Blog, Estate
Can You “Litigation-Proof” Your Estate Plan?
Clients often recite horror stories of estate litigation, asking that a clause be included into their estate planning document to prevent issues in their own estate. A clause such as, “I have attempted to provide fairly for members of my family by this my Last Will and Testament. If any action shall be taken by a beneficiary in a court to contest or set aside my Will, any beneficial interest of that person under my Will shall be forfeited,” sounds intimidating, but if you reside in Indiana such a clause is not legally binding as Indiana does not recognize such “in terrorem” clauses. Thus, a beneficiary may contest a will or trust without jeopardizing his or her interest in the will or trust. How can you then be assured that your estate will not be the subject of litigation? The easy answer – you can’t; however, steps can be taken to reduce the chance of litigation. Listed below are a few common scenarios that raise red flags for possible litigation and possible steps to be taken to minimize the risk: Is one child treated differently than his or her siblings? Often estate litigation can be avoided by treating people of the same degree of relationship equally. However, trouble may not be avoided if you distribute your personal property equally to your children without specific direction as to who inherits the silver, the china, the jewelry and other personal property. Countless fights among children of decedents occur over the distribution of personal property. Childhood memories and long…
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Beneficiary Designations – A Critical Element Of Estate Planning
The unintended transfer of an asset by an out of date beneficiary designation is one reason why a regular review of an estate plan is critical. In the last three to five years have you experienced any of the following: change in your job, loss of a loved one, changed ownership at your financial institution, a new addition to your family, or had a loved one become disabled? If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, have you also reviewed the beneficiary designation on your employer sponsored plan, IRA, life insurance policies, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, annuities and 529 plans as a part of your estate plan? Beneficiary designations must be updated to reflect your current estate plan. You may have created an unintended estate plan by failing to review your existing beneficiary designation on any one or more of the aforementioned assets after such a change because a beneficiary designation supersedes any instruction left in a Last Will and Testament. A will reflects the testator’s wishes with respect to probate assets, but assets such as life insurance and retirement accounts are generally non-probate assets because they are contractual and controlled by the beneficiary designation rather than by the testator’s will. For example, if you changed jobs and rolled over a retirement plan to a new employer’s plan or IRA, did you review and update the beneficiary designation on the new plan and/or IRA? Failing to do so may have unintended estate planning and tax consequences. If a beneficiary is not designated on the…
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High Stakes Testing – Extended Time Testing Under the ADA
More and more test takers or candidates, particularly those taking high stakes licensure examinations in medicine, law or other professions, argue that they are disabled under the ADA and request additional time to complete the examination. A candidate has every incentive to maximize the score on a standardized examination in a very competitive environment as is often used by medical residency programs or law school admission offices. Are the requestors (1) disabled and therefore legitimate, (2) simply suffering “test anxiety” that most of us experience to some degree, or (3) is the test taker consciously attempting to obtain an advantage over other examinees? When is extended time an appropriate accommodation under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act? Find out: Article: Extended-Time Testing Accommodations Under ADA?
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