LGBTQ PRIDE MONTH
Goldfarb & Luu
We make estate planning & elder law everything you always thought it wasn't: simple, accessible, and enjoyable.
In honor of pride month, we will be sharing weekly estate planning tips and info that is specific to our LGBTQ community...?
LGBTQ PRIDE MONTH
June is LGBTQ Pride Month, and whether you are just starting out as a couple or approaching a golden anniversary, you have every reason to be proud. You have fought for numerous rights and succeeded on many levels, including the right to marry.
Celebrate your union in June by tackling another – often overlooked – milestone as a couple: your estate plan.
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If you are young and still building financial resources, it’s a mental leap to imagine you will ever have assets or be “old enough” to need an estate plan. This is a common misconception and even people who are “old” still do not have estate plans.
Rest assured, over time you will acquire “stuff” in addition to valuable personal property such as jewelry, collections or heirlooms. You will create a savings plan, invest in real estate, start an IRA or 401k or maybe inherit from loved ones. Stuff has a way of accumulating, as we all know. In this way, sometimes without even noticing, you become an estate holder. But estate plans are so much more than “who gets your stuff” when you pass away! (Read on and we will explain.)
If you are a couple that has been together forever, you may have accumulated many possessions in your life together. You may have even started an estate plan, maybe you have a Will or even some notes written on the famous dinner napkin (called a Holographic Will). Regardless, we urge you to read on. You may not be as protected as you think. (In fact, out of all of the existing plans we see, over 95% of them have fatal flaw).
ESTATE PLANNING MYTHS
Estate plans are not only for the elderly and wealthy. Everyone over 18 years old needs some level of estate planning whether you have assets or not! It’s true that the more assets you have or if you have children, the more critical it is to have a comprehensive and updated estate plan. However, every adult needs to be protected should the unthinkable happen.
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Many people (whether LGBTQ or not) never create an estate plan because they buy into several other abiding myths. Below are a few misconceptions that keep people from planning ahead:
? I have very few assets, and do not need an estate plan? (WRONG!)
? I am married, won’t my spouse automatically be able to handle everything? (NOPE!)
? I have kids, won’t they just automatically get my stuff? (Not necessarily and do you really want them to inherit everything at 18, should you die unexpectedly? HOPE NOT!)
? I am not going to become incapacitated and I’m going to live forever. (It’s human nature to ignore the fact that 50% of those over 80 will get dementia and need care and one day we will all die).
Here are a few additional things to consider:
? Who wants to think of incapacity or death? No one, until something tragic happens and then it’s too late!
? If you have a special needs person in your life, do you want to mess up their public benefits by leaving them a gift? Of course not!
? If you have someone close to you but you are not married, will he/she inherit from you? Not without the proper legal documents in order BUT a distant 3rdcousin you don’t like may inherit everything!
? Do you want to waste tens of thousands of dollars on Conservatorship and/or Probate? If not, you need a Trust!
An estate plan is a way to memorialize your wishes into a set of legal documents so they can be honored in the event of mental incapacity or death. The two main components to an estate plan are: (1) planning for how you want to be cared for and (2) what to do with your stuff.?
Stay tuned for next week’s post…
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