I am sometimes asked by potential clients that they would like me to prepare a “simple” Will for them. And I often wonder how the person knows that they require a simple Will.  Furthermore, what is considered a simple Will anyway? Isn’t asking for a simple Will similar to walking into a car repair shop and telling the mechanic “Hey, my car will not run. I would like a simple repair please.”

Your Will may be a simple matter. True. But it may not be. And you as the potential client may not be in the best position to judge this. A number of factors go into potentially complicating an estate plan. As just a few examples, second or troubled marriages tend to complicate things; step children in the family can complicate things; disinheriting potential heirs can complicate things; minor or disabled persons as potential beneficiaries complicates things, missing heirs can complicate things; potential estate tax liability can complicate things; potential income tax liability on retirement accounts can complicate things; and so on.

When you go to an attorney for estate planning services, these are the types of issues that will be dealt with. In each of the above scenarios, a simple Will likely may not be sufficient to protect you, your assets, and your family. While the final estate planning product may appear to be simple, when you are considering protecting your family and your assets, the process to arrive there should not be simple, it should be thoughtful and well-considered.

That is what I would like to be asked for. “A thoughtful and well-considered estate plan.”

Like any decent lawyer, I need to add a disclaimer here: unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive legal advice over the internet, no matter how well researched or written. And remember, reviewing this website and my blogs doesn’t make you a client of my Firm: before relying on any information given on this site, please contact a legal professional to discuss your particular situation.

Installment D of A - Z is DISCLAIMER.

Internal Revenue Code section 2518 allows a South Carolina beneficiary to execute a qualified disclaimer, resulting in transmission of the disclaimed property as if the disclaimant had predeceased the decedent. Utilizing disclaimers as part of the estate plan builds in flexibility.  This technique can be used in the context of disclaimer trust planning for estate tax purposes, or in the context of IRAs and qualified plan transmission to accomplish favorable income tax treatment, to describe but a few uses.

Treasury Regulation section 25.2518-2 lists the following “Requirements for a Qualified Disclaimer”.

(a) In general. For the purposes of section 2518(a), a disclaimer shall be a qualified disclaimer only if it satisfies the requirements of this section. In general, to be a qualified disclaimer—

(1) The disclaimer must be irrevocable and unqualified:

(2) The disclaimer must be in writing;

(3) The writing must be delivered to the person specified in paragraph (b) (2) of this section within the time limitations specified in paragraph (c)(1) of this section;

(4) The disclaimant must not have accepted the interest disclaimed or any of its benefits; and

(5) The interest disclaimed must pass either to the spouse of the decedent or to a person other than the disclaimant without any direction on the part of the person making the disclaimer.

The use of qualified disclaimers should be carefully thought out, and quite frankly, should only be utilized under the supervision of an attorney or tax professional. Disclaimers can be tricky. I have heard the following horror story arise from the uninformed use of disclaimers: A man died without a Last Will. Under SC intestacy law, the beneficiaries of the estate were to be the man’s surviving spouse and his two children. The two children wanted to do the “right thing” by their mother and signed a disclaimer of their inheritance.

The problem? Well, the two children had children of their own. When you disclaim an inheritance, the disclaimed property is treated as though the disclaimant predeceased the Decedent. In this case, under South Carolina’s anti-lapse statute, the inheritance that was disclaimed did not go to the Disclaimants’ mother but instead went to the disclaimants’ children. Making things worse was that the disclaimants’ children were minors, who would have a guardian ad litem appointed for them by the Probate Court to protect their newly created property interests.

The moral of the story is that qualified disclaimers of property should only be undertaken under the supervision of an experienced estate attorney who will carefully analyze the law to determine where the disclaimed property would go after the disclaimer is made.

Like any decent lawyer, I need to add a disclaimer here: unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive legal advice over the internet, no matter how well researched or written. And remember, reviewing this website and my blogs doesn’t make you a client of my Firm: before relying on any information given on this site, please contact a legal professional to discuss your particular situation. 

Attorneys can be a strange lot.  They make up terms that nobody understands seemingly for no reason.  One such term is the intentionally defective grantor trust.  What is a grantor trust? Why would it ever be defective? And why would this be done intentionally?  Good questions all.

First, what is a grantor?  Well, a grantor is the person that sets up the trust and transfers his/her assets to it.

Second, what is a grantor trust? A grantor trust is a trust that is deemed to be owned by the grantor. This is important because it is the owner who is responsible for paying and filing the income taxes.  When the trust is a grantor trust, then it is the grantor that owns the income from the trust, and gets the benefit of the deductible expenses of the trust.  This allows the trust income tax brackets to be avoided in favor of the more favorable individual income tax brackets.  A grantor trust does not have to apply for a new taxpayer identification number because the grantor’s social security number is used.

How do you know whather a trust is a grantor trust? You determine this by reference to the trust instrument itself. What does the trust say? What powers does it grant? How is it structured? When you know this, you then take a look at the Internal Revenue Code, Sections 672 through 678. These sections are commonly known as the Grantor Trust rules.  As an example, a trust that is revocable by the Grantor is a grantor trust, and we know this by reference to IRC Section 676.  A trust that allows the Grantor to amend it to add beneficiaries (other than after adopted or born children) is a grantor trust and we know this by reference to IRC Section 674.  There are many other powers that can be granted in the trust to cause the trust to be a grantor trust.

Now that we know what a grantor trust is, why would we ever set up an intentionally defective grantor trust? An intentionally defective grantor trust is a trust that intentionally contains a provision that causes the trust to be a grantor trust.  This is done in the situation where it is desirable to structure a trust in a way that allows the trust assets to not be includible in the grantor’s estate, but still taxable for income tax purposes to the grantor.

The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) is an example of (Click here for more…)

Absolutely.  Your financial planner can play a role in your estate planning.  If your planner has recommended particular products to you, such as life insurance, annuities, or IRAs, consideration should be given to the effect that such assets can have on your estate plan, including your estate tax liability. Reviewing your estate before purchasing these products could best inform you of how to best structure these products to maximize estate tax savings or insure that your testamentary intentions are carried out fully.

However, there does seem to be some financial planners who do not entirely understand the attorney’s role in the estate planning process.  I have been contacted in the past by financial planners who tell me that they have a client who requires estate planning, that the planner has made recommendations to the client regarding estate planning, and that the planner simply wants to hire me to draft the documents that conform to his/her recommendations.  My policy has been to always refuse such offers. In my opinion, this sort of relationship between attorney and financial planner does a disservice to the client in that the client believes that they have had an attorney review their estate plan, and yet, the attorney has not given any sort of independent advice to the client.  This independent advice is crucial to the attorney-client relationship. 

Furthermore, such activity by a financial planner could be viewed as the unauthorized practice of law, with the attorney being accused of facilitating the unauthorized practice of law.  I have even had some financial planners say that all I will do is draft the documents, not even meet the clients.  This is fraught with danger to attorneys and their bar licenses.  There was a recent report from the Indiana State Bar of a suspension of 120 days being given to an attorney who drafted a Will intended to be signed by a person with whom the attorney never met.

There is a middle ground that must be found here. The financial planner wants to be a trusted long term adviser to his client, and may feel uncomfortable in turning the client over to an estate planning attorney.  However, the professional ethics of the attorney require that the attorney act as more than a mere scrivener to the financial planner.   

In all instances when I am referred a client by a financial planner, I discuss with the financial planner what are believed to be the estate planning issues to be dealt with. But I always thereafter meet with the client separately from the financial planner, so that the client can truly believe that the attorney they have hired is giving them independent and unbiased advice.

Here is an anecdote which I believe demonstrates the danger to any attorney who agrees to be employed as a financial planner’s scrivener.  Suppose a financial planner advises his client to make irrevocable transfers of assets to an irrevocable trust.  Suppose that an attorney then follows the financial planner’s directions, drafts the irrevocable trust, and then drafts the transfer documents. The financial planner then supervises the execution of the documents.  What could be the problem?  You did what the client wanted after all.  BUT, suppose five years down the line that client realizes that because of changed circumstances they need those assets back from the irrevocable trust?  That client will probably go to an attorney (not you because the client does not know who you are) and discuss with that new attorney ways to overturn the trust.  That new attorney will likely advise the client to petition to overturn the trust based on lack of adequate and independent legal representation. Do you as an attorney really want to testify at a deposition on the record that you drafted estate planning documents for people that you never met, that the non-attorney financial planner was calling all the shots, and that you exercised no independent judgment as to the propriety of the irrevocable transfers? That is not a position I ever want to be in.  All of my estate planning clients get the benefit of my independent and unbiased advice.  Any circumstances that arise that seek to alter this independence deserve increased scrutiny.

So what should you do if your financial planner makes estate planning recommendations to you? First, ask the financial planner if he has attorneys working in his company who can give independent estate planning advice.  If the answer is no, ask for recommendations for an estate planning attorney in the community, and then contact that attorney for an appointment.

Any financial planner that tells you that they can manage your investments and also draft the documents required to effectuate your estate plan without you having to ever visit an attorney is doing you a disservice.  The estate plan will be subject to an increased likelihood of being challenged and set aside by a court, and you will be denied the value of independent advice.             

Like any decent lawyer, I need to add a disclaimer here: unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive legal advice over the internet, no matter how well researched or written. And remember, reviewing this website and my blogs doesn’t make you a client of my Firm: before relying on any information given on this site, please contact a legal professional to discuss your particular situation.

Lives change. Personal relationships change. Assets change. And certainly laws change.  Why then is your current estate plan fifteen years old, or even five years old?   To borrow a common quote about education and learning, estate planning is by its nature a process, not an event.  If your estate plan was put into place greater than five years ago, you should think about a review.

As a demonstration of the estate planning as a process mantra, consider the (Click here for more…)

What do you do if you find yourself a widow(er) and come to find out that your spouse did not mention you in his/her Last Will?

To answer the question, you need to first determine whether the Will was executed before your date of marriage or after. If it was executed before your marriage, you are termed an omitted spouse, and pursuant to S.C. Code Section 62-2-301, you are entitled to receive your intestate share in the estate, notwithstanding that the Last Will says otherwise. (Click here to determine what your intestate share would be.)

If you are an omitted spouse, you must file a written claim with the Probate Court and to the personal representative within eight months after the date of death or six months after the probate of the Last Will, whichever period last expires. You will not be considered an omitted spouse if, however, the will appears to have intentionally omitted you, or your spouse has otherwise provided for you through other assets, such as life insurance, joint bank accounts, etc.

If you are not an omitted spouse under the law, you have the right to elect to receive a one third share of the probate estate, notwithstanding that the will says otherwise. (S.C. Code 62-2-201). The probate estate is defined to include all assets passing by will plus by intestacy, less funeral and administration expenses, and claims. (S.C. Code 62-2-202).

For elective share purposes, the probate estate will also include assets held in a revocable trust. Seifert v. Southern Nat. Bank of South Carolina, 305 S.C. 353 (1991). This is so because grantors of revocable trusts tend to remain in control of their assets, often serving as the trustee and beneficiary during their lifetimes, with full power to revoke the trust or otherwise direct where the assets will go. Such arrangments are considered illusory (for elective share purposes only) and will not be protected from the surviving spouse’s right of election.

To make a claim for elective share, the surviving spouse, his attorney in fact (or a court in the case of a protected person) must, during the surviving spouse’s lifetime, file a written petition for elective share with the Probate Court and the personal representative, within eight months after the date of death or six months after the probate of the Last Will, whichever period last expires.

Now that we have gone over some of the basics of the omitted spouse and the right of election, tune in next time for a discussion of what some unscrupulous people will do to be able to claim an elective share in an estate, and why sometimes it works.      

Like any decent lawyer, I need to add a disclaimer here: unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive legal advice over the internet, no matter how well researched or written. And remember, reviewing this website and my blogs doesn’t make you a client of my Firm: before relying on any information given on this site, please contact a legal professional to discuss your particular situation.

While out on the town with some friends the other night, somebody asked me what estate planning was for.  I thought about the question for a moment, quickly racing through what my answer should be, and realized that there are many different ways to answer that question, because the goals to be accomplished by estate planning can be varied, depending on the individual situation.

My answer was three fold.  First, estate planning allows for the orderly transfer of assets to your heirs after your lifetime. Second, estate planning allows you to protect your heirs from the potentially detrimental effects that an inheritance can have. Thirdly, estate planning can be utilized to protect assets. 

The estate planning task can also vary based on the stage of life you find yourself at. If you are at a younger stage of your life, estate planning can address issues such as guardianship for your children, and management of your childrens’ finances.  If you are at a later stage of life, estate planning can address transmission of retirement assets and protection of assets from medical expenses and, if the estate is large enough, from the estate tax. 

The typical estate plan is made up of several basic documents. They are the Last Will and Testament, the General Durable Power of Attorney for Finances, the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, and possibly a testamentary or inter vivos trust.  The documents to be used depend on the individual situation.

I am often asked how much an estate plan costs. My standard reply is that that is a lot like walking into a car dealership and asking the salesperson how much for a car. The answer is it depends on what you need. You can expect a truly barebones simple estate plan to run several hundred dollars, to several thousand dollars for an estate plan utilizing one or more trusts. It can seem like a significant investment, but some attorneys will give you a free consultation to discuss your situation.

Like any decent lawyer, I need to add a disclaimer here: unfortunately, it is impossible to offer comprehensive legal advice over the internet, no matter how well researched or written. And remember, reviewing this website and my blogs doesn’t make you a client of my Firm: before relying on any information given on this site, please contact a legal professional to discuss your particular situation.