Illinois Estate Planning and Elder Law Blog

You may want to revise your legally valid will for a number of reasons as changes occur in your family’s circumstances over time. Adding a newborn grandchild as a beneficiary, removing an adult child’s spouse after a divorce, or changing a named executor, guardian, or beneficiary after the original has passed away are all common reasons to want to make revisions to your will.

However, resist the temptation to revise the will yourself without first understanding what is required to ensure the validity of your will and these revisions. The laws regarding these revisions vary depending on the state in which you live, so following an online template to change your will may be insufficient.

The amended will usually needs to be witnessed, and could even need to be notarized in your state. It is best to work with an experienced attorney to ensure the validity of your will.

Long-term senior planning can be an uncomfortable or sensitive topic for many people, as it involves planning both for long-term care that one might need later in life as well as an estate plan that best fulfills one’s wishes after they have passed away.

Arranging this type of care and planning for a family member can be both intimidating as well as emotionally and financially taxing. Molly Howell shared about her experience as a client of NC Planning, an estate planning firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina:

“My senior planning experience happened a couple of years ago when I was forced to deal with my mother’s Medicaid eligibility and residency planning. While I was there, I knew I needed to redo my estate plan. Our lives are complicated. There are other people involved, and you need a law firm or an attorney who really specializes in estate planning since that can include a number of different legal situations and documents. You really need someone that can help create the full picture, because there are multiple pieces to your life. When I did my own estate planning, my attorney covered a multitude of different scenarios and documents that might come into play.”

One key part of creating your estate plan that deserves thoughtful consideration is choosing who will carry out the wishes in your will and who will make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.

“These designations are important and should be considered very carefully, no matter the size of the estate,” says Samantha Weyrauch Davis, an estate planning attorney and director with Hall Estill, a law firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Here are a few tips for choosing who to serve as executor of your estate, trustee, and those with powers of attorney:

With an account set up to “transfer on death,” the assets go directly to beneficiaries upon the account owner’s passing. Creating an account this way is beneficial in avoiding the costly and time-consuming process of probate, but it’s important to make sure that the account titling fits with the rest of the estate plan in place.

Titling an account “Transfer on Death” and adding one or two beneficiaries may seem simple and straightforward. Most investment accounts make this easy to set up, and assets can then be transferred rather quickly to a beneficiary. Beneficiaries can also be changed more easily than amending a trust.

However, mistakes or omissions can be made with “transfer on death” account titling as with any beneficiary designations. Here are a few main issues to be aware of when using a Transfer on Death (TOD) account titling.

In last week’s post, I addressed 3 key questions to work through as you begin creating a living will. Here are 5 more vital questions to consider:

— How do I get a living will?

— How much does it cost to put together a living will?

A living will — together with other estate planning documents, such as a health care proxy — is essential for caring for and protecting loved ones and communicating your medical wishes. These estate planning documents are important not just for those who are older or who have significant medical diagnoses, but also for people who are young and healthy.

Here are key questions to work through and bring to medical professionals and attorneys as you create a living will. I’ll start with 3 of these questions today, and write about 5 more questions later this week in Part 2. Here are the first 3 questions to consider:

— What is a living will?

This remarkable court case from Oklahoma demonstrates how crucial it is to have a clearly written will, ideally by an experienced estate planning professional:

A man passed away and was survived by two adult children and a grandson. The man left a one-sentence handwritten will – called a holographic will – that left all of his property to his grandson.

The probate court appointed the adult daughter to be Special Administrator of the estate. The grandson filed the holographic will for probate asking that the estate be distributed according to the will before the daughter filed her petitions with the probate court.

Although the term “estate” makes many of us picture huge, luxurious houses, estate planning isn’t just for the ultra wealthy.

All of the property you own – including your home, heirlooms, jewelry, accounts, and insurance – is your estate. Estate planning is important for the present and future management of your property as well as its eventual distribution. If you put off planning, those you love and want to care for may not receive as many of your assets as you wish.

It is important to create a will or trust to protect your estate after you are gone, as well as a durable power of attorney and medical directives to protect you while you are still here. 

End-of-life planning is often a sensitive topic to talk about with our closest family and loved ones, but it is also a necessary topic to discuss to set families at ease and to avoid unnecessary stress and legal hurdles.

Estate planning meetings usually involve adult children with their elderly parents, but these conversations are for those of every age, as you can never know when you’ll need a well-planned estate.

As you start estate planning with a loved one closest to you, here are 3 important recommendations: