Tag Archives: executor

Should Alan Thicke’s widow or sons inherit his estate?

Alan Thicke died on December 13, 2016. His two older sons, who are co-executor’s of their dad’s living trust, have filed a petition in court to get instructions on how his 1988 trust (amended last year) and a 2005 prenup signed by him and his third wife, Tanya Callau should be considered. Basically, what’s in question is what’s separate property, what’s community property, and how it should be split among the co-executors and their third brother and Callau.

“It’s a question of what Alan wanted, and we’re just attempting to honor his intentions and enforce his trust,” says Alex Weingarten, the litigator representing Thicke’s sons. “It was Alan’s money; it was Alan’s career; it was Alan’s talent; he had the right to decide what would happen to it upon his passing.”

The prenup, attached to the court petition, shows that before the couple built a life together, with Callau helping to raise Thicke’s youngest son, Carter, they came into the marriage with vastly different resources. Thicke listed his net worth as $14 million at the time. By contrast, Callau, a model, listed a $40,000 ring as her sole asset, and $3,700 in debts.

According to the article in Forbes, one big issue in the estate dispute is the division of the $3.5 million Carpenteria, Calif. ranch which Thicke listed as separate property in the prenup but the couple called home. The prenup says Thicke was to name Callau as beneficiary in his will to get 25% of his net estate, including a 5-acre parcel split of the property, but the trust doesn’t give her any part of it, just the right to live there so long as she pays 100% of expenses.

Unfortunately, these disputes between later spouses and kids from earlier marriages are common. There are so many lessons in these battles. One—As circumstances change, know that a prenup can be revoked by both parties, or amended by a postnup. You need good advice—separate advisors for each party– from both a divorce lawyer and an estate lawyer in either case.

For more information about estate planning, go to www.diesmart.com.

Are your digital assets in your estate plan?

Much of our life lives online these days. Email is just the beginning. Do you have a Facebook account? What about PayPal? How about an online bank account?

If you don’t include information about those digital assets in your estate plan, your family may have a terrible problem trying to access and deal with your online accounts. First of all, they will have to figure out what they are and then they will need to find a way to access them.

If your executor can’t track down your accounts, your estate may be at risk for fraud. For example, your Amazon account is probably hooked up to a credit card. If the account isn’t closed after your death, someone may hack it and make purchases which will have to be paid for by your estate.

Putting your digital assets in your estate plan is not a very simple matter. Each of the accounts you hold is governed by a terms of service agreement. You must have clicked on it when you opened the account. The agreement may limit access to the account to just you. To complicate things further, your family member will need your password for access. But it may be illegal for them to use that password. After your death, they will have to show that they have a right to access the account…but may still be unable legally to do so.

22 states have already enacted laws to help clarify how online accounts of the deceased can be accessed and managed. These laws are based on the revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act – UFADAA. And several more have introduced bills into their legislature.

There are some restrictions that are intended to protect the privacy of the deceased. For example, an executor can manage the digital property but may not be allowed to read the contents of email messages.

There are three parts to the revised UFADAA act:

1) If a service provider offers an online way for the user to state post-death wishes, the account owner’s use of that path determines what happens to the account. An example is Google’s Inactive Account Manager.

2) If there is no way provided after the account owner’s death or the account owner doesn’t use any tool available, the account owner’s directions in a will or other legal document will stand.

3) If the first two parts do not apply, the terms of service agreement that was clicked on when the account was open will determine how the digital assets are handled.

Other things you can do to be prepared are:

1) Create a list of your electronic accounts and include your log on IDs and passwords.

2) Use a password manager tool such as LastPass and share the information with your executor.

3) Think about putting all of your estate documents into an online vault like Dropbox or Everplans.

4) Put your digital asset plan into your estate documents. The more specific you can be, the better.

5) Think about writing a statement of intent in general that can apply to all of your accounts, even ones you may have forgotten about when writing your list in #1.

6) Decide and spell out clearly what information you want your executor to have access to. Do you want her to read all of your emails? You might want to limit what she can see.

7) Pick your executor carefully and make sure that person is at least somewhat tech savvy.

For more information about digital assets and estate planning, check out our website http://www.diesmart.com.

Credit card debt after death – what you need to know

It’s often incredibly difficult to cope with the death of a loved one. A creditor knocking on your door makes it even more difficult.

Can a creditor collect a credit card debt owed by your deceased parent or spouse?

There is not one simple answer to this important question. There are many factors to be considered. Here are 10 questions and answers to help you understand what may happen.

Are family, friends or heirs responsible for your debts?
When you take out a credit card in your name, you’re agreeing to repay whatever you borrow. That obligation usually doesn’t extend to anyone else. The only exception is if you had a joint account holder. That person would be responsible for all debt incurred through use of that credit card, even if the debt was not run up by that joint account holder.
Direct creditors to the executor.
When you die, your obligations will transfer from you to your estate. The executor of your estate will be responsible for handling all of your estate’s financial issues, including your debts. If a family member gets a call about a debt and isn’t the executor, he or she should direct the caller to the executor and tell that person not to call again.

Notify creditors and the credit bureaus.
The executor should notify any known creditors as soon as possible about the death. They should also notify the three main credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – and request that the accounts should be flagged “Deceased: Do not issue credit”. This will help prevent a very common problem – identity theft of the deceased.

The executor should also request a copy of the deceased’s credit report. This will help him to identify any outstanding debts.

Find out who’s responsible.
As previously mentioned, people who request credit together are equally responsible for the total debt. The same is true with a co-signer of a loan, who by cosigning is guaranteeing the debt of the borrower.

Authorized signers on credit card accounts, however, aren’t liable. They didn’t originally apply for the credit; they were just allowed to ”piggyback” on the account of the person who did.
Stop using credit card accounts.
If you’re an authorized user on a credit card account, you shouldn’t use the card after the main cardholder dies. Because you’re not liable for the debt, this could be considered fraud.

A surviving spouse can request a card in his or her own name. However, it will most likely be a new card application, based on the survivor’s credit history, income, etc.
Don’t split up all of the belongings yet.
Nothing should be distributed until after the estate has settled its debts. If there’s not enough money in the estate to pay those debts and belonging have been distributed, the heirs could become responsible for those debts.

Ask creditors for help.
If a surviving spouse is a joint account holder and is having trouble paying the bills, he or she may be able to work something out with the creditors. He or she may be given time to get organized or to come up with the needed money.

Community property states are different.
If you live in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and, if you choose it, Alaska) one spouse can be liable for the debts of the other, even if they didn’t agree to them or even know about them. In these states, the surviving spouse will most likely be responsible for any credit card debts.
If an estate can’t pay, the lenders lose.
If the estate has more debts than assets to pay them, creditors may be forced to write off those debts.
When in doubt, contact an attorney.
Figuring out what to do about estate debts can be complicated so you might want to contact a probate attorney for help.

For more information about identity theft of the deceased or how to settle an estate, check out our website, www.diesmart.com
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Do I Really Need a Will?

Yes, you do. A will is a legal document which ensures that your property is transferred according to your wishes after your death.

If you don’t have a will, here are five things that can happen. We found this list at nerdwallet.com.

Spendthrift heirs – If you have heirs who aren’t equipped to handle a large sum of money, receiving it may cause damage. Perhaps these heirs are bad at handling money or, maybe, they’re drug or alcohol addicts.
Unexpected or contested heirs – There may be confusion about who the beneficiaries really are. Sonny Bono, musician and politician, died without a will. His ex-wife, Cher, and a man who said he was Bono’s son tried to claim part of his estate, which his wife, Mary, contested in court. Prince’s estate is another classic example. Many people came out of the woodwork claiming to be relatives, entitled to a piece of his assets.
Property (and probate) in multiple states – If you own property in more than one state, your estate will have to go thru the probate process more than one. Probate is a costly and timely process, even if you just go through it once. Image if you own property in four states and your heirs have to hire four attorneys and go through the whole process four times.
Fabricated wills – If you don’t have a real will in place, it’s possible for someone to create a fake one – especially if your estate is large. A famous case involved the estate of tycoon Howard Hughes. When he died, several supposed wills surfaced, and his estate spent millions of dollars defending against the false documents.
Beneficiaries don’t like the court appointed executor – If there’s no will, the probate court will appoint one. It may likely be an experienced attorney but not necessarily one the family knows. It may take a great deal of time for this person to take inventory, appraise assets and distribute the estate. If you have a will and name a family member as executor, that person will usually do a much faster job, possibly because that person is also a beneficiary.

If you don’t have a will, you should prepare one now. Otherwise, your assets may not be distributed the way you want them to and a lot of extra money will go to attorneys and the probate court and not to your heirs.

For more information about wills, trusts and other estate planning documents, go to www.diesmart.com.

Your never to young to write a will.

Anton Yelchinleft, the Star Trek star, died a few months ago in a bizarre automobile accident. He was 27 years old. His assets were about $1.4 million….and he had no will. He also had no spouse or children. Therefore, his parents are asking the probate court to make them administrators of his estate.

He may not have wanted his parents involved in his estate. He may have wanted someone else to handle his affairs. But we’ll never know. Accidents do happen and you need to be prepared. Write a will today. Make sure that people know what your wishes are so that they can be carried out after you’re gone.

For information about estate planning, check out our website, www.diesmart.com.