Many people assign beneficiary designations to their assets over the years and then forget about it.  I have seen beneficiary designations that name an ex-spouse or deceased family member with no contingent beneficiary named.  Bottom line is, the beneficiary designations that are indicated on your assets may not work the way you intended.

If your goal is to avoid probate, a transfer on death, or beneficiary designation will accomplish that goal.

However, if you become incapacitated and have not executed a valid power of attorney which includes the ability to access your various types of account, then no one will be able to access your accounts for your needs. 

A valid power of attorney will allow the named agent to access the funds for your benefit to pay for care, rehabilitation, medical needs, etc. Conversely, the named beneficiary has no right to the funds until you have passed away and a death certificate has been issued.  Issuance of a death certificate can take several days/weeks.  Any costs related to your needs, including your end of life issues like burial, medical, etc. may have to be paid by someone else if your loved ones have no access to your accounts. 

Alternatively, execution of a trust and titling of your assets to that trust will allow your named Successor Trustee to access your accounts when you pass away or if you should become incapacitated.

In order to cover all situations, it may be necessary to execute a power of attorney and a trust.

I talk to people every week that have hit a wall when working to assist loved ones because there are no documents in place,  the documents in place are not executed properly,  or do not contain the necessary language.

Seeking the counsel of an experienced Estate Planning attorney is essential.  The online forms do not offer the level of customization, counseling, and expertise you receive from an attorney that meets with you in person and performs a full interview regarding your specific needs.

If you have questions or would like to meet with me please visit my website at, CJ@CjWattersLaw.com , call my office at 916-225-3570, or e-mail me at cj@cjwatterslaw.com.

Proper planning is a gift to your loved ones that will be one of the best gifts they will ever receive. 

While nobody wants to think about death or disability, establishing an estate plan is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones.  Proper estate planning not only puts you in charge of your finances, it can also spare your loved ones the expense, delay and frustration associated with managing your affairs when you pass away or become disabled.  What Estate Planning does not control is the succession of a business. Many people want to assure the business they worked so hard to build will continue to grow and prosper after their death.  While this may seem like the American dream, it can be disastrous unless a good business succession plan is in place, expectations carefully outlined, and good choices made when appointing the future decision makers.

A Business Exit Strategy Specialist can help forecast issues and assist with implementing a plan to avoid as many issues as possible.  The books below will give business owners some ideas of what can go wrong and how to assure things go right.

Ruling From the Grave is not always a good idea.  


Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business:  Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins That Destroy Family Businesses

-   Quentin J. Fleming, Author

Family businesses epitomize the best of the American Dream: you work hard, you're your own boss, you leave a lasting legacy to your children -- or do you? Statistics show that only 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation, and a paltry 10% survive to the third generation. Family businesses are in trouble, and their survival is crucial to us all. Their success ensures our country's success -- and their failure can drastically affect our economic health. 
In Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business, family business expert Quentin Fleming has identified the Seven Deadly Sins that are invariably responsible for a family business's demise. Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business presents practical and accessible advice geared toward the average family business owner or employee and is an invaluable tool for helping family businesses not only survive but thrive.


Family Wars – The Real Stories behind the Most Famous Family Business Feuds

-    Grant Gordon & Nigel Nicolson, Authors

Many of the world's greatest businesses are family owned, and with this comes the threat of family feuding, sibling rivalries, and petty jealousies. Family Wars takes readers behind the scenes on a rollercoaster ride through the ups and downs of some of the biggest family-run companies in the world, showing how family in-fighting has threatened to bring about their downfall. Covering families such as Ford, Gucci, McCain, Guinness, Gallo, and Redstone, Family Wars is an astonishing expose of the way families do business and how family in-fighting can threaten to blow a business apart. Whether it's Brent Redstone's court case with his father and sister or the family feud over Henry Ford's $350 million trust fund, the book reveals the origins, the extent, and finally the resolution of some of the most famous family feuds in recent history. Family Wars also provides valuable advice for anyone involved in a family business, offering suggestions on how to avoid such problems.


Perpetuating the Family Business: 50 Lessons Learned from Long Lasting, Successful Families in Business

-    John L Ward, Author

John L. Ward, a leading world expert on family business, offers the best practices of the most successful and long-lasting families in business, including Ford Motors, Marriott Hotels, Levi-Strauss, and the New York Times. He provides a framework of five insights and four principles in which to position his fifty "lessons learned" for family business longevity. This is a comprehensive book on sustaining family businesses that contains international examples, cases, essential tools, and checklists of best practices; a how-to every entrepreneur should have.

For more information contact The Law Offices of Colleen J. Watters at  cj@cjwatterslaw.com

In my experience, many business owners have not included language in their Business Succession Plan to address the needs of the business should the owner(s) become incapacitated or pass away. 

If the business formation is a sole proprietorship and the owner utilizes Schedule C for tax purposes, simply listing the business on the Schedule A of their Trust can be sufficient.   If the business is valuable, then a discussion regarding business entity formation is important, and assigning the business to the owner’s trust may be appropriate.  
 
Planning techniques are likely to have transfer tax considerations that must be evaluated by an attorney and a CPA.  Changes in tax laws, as well as the business owner’s estate value, may require ongoing reevaluation and potential adjustments to the plan by outside advisors.

As the “baby boom” ages, understanding a variety of approaches to planning for business exits and succession planning will grow in importance.  Approaching these strategies as a process and integrating a team of legal, tax, accounting, insurance, and financial professionals may help tax and legal professionals address the multitude of situations their clients may face.

When a business owner wants to pass his or her business on to children, they should be certain the children want to continue to operate the business before gifting it to them.

How children relate must be considered as well.  If children a business owner’s children cannot work amicably, a business may not be the proper forum to attempt to force them to work together. Family behaviors and personalities can be an important part of this decision that organizational psychologists and other management professionals specialize in consulting with people regarding business family dynamics and succession planning.

Whether the next generation wants to be involved in the business and whether they will treat the business as a “sandbox” to play in or a “golden goose” to be nurtured and valued must be considered before the decision to pass on a business is made.