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      free image, www.sxc.hu Curious about what will make an estate planning attorney gasp in freight?  My personal number one horror to find in a client's old will is a Social Security Number.  It does not matter whether it is the SSN of the client or a loved one they name, modern wills should not contain this sensitive and personally identifiable information. Why?  The probate process is public.  And the function of a will is to tell the probate court what to do, and it is a court record visible to all.  Now procedures can be taken to protect the decedent.  Blackening the number out is not an option, and may actually violate the law of the state you are in.  Here in Wisconsin my go-to method is to petition the court to keep the matter closed.  It is not perfect, nothing but a will without a SSN is perfect, but it gets the job done. And there is reason for concern.  Identity theft of all kinds is on the rise in our ...

Scanning my emails last week three little letters caught my eye, TPP.  Hmmm, what is this organization doing talking about TPP.  Turns out the letters in the email referred to a trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, not Tangible Personal Property.  Acronyms are everywhere, and three little letters in one discipline mean something entirely different in another. Among estate planning and probate attorneys the letter TPP refer to the client or decedent's tangible personal property.  In plain English, his or her stuff.  Items one can pick up and carry, generally excluding cash and vehicles.  Think jewelry, collectibles, furniture, hobbyist gear, etc.  We all have it to some extent or another, and the question often becomes what will happen to it at death. Should you desire a specific piece to pas to a specific individual, and you have a will empowering you to leave a legally binding inventory distribution list (requirements for vary from s...

Have you seen it?  The Facebook photo that says something along the lines of  my biggest fear is one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns (or derby cars) for what I said I paid for them!  Emphasis being placed on  said  I paid for them .  Underlying the language is the fact that Facebook user has not been truthful in what was really paid for the items, and you can assume it was more than what was reported to the spouse. Sometimes substantially more. Pushing beyond the joke, this Facebook post highlights a key element of the probate process.  When an individual dies his or her probate property is distributed via the probate court unless some other instrument (i.e. a living trust) had been created and funded (i.e. assets transferred to the trust from the individual).  A first step in the process is to complete an inventory of all the decedent's probate property.  Things such as a house, vehicle, bank account, and tangible perso...

Predating democracy, capitalism, organized religion, and as old as humanity itself, philanthropy exists because things often go wrong, and things can always be better. Current understanding of philanthropy focuses on images of gated estates and the means of Bill Gates or Oprah. Stereotypes continually reinforced in news reports – internet mogul leaves $5.3 million art museum! – or something along those lines. An academic review of the word philanthropy reveals it to be a noun meaning generous help or benevolence towards one's fellow man. Philanthropy is not an exclusive act of those with a seven-figure net worth, anyone can leave a legacy. Daily I work with clients in my estate planning and probate legal practice who make bequests to favored charities. My clients fall solidly into “the middle class”, yet they give, and those gifts make a difference in the world of a nonprofit. It was from those client meetings that the idea to write Middle Class Philanthropist: How...

Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2013 As visions of sugar plumbs danced in their head ........a classic line from a classic book I've been reading over and over again to my young children over the holidays.  And as a polar vortex sweeps over my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, I am certain many of my fellow residents have visions of warmer climates in their head.  And with it, the temptation of the time share. Often billed as an affordable way to own a place in paradise, with the common benefit of trading rights in other locations, I see a fair number of estates with a time share asset.  Whether you a creating your own estate or handling the affair of a loved one who has passed, do not overlook the time share! Time shares are generally considered a real asset, something someone owns.  Meaning it can be sold or bequeathed.  Earlier this morning I assisted a former client who inherited a time share.  Selling it has proved anything but easy.  In our...