And that’s where Read the rest of this entry »

This isn’t something I had thought about before, but I just saw an article titled Tools for Managing Your Online Life After Death.

What happens to your Hotmail or Gmail account when you die? What about your online photo collections on Picasa or Flickr?

Answer: It depends. And some of it depends on you!

To give you an idea:

• Hotmail let’s relatives order a CD of all messages in the deceased users account on submission of a death certificate and proof of power of attorney.
   
• Gmail Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve posted the story of a major bequest that came to the brink of becoming worthless–or worse than worthless–to the recipients.

I imagine it’s a cautionary tale that many of us should pay attention to.

Check it out on the Strategic Inheritance forums . . . and join the conversation!

Our estate planning attorney feels very confident about his ability to structure documents that will take care of all contingencies into the future. And so, when he drafted our original documents 10 years ago, he included a number of elements that are characterized as “irrevocable.” Sadly, neither Sarita nor I had any idea what these documents would mean.

Oh, we understood their intent. But since our attorney was so convinced (and convincing!) that irrevocability made our assets much safer than if we created more flexible structures; and because he didn’t ask us the kinds of questions I am learning to ask now; and since our wealth was very much less than it is today . . . we could not imagine the decisions we were making at that time might have the kinds of dramatic implications they might now (supposing our investments’ values were to grow at even a few percentage per year for the next two, three, or four decades or more). But now, we are told, there is little, if anything, we can do to reverse the decisions we made 10 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

A wealthy man had completed his estate plan. His advisor asked, “So when do you plan to hold your family meeting to talk with your kids about their inheritances?”

“Family meeting?!? There’s not going to be any family meeting!!!”

“Oh, there will be a family meeting. The question is only when it will occur,” said the advisor. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m at a Mission India conference. The president of the West Michigan Christian Foundation, Randy Veltkamp, made a presentation this afternoon at which he suggested it could be a very creative and wise aspect of estate planning to open a DAF–a donor-advised fund–even if and as one has no funds to put into it at the moment.

Why?

Because Read the rest of this entry »

Joel Schoenmeyer offers some exceptionally practical and useful advice for executors, administrators or trustees concerning compensation. He notes that many family members initially volunteer to serve as fiduciaries but wind up frustrated: “I wasn’t planning to pay myself, but my parent/siblings have been so annoying and I’ve put in so much work that I want to get paid!”

So what should you charge? That depends. You’ll want to read his post on the Death and Taxes blog to get the details. But I particularly like this piece of wisdom: Read the rest of this entry »