PLEASE CHECK IF LAW IS CURRENT: The law can change quickly, so please do your research and contact an attorney to ensure that you have the current law. The law as printed here may have changed since posting and the links may have changed.
Whether you have heard of a Power of attorney, health care directive, or living will or not, this post is worth your time. These necessary legal documents are a strategic and necessary part of your estate plan, especially in helping to avoid potential future problems.
Read MoreNothing in life is guaranteed, except death and taxes. So, is it a guarantee that you will have to pay death taxes?
Read MoreA new child means lots of new responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is making sure you have basic protections for your child in the event something should happen to you.
Read MoreDo I need a Will or a Trust? Most people don't know why one is more appropriate for them over another. Read about a few characteristics of each.
Read MoreWhen creating an estate plan, Idaho couples have a wide range of options. For those who are seeking maximum asset protection, establishing a trust is one of the best possible choices. In particular, a QTIP trust offers a high level of protection, as well as a degree of flexibility.
QTIP stands for Qualified Terminable Interest Property. This type of trust allows a married couple to structure the transfer of assets upon the death of the first spouse. A QTIP trust will allow the surviving spouse to take advantage of the marital deduction, and also gives the surviving spouse the ability to control the distribution of assets. Additionally, all assets included in the trust would be protected from the creditors of the surviving spouse.
When a QTIP trust is created, a personal representative is named. That individual can then choose to make use of either the portability election or a partial QTIP election. This allows the personal representative to ensure that the first spouse’s exclusion amount is put to use and not wasted. From that point forward, the personal representative has a great deal of flexibility in how to use or distribute the assets held in the QTIP trust.
When creating an estate plan, Idaho residents should understand the pros and cons of various asset protection strategies. For many, a QTIP trust provides an excellent path toward retaining assets while protecting against the claims of outside creditors. However, this is just one of many estate planning tools available, and each family will have its own unique goals and needs within the estate planning process.
Source: Forbes, "Estate Plan Recommendations for Married Couples After ATRA", Lewis Saret, May 20, 2014
In some situations the name of a legal estate planning document is significant. The name can signify what, when, or how a fiduciary is allowed to represent you, the principal.
One exception is the name of a Revocable Trust, i.e. a Living Trust or a Family Trust.
To be clear, there are multiple types of Trusts available, all with differing names, so let’s just agree to talk about a revocable trust, i.e. the most common trust you will hear about.
Regardless of its name, a Revocable Living Trust, Revocable Family Trust, Living Trust, Family Trust, Husband’s Trust, Wife’s Trust, Kid’s Trust, they should all perform the same or similar functions; avoid probate, reduce or eliminate estate taxes, offer privacy, control distribution of assets, and provide disability or special needs planning, without regard to its title.
With this one narrow exception, the name of the Trust does not have a significant meaning to anyone but you.
Some general guidelines include if you want to leave all of your assets to your family, you can use the term Family Trust.
Conversely, a Living Trust can sometimes signify that the assets may be distributed to a larger number of beneficiaries, including foundations, scholarship funds, and charities, but this option does not exclude family members from being beneficiaries.
Past clients have been real creative with naming their trusts, including longitude/latitude coordinates of their honeymoon or dream vacation, latin phrases, funny phrases, or real short and sweet first names only, as well. It is up to you and how you want people to refer to your trust. If you leave it to me, I go with the family last name_trust. Not real creative, but that’s my comfort zone.
So, unlike the vast difference between a Living Will and a Will, the difference between a Living Trust and a Family Trust is only what you want it to be.
Contact Justin Jeppesen today at 208-562-4900 to get started with your Family Trust or Living Trust. Or, schedule your own complimentary consultation here: https://calendly.com/idahoestateplanning
“Can I avoid probate if I give my house to my kids?”
Have you thought this before?
You probably have, because I receive this question often.
My answer is, “Yes, you can potentially avoid probate by giving your home to your kids, but here is a list of other things that can potentially happen or will happen.” And I proceed to explain to the client exactly what else CAN happen and let them decide if they want to take that risk, because it is a huge risk with a very small reward.
Why is avoiding probate a small reward?
Currently, Idaho is very much a probate-friendly state. Or another way to state it, probate in Idaho is not something that absolutely needs to be avoided.
These are typically the two main considerations against deeding your home to your kids solely to avoid probate court:
First, if you deed your house to anyone, your kids included, they own it. That seems obvious, but THEY own it and all the powers, risks, and obligations of owning property now belong to them and NOT you; and
Second, if you gift the property while you are alive and your kids sell it when you pass away, this may increase the taxes due when they sell “your” home.
The first problem has multiple implications, and every potential outcome cannot be presented here. That said, I do want to cover the most pressing concerns that I perceive.
If your kids own the home you live in and your relationship becomes strained, you can’t take back the gift of ownership of your home. Actually, they can force you move out because they now own the residence.
But, you aren’t worried about that ever happening, right? So, what else do I have for you?
Good question.
If a creditor ever goes after your child for an unpaid debt, that creditor can attach said debt to the house and then make your child sell the house and use the proceeds from that sale to cover the debt.
Where does that leave you?
But, you say, my kid is good with money so that won’t be a problem.
Here are three common sources of creditors that don’t concern the ability to handle money: health care, accidents and divorces. And, because your kids own the home and do not live in it, there will not be a Homestead exemption applicable for the equity that you had in the home, so you could be forced out of your home during your lifetime.
The second problem is a fear of long term capital gains tax. Without getting into taxes, let’s just say that a home passed through a Will or Trust, and sold shortly thereafter, will avoid this type of tax. This can oftentimes be in excess of $10,000, $20,000 or $30,000 dollars in capital gains tax.
Even though deeding your home to your kids seems like a good, cheap alternative to creating a Will or Trust, in the end it costs you more (no more homeowner’s exemption), it can potentially cost you everything (i.e. kids kick you out, or their creditors do), and it can potentially cost them in capital gains tax.
The risk is too high for such a small reward. But, if avoiding probate is something you believe you must do, why not create a Trust? By doing so you can avoid the above risk, avoid probate, and save yourself thousands of dollars on future homeowner’s exemptions filings.
Call Justin Jeppesen today at 208-562-4891 to set up your Complimentary Consultation to talk about the alternatives to deeding your home to your kids, or how you can avoid probate.
Are you planning to create a Trust to avoid current or future creditors? Please proceed with caution, with an understanding that it probably will not work out the way you would like it to.
During conversations covering Trust-owned property, an idea gets thrown my way almost every time that “if I have a Trust, then my creditors will not be able to take my assets.”
The idea follows this line of thinking: if the Trust owns the property, then you don’t own the property as an individual and a creditor can’t get to those assets because you don’t own the property, the Trust does. Seems simple. Asset protection.
Here is the flaw to that thought: the most widely used Trust is a revocable Trust, which does not provide that type of protection. The point of being revocable allows you have the power to add and subtract assets from the Trust’s ownership, amend the Trust, terminate the Trust, etc. So, really, from a public policy perspective, you still own the assets that are held by the Trust.
Even if you created one of the Trusts that allows you to avoid creditors’ claims, you still aren’t guaranteed to be judgment proof if a judge determines that the purpose behind this transfer was fraudulent, see Idaho’s and the Federal Fraudulent Transfers Act, or if the transfer to Trust was done within a statutory time limit called a “look-back.”
This does not mean that you will lose everything if a creditor comes after you.
Idaho does have a law called the Homestead Exemption, which allows for up to $100,000 in equity in the home you own to be free from attachment by a creditor. Additionally, a few other items of personal property are exempt up to certain dollar limits.
Without getting too far into the weeds, there are other asset protection strategies out there, i.e. using the exemptions, certain types of Trusts for specific and narrow purposes, “equity stripping”, LLCs, Limited Partnerships, Family Limited Partnerships, and good old-fashioned Prenuptial and Post Nuptial Agreements (a divorcing spouse can be a “creditor” as well).
In the end, there is a plethora of reasons to create a Trust, but protecting assets from creditors is not one of them.
If you have questions, concerns, or would like to find out how to create your Trust-based estate plan, call Justin Jeppesen at 208-562-4891 or email jjeppesen@parsonsbehle.com.
An Idaho Directive to Physicians (unfortunately labeled as a Living Will) allows you to specify what kind of life sustaining treatment should be administered or withheld if you are diagnosed with:
An irreversible condition is a condition, injury or illness that may be treated, but is never cured or eliminated, leaves a person unable to care for or make decisions for himself, and is fatal without life sustaining treatment provided in accordance with the prevailing standard of care.
As our population ages, an increasing number of people will be afflicted with age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Although irreversible, those diagnosed with these diseases can live for prolonged periods of time with treatment.
Early in the disease, a good quality of life can be maintained, but as the disease progresses, those suffering with dementia lose their ability to recognize family members, become increasingly fearful and agitated, and lose the ability to take care of themselves.
If you are diagnosed with dementia, what type of treatment would you want? Would your wishes change as the disease progresses?
Dr. Barak Gaster, an internist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, believes that most advance directives are not well-suited for diseases that progress gradually because they do not adequately account for the fact that treatment wishes may change as the disease advances. So, he worked with others to create a dementia-specific advance directive that allows those diagnosed with the disease to better express their wishes. The Health Care Directive for Dementia (pdf) provides information about the symptoms of mild, moderate, and severe dementia, and allows individuals to specify their treatment goals depending on the course of their disease. For example, someone could specify that he would like to receive all available treatment to prolong his life, including being resuscitated if his heart stops beating, if his dementia is mild, but that all care to prolong his life should be discontinued when his dementia becomes severe.
The New York Times recently featured Dr. Gaster and one of his patients in an article titled: One Day Your Mind May Fade. At Least You’ll Have a Plan.
What is an estate plan?
An estate plan is the process of setting in place a plan to manage and distribute your assets upon your death, guardianships for minor children, and planning for during life care with the use of a financial power of attorney, a health care power of attorney, and an advanced health care directive (called a living will).
We won't cover the powers of attorney in this post.
If you have never created a Will or a Trust (considered a Will alternative), you still have a default estate plan. This estate plan is not one that you have selected but an estate plan that the State of Idaho has created for you, called the laws of intestacy.
So, if you do not want the default estate plan, it is important that you take some time to think about:
who you want to administer your financial assets (personal representative or trustee);
who you want to leave assets to (inheritance),
how you want to leave assets to these selected beneficiaries (think minor aged kids, financially immature beneficiaries, or possibly at risk of substance abuse); and
if you have minor kids, who you would feel comfortable raising your children if you could not be there (guardian nomination).
Creating your estate plan starts with your desires and values, then whom you want to benefit and how the benefit you leave them, then we deal with your financial picture to make your plan meet your above goals.
To answer the above question, yes you need an estate plan. The real question is will your plan meet your desires.
You have decided that you want to create a Revocable Living Trust. Now that the big decision is out of the way, you are flooded with nagging questions you never would have considered before. A popular one is, whether putting a home into a living trust or family trust will increase property taxes.
Handled properly, it will not.
The Idaho State Tax Commission requires the county assessors in Idaho to accept the trust owned property in similar fashion as an individually owned property for tax purposes. To do so, you need file an Affidavit Regarding Residence of Trust at the same time that you file the deed to transfer your home into the trust.
The Affidavit Regarding Residence of Trust assures the county of two things: (1) that you are still living in the home, and (2) that you are the creator and current beneficiary of the trust in question.
With these assurances in place, your new trust will have zero effect of your property taxes.
Your job is to ensure that your complete living trust package includes the preparation and filing of the Affidavit Regarding Residence of Trust at the same time that the deed to transfer your home into the trust is filed.
Of course, if you have this office prepare your trust, that Affidavit is automatically included in the package. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.
When clients and I first sit down to talk about planning their estate, the clients generally comment that all they need is a Will.
This happens with some regularity, because a Will, as far as estate planning is concerned, is one of the most often talked about estate planning tool. However, that is all it is, a tool in your estate plan. A very important tool, but a Will is not a complete plan.
After asking a series of general questions and specific questions and the ensuing conversations those questions bring to light, the clients decide whether they need a Will or a Trust, and the additional documents which make up a complete estate plan.
For a Will based plan those other documents include:
A durable power of attorney for financial decisions;
A durable power of attorney for medical decisions;
If the client is a parent of minor children, a power of attorney for minor children;
A health care directive (or living will); and
A HIPAA release.
Each of these documents perform specific functions that the others cannot.
The big distinction between the above documents and a Will is that the listed documents are for your protection while you are alive, but not able to speak or act for yourself. That can be either due to incapacitation, mental illness, or in some cases disappearance. However, the Will does not carry any authority until you pass away and it has been validated in a Probate court proceeding. Because of this difference in timing, you need all documents that pertain to you to ensure a well-rounded set of protections is in place for you.
Although a Will is a great first step, and an important tool to have, it is not a complete plan.
Schedule a conversation with Justin Jeppesen to take the first step towards creating your complete estate plan! With our Complimentary Initial Consultation, we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we would love to help! Contact Justin Jeppesen of Parsons Behle and Latimer now. (208) 562-4900
So, you have just read “How Often Do I Need to Update My Will?” and you have decided that a few changes need to be addressed in your Will.
However, the changes are small and you don’t believe it requires a brand new Will.
Are there options for those in your situation? Yes. You can have your attorney draft a codicil to your Will.
A "codicil" is will-speak for an amendment to your Will. If you do not want to rewrite your entire Will, you can use a codicil to change certain provisions (or paragraphs).
The probate court will read the Will and all codicils together to determine the final intent of the deceased.
A codicil is, in essence, a mini-Will. It is prepared, signed and witnessed in the same manner as an ordinary Will; this is why I highly encourage contacting Jeppesen Law to draft your codicil. This helps to ensure that your codicil meets the same high standards as your Will, (these notes also apply to your Revocable Living Trusts as well).
Specific detail must be taken in writing your codicil to define exactly what changes need to be made in your Will. If an heir is to be removed or added, it must be clearly stated, not just hinted at. This is because the State of Idaho’s laws have protections for people believed to be “forgotten” about during the writing of a Will.
Your codicil should be kept together with your Will to assure that it will be included in the Probate process. A codicil is governed by the same rules as a Will. Therefore, if a codicil is missing, it will be presumed to have been previously revoked unless conclusively proven otherwise.
All changes to your Will must comply to the same formalities used in making a new Will. A person who simply deletes old provisions or inserts new clauses brings the validity of the Will into question.
A person can revoke his Will at any time by another Will or simply by destroying the old Will. Some states would consider the writing of the new clauses an effective revocation of the old Will, yet ineffectual in creating a new Will. So, PLEASE, do not write on your Will.
A person should never write a change on the face of a Will (this refrain includes crossing out sections). All changes to a Will should be by a valid codicil or a new Will in accordance with the requirements of the state where you live.
Given the ease with which new Wills can be created, there is no reason to risk invalidation of an existing Will by writing on it. Just prepare a new Will or a codicil.
Jeppesen Law can provide you with a comprehensive Estate Planning. With our Free Initial Consultation we help our clients explore their own situations and plan for their futures. If you have more questions, we'd love to help! Contact Jeppesen Law now. We wish you all the best. (208) 477-1785.
Creating your Will or Living Trust is a very important decision you should make. However, it is not something you can do once and forget about.
Your Will or Trust is a “snapshot” of right now. Too much life tends to happen going forward that often makes it necessary for you to periodically update your Will or Trust. An update is generally desired after the 5 to 10 year mark.
However, if nothing has changed in your life since you drafted your Will, there is usually no need to update your Will. Unless changed, once your Will is drafted, it is valid forever.
Typically, over time your needs, wants and circumstances will change. A Will created many years earlier may no longer reflect your current desires, or needs.
Another change in circumstance to consider are the laws. Since your first Will or Trust was created, the laws and other public developments may have changed or been created. These changes can have an impact on your Will. The possible changes, creation, or update in law, is not a cause for concern, but something to be aware of. This is also a good reason to work with an attorney who focuses on estate planning.
The following changes in your life should immediately cause a review of your Will:
1. A change in marital status. Marriage makes the new spouse a pretermitted heir. A divorce might not cut the ex-spouse out of the Will.
2. Children are born or adopted. State laws allow unmentioned children to claim a portion of an estate as pretermitted heirs. These children, however, might not receive under state law what the decedent would have given them.
3. Step-children. In most states, step-children of a deceased person have no rights to inherit under a step-parent's estate. Therefore, if a step-parent, or commonly, if a step-grandparent, wishes to make dispositions to a step-child, that intent must be specifically stated in a Will.
4. Estate Value. The value of the estate changes and the earlier gifts were too much, too little or there is now enough to give to others as well.
5. Death-or- Health Changes. The intended heirs, executors, guardians or trustees have died or he or she are no longer in good health to be able to carry out this role.
6. Laws. Changes in estate or inheritance tax laws that make changing the Will advisable. Also, HIPAA laws are becoming much more stringent and your Powers of Attorney should reference them. Or, have you moved from one State to another? Are the laws of the new state similar or not? Would updating your Will or Trust benefit you after a move?
7. Needs. The necessity for testamentary trusts for surviving spouse and children no longer exists.
A Will should be reviewed every few years for possible changes. Tax laws change frequently and Wills should be reviewed to ascertain their effect on the estate.
An important and very likely change in our lives is moving from one state to another. I have covered whether or not to update an out-of-state will before here. If you have recently relocated, I encourage you to read that post. However, the short version is that just moving from one state to another does not necessitate an update to your Will. There generally are other factors involved, but the move alone is not one of them.
A living will, despite its name, isn't at all like the Last Wills that people use to leave property at their death. A living will, which can also be called a directive to physicians or advance directive, is your legal document to tell your physicians your wishes for end-of-life medical care, in case you become unable to communicate your decisions. It has no power after death.
With that explanation in mind, one of the major differences between a will and a living will is the time they take effect. A Last Will and Testament has no legal authority until you've passed away, at which time it must be filed with a probate court. A living will, on the other hand, takes effect while you are still alive, but your health care situation has meet certain state requirements giving it authority. Generally, a living will does not go into effect until you are incapacitated, in Idaho, it is often because you're in a persistent vegetative state (brain dead) or your death is imminent, and you are incapable of communicating your end of life choice. Jeppesen Law recommends a living will as a useful way to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation among family members about your end-of-life treatment, if you don’t remember, please read about Ms. Terri Schiavo’s story.
The essential function of a living will is to provide instructions to your health care providers and express your preferences for treatment, which is why in some states it is referred to as an advanced healthcare directive. An advanced directive can signal whether you want to receive all possible life support treatment, including artificial respiration and intravenous feeding. Similarly, your living will can reflect the fact that you do not want to receive life support. You can also express preferences for or against other specific treatments and medical procedures.
Again, this is in sharp contrast to a regular “last will and testament,” which has no effect when the will-maker is alive but becomes legally binding at death.
An attorney whose practice focuses on Wills and Trusts should be able to tell you how much yours will cost early in the conversation. If he or she can’t or won’t give you that information early on, that is not a good sign.
Any time I have been the customer on the receiving end of a service, I don’t really care what the hourly rate of the service provider is.
I just want to know how much the whole job was going to cost.
And if I couldn’t be given a total, I would get fairly nervous.
Why shouldn’t lawyers operate similarly. We should be able to ask a series of questions and then give a firm figure to anyone who asks “how much will this cost?”
Yet almost all lawyers just shrug and tell potential clients how much per hour they charge. No wonder clients are nervous about the magnitude of their fees becoming a moving target.
Realizing my own consumer desire for knowing what the total cost will be, I began the practice of quoting fixed fees whenever possible. ***Fees located on the click through link***
Today, almost all of my work is done for a fixed fee that is specified in advance and only changes when the client desires something in addition or something else.
Sometimes jobs take less time than anticipated. Sometimes more. But overall, my years of experience result in a minimum of true surprises.
More importantly, the confidence it gives the client going into the relationship is irreplaceable.
During a phone call this past week I was asked if the state of Idaho would take all of his possessions if the caller died without a Will.
Fortunately, the answer is “probably not.” However, in the highly limited circumstance where there were no remaining blood, or adopted, relatives, then the answer is yes.
Unfortunately, even though the state of Idaho probably will npt take your property for itself, it WILL control who inherits your assets if you pass away without a Will. And, often times, you will not like who they choose as your beneficiaries.
So, if you want to determine who should receive your belongings, money, and important family items, and you don’t want Idaho to make that determination for you, it is important for you to have a Last Will and Testament prepared so that you make that call.
Additionally, making the determination of who is to serve as your Executor or Personal Representative to make sure your wishes are followed is a seemingly insignificant assignment, but more issues arise over this one issue that any other I have come into contact with. You can make this determination in your Will. If you don’t have a Will you leave your family members to squabble over who will take this role on.
If you don’t make these decisions in writing, the state will make them for you.
You may have heard that it is important to create a Will or Trust. But, you don’t think that necessarily applies to you because you are young, single, and you don’t have children.
Depending on your situation, you might not feel the need to and that’s ok. If you decide you don’t need to create a Will or Trust, you should at least understand what you are facing in order to make an informed decision.
You have a different family dynamic than everyone else. Your dynamic changes what will happen if you die without a Will or Trust, which is called Intestate Succession. The Idaho Code (our law) describes the Intestate Estate as any part of the estate of a decedent (deceased person) not effectively disposed of by a valid Will. Idaho Code 15-2-101.
So, today, I am covering a single person without children.
First, if you do not have a spouse or children, then everything you own will be divided equally between your legal parents. Mom receives half and Dad receives half. This is true even if Mom and Dad are remarried to other people. For some, this is exactly what they would wanted to have happen. For many others, that is the last thing that they would want to have happen.
With intestate succession, the main idea to remember is that your wants and wishes are disregarded. They do not have a voice. So, you may know that Dad raised you and Mom was never around. Or, Mom raised you and you met Dad once or twice in your lifetime. Does not matter one bit, Mom receives half and Dad receives half.
Sometimes Mom or Dad die before you (predecease). What happens then? Since you have no spouse or children to give gifts to, your estate will go to Mom and Dad’s children evenly.
But, you were an only child from your Mom’s side and Dad had three other children with three other women. Does not matter. Dad’s three other children will evenly split your assets.
Last scenario. Mom and Dad predecease you and they did not have any other children. Your assets are now split evenly between Mom’s parents and Dad’s parents. In this case, the chances are that most grandparents will predecease everyone previously mentioned. What happens then? Your assets will end up in the hands of your Aunts and Uncles, or their children.
If this is ok with you, maybe having a Will is not necessary for distributing your assets. Just remember, your wishes and wants do not matter in Intestate Succession.
Still, what is the point of planning if Idaho already creates a plan for you? Answer, Idaho’s plan is limited. It only covers death and assets. There is more to planning than that. I will cover that in the next blog post.
Each year I get to experience a new state with my wife for our anniversary. This being our 11th, we have visited every state that borders Idaho (we have even included a trip to Idaho in that number). This year, Arizona. What is the purpose of telling you this? We have kids and we aren’t taking them with us.
Despite my excitement about visiting a new state for our anniversary, and honestly getting some time away with just my wife, the parent and the estate planner portion of my brain goes into overdrive as the trip approaches. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I get a bit anxious travelling away from our kids, especially when both my wife and I are traveling together.
Yes, I know that the odds of being involved in a car accident are astronomically larger than being involved in a plane crash, but I still get nervous. We are taking the same flight. So, if something does happen, it will happen to both of us. And, as opposed to a car accident, the few times a plane does crash, the wreckage is much more devastating.
With flight plans out of the way (wife’s duties), I took some other steps to ensure that our kiddos will be protected our absence. If you plan to leave your children in the custody of a friend and family member this summer, doing the following things may give you some peace of mind too.
Appointment of Guardian in Case of Death or Incapacity
I have previously appointed a guardian for our sons in the case of my incapacity or death, but the original of the document is stored in my fireproof safe in my home, along with my other estate planning documents. In the state of Idaho, you MUST have a Last Will and Testament to appoint a guardian in case of death.
The guardian I selected knows where the documents are located, but she also lives in another city and the logistics accessing it in case of an emergency would be challenging. So, I made a copy of the appointment to give her, along with a reminder of where the original is located. That way, she’ll at least have a copy in case of an emergency until she can get to the original.
Designation of Power of Attorney for Care and Custody of Minor Child
It’s unpleasant to consider that our sons might require medical care while we are away, but the chance does exist. So, I prepared a Designation of Power of Attorney for Care and Custody of Minor Child giving his grandma, and alternatively my sister-in-law, permission to make any and all health care decisions related to the welfare of our sons at all times while they are in their care and custody.
If you will be leaving your children with a caregiver for a period of time, a Designation of Power of Attorney for Care and Custody of Minor Child for them will ensure that the caregiver has the authority to seek medical care for them if the need arises.
Document Listing Pertinent Information
You know your children’s doctors, dentist, orthodontist, and any medical regimen they are on, but a caregiver may not. So, it’s important to provide your caregiver this information, along with pertinent insurance information, so it is accessible if needed. Include things such as:
The name of your health insurance provider and member identification number
The name and phone number of your child’s physician
The name and number of your child’s dentist and/or orthodontist
Your name and address and a phone number where you can be reached
Any medication your child may be taking regularly, along with instructions on when the medications must be taken and the dosage.
In case of an emergency, your caregiver will have all this information in one place and will be relieved of the stress of having to find it.
And then go on your trip, relax and enjoy a much needed break! I know we will be!
Idahoans typically think of estate planning as deciding how your assets should be distributed upon your death. Although this is wholly accurate, this is not always the main concern for parents with minor children.
For us, estate planning also allows us to decide who will raise our kids if we pass away while our kids are still minors.
For many of us, this is our biggest “What If” question. What if I were to pass away, who would raise my kids? Would my family fight over them? Who can afford the extra mouths to feed? Even worse, what if no one decided they wanted to raise my children?
Unfortunately, dying is not limited to people that have lived a long and full life. It can happen to anyone, at any time. In addition to the emotional loss, many times death proves to be a major organizational and financial hurdle for the family members left behind if you do not leave a detailed plan. If you do not have a Will the state will provide one for you, which we covered in this previous blog post.
The state of Idaho will decide who will get your assets if you die without a plan. For us parents of minor kids, more importantly, if we don’t create a plan Idaho will decide who will raise your minor children. That thought can be unnerving. Think about those people who are in your family. Is there someone that you absolutely know you would trust your children with? Would a judge for the state of Idaho, who does not know you, feel the same?
Many people also have family members, who on paper, look like a perfect fit. But, we know that we would never want our kids raised by them. There can be a multitude of reasons for our decision, but if we never legally voice that opinion, our decision is disregarded. Think about that.
Here are some key talking points if you decide you want to name Guardians for your children:
1. Asking someone to be God-Parent means nothing legally without the proper documentation;
2. Consider what factors are important to you that you would like to see in your Guardians, read this article on mistakes made while naming Guardians;
3. Consider whether you like someone as a couple, or just one person as an individual as guardian. Consider how that dynamic would change if death or divorce were to occur;
4. Don’t consider financial capability of a Guardian. You will take care of that. Even if you don’t have assets, term life insurance is generally very inexpensive. Be an adult, buy it;
5. If the person(s) you want to raise your children are terrible managers of money, we can split those responsibilities up between Guardian of the child and Conservator of the child’s money, so please don’t consider financial capability of a potential Guardian;
6. Do NOT feel obligated to “give” your children to anyone because you might hurt their feelings. You will be gone and you can rest assured your children are raised by those you feel will do the best job;
7. Naming Guardians is the most effective way to stop a family feud before it arises. Families fight over children more than they fight over money;
8. If you fail to name a Guardian, anyone in the world can apply for the position;
9. If you fail to name a Guardian, anyone in the world can apply to be managers of your children’s inheritance;
10. If you fail to name a Guardian and your child is 14 years old, the judge will heavily lean on that child’s preference for Guardian (Now re-read #7, scary thought); and
11. These documents are private until you pass away. This means no one has a right to read them, so you do not have to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings.
Idaho Attorney offers a free initial consultation for Wills, Trusts, Estate Plans & Probate. Located in Meridian, but serving clients in Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Star, Nampa, Caldwell, Ada County, Canyon County, and all Counties in Idaho.
Inbound’s best law firm in the state in 2021
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Jeppesen Law, PLLC
3330 N. Meridian Rd., #150, Meridian, ID 83646
(208) 477-1785
Disclaimer: Justin Jeppesen is licensed to practice law solely in Idaho. Nothing in this website should be taken as engaging, or offering to engage, in any activities in any jurisdiction where those activities would constitute the unauthorized practice of law or would otherwise be unlawful or improper. The materials appearing on this Web site are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. You should not take action based upon this information without consulting legal counsel. This site is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon any single source of information, including advertising on this Web site.
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