Articles Tagged with Estate Planning

More and more of our lives are spent connected to the internet. Whether we are listening to music on iTunes, browsing social media like Facebook, or even paying our bills online, so much of what we do these days is done online.  Files, photos, music, and other things are no longer physically stored in a person’s home. Often these items are stored either on a website or “in the cloud.” We are truly living in a digital world. The repercussions of such can be felt in areas that you would not normally think about.

So exactly what happens when a person with digital assets is incapacitated or passes away? It is not as easy as boxing up and distributing someone’s things. It becomes complicated with online security protocol and trying to determine where certain items may be located. For those very reasons, there are a number of steps that you should take to better manage your digital assets.

Inventory your digital assets– Make a comprehensive list of all of your online accounts that may include your email, financial accounts, social media, online business accounts. Be sure to include your username, password, and any other required answers to security questions. Also, you should include information for your digital devices like a smart phone, tablet, or computer.

We all have heard about the importance of creating an estate plan for the benefit of our loved ones. In creating an estate plan, many people believe that their will is the final say on who gets what accounts after they die. While a will often is the final determination of who receives which assets, simple titling errors can create big headaches for all of those involved. The beneficiaries named on certain assets make the actual determination of where an asset may go even if a will states otherwise.

An estate plan can be frustrated by the way that a person titles individuals as beneficiaries of assets like bank or brokerage accounts. For instance, a mother may wish to have her estate divided equally among her three children upon her passing. However, if the mother names only one child as beneficiary of a savings account, only that child will receive the contents of that account because they were listed as the sole beneficiary. Obviously, that child is free to disperse the contents of the account equally to the other two children. However, the recipient of the asset is not under any legal obligation to do so. This situation can often lead to family problems.

Many people do not understand the implications and importance of titling on their accounts. When reviewing your estate plan, it is important to review who you have listed as a beneficiary on your accounts. Make sure that your wishes are expressed accordingly. In addition, it is also important to update your estate plan following any major life changes. If something has happened to a named beneficiary, be sure to update those accounts so that your wishes are met.

Former “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini died suddenly in June of this year shocking many of the actor’s biggest fans. Many people may be equally as surprised to learn that as much as $70 million of Gandolfini’s estate will go to pay taxes that could have easily been avoided. Gandolfini could have avoided the huge tax burden by merely utilizing better estate planning. There are a number of lessons that can be learned from some other famous figures.

Choose appropriate guardians for any minor children

Before dying, Michael Jackson chose his aging mother to act as a guardian for his children. Jackson also chose legendary singer Diana Ross to act as a guardian in case his mother was unable to. Some wonder whether Jackson should have chosen another person to act as a guardian or backup guardian. While there is no doubt that Jackson’s mother loves her grandchildren, questions would arise if she was no longer able to serve as guardian in her aging condition before the children reached the age of majority. If this did occur, it is possible that the children would have to move across the country to where Diana Ross lives. There seems to be too much room for potential error.