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Asset Protection Planning

How can I avoid family feuds over inheritance?

By Asset Protection Planning, Estate Planning, Probate

Fighting over an inheritance can both cause significant family tension and a reduction in the inheritance heirs will receive due to legal fees.  To avoid this situation, you must set up a very clear estate plan.  Talk with your family about who you all agree would be the best executor of your estate and who will receive power of attorney if you are incapacitated.

The following are some documents you should put in place before you are dealing with any type of incapacitation:

  • Will
  • Trust
  • HIPAA Release
  • Power of Attorney
  • Health Care Surrogate
  • Living Will
  • Pre-Need Guardian
  • Guardianship plan for minor children and pets

 

If you would like to modify any estate planning documents already in place or begin to form an estate plan, contact Bach & Jacobs, P.A. today at (941) 906-1231.

September 18, 2015
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Preventing Identity Theft After Death

By Asset Protection Planning, Elder Law, Estate Planning, Probate

Unfortunately, many people’s identities are stolen after they die.  This obviously creates much trouble and confusion for family members attempting to honor the wishes of their deceased loved one by administering their estate or distributing their assets.  The following are some tips for how you can minimize the threat of your deceased loved one’s identity being stolen:

  • Contact the Social Security Administration promptly so that your deceased loved one will be removed from the payroll. This also comes with a monetary benefit as the SSA gives $225 to people who report a beneficiary of social security as deceased.
  • Close social media accounts.
  • Close credit card accounts and call the major credit reporting bureaus, telling them to add “Deceased. Do Not Issue Credit.” to your loved one’s credit report so that new accounts cannot be opened.
  • Ensure all documents such as bank statements, IDs, and anything containing your loved one’s social security number are kept in a secure location.

Bach & Jacobs, P.A. represents and advises personal representatives (aka executors) and family members who are dealing with what to do after someone dies.  Contact Bach & Jacobs, P.A. at (941) 906-1231 for assistance in administering the probate and/or trust for your loved one.

September 11, 2015
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Crucial Considerations During Estate Planning

By Asset Protection Planning, Elder Law, Estate Planning

As you and a qualified attorney are drafting estate planning documents, be sure to consider the following and express to your attorney exactly how you want your assets to be distributed after your death.

  • Flexibility: Think about how easily you will be able to modify your estate planning documents.  Also consider how much flexibility you are giving your beneficiaries through your will or trusts.  For example, think about whether you are putting age restrictions on beneficiaries of a trust or if you want to put stipulations on how the funds can be used.
  • Special Provisions: If wish to leave someone with special needs an inheritance, consider how that money could affect their public benefits eligibility and discuss with your estate planning attorney whether you could leave assets to their special needs trust.
  • Titling Assets: When doing tax planning, discuss with an attorney how you and your spouse should title your assets such as real estate to ensure you are utilizing available tax exemptions.

To speak with and experienced estate planning attorney or  Board Certified Tax Attorney Fredric Jacobs, Esq., call our office at (941) 906-1231.

September 8, 2015
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Compiling Digital Asset Account Access Information

By Asset Protection Planning, Estate Planning, Probate

Use this digital asset inventory template to keep track of all of your important usernames and passwords for your digital fiduciary or personal representative.  You should designate who you authorize to access each account or computer and also specify what they are authorized to do.  For instance, you may wish for your Facebook account to be closed but want your email account to be preserved so your personal representative can retrieve stored sentimental photos.

Digital Assets Inventory Template

This list of account information should be kept in a secure location with other estate planning documents.

The attorneys at Bach & Jacobs, P.A. make efforts to stay on the cutting edge of new technologies that assist our clients, including the Personal Representatives that we represent.  We recommend all trust and durable power of attorney documents specifically authorize access to digital information.   We can also help you identify your digital assets and ensure that they are fully accounted for in your estate planning documents.

To set up an appointment to review what estate planning method would be best to grant access to your digital assets, call our office at (941) 906-1231.

August 25, 2015
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Appointing a Digital Fiduciary

By Asset Protection Planning, Elder Law, Estate Planning

            When planning for the transfer of your digital assets, you should be sure the person given the power to access and disperse information from your digital accounts is technologically savvy.  Most people appoint a surviving spouse or child who is financially literate to take care of many of their assets as personal representative or trustee.  If this person is not familiar enough with computers and the technology associated with your digital accounts, you can appoint a separate digital fiduciary to perform actions such as closing accounts, accessing photo storage, and transferring digital content such as videos or purchased books and movies onto DVDs.

The attorneys at Bach & Jacobs, P.A. make efforts to stay on the cutting edge of new technologies that assist our clients, including the Personal Representatives that we represent.  We recommend all trust and durable power of attorney documents specifically authorize access to digital information.   We can also help you identify your digital assets and ensure that they are fully accounted for in your estate planning documents.

To set up an appointment to review what estate planning method would be best to grant access to your digital assets, call our office at (941) 906-1231.

August 21, 2015
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How can I plan to transfer my digital assets after I die?

By Asset Protection Planning, Estate Planning, Probate

To ensure that your digital assets are protected and dealt with as you desire after death, be sure to compile all usernames and passwords for online subscriptions and accounts in a secure location.  Also, speak with an estate planning attorney about how to ensure your durable power of attorney will have authorization to access assets such as online bill pay, photos, or social media accounts.  You should specify which, if any, of your digital assets you want deleted and, if you have digital assets which earn profits, where you want that money to go and who is able to access and handle it.  An attorney can tell you where your digital asset wishes should be expressed, keeping in mind that wills become public record after death.

Planning for digital assets is a newly emerging issue in estate planning and is complicated by the fact that many accounts on websites such as Facebook and Google have Terms of Service agreements which can be violated by anyone besides the original account holder authorizing someone else to log in.  Attempting to access an account without proper permission can constitute a violation of anti-hacking laws.

The attorneys at Bach & Jacobs, P.A. make efforts to stay on the cutting edge of new technologies that assist our clients, including the Personal Representatives that we represent.  We recommend all trust and durable power of attorney documents specifically authorize access to digital information.   We can also help you identify your digital assets and ensure that they are fully accounted for in your estate planning documents.

To set up an appointment to review what estate planning method would be best to grant access to your digital assets, call our office at (941) 906-1231.

August 18, 2015
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What happens to my digital assets after death?

By Asset Protection Planning, Elder Law, Estate Planning, Probate

Digital assets such as online bill pay accounts, online investment management accounts, personal records, digital movies, books, games, airline rewards points, and photos must be accounted for in modern estate planning to ensure your loved ones can access and control your digital accounts as you wish.  As technology plays a growing role in our everyday lives, some of our assets carry personal value, such as photos and videos, and others, such as online blogs with paid advertisements, may even have monetary value.  In order to ensure that personal accounts, sites, and memories are available to the desired loved ones after death, who you want to be given access to your digital accounts and what type of control they may have over them must be included in your estate planning documents.

At Bach & Jacobs, P.A., we incorporate planning for the transfer of digital assets into our estate and end of life planning for clients.  Call our office today at (941) 906-1231 to set up an appointment to review how to make your digital assets a part of your estate plan and ensure access to these accounts is granted safely and as you desire.

August 14, 2015
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How can I ensure my medical treatment wishes will be honored

By Asset Protection Planning, Elder Law, Estate Planning, Guardianship

An essential part of estate planning is setting up clear instructions for loved ones about your wishes with regard to medical treatment.  It is incorrect to believe that a Last Will & Testament contains information that will empower your loved ones to make decisions in line with your desires in the event that you are incapacitated or unable to communicate.  To provide your loved ones with information about your medical care desires and give them the power to make decisions on your behalf, you must set up advance directives.  It is recommended that you set up a living will, health care surrogate, pre-need guardian, and/or health care proxy to protect your wishes.  These documents should be put into place far before incapacitation occurs and discussed with loved ones so they are clear about your wishes.  If you would like to discuss what documents you should have in place to give instructions about medical treatment, please contact Bach & Jacobs, P.A. at (941) 906-1231.

August 7, 2015
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Modifying an Irrevocable Trust

By Asset Protection Planning, Elder Law, Estate Planning

Florida’s Trust code allows courts to modify irrevocable trusts which are unambiguous but which have terms that are considered contradictory or wasteful.  Courts can modify trusts if the trust’s purpose no longer exists, if the modification is not inconsistent with the purpose of the trust, or if the current trust is wasteful or impracticable to fulfill under the current terms.

Modifications to irrevocable trusts can be made to preserve the intent of the original trust in changing circumstances.  If you have questions about setting up or modifying trusts, contact one of our experienced estate planning attorneys at (941) 906-1231.  Our firm represents trustees and beneficiaries of trusts and can advise you on your options and rights with regard to the trust.

July 28, 2015
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Form 114 (FBAR) for Foreign, non-US Financial Assets Needs to be Filed by June 30th

By Asset Protection Planning, Tax Law

Were you an account holder for a financial account located outside of the US valued at over $10,000 in 2014?  If so, you must file an FBAR by June 30th.  An FBAR, also known as Form 114, must be filed by anyone who is considered an account holder for a foreign account meeting the value criteria above.

 

    The FBAR form can be found here and can be submitted online:

    FBAR Filing Form

 

    To speak with our Board Certified Tax Attorney Fredric C. Jacobs, Esq. about your personal tax needs or high net worth tax planning, call our office at (941) 906-1231.

June 12, 2015
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