Wealth Preservation, Trusts and Estates

David M. Frees III on When to Share Your Will

The question of when, or even whether or not, to show adult or mature children your will or estate planning documents has no easy answer.

The best answer is that it depends.

In this, and a series of brief up coming posts, we’ll explore that question and the pros and cons of each option. In my experience (over 25 years of drafting estate planning documents for families and advising families at all levels of affluence), the answer varies depending on your personal circumstances and the particular documents. My answer, for example about when and how to share a broad durable power of attorney may be different than my answer about sharing and discussing a living will and medical power of attorney.

We will examine when to share the will, when to give an agent a copy of a medical or durable power of attorney, and when to share trusts and other documents.

Today we start with your question about when to share a will with family members.

In the case of wills, many clients never share the particulars of the will. They realize, that this document may change trough time and that who gets what assets may also change. Since no one really needs to see the document before your death, it may be enough to make sure that the family knows how to get your original will if you pass away. If you have only one or two children, and they are both appointed as co-executors, sharing that fact with them may also be prudent.

My clients who do not share the specifics of their wills, or copies of the documents, usually have a memo, or a binder. This documents contains copis of the necessary documents (in case of emergency) as well as instructions, locations or originals, passwords, and related information such as who the accountants, lawyers, insurance and financial advisers are and how to contact them.

More on these issues to come.

David M. Frees III is a lawyer with over 24 years of advising clients in the areas of trusts, estates, estate planning, and related legal matters. He has law offices in Malvern, Phoenixville, and West Chester and serves clients throughout Pennsylvania including Exton, Devon, Wayne, Chester Springs, Ardmore, Berwyn and many surrounding communities.

For a complimentary consultation call 610-933-8069 and mention PAESTATEPLANNERS as the code for your free consult.

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Do It Yourself Wills Trusts and Estate Plans are in the news and are the subject of debate. Is there a right answer. Yes and No. Isn’t that just like a lawyer.

David M. Frees III on News AboutDo It Yourself Wills

Are will forms valid? Do they work to save taxes?

Is a lawyer worth the extra dollars?

How about Legal Zoom? (the cost by the way was almost the same for a simple will as our lawyers from the Trust, Estate, and Wealth Preservation Section of the firm)

These and other questions are answered in my recent article on do it yourself wills and the battle raging over a Wall Street Journal reporter who used several systems. If you have ever thought about doing your own estate planning, you owe it to yourself to peruse these articles.

Do It Yourself Wills And The Lawyer Attacks on The Wall Street Journal

Enjoy! And, let me know your comments and questions below.

Thank you
David M. Frees III
610-933-8069 for an appointment or telephone conference

Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees has law offices for their
will, trust, estate, and estate planning and asset protection
lawyers in Phoenixville, Malvern, and West Chester Pennsylvania.

These law offices serve Exton, Spring City, Gladwyn, Devon,
Chester Springs, Berwyn, Ardmore, and many surrounding
communities.

For directions to the law offices click here.

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Our best laid plans can go awry. And, as they say in the armed forces, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” Indeed, many financial plans have been rendered obsolete or non functional by recent events.

As we have observed before, many wills and estate plans in Pennsylvania fail because families fail to structure their assets and beneficiary designations to match the plan. A will or trust says one thing but the assets are jointly titled or otherwise pass outside of the plan. In other cases, a plan fails because the unimaginable happens.

Does this mean that you shouldn’t plan for retirement, college tuition, weddings, tax savings, and to pass on your assets? To the contrary. Plans are like goals.

If we fail to set goals we have no basis to act or to judge the progress we are making. Just yesterday I met a 24 year old man who set a goal to create a million dollar a year company by the time he was 21. He missed his goal by 18 days. But, he said that he would never have achieved it without setting that goal. It motivated him and it allowed him to see how he was doing and to adapt.

Establishing a plan means that we might fail to achieve the end result. The plan may need to be revised and we may need to adapt. But we are almost always better off having gone through the planning process.

And, in times of trouble, we need information to help us to adapt the plan. So, below are a few links that might be useful in revising the plan and in adapting to our new circumstances.

And because many people hear only the bad news, take a moment to consider the good news. Gas prices, while rising slowly have been quite low. Many families are saving at rates not seen for decades. We are still giving to charity and are vacationing in our own country rather than spending dollars overseas.

There is little purpose in subjecting ourselves to constant bad news. For many people, that means that they become so absorbed in the bad and what is beyond their control, that they fail to act on matters still within their control.

We can still have a say in government. So watch how the government spends the money and tell them what you think with your letters and your vote. The spending can be viewed by clicking here. or by visiting http://www.recovery.gov/

Want to calculate how much you now need to retire? Want to make a gift to charity and need to know if you can? There are a number of great financial and personal calculators here. Just click www.paesateplanners.com for links to several tax and personal financial calculators. Then start doing what you can. Work on what you can control rather than worrying about the matters outside of your control. You will feel better.

David M. Frees III

Follow David Frees on Twitter for estate, tax, financial, and asset protection planning information
for you and your loved ones.

Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees offers legal services in a variety of fields and has offices in West Chester Pennsylvania, Phoenixville Pennsylvania, and Malvern Pennsylvania. The firm services clients the greater Philadelphia area including Chester County, Montgomery County, and Delaware County.

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