Legacy Assurance Plan - Estate Planning for Your Treasured Collectibles

Legacy Assurance Plan - In 2012, the New York Times published an article that mentioned a Georgia woman named Sandy Paschal and her collection of "Department 56" holiday villages. While the name "Department 56" may conjure to mind your mother or grandmother's collection of Snow Village pieces she dusts off and displays every year at Christmas time, Paschal's menagerie was something much more. It numbered thousands of pieces and had an appraised value in excess of $100,000. Many people today possess collections, ranging from coins to baseball cards to comic books to model trains to vintage dolls. Whether your collection has a large monetary value like Paschal's or holds much more worth in terms of sentimental value than dollar value, you probably care about what happens to your collection after you die. Creating an estate plan and including your collection in your plan is a great way to help ensure your goals for your collection are met.

As a starting point, it may help to know how much your collection is worth. Given that some individual stamps, coins, comic books, baseball cards and "Star Wars" figurines are worth thousands of dollars, your collection, especially if you've had it a long time and taken great care of your pieces, could hold more monetary value than you'd think. This is important for multiple reasons. For example, if you have a coin collection that turns out to be worth $25,000, and you have a specific loved one you wish to receive it, you may want to factor that $25,000 figure in when you decide how much to leave that person (and your other loved ones.) Also, if you consider giving that collection to your preferred recipient during your lifetime, there are tax implications of doing this that you should take into consideration before you transfer the collection's ownership.

Regardless of whether your collection is worth $100 or $100,000, you likely cherish it very much and want it to pass to someone who will enjoy it as much as you have. You may have a child whom you love and trust and definitely desire to include in the distribution of your wealth, but whom you anticipate would take you beloved collection and immediately put it on ebay, donate it to a thrift store or simply unload everything in a yard sale. There are ways to plan to avoid that outcome. One way is to sell the collection yourself. By selling the collection in your lifetime, you control the way in which the collection is offered for sale, and vastly increase the odds that the person who receives the collection is a like-minded collector who will appreciate the collection for more than just its dollar figure. Similarly, giving your collection away during your lifetime also allows you to assert some greater control over who receives your collection.

If you decide to hold your collection until your death, it is very important that you make sure your estate planning documents are sufficiently specific so that your loved ones know how how to handle your collection. Things like china or collectible figures generally do not have ownership documents and, in the abstract, would be considered to be just another part of your household effects. So, if you don't want your 19th Century china collection and your Department 56 villages lumped in with the dishes and the knick knacks you bought at Target last year, your plan documents need to say so in clear detail. If you have an estate plan that includes a revocable living trust, your trust has a place (often labelled as "Schedule A") that can help you in doing this. You can specifically list things like your Cabbage Patch dolls or your collection of Lionel trains or your vintage Louis Vuitton handbags as assets that you are expressly funding into your trust using your Schedule A. Then, in the section of your trust that spells out the details of the distribution of your trust's assets, you can state exactly what you want to happen to each of those collectibles.

Summary: One of the great benefits of estate planning is control. If you are someone who possesses a cherished collection, that control may be particularly important to you. Through proper planning, you can make sure that the person who owns your collection after you is someone who will appreciate it as much as you have. If you have an estate plan with a revocable living trust, you can control the distribution of your collectibles by funding them into your trust using Schedule A and then providing detailed distribution instructions in the asset distribution section of your trust. 

New Laws May Put a New Spin on Your Estate Plan | Legacy Assurancec Plan

There are lots of reasons to consider getting an estate plan "check-up" in the first quarter of a new year. People use the changing calendar to engage in many resolutions, including ones related to getting organized and better caring for themselves and their loved ones. And, what better way to get organized and to best care for yourself and your loved ones than to ensure that your estate plan is still in tip-top shape, right? This is all definitely true, but there is also another reason to use the early months of a new year to get an estate plan review: changes in the law. January 1 is a common date for new statutes to take effect, and some of those statutes may offer you new estate planning opportunities.

Many aspects of the law have changed recently as a reflection of changing culture. Same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. This matters in many ways, including estate planning. As author Angela D. Giampolo recently pointed out in The Legal Intelligencer: "There are 1,138 identified federal statutes in which marital status is a factor in receiving federal benefits, rights and privileges." Another legal shift that has followed a cultural shift is that more and more states' laws are catching up to the modern relationship that many people have with their households pets, where the pet is seen less as merely a piece of property and more as a beloved and vital part of the family. Pet trusts and estate planning for pets are recognized in more states than ever before.

Other legal changes have taken place independent of any social/cutlural shifts. The number of states that recognize transfer-on-death (TOD) deeds, for example, has nearly doubled in the last few years. That's because, in 2009, a group called the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws drafted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. This spurred many states into action. Just over a dozen states recognized TOD deeds in 2009. Today, two dozen states plus D.C. have laws giving these deeds recognition.

In addition to these changes, there are also the alterations that take place after each legislative session. Each state's legislative body considers numerous bills every session, and passes many of them. Some of those relate to estate planning. These changes may require your plan to undergo no changes. But, sometimes, the changes in the law do dictate that you should consider altering your plan. These alterations may be needed to take advantage of new opportunities and benefits that have only now come available thanks to the new changes in the law. On the other hand, your plan may need changes to avoid new pitfalls that the changed laws have created for plans like yours.  

It's somewhat like income taxes. Each year, there are new changes to the laws and regulations governing income tax returns. Sometimes, they're big. Other times, they're very small. Regardless, you want to make sure that your accountant or tax preparer is creating your return using the latest rules. The same goes for estate planning. A thorough "check-up" can make sure that your plan has been analyzed, and optimized, for the current state of law. 

Summary: There are lots of reasons to consider an estate plan review each year. In addition to taking the opportunity to review any life-event changes you've experienced, an annual plan review can make sure that your plan is optimized for any changes that have taken place in the law. New laws may have opened doors to new opportunities, or trap doors to new pitfalls. A thorough review can make sure that your plan is working at its best in light of any new estate planning laws your state may have. 

5 Common Mistakes When It Comes to Estate Planning - Legacy Assurance Plan

As with any area knowledge, estate planning is something that may seem very mysterious or overwhelming to some. For others, they may think they know about estate planning, but as the old quote from English essayist Alexander Pope says, "a little learning is a dangerous thing." In order to make informed decisions about your estate plan, it helps to know what is truth, what is misconception and what is myth. With that in mind, here is a group of five erroneous thoughts people have about estate planning, and why they can be dangerous.

(1) I don't have enough wealth to justify creating an estate plan. Experts universally agree that, regardless of the size of your estate, you should create an estate plan. Even if you have only modest wealth, chances are that you care about the legacy you'll leave behind and who receives your assets. If you don't create a plan, the state makes one up for you and the distribution plan your state creates probably won't match your wishes. Additionally, a thorough estate plan does a lot more than just distribute your assets. It also can enhance your control regarding who manages the affairs of your estate after you die, who would make decisions for you if you became incapacitated and who takes over as the guardian of your minor or special-needs children.

(2) I already have a will, so my estate plan is set. Not necessarily. A will is an integral part of any estate plan, but a will by itself is rarely enough. Your will allows you to dictate directions regarding the distribution of your assets, but it does provide you any assistance regarding who acts on your behalf if you were alive but unable to make decisions for yourself. A complete estate plan would, in addition to a will, also include a financial power of attorney that allows you to designate an agent who would step in to manage your finances when you're unable, as well as documents that would allow a person of your chooisng to make decisions for you regarding personal, healthcare and end-of-life choices.

(3) Living trusts are only for the very rich. Not true. While it is true that living trusts can offer certain tax-related benefits to people with large estates, they also provide advantages that people with any size estate can receive. Properly created and maintained, they avoid probate. This has the potential to save your family time and money distributing your wealth after your die. Also, probate administrations matters are public in most states, while the process of wrapping up a living trusts is typically carried out without the creation of any public records. So, if you're concerned about privacy, this can be a substantial benefit.

(4) I created a plan with all of those documents. They're signed, notarized and safely stored. I'm all finished. Also not true. Your estate plan is similar to your car, your home or your health. They need regular care and maintenance. A periodic analysis, or check-up, can ensure that the plan you executed is still in optimal condition. Maybe something in your life has changed. Maybe the law has changed. Or maybe you just changed your mind about something. A periodic review can make sure that your plan meets your goals as they stand today.

(5) Anyone can create an estate plan. This is a mistake, too. You may have found a form book at a library or an office supply store. Or maybe it was a page on the Internet. Those documents were probably drafted by capable professionals, but they may not have been lawyers from your state, and they definitely weren't created based upon a personal consultation with you. The best estate plans are those whose documents are customized based upon the unique estate planning laws of your state of residence and the specific parameters of your desires and objectives. Also, be careful about picking just any lawyer. You probably wouldn't want an expert in patent law to defend you in a murder trial and you also probably wouldn't choose a mergers-and-acquisitions attorney to handle your child custody case. Similarly, an attorney from your home state who deals regularly with estate planning cases can offer you advice, insight and strategies that other lawyers might not have.

Summary: People have lots of things they think they know about estate planning. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're a bit off-base and sometimes they're wrong. By educating yourself, you can learn why experts universally agree that everyone needs an estate plan, as well as how to move pro-actively to ensure you get the best plan possible for you.