So J____, our legacy planner, and I spoke with C____, an attorney with a high-end attorneys’ firm here in Denver. C____ specializes in tax planning for estate disposition, intergenerational wealth transfers (including business succession), construction of specialized trusts, and law related to non-profit and religious institutions.

Before we spoke, I had forwarded her some of the results of my research. She said the cases I was referring to were rather old. “A lot of water has flowed over the dam in the intervening years,” she said. “We need to do research to find out what cases have followed that may make those cases that you’ve found unimportant.”

“So what’s the probability, you think, for us to succeed?” I asked. Read the rest of this entry »

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What do you do when you become unsure of your counselors’ competency to answer your questions?

I try to find new counselors.

This morning, I thought of the accounting firm whose services are used by all the 501(c)(3)s with which I’m familiar. I looked them up on the web and just wrote them an email: Read the rest of this entry »

J_____, our legacy planner, has been stressing, from the very beginning of our relationship, the need for the professionals on our team — our attorney, our CPA, our investment advisor, and J___ himself — to be on the same page when they speak with Sarita and me.

“You want to include all planning team members in the process from the beginning,” he said. “We need to be able to communicate openly one with another without worrying about being embarrassed or having our egos bruised by having you [John, client] hear any of our questions or comments.”

In order to ensure that end, then, he told us that he would meet with all our advisors prior to telling us anything about the details of the plan he is putting together.

Well, the advisors’ final, pre-presentation meeting was scheduled for this morning. And J_____ just wrote me: Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weeks ago, Sarita and I were at a conference for major donors sponsored by one of the charities we support.

Henry Doorn, president of the Barnabas Foundation, noted there are only three places your money can go when you die: to your heirs (family, friends), to charity, or to the government. He didn’t quite put it this way, but my mind put his follow-through question in the form of Evangelism Explosion’s standard opening. As I remember it, he asked, “If you were to die tonight, do you know for sure where your money would go?”

Sarita and I spent a lot of money back in 1998-99 getting an estate plan put together. But when Doorn asked the question, I realized, in my heart of hearts, that I didn’t know the answer!

I knew we had done everything possible to minimize taxes and maximize transfer to our heirs, our children. But we had done nothing to ensure anything goes to any of the charities we care about. And, worse, Read the rest of this entry »