The Disposition of Remains Document

WARNING, THIS POST CONTAINS VIDEO FOOTAGE OF AN EMBALMED HUMAN!

Probably not a common warning for most blog posts, but I stumbled across an interesting article that inspired me to talk briefly about one of the many tools in my belt as an estate planner: the Disposition of Remains.

This stand-alone document lives with your will, and specifies just what you want done with your body upon your death. While many of my clients default to pretty generic provisions -- cremation and then scattered by their family; burial on a family plot -- some of my clients are very directed in their dispositions: specifying what type of a funeral or wake the would want, paying for family members to travel to have their ashes scattered, and even naming a particular party planner to arrange a celebration of their life.

As creative as I've seen some of my clients' dispositions get, none of them have gone to this extreme:

You can read the full article here.

Of course, you'll want to consult with your favorite estate planning attorney to discuss just what cool things you can do with you body once you've shuffled off this mortal coil.

And please, always wear a helmet when you're riding your motorcycle. ;)

Where There's a MJ Will, There's a Way!

So, it looks as if Michael Jackson's will has been presented! It will be interesting to find out how good MJ was at keeping his affairs in order. I am left to ponder just when he last updated his estate plan.

According to the article, his mother had already petitioned to administer his estate. Here in Washington, his selection of an executor in his last will and testament would supercede his mother's petition as administrator. (An administrator is the title given to someone who is dealing with an intestate estate, or an estate where there was no will, while an executor is the title given when there was a will.) It will be interesting to see how this shakes out in the end.

So, for you occasional followers, I am not obsessed with Michael Jackson, simply a child of the 80s and therefore a student of his celebrity. I am certainly saddened by his loss, though you will not find me wailing on Hollywood Boulevard over his star. It has, nonetheless, given me some good fodder on here, so I will do my best to follow this and give you my estate attorney mpressions of what's going on!

It's Write a Will Month!

...at least it is in Tucson, Arizona, according to this article from the Arizona Daily Star. I'd argue that any month is a good month to write a will if you don't have one.

The article reiterates much of what I say to my prospective clients: "This is the biggest kindness you can do for anyone.... Even if you think you have nothing to designate to anyone, put something in writing. Give them a hand. Let them know what you would want."

My own mantra is this: You may not be 100% certain about how and what you want to leave to your friends and family. As an estate planning attorney, it is my job to help you make these decisions. I believe that, in the end, these decisions are less important than leaving to your loved ones the gift of clarity.

Charitable Giving on a Grand (and Not-So-Grand) Scale

Okay, I wanted to let all of my clients know about a great real estate opportunity in the south of England. If any of you are in the market for an English village, I'm happy to represent you in the transaction. :)

Actually, the history of this parcel of land is very interesting, and for those that don't know, much of our property law here in the states has its origin in the English feudal system. It is fascinating stuff for property geeks like me, anyway.

And, of course, I was compelled to write about the sale of this estate as it is currently owned by a charitable trust created, presumably by a will, when English cricketer Herbert Blagrave died with no heirs. While most of us don't have an estate valued at tens of millions of dollars, it is another example of how you can leave a legacy, no matter how small.

We draft all varieties of charitable trusts here at Spencer Anderson & Buhr. But even if your estate doesn't warrant the creation of its own trust, we are always happy to help you get creative when it comes to charitable planning. In fact, it is one of my favorite things to do with my clients, and I believe one of the most satisfying things you will do in your life, even if the charity or charities won't see the benefit until your legacy is realized.

Worst Case Scenarios

Okay, my short blog today is going to invite the wrath of someone who has lost a family member due to blowfish poisoning.

If you that have worked with me before, you know I believe that I have a responsibility to explain to my clients all of the worst case scenarios that can result from either not having an estate plan, or the decisions that they make while drafting one.

These typically involve such things as being hit by a bus, your spouse or partner hitting you in the head with a hammer, your spouse or partner running off to Paris with your money and a new lover while you are incapacitated due to said hammer strike, or your entire extended family perishing in a freak meteor strike on your family reunion.

Now, I think I shall add to my repertoire blowfish poisoning.

So, my best advice today: before popping down to Todai for some Fugu, check in with your attorney to make sure that you have your affairs in order. It just makes sense! :)

All I Want for Christmas...

According to an article today's Seattle Times, Nordstrom is offering some Neiman Marcus-like holiday gifts this year through its online catalog. As the article says, "Nothing says 'Happy Holidays' quite like a $15,000 ethnic-print couch or a $50,000 private session with a celebrity photographer."

You, like me, may be asking who in this economy has the spare change to throw around on items like this? I'm sure someone out there does. And for the record, if any of you are thinking about buying one of these fancy items for me, I'd rather you donated the money to Seattle's Pride Foundation, or some other worthy organization in my name. (Okay, if you insist, I'll take the custom painting by artist Ruben Toledo, but I still hope you give something to charity.)

Now, in the event that you are planning to make a gift of this size, be sure to consult with your accountant or attorney! Currently, individuals are allowed to gift no more than $12,000 per year (sorry, there is no Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa exemption) to any one person. There are, of course, a multitude of creative ways around this, and consulting your tax professional is key to make certain that you don't run afoul of IRS regulations. Oh, and by the way, we do that at my firm! :)

And hey, if you are really stuck on what to give that parent, sibling, child, or good friend for Christmas, and don't want to drop $15,000 on an armoire full of Juicy Couture, get creative and give them the gift that will benefit them for the rest of their lives: an estate plan! It may not be the most romantic present they receive this year, but I'd wager it would be the most valuable.

Planning for the Future While Reacting to the Now

It's a gorgeous morning here in Seattle, and I'm looking forward to a short Thanksgiving work week and a long weekend with friends and family. During tough times, the love and support of my families (biological and chosen) provides me solace by helping me to remember what is important in life.

Times are indeed tough. I don't know of a single friend or acquaintance who isn't feeling pinched by the contraction in the stock market, the uptick in prices (on everything!), a rough housing market, and the general uncertainty about jobs, savings, and retirement.

This morning's Seattle Times says it all: "Washington bankruptcy filings rise 40%". Attorneys at my firm have helped hundreds of families reduce or relieve their debt. It is a constitutionally-guaranteed provision that protects the citizens (and corporations) of our free nation from feeling imprisoned by their debt.

I know I am supposed to talk about estate planning & probate here. But on this beautiful Seattle morning, one of my partner's bankruptcy client's came by to drop off some documents, and I was struck by what a kind, professional, and responsible person this clients is. You would not know the client from any other professional on the street.

Bankruptcy is something that most of us see discussed in news reports, but rarely talk about with our family and friends. Like so many subjects in our society, discussion of finances with the people we care about remains largely taboo. Imagine, however, that you are watching a loved-one swim. He isn't a particularly strong swimmer and typically wades in the shallow water, feet on the bottom, so as not to put himself at risk. In spite of his best efforts, your loved-one ends up in deep water, and is struggling to stay afloat. Are you going to let him drown because you are worried that tossing him a life ring is going to embarrass him? If you know someone who is struggling, bankruptcy may be able to help him to keep his head above water.

My business is about planning; surveying your assets and deciding how to protect them and pass them on to your family, friends, or charity. I strive to build life-long relationships with my clients and their families. And while that relationship is about celebrating and planning when times are good, is also about helping to lift you up when times are bad.

My clients are smart; a lot smarter than me, anyway. But in these times I know that even some of those very smart and talented people are suffering too. If you are, my firm can help!

Don't Have an Estate Plan? You're Not Alone!

I just did an initial meeting with a nice young couple that is expecting their first child. Is there a better time to make sure your affairs are in order? Interestingly, I meet with a lot of couples that have kids in school who have never made the time to make official their desires who will take care of their kids and how if something happens to the parents.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have kids, but I have many friends and family members who do, so I understand how busy life gets when you are juggling everything else you do while at the same time raising a family. But hey, that's why you pay someone like me to take that task on!

Lawyers.com, a site owned and run by LexisNexis did a really interesting survey that showed that nearly 60% of Americans don't even have a simple will. While I am certain that some of this is due to the cost involved, the survey seems to confirm what I already suspected: a lot of people don't have estate plans because they think they don't need them, or they plain don't want to talk about death!

There's not much I can do about the latter, but let me say that most anyone can really benefit from an estate plan. I have done a fair amount of pro-bono work for the very elderly. Consistently I have found that as they approach the end of their lives, those who have very little to give to their beneficiaries are as equally concerned about where their property goes as those that have large estates. After all, who wouldn't want to be certain that their old car went to their niece, or that particular family photograph goes to their cousin?

I really believe that there is no estate too small to benefit from an estate plan. About the only time I would ever advise someone to consider skipping the estate planning process is if their goals are identical to their state's laws of intestacy (the laws that control where your property goes when you die without a will). Even in that circumstance, an estate plan will provide certainty and clarity that cannot exist without one.

The word legacy gets tossed around a lot in the realm of estate planning. I think that leaving a legacy for your kids, grandkids, partner, friends, or a charity are all very noble. In the end, however, I believe that the absolute most-important legacy you leave through an estate plan is the legacy of clarity for those you have left behind. This clarity will provide them certain answers at a time when they feel very uncertain. This is a gift that is invaluable, and not even remotely contingent upon the value of your estate.

Greetings from Downtown Seattle!

It is a nice, partly-sunny late-fall Seattle morning, and the weekend is looking pretty decent. I'm hoping that if the winds stay calm and the skies relatively dry, I can get one last weekend on the water in my 17' 1976 Bayliner Mutiny. My sister and I bought it off of my grandmother late this summer after my step-grandfather passed away in June. We've been thrilled to keep one of his prized possessions in the family, and I only hope that we are as good caretakers as he was of this 70s-bowling-alley-blue beauty.

As an estate planning and probate attorney, I've probably spent as much time on family probate matters as I have on anyone else's. I reckon that some would find this morbid or depressing. It is certainly emotional, surveying the life of someone I know well, and whose own life played a role in molding my own. That said, I am thrilled to be able to help my family, and the families of my clients, at this most profound of all moments.

Through this, I've been struck by the loose ends that are left untied, the bad feelings unaddressed, and all the little "i"s undotted and "t"s uncrossed. That's probably why I feel compelled to blog here: I want YOU to know the whys and hows of estate planning.

Yes, I get paid to draft estate plans, so in the interest of full-disclosure, I have a vested interest in you wanting to get your affairs in order. But that's not my goal here. Rather, I want to talk to you about the experiences I see my clients facing every day (in general terms of course - attorney-client privilege is extremely important to me!), the tough decisions they have to make, and the intended and unintended results of those decisions.

I supppose I should take a moment to define estate planning for those that don't know what it is. It's pretty straightforward if you break it down by its elements: Your "estate" is a broad description of all the property you own: furniture, collectibles, vehicles (and vessels!), real estate, bank accounts, stocks and bonds, and even intangible and inchoate (yet-to-be-formed) rights and interests that have real value. The "planning" portion is deciding how you want to manage that property while you are alive, and where and how it passes to your heirs and/or other beneficiaries when you die. This may also be referred to as asset protection, generational planning, etc.

The most simple of my estate plans consist of a will and disposition of remains, powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, and a health care directive, which is also known as a "living will" or "directive to physicians". More complex estate plans include living (a.k.a. inter-vivos) trusts (a trust created during your life), testamentary trusts (a trust created upon your death), pre-nuptial or domestic partnership agreements, and community property agreements. The most complex estate plans will include many or all of these aforementioned planning vehicles, as well as tax-planning trusts (of both the inter-vivos and testamentary nature), and family companies. Of course, you can see a list of the kind of work I typically do on estate plans on my firm's web site at www.spenceranderson.com/estate-planning.htm.

Sorry, I know that's a lot of information, but it is a good basis to help you understand just what it is that I do, and what it is that I am going to talk about here. Yes, of course, I will try to pepper this with some other fun tidbits of information, and I suspect that you will see me venture outside of the estate planning arena just a little when I talk about emerging property rights issues, family law, and small business matters, all of which tie back to my main practice area of estate planning and probate.

So there it is, my introduction. I hope you find this blog occasionally helpful and more occasionally interesting. I invite you to email with questions, thoughts, feedback, etc. Respectful disagreement is absolutely fine, just be nice!

Thanks for reading, and I'll post more soon.