How To Choose A Personal Representative

A personal representative, otherwise known as an executor, is the person responsible for handling your estate when you die. Handling an estate includes a variety of responsibilities, such as gathering and protecting the assets of the deceased and filing paperwork with the court. While no special skills are required to be a personal representative, choosing someone who fits the following criteria can help ensure a smoother probate process. Read on to discover what questions you should consider when choosing a personal representative.

Are they responsible?

When choosing a representative, it’s best to choose someone you know is responsible. Personal representatives are responsible for many tasks related to settling the deceased’s estate. This includes cataloging assets, settling debts and bills the deceased owed, and distributing property to heirs. Since the job comes with many responsibilities, you don’t want to choose someone who struggles to get things done. You need someone who is capable of keeping up with the work load and who is able to complete tasks in a timely manner. This will help to ensure your estate passes through probate smoothly.

How is their health?

The health of your personal representative is another factor to consider. You want to name someone who is in good health for two reasons:

• You need your representative to be healthy enough to complete all the required tasks.
• Naming a personal representative is only effective if they outlive you.

As previously discussed, representatives are responsible for many tasks. You want to choose someone who has the time and energy needed to get it all done. Additionally, you want to choose a representative in good health because naming a representative is only helpful if you precede them in death. If your representative dies before you, they’re not going to be around to shepherd your estate through the probate process. If your representative dies first, you need to update your documents and name a new person.

Are they impartial and thick-skinned?

Impartiality is an important characteristic for a personal representative to have. You want to choose a representative who is capable and comfortable with handing your final wishes. They also need to know you well enough to step in and make decisions on your behalf if needed. Additionally, distributing assets to beneficiaries is one of the tasks representatives are responsible for. The task will be easier on your representative if you’ve done some estate planning. However, even if you planned out in advance how you would like your assets distributed, there’s no guarantee things will go smoothly. This could cause your representative to deal with backlash from angry heirs. For this reason, you want your representative to not only be impartial, but thick-skinned as well.

Do you know all your options?

When it comes to choosing a personal representative, you have many options. You can choose a close friend, co-worker, or family member. Additionally, you can name more than one person and have co-representatives. There are benefits and drawbacks to each choice, which is why you should contact an estate planning attorney for advice.

How Can Boyum Law Firm help you?

Boyum Law Firm can help you and your family create estate planning documents and choose a personal representative. As an estate planning, probate, and Medicaid planning law firm, we can also help loved ones through the probate process. To contact Boyum Law Firm, click here.

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Getting a Divorce? Time to Update Your Estate Plan

An estate planning attorney usually isn’t the kind of lawyer you think about contacting when getting a divorce. With other legal matters to settle, contacting your estate planner and updating your documents is the last thing on your mind. Estate plan updates should be at the top of your to-do list, however. Here’s why:

A marriage is still a marriage

You and your spouse might consider yourselves as good as divorced but the law doesn’t agree. In the eyes of the law, a marriage is still a marriage until the judge signs the divorce decree. The legal status of your marriage effects your estate plan because your spouse is usually listed in a variety of places in the plan. For example, people often choose to list their spouse as their powers of attorney. If your plan isn’t updated to include new powers of attorney, your soon to be ex-spouse will still be listed. This could become problematic in the event you become incapacitated.

For example…

John is forty-five years old. He and his wife, Jane, are getting divorced. It’s been messy, and the two fight constantly. John slipped on a patch of ice, hit his head, and is currently incapacitated. John never updated his durable and healthcare powers of attorney, which is Jane. Jane is now in charge of John’s finances and making John’s medical decisions even though she is no longer the best person for the job. John would’ve rather had his sister listed as his healthcare and durable powers of attorney but hasn’t gotten around to updating his estate plan. Consequently, his estate plan is less effective at lessening the impact of his injury because the documents weren’t updated accordingly.

Financial Consequences

Not updating your estate plan when getting divorced can also have financial consequences. Couples in Nebraska with estate plans have some financial protection against divorce thanks to the law. Nebraska law provides a provision that revokes provisions in a will that favor an ex-spouse. This provision also comes into play if a couple is in the process of getting divorced or has their marriage dissolved or annulled. The law doesn’t cover all assets and finances, however. Assets outside of a will, such as trusts and bank and retirement accounts, need to be updated when getting a divorce. Otherwise your assets won’t be distributed correctly when you die.

For Example…

Linda was sixty-five years old. She was in good health but unexpectedly had a heart attack and died. Linda and her ex-husband, Steve, divorced six months ago. The divorce provision protects the assets listed in Linda’s will. Some of her other assets are not protected, however. In the divorce, Linda won the right to one of the couple’s retirement accounts. Linda planned to list a family friend as the beneficiary but never got around to updating the document. The document still lists Steve as the beneficiary. Steve inherits the account even though it’s not what Linda wanted. If Linda had updated her account’s beneficiary information post-divorce, the asset would’ve been distributed accordingly.

Contact Boyum Law Firm

For help with creating or updating estate planning documents, contact Boyum Law Firm here.

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Harper Lee’s Last Will Released by Alabama Court

An Alabama court unsealed author Harper Lee’s last will and testament in February, according to this New York Times article. Lee’s will was previously private thanks to her long-time lawyer, Tonja B. Carter. Carter, the executor of Lee’s estate, went to court in 2016 to have the will sealed because of privacy concerns. This was an usual legal move because wills are filed in probate, which makes them accessible to the public. The New York Times’ lawyers pointed this out in the lawsuit they filed to access the document. The estate withdrew its opposition a few weeks ago, and the document became accessible to the public.

Unfortunately, Lee’s will didn’t reveal much about who got what since the majority of her assets were transferred into a trust she formed in 2011. Trust documents are private, so unlike Lee’s will, a case cannot be made to have it unsealed. Many questions have been raised about the privacy-loving author, such as who received her literary works when she died? Why did she wait so long to publish her second book about the Finch family? Was she competent when she signed her revised will eight days before she died? Answers were not found in her will, but here is what is known about the world renowned author:

Who was Harper Lee? An Overview

Harper Lee was a Pultizer prize-winning author. Her first published novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, highlighted racial preuidecs in the South. It was a huge hit and is still read today. In fact, more than 40 million copies of the novel have been sold, and it is still taught in schools. After her initial success, Lee stayed dormant as a writer for years. Her second novel, “Go Set a Watchman”, a sequel to her first, wasn’t published until 2015. Lee never married or had children. She died in her sleep at the age of eighty-nine on February 19, 2016.

Publishing Controversies Surrounding Lee

Lee was in the middle of a variety of publishing controversies throughout her life. One of the main conflicts arouse between Lee and her childhood friend, Truman Capote. Lee helped Capote write “In Cold Blood”, a novel about the Clutter family murders in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote included Lee in the book’s dedication, but didn’t credit her for her work on the book. This led to hurt feelings, though the two remained friends for life. Another controversy surrounding Lee relates to a lawsuit she filed in 2013 against Samuel Pinkus, a literary agent. Lee said in 2007 that Pinkus attempted to “dupe” her out of royalties for “To Kill a Mockingbird”. The parties reached a settlement in 2013. Finally, and perhaps most famously, controversy arouse out of the publication of Lee’s second novel, “Go Set a Watchman”.

Lee actually wrote “Go Set a Watchman” before “To Kill a Mockingbird”, but was asked to rewrite the novel by her publisher. This is how “To Kill a Mockingbird” came to be. Years passed and “Go Set a Watchman” was thought to be lost, but was discovered in a safe deposit box by Carter, Lee’s aforementioned lawyer. HarperCollins announced the book would be published on July 14, 2015, but many questioned the decision because Lee’s health was declining. In response to the questions, Lee said through Carter that she was “alive and kicking and happy as hell with the reactions” to the announcement. However, Lee’s reassurance didn’t put an end to doubts, especially because her sister, Alice, wrote a letter claiming Lee “would sign anything put before her.” Alabama officials did investigate the case and found no evidence that Lee was coerced. “Go Set a Watchman” was published as planned.

Honors and Awards

Besides receiving a Pultizer prize for her work, Lee was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2007.

To contact Boyum Law Firm for help with estate planning documents, click here.

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Estate Planning Documents for Medical Emergencies

Life and its challenges are unpredictable, which is why it’s a good idea to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. A great way to make sure you have a plan in place for when life’s worst-case scenarios strike is to create estate planning documents. When it comes to planning for something as unpredictable as medical emergencies, the best documents to create are a health care power of attorney and living will.

What is a health care power of attorney?

A health care power of attorney is an estate planning document used to prepare for worst-case medical scenarios. This document authorizes someone to make health care decisions on your behalf in the event you become incapacitated.

What are the benefits of having a health care power of attorney?

The main benefit of having a health care power of attorney is the document’s ability to prevent conflicts. If a person becomes incapacitated, their loved ones may have different ideas on what decisions the person would have made for themselves in their situation. This could lead to arguments or a court case in order to determine who has the right to make medical decisions for the incapacitated person. Having a health care power of attorney makes an already difficult situation easier by clearly granting the decision making power to a predetermined person.

For example…

Jane is 35 years old. Yesterday, she was in a car accident and is currently incapacitated. She doesn’t have a health care power of attorney. Jane’s fiance, John, wants to make medical decisions on her behalf. Her parents also want to make the decisions for their incapacitated daughter. So, who has the right to make Jane’s medical decisions? John and Jane’s parents go to court to find out. They no longer speak to each other because of the conflict created by Jane’s lack of a health care power of attorney document. It’s family warfare, which could’ve easily been prevented with a little estate planning.

What is a living will?

A living will is an estate planning document. It’s used to express if and when you would or would not like life-sustaining measures taken on your behalf. It’s a way for a person to express what they want in advance of a medical emergency. Unlike a health care power of attorney, this document does not give someone the authority to make decisions for you.

What are the benefits of having a living will?

Creating a living will provides a variety of benefits in the event of a medical emergency. For example, a living will enables you to predetermine what you’d like to happen in the event you need life-sustaining care. If you make important decisions about life-sustaining care in advance, your family won’t have to make the decision for you if something happens. This helps to prevent family conflict and turmoil.

For example…

Dan is a 30-year-old man. He’s young, so he’s never considered the possibility he could need life-sustaining care. Dan was in a skiing accident. He does not have a living will in place. As of right now, Dan needs life-sustaining care, but his parents are unsure if he would’ve wanted to receive the care. They’re hesitant to make a decision. If Dan had a living will in place, his parents would’ve known what kind of care he would’ve liked to receive in the event he needed artificial means, such as a respirator, to stay alive. Then, they wouldn’t have to make the decision for him.

How can Boyum Law Firm help you?

Medical emergencies are unpredictable. However, you can lessen the impact life’s worst-case scenarios will have on you and your family by creating a health care power of attorney and living will. To contact Boyum Law Firm for help with creating these two estate planning documents and more, click here.

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