Portland Oregon Legal Planning News
From time to time, I get a call from an old or prospective client who wants to know what to do now that they have run into a lot of money, either through receiving higher income or through receiving a large lump sum due to inheritance, lawsuit win, or other event. There are several key areas to keep in mind, but the overall rule is to call your estate planning lawyer and accountant right away.
Read MoreEveryone who has any assets (like a home or a retirement account or a business) has probably heard about Revocable Livings Trusts and wondered whether they need to set one up. At my office in Portland, Oregon, the main estate planning tool that I use to help my clients is a Revocable Living Trust. There are many reasons why so many of my clients choose to plan their estates with a Revocable Living Trust, rather than with a Will-based plan. Here are some of those reasons.
Read MoreAnother day, another celebrity estate plan gone wrong (maybe). Chris Cornell, the musician known for being the frontman of Soundgarden and Audioslave, died over two years ago, but his estate is back in the news because his daughter filed a claim to receive funds from the estate.
Read MoreAs we all know, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, died last August, and appeared to have died without an estate plan in place to determine the distribution of her $25 million estate. Her estate was back in the news recently because her son filed to take over as executor after three handwritten wills were found. Of course, we all wonder why rich people so frequently die without a proper estate plan in place, but there are lessons here for regular people like you and me, as well. Here are a few that popped up for me just reading the recent news.
Read MoreCandice was interviewed on the Do the Damn Thing podcast to talk about the #1 thing that the podcast listeners reported that they were putting off: Estate Planning.
On the episode, Candice talks about the 3 documents that everyone over 18 should have in place, the additional documents that all parents should have in place, whether you should DIY your estate plan, why people put off estate planning, how to get started on estate planning, and so much more.
Read MoreIntroducing the Roots + Wings Legal Podcast, hosted by Aiston Law LLC and Portland, Oregon Attorney Candice Aiston. In our inaugural episode, we talk with Anne Tegtmeier, owner of Fan Fare: Theme Catering, about what life looks like when a parent develops dementia and is seduced by scammers. It happened to Anne while she was starting her company and raising her young daughter Lily, as a single parent.
Read MoreMany years ago, I read a story about a family who was in a car wreck while on vacation in another state. The parents were killed, but all of the children survived and since the parents did not have an estate plan, the kids were put through a long, traumatizing court process. They were in foster care for 18 months before the guardian was appointed and could take them home. It was up to the state to approve medical treatments for the kids. Thousands of dollars were spent on legal fees. The youngest child had been 18 months old at the time of the car wreck, and he was three years old when he finally went home with the guardian.
The case really shook me, especially because at the time, my youngest was only two years old, and imagining that scenario was terrifying. It had a huge impact on the way I did planning for my clients. I have always started from facing the worst possible scenarios that could happen, and then planning to avoid any bad legal outcome that we could identify.
Read MoreWhen you are facing divorce, estate planning is an important part of that. In a perfect world, a divorcing couple will be able to come to some agreements on guardians and other topics involving the kids. If not, parents should still create their own estate plans to reflect their wishes.
There are a myriad of estate planning goals a divorcing or divorced person might have: to name people you know and trust to make important decisions for you if you are not able to do so; to protect your assets from being lost to remarriage of either party; to protect your assets from being lost to creditors of your ex-spouse or other factors you have no control over; to name guardians in the event both ex-spouses are incapacitated or die; to ensure that if one parent dies or is incapacitated, that person’s family still has visitation with the children.
Read MoreThe Holidays are hectic, but it’s always a good idea to pause and make plans for the coming year. If you’re a parent, make 2019 the year that you get your legal and financial house in order.
If you are reading this, you probably feel similarly to the way that I do about parenting: It is serious business, and it is our responsibility to provide the best care possible for our kids and to make sure they are protected and that they have every opportunity to succeed in life. If we can toast to that, I want to share with you 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Parents that you should give to your family. If you have not given these to your family yet, there is no time like the New Year to get started.
Read MoreI have a math problem for you: If 70% of Americans don’t have any estate planning done, and if 50% of marriages end in divorce, and if men statistically remarry 2 years after their spouse dies or they divorce, and if women statistically remarry 5 years after their spouse dies or they divorce, and if most married couples own their property jointly, how likely are parents to accidentally disinherit their kids? I don’t have an exact number for you, but the answer is: VERY likely.
Many parents consider the possibility of protecting their kids’ inheritance from evil family members, but few consider the possibility that their kids may lose their inheritance simply due to a lack of proper planning. In a word: A will is not enough.
Read MoreThanksgiving week is such a great time to reflect on family and the legacy we wish to leave for them and for the communities and the world that made this life possible for us.
A legacy is so personal. Everyone has different ideas about the kind of legacy they wish to leave. Some people want their legacy to involve charitable work. Some want their legacy to involve personal achievement, such as writing a book or qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon. Some people just want to be the best mother, father, or friend that they can be—the bow to their arrows. All of these ideas about what constitutes a legacy are legitimate.
Read MoreProbate is a court process that takes place after a person dies. The purpose of the process is to legally transfer assets that are in the deceased person’s name to whomever the beneficiaries of the estate are. In Oregon, your estate will need to go through a probate process if you die owning real property with a market value worth over $200K, and/or if you own personal property worth over $75K. This applies even if you have a will. Your will simply tells the probate court where to direct your assets after you die.
Most people who don’t want their estate to go through probate set up a revocable living trust to hold their assets. That way, when they die (or if they are incapacitated), they don’t actually own any assets that need to be transferred—the trust does, and the trust agreement tells the trustee what to do with the assets.
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![The #1 Thing You Are Putting Off: Estate Planning [Do the Damn Thing podcast, with guest Candice Aiston]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5adbadb13e2d0910618f2439/1559516018635-5L6LQH25JKF2M07QYKJP/Untitled+design-36.png)
