Posts Tagged ‘Beneficiares’
Will
You revealed that you had talked a little about preparing a Will for your family before the untimely passing of your partner caught you off guard.
Now then, is the time to finalize your action plan for you and your family. You will have learned by now that you can watch over other people, but you can’t make choices for them. Before you are stressed to the brink of mental exhaustion with doubts about what to do next, it is now time to act.
No more talking. It’s time now to prepare for a lifstyle change.
Your self-management skills that you have developed over the years can be a major boost to ease the path of living after the death of your loved one. When people use self-management talents, they most often gain confidence and the motivation needed to cope with the daily challenges of living and protecting the remaining family assets.
For helpful peace of mind, call your insurance agent, financial planner, lawyer or notary and arrange to work with whomever you choose to finalize the Will planning that you never got done before. The initial conversations with these professionals is usually free.
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Helping Children after the passing of a Parent or Relative.
posted by bruceE @ 7:38 PM
Friday, October 23, 2009
Children who experience the death of a parent or relative before they are 11 years old are three times more likely to develope psychological symptoms than those who experience their first trauma later.
Children are able to cope better with a traumatic event if parents and other adults support and help them with their experiences during their child guardianship.
Things Parent(s) can do to help their children:
Help should start as soon as possible after the event. Right away talk with children about how they are feeling. Assure them that it’s okay to have those feelings. Help children learn to use words that express their feelings, such as “sad” or “angry” and “sorrow”. Children should not be expected to be brave or tough. Tell them it’s okay to cry. Don’t give children more information than they can handle about any event. Assure fearful children you will be there to care for them _ _consistently reassure them. Spend extra time with your children at bedtime. Allow children time to grieve losses. Help your children regain faith that their tomorrows will be better. Make sure your children eat properly and get enough rest thru this period.
Children may exhibit the following behaviors after a trauma?
Be afraid the event will reoccur. Become easily upset. Revert to earlier behavior (bed wetting, thumb sucking). Become afraid of wind, rain, or sudden loud noises. Worry where their family will live. Want to stay close to a parent. Have symptoms of illness, such as headaches, vomiting or fever. Change from being quiet, obedient and caring , to loud, noisy and aggressive or change from being outgoing to shy and afraid. May easily lose trust in adults.
It is important to remember some children may never show distress, while others may not give evidence of being upset for several weeks or even months after such a family emergency. Other children may not show a change in behavior, but still need your help. A wise parent will watch for any symptoms for two to four months.
Power of Attorney
You can lessen the grief, the despair, the anxiety and the confusing mess sometime left to loved ones due to an untimely illnes or accident by :
1. Executing an “Enduring Power of Attorney in which you designate one or more persons to handle your affairs for you in the event that you become temporarily or permanently mentally incapable of making reasonable judgements in respect of matters relating to all or part of your estate.
2. Executing a “ Personal Directive “ that deals with your wishes in the event that you lack capacity to make a decision about any personal ( non-estate ) matters including the extent and quality of health care , terminal care, where you want to live and with whom you want to live and social involvement, etc,
3. Execute your ” Last Will and Testatment “ that deals with your wishes and directives as to the disposition of your net estate. (assets minus liabilities, including taxes, death duties, etc. ).
This can take many forms including giving specific items in your estate to a designated beneficiary in addition to possibly distributing your residual estate to various benrficiares according to some formula. If you are marreid you may want to consider your spouse/partner to be the sole beneficiary and only distribute your estate to others, if they predeceased you.
Do not attempt to execute the above three important documents without preliminary planning and then use the services of the most experienced financial advisor, lawyer or notary available to you, who are familiar and conversant with taxation and legal estate laws applicable to your state/prov.
There are many pitfalls that a qualified financial advisor and a good lawyer/notary will help you avoid.
Be prepared for the unexpected !
With thanks from the research of some of the late Ann Landers columns, the copy of this letter still contains a message of relevance !
Titled: Please Make a Will.
Dear Ann Landers:
I am a fairly intelligent woman ( or so I thought ) in a state of shock. Why ?, because I didn’t know the first thing about inheritance laws. I sit here dumbfounded at my ignorance and angry at my deceased husband for not educating me. ( Maybe he didn’t know either, but he should have.
John and I were married 33 tears. We have two children. Five years ago our son ran off with a girl we never liked. We haven’t heard from him since. our daughter is living in California with some hippie—weaving baskets. We wrote her off in 1972 when she wrote us a nasty letter about our “crass materialism “.
Two weeks ago John died of a heart attack. He was 57 and in the best of health. He had a physical in December and pronounced fit as a fiddle..
John left no WILL . When the lawyers told me I am entitled by law to only one-third of my husband’s estate and our daughter and son will divide the other two-thirds I almost keeled over. Yes, that’s the way the law in Illinois reads and I am helpless.
I am writing in the hope that you will print this letter and wake up others who are as stupid as I was.
Signed: Don’t know what hit me.
Ann Landers reply said : Dear don’t know. Here’s your letter and I hope it gets a few million people to thinking.
She added : Do you women out there know what would happen if your husband dropped dead tomorrow? If you don’t, call a lawyer or financial planner or an insurance agent and find out. Nobody likes to think about death, but it’s virtually the only thing you can count on, only you don’t know when ?
Mother’s of the World_ _If You Don’t Do It _ It won’t Get done !
posted by bruceE @ 12:17 PM
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
In todays fast-paced world managing a household with a family and maybe working an outside job as well is demanding and very tough.
Bless those women who handle those tasks daily !.
Mother’s can be pulled in what seems like a thousand different directions by all their reponsibilities. There just never seems to be enough time to do everything they need to do, let alone what they want to do, would like to do, or must do. !
To the Mother’s who wear many hats and have several balls in the air at the same time, we have made it our mission to help them target an item vital to the welfare of their family._ _ That of setting aside the time with their partner to finalize their necessary WILL information.
That is the initial first step to collect the vital family information to then give to a lawyer, notary, or a financial planner of their choice to finalize their legal WILL.
Having completed all that, there is one extra step often over-looked by too many people. That is to verify with copies, as to WHERE that WILL is going to be kept so when it is needed it can be found without wasted time and extra costs of searching for that family document.
Too any WILLs cannot be executed because they can’t be found.
“Where There’s a Will_ _ there’s a relative “_ _
posted by bruceE @ 12:20 PM
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wills
so says the late Ann Landers in her daily column back in 1975.
Ann Landers had received a letter signed “Will Aware” from a lady who had just gone thru a terrible experience with her close friend because of a properly drawn Will that was declared invalid.
This lady had been named the sole legal heir to her friends estate, but lost out in a lengthy court battle to other relatives, who heretofore had never cared for her friend for years. Those relatives contested the Will and ended up with everything, because the court ruled that although the lady had an attorney draw up a proper legal Will, she kept making hand written additions to the Will that ended up voiding the Will !.
” Will Aware” signed off her letter saying to Ann Landers, “To bad they don’t teach these things in schools. “ “ But your Ann Landers column is the next best place to learn. ”
In her reply, Ann Landers said “ Everyone should be aware of the importance of naming an executor and co-executor.” “When naming an executor, he or she should be younger and chosen with great care. “ Adding “ the way to make certain your money and your possessions will go where you want them to go, is to draw up a Will with the assistance of a lawyer, but be aware that changes made at a later date must be witnessed in accordance with the laws of your state/prov. ” “ Without the signatures of witnesses, the changes will not be considered valid. “
Wills
If an individual dies intestate ( without a will ) the Probate courts will determine how to distribute that person’s assets. But, even with a Will, if it cannot be located when needed, the Probate court rules !.
Although the court system may ultimately decide how to distribute that person’s assets in a manner that is consistent with the deceased’s wishes, there is no guarantee that this will occur.
There are other downsides to the probate process (and dying without a Will ) as well. For example, it could take many weeks or months or longer for the Courts to compile an accurate list of an individual’s assets
It could also take a prolonged period of time to identify and locate potential beneficiares. Unfortunately, until this process is complete, any monies may not be distributed, even to legitimate and known beneficiaries .
Even to flirt with the idea that you do nothing about your Will is a grave injustice to your family.
Your wife/partner, and your family put their trust in you to protect them from all adversity on an on-going basis, with no questions asked . And with your always busy schedule, you always recognize some things you are never able to quite get done.
It seems that getting around to sitting down with your wife/partner to talk about the necessity of getting your Will drafted is one of those missed opportunities?
Did you know that more than 80 out of a 100 citizens do not have a formal Will? And did you know that the less than 20 who have/had a Will, that it cannot be found when needed?
When a person dies without a written Will, the government of the country in which they live, may decide what will happen to their estate. If they have minor children, that government may also decide who will care for them without influence from any family? Worse yet, without a clear directive of final wishes like that specified in a written Will, many families are split apart fighting over their loved one’s estate. It can be assumed that no family wants to leave that kind of legacy for their loved one’s.
The TV headlines of contested Wills of Howard Hughes, Jim Brown, Micheal Jackson, Brooke Astor are prime examples.
There is nothing expensive, complicated nor time consuming about completing a Will, and one can’t put a price tag on the peace and comfort it brings to the family.
SO _ _ _ Assume that trust your family puts in you.
TODAY _ _ _ with your wife/partner, TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR FAMILIES FUTURE !
Wills
Knowing that you and your spouse have taken the necessary steps to put your Will information in motion for your lawyer, notary or financial planner.
YOU _ _ _ can begin that walk at this moment as you read this.
Too many people wake up one morning and realize that they MUST, and WILL cease procrastinating and relieve themselves of that constant gnawing feeling that they have not as yet addressed their important task of sitting down with their wife/partner to finally take care of this must-be-done responsibility to protect their assets and family members..
Much guidance and direction is available free on-line to help families assemble the information they will need to complete the details to then be given to their lawyer, notary, financial planner or whatever professional they will use to insure that they end up with the proper legal document that will withstand any court challenge. A LEGAL WILL !
The ball will remain in their hands until they DO something with it. For the sake of their family, DON’T let it be DROPPED !
Too many of the world’s population live as if death were optional ! IT isn’t ?
Here are some key points and the importance of having a Will written as part of the family’s future plan. The alarming reminder here, is that everyone’s future starts tomorrow. ?
A. Life has a way of interupting our best made plans ! We can;t live without the reality that at some point in our lives we will have to deal with a serious and fatal illness or accident in our families.
Families that are well prepared will already have left written instructions by way of a Will or Living Will declaring how, and what will be done with their accumalated assets and arranging guardianship if there are children.
B. Taking action by planning for future health care can sometimes resolve the following:
* It helps ensure your desires about your personal health care are known and respected:
* It prevents unnecessary, intrusive, and sometimes costly medical treatment at the point in your life when you no longer want it :
*It gives authority to the person you may have selected to speak for you :
* It eliminates the anxiety and tremendous worry of loved ones caring for you because they have your guidance to follow. It is a very agonizing experience to have to make a serious medical decision on a loved one’s behalf:
* Planning for the action that must be taken to minimize the grief that accompanies any untimely illness and possible passing, is Not On The Radar of most world residents. IT JUST ISN’T DONE. It is of enormous importance for all adults ! ( Not just for OLD people as far too many believe ?)
* In that regard, most younger people should re-examine their belief that this type of planning is just for seniors when in actual fact they may have MORE at stake. Because, if struck by a serious illness or accident, the consequences of any medical decision can have devastating results that can last for decades ! They have yet to address how they want their futures handled unfortunately ?
Today _ _ _ as you think about your tomorrow’s and the future’s of your family , it is hard to imagine that you would not want to address this ” PLANNING FOR YOUR WILL “ agenda without further delay.
Don’t abandon your loved one’s because of no planning. You might not get another chance tomorrow !