Tennessee Estate Law Blog

A Last Will and Testament is, of course, important to make sure that after you pass away your assets are distributed according to your wishes. But an important and often overlooked element of a proper estate plan is identifying those assets in the first place. When it comes to intellectual property – copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets – knowing just what you own and the best way to protect those assets for your heirs requires an extra level of planning.

Here in Nashville (Music City, U.S.A.), clients have often written and/or recorded songs. Maybe they have value now, or maybe they could have value in the future. Either way, protecting that asset is an important consideration.

One of the most important steps is to be aware of which, if any, rights associated with your copyright may have been transferred to another individual or company, and which have been fully retained. A copyright is not like other property you may own, like your furniture, the contents of your bank account, or your home. A copyright is in fact a collection of rights – including the right to copy, perform publicly, and license – subject to certain deadlines, and provisions of federal law. Even if you have transferred certain rights related to your copyright ownership, you may have retained others.

Clients with a Last Will and Testament have often specified that their assets are to be distributed equally between their heirs, only to learn after a thorough estate planning review, that their even-handed intentions would not be carried out as they wish. Your Will may claim that property is to be divided equally, but if a life insurance policy, or your IRA, does not account for your youngest child, for example, or you have added one child as a joint owner to help out with your bank account, but not the others, your will does not undo those transfers and even out your childrens’ inheritance.

A comprehensive estate planning review is a necessary step toward protecting our loved ones after we pass away according to our wishes. As the scenario above indicates, this review requires more than simply preparing a will (or living trust), though that is of course an essential component of any estate plan.

An estate planning attorney can assist you in thinking through all of your assets and can advise regarding the best way to make sure that your goals are met, your wishes carried out.

Family estate plans are changing because families are changing. While many estate plans remain focused on providing for a spouse and children after passing away, more and more address complex considerations because of a blended family.

What if you have one child of your own from a previous marriage, and two children with your spouse, while your spouse has 1 child from a previous marriage. How should you care not only for your own children from a previous marriage, but also for your spouse’s children from their previous marriage or relationship?

This kind of planning requires open and frank discussion between spouses, and sometimes the adult children as well, so they are prepared for and understand your wishes. It also requires you to think through some difficult scenarios to make sure your estate plan prepares well for several contingencies. If you pass away before your spouse, how can you be sure your surviving spouse will provide for your own children? If your spouse passes away before you, to what extent should you care for their children? Do you anticipate conflict between your children over your respective estates?

I often hear from clients serious concerns about what to do with their home in their estate plan. Often at the top of their list is the desire to preserve a residence for one or more of their adult children. Part One of this 2-part series addressed ways to handle your home in your will in a way that preserves it as a residence for one of your children if they should need it.

Many clients also inquire about transferring their property to their children during their life, whether to maintain a residence for one of them, or in an attempt to protect against estate recovery by TennCare. Part Two addresses some of the methods of approaching this issue and the reasons why and why not you may want to make such a transfer.

Give your home out-right to your child during your life.

I probably hear some variation of this concern more than any other in consulting with estate planning clients: the desire to avoid probate. Whether they have heard horror stories about probate or have been through a rough experience themselves, many folks see avoiding probate as an important way to ease the burden on their loved ones after they pass.

There are two bits of good news for Tennesseans with this concern. First, the probate process in Tennessee is relatively straightforward and inexpensive compared with many other states. In itself, probate is nothing to fear. In fact, sometimes a little court oversight and help from an attorney can help assure surviving family members that they are handling affairs properly.

Second, and more importantly, there are some simple steps you can take to ensure that most if not all of your assets will be distributed outside of the probate process, just in the way your assets are titled. You just want to make sure that, if you are titling your assets as part of your estate plan, that it is done with purpose and an eye on the big picture. A good estate planning attorney can help you think through this process.