Danger 1: Probate eats up your child’s inheritance. If you don’t have an estate plan, your property will have to go through the probate process before your children and inheritors can take possession of it. Though the probate process doesn’t usually take up as much time or money as people may fear, it can be a laborious process. When combined with estate or inheritance taxes, it can significantly reduce how much money you leave to your children. A good probate attorney costs money, and that money will have to come from your estate.

Danger 2: Your property may go to those whom you do not wish to receive it. Many people are surprised to learn that state laws already determine who receives your property if you die. These laws, called laws of intestate succession, exist in all states, and unless you create a valid will they will choose for you who inherits your property. Without an estate plan, your property may pass to your parents, your siblings or some other family member even if that was the last thing you wanted.

Danger 3: It can hurt your family. If you’ve spent your life caring for your family, being there when they needed you, protecting them and providing all the support you can muster, the failure to have an estate plan can ruin this legacy. Without an estate plan your family may end up fighting over your possessions, they may have to make difficult decisions about your medical care without any guidance from you and they may spend endless hours in needless worry and emotional turmoil.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

1. Make your plans. Talk to your family about what kind of funeral arrangements you want so there is no misunderstanding when the time comes to implement them. You should also tell your estate planning attorney about your decisions so you can incorporate them in your estate plan.

2. Create a health care power of attorney. North Carolina, unlike some other states, doesn’t have a unique form that you need to fill out in order to grant someone else the power to manage your funeral arrangements. You can, however, appoint a health care power of attorney who not only has the right to make medical decisions if you get sick, but you can also let your agent manage what happens to you after you die. Your health care agent ensures your decisions about your burial, cremation and even whether you want to be an organ donor are followed.

3. Ask at least two people to act as your agent. Your health care power of attorney allows you to appoint one person to serve as your health care agent. However, if that person is unable or unwilling to serve, you’ll need a back-up. Ask both people if they are willing to serve, and then create a health care power of attorney document. Talk to your attorney about the state requirements you need to meet when creating your power of attorney.

If you are looking to create or modify estate planning documents, call us today at (336) 547-9999.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Let’s face it, writing a will and thinking about what will happen to you if you get sick or die is not exactly a cheery subject. The entire field of estate planning is based on some pretty macabre facts of life. But they are facts, whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not. The mental and emotional bars to starting your estate plan aren’t always easily conquered, but you can take steps to alleviate the stress involved.

Tip 1: Focus on people, not things. Much of estate planning is ensuring that your family and loved ones are cared for. Instead of focusing on your death, it can be helpful to center your thoughts on others as you think of how you can make their lives better.

Tip 2: Find comfort. Confronting your own mortality is something mankind has been doing since the dawn of time. You aren’t alone in your fears, and you don’t have to do it alone. Whether you find comfort in the works of philosophers, theologians, counselors or wise friends, there are any number of resources available to help you through your own struggles.

Tip 3: Get advice. What often makes estate planning so hard is the confluence of the emotional resistance and the prospect of having to learn about technical, dry legal concepts. Here again, help is available. Your estate planning attorney can walk you through the process and explain the rather abstract and boring legal concepts in terms that make it much easier to get a handle on.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

While the holidays offer promises of feasts, gifts and getting together with family members and friends, they also pose an opportunity for people to discuss some important estate planning issues while everyone is together. Sitting down to your yearly Thanksgiving dinner is an ideal time to broach some subjects, or at least bring up the issue so you can discuss it in more detail at some other time.

A recent article in Forbes magazine addressed how recent celebrity probate and estate planning cases can be fodder for the Thanksgiving family dinner table discussion. These discussions can easily lead to you and your family discussing what you would do in a similar situation.

Even if you and your family aren’t really celebrity or gossip column focused, you can use this time to discuss the what-ifs. What if one of you suddenly became seriously ill or injured? What kind of medical care would you want to receive? Who would tell your doctors about it? Who would look after your children? What if you die and you haven’t written a will? Who gets your property? If you had the chance to choose beforehand, who would you want to receive your property?

While some of these questions may not be the happiest thoughts you want to bring up during the holidays, they are very important and will inevitably affect you and your family. This Thanksgiving, consider setting aside some time to talk about some of these issues with the people you care about the most.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Medical directives, sometimes known as advance directives, are a type of legal document that many people create either individually or as part of an estate plan. These documents become effective when you suffer a serious illness, injury or other condition that takes away your ability to make your own medical decisions. Medical directives are entirely optional, and any adult of sound mind can create one at any time.

There are three main types of medical directives: living wills, health care powers of attorney and do-not-resuscitate orders. A living will is a document you create that contains your wishes about the medical care you do or do not wish to receive. These documents often state, for example, your preferences about receiving mechanical breathing treatments or receiving food through a feeding tube.

The second type of medical directive is the health care power of attorney. Sometimes known as a health care proxy or durable power of attorney for health care, this directive is a document in which you give someone else the right to make medical decisions for you. The person who receives the decision making rights is typically known as your agent, attorney-in-fact or or health care proxy.

The third main type of medical directive is the do-not-resuscitate order, or DNR.These directives are only used when you do not want to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation, commonly known as CPR. A DNR can often be made a part of a living will, and you can also simply inform your physician or health care providers that you do not wish to receive CPR.

While medical directives are never legally required, you can create one at any time. However, medical directive laws differ between states. Talk to both your health care provider and an attorney before creating a medical directive so you can properly ensure you cover all the possible issues you may face.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When an adult becomes incapacitated or when children lose their parents, someone has to make decisions on their behalf. A person who is charged by a court to look after an incapacitated adult or a minor is known as a guardian. Only a court may appoint a guardian, and each state has different laws governing this process.

A guardian, sometimes known as a conservator, is legally responsible for taking care of someone else. A guardian’s powers are limited by the court and state laws, and a ward may have more than one guardian. Sometimes, a court will grant a temporary or emergency guardianship. This is common in situations where, for example, a single adult becomes suddenly incapacitated and the court doesn’t have time to hold a hearing before naming a permanent guardian. At other times a court may appoint one person to look after the ward’s financial and property concerns, known as a guardian of the estate, while it appoints someone else to look after the ward’s day-to-day personal concerns, known as a guardian of the person. In any guardianship, the guardian is legally obligated to act in the best interests of the ward, an obligation known as a fiduciary duty.

Though the terms are similar, a guardian is not the same as a guardian ad litem. A guardian ad litem is a person appointed by a court to look after a person’s interest during a court proceeding. Typically this person is an attorney, psychologist or trained professional or volunteer whose sole duty is to assist in a legal proceeding by advocating solely for the interests of a child. Guardians ad litem do not have the same legal authority as a guardian, and the methods through which the two are appointed differ.

Each state’s laws governing guardians and guardians ad litem are slightly different. It’s always best to consult with an experienced attorney whenever you have a question about guardians and the relevant laws in your state.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Paying for health care makes the headlines daily; What makes the news more infrequently but sometimes in a bigger way is when someone doesn’t have advanced health care directives in place and family members disagree on how their care should progress.

If you’re like most people, you’ve heard of Terri Schiavo who was kept on life support for 15 years, while brain dead, because she didn’t have legal documents to state her wishes to avoid medical heroics at the end of life.

Terri’s husband and her parents disagreed as to whether she should be artificially kept alive.  For 15 years, Terri’s parents “won.”  When she was finally taken off the machines, it determined that she was indeed brain dead from the time of her initial collapse and that her brain had shriveled into nothingness.  Only the brain stem was left.

Everyone age 18 or older needs health care directives that meet their goals and current intent.  This means that these health care directives should be updated every three to five years or sooner if you have a significant life change such as marriage, divorce, or the death or disability of a named health care agent.

Health Care Directives Everyone Should Consider

• Health care power of attorney (i.e. medical power of attorney) which appoints an agent to make health care decisions for you if you are not able to do so yourself.  Be sure to name back up health care agents who will help you if your primary agent is unable or unwilling to act.
• HIPAA release which authorizes medical professionals to communicate with and release information to your named health care agents.
• Living will which indicates that if you are in an irreversible coma or persistent vegetative state that you want to be kept comfortable but not artificially kept alive with medical heroics.
• Organ donation authorization which allows your organs to be donated to save the lives of up to 8 people and make the lives of many burn, trauma, and eye injury victims much better.

If you are age 18 or older, you need advanced health care directives.  Consult with a qualified estate planning attorney to get your health care documents in place.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

The Oct 1 Women’s Only 5k for Breast Cancer, rescue dog stories from 9/11, probate seminars, identity theft, and more – we’ve got a lot going on that’s featured in our newest newsletter!   Click on the icon below to find out what’s new from The Law Offices of Cheryl David.  If you’re interested in receiving our e-newsletter, we encourage you to visit our site, www.cheryldavid.com, and sign up on the right column of our home page.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Whether you’re just starting your adult life or you’re approaching retirement age (or beyond), planning your estate is a responsibility you should not neglect – even if you’re single and have no children. Here’s why:

First, a well-thought out estate plan not only controls what happens when you die, it also addresses what happens if you become disabled during your lifetime – an unfortunate possibility for all of us. When you make an incapacity plan, you express your wishes as to how your medical care should be handled if you can’t speak for yourself, and you also name people you know and trust to be in charge of you and your money in case of a disabling illness or injury. Without an incapacity plan, a judge gets to make those decisions, and the process for doing so can be costly to your loved ones in terms of money, time, and energy. An added disadvantage of not having an incapacity plan is the fact that the judge’s decisions regarding how your life should be managed might not mirror your own preferences.

Second, a good estate plan puts you in charge of who inherits your property when you pass away. You might want to leave part or all of your estate to a friend, to a charitable organization, or to a distant family member. If you don’t have a plan in place that complies with state law and clarifies your wishes, then you’ll have no say in what ultimately happens to your property. Instead, your property will be distributed according to a formula that’s been established by the state legislature.

Regardless of age, financial situation, or marital status, each of us owes it to ourselves and our loved ones to have an effective estate plan.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Just as it’s important to periodically review your Will or Living Trust, and update it to reflect your current circumstances and wishes, it’s also important to keep your incapacity planning documents current.

Let’s say you take a fresh look at your advance directives (such as a Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare), and decide that they no longer reflect your preferences when it comes end-of-life medical procedures. Your first step is to see your estate planning attorney and have new documents drawn up. But, once your new documents are in place, what should you do with your old, out-of-date advance directives?

Although your new advance directives will likely contain language revoking your prior documents, you’ll still want to locate those old documents and destroy them.  If they’re not destroyed, out-of-date incapacity planning documents can crop up at the most inopportune times – and they have the potential to cause trouble.

For instance, what happens if your first Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare named your sister to act as your agent, but you’ve since replaced that document with a new on naming your adult son as your agent? If you’re in the hospital and too sick to make your own medical decisions, the old document could cause conflict between your sister and your son, as well as confusion for your medical providers. Worst case scenario, the confusion could lead your family straight to court.

If you need to update your advance directives or other estate planning documents, we can help.  Call us today – (336) 547-9999.

The Law Offices Of Cheryl David is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.