Sample Letter to your Personal Representative

Sample Letter to your Personal Representative

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

December 1, 2021

Ireland Window.  Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2021

Samples are back !?! was the first thought that passed through my mind this past weekend when my spouse and I stopped at the westside Woodman's Liquor Store to select a few bottles for the upcoming holiday season.  Yes, samples at the liquor store, Johnnie Walker Double Black to be exact -- that is how we role here in Wisconsin. It felt a bit like the before-pandemic times and reminded me that samples of my work can be fun for my readers as well.  So today I share with you a sample of a document I provide to all of my current clients.  It provides suggestions for composing a letter of instruction to the personal representative (called an executor in other states). 

Sample Letter to the Personal Representative

Providing instructions to your Personal Representative (a.k.a Executor in other states) will increase the accuracy and efficiency of processing your final affairs. The following are topics you may wish to provide instruction, wishes, or other details to aid your PR.

Personal Data: the following information may be helpful to your PR as they handle your final affairs:

• dates of: birth, marriage(s), divorce(s), death of spouse/partner

• Social Security Number

• Religious affiliation, name and contact of spiritual advisor

• Educational achievements, degrees held, honors earned

• family tree with names, locations, dates of birth and death

People: provide current contact information (address, cell phone, email) for the people in your life that should be notified in general as well as though who may be able to assist your PR. Specifically:

• relatives and close family friends

• person(s) with a spare key to your home, office, vehicle

• childcare providers, school office, children’s extracurricular programs

• pet sitter, veterinarian, animal boarding facility

• housekeeping, lawn company, snow removal team

• employer, co-workers, business associates

• accountant, financial planner, insurance agent, banker

Pets: list information that will assist in the daily care and re-homing of your pet(s). For example:

• type of food and source (online delivery, prescription, etc), frequency of feeding, etc

• medical treatments

• groomer

• allergies or summary of health issues

• who can take emergency care of the animal(s)

• suggestions for long-term or permanent placement of the animal(s)

Professional duties: what information will help your PR address professional duties that need to be resolved.

• contact information for all organizations that have issued you a professional license or other authority (lawyers, doctors, pharmacist, educator, dentist, accountant, etc.)

• list of professional insurances you carry (malpractice for example)

• information on location of banking or financial assets associated with your professional role

• list of membership or accounts associated with your professional duties (Linked In, Google +, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Assets: The job of your PR will be to gather all of your assets and determine if the asset is “probate”, meaning it has no co-owner or named beneficiary allowing your will to distribute the asset, or if it is a “non-probate”asset, which is an asset that will pass directly to the named beneficiary. It is wise to have the location and contact information for the assets you may own:

• Checking account(s)

• Saving account(s)

• Money Market accounts

• Certificate of Deposits

• Life Insurance policy

• Disability Insurance if it has a death benefit

• Digital currency and where it is held

• Business formation documents, such as LLC, LLP or S-Corp agreements

• Brokerage Accounts

• Retirement Accounts (IRA, 401K, etc)

• Pensions plans with a death benefit

• Deeds to your home, cabin, farm, etc.

• Title to your vehicle(s) and or boats

• Long-term care insurance with a death benefit

• Custodial or UTMA accounts set up by you for minor children

• 529 plans or other college specific saving vehicles

• Royalties for published works

• Health Savings Accounts

• Stocks

• Savings Bonds

• Valuable hobby or professional equipment

• Contents of a safe deposit box (i.e. valuable coin collection)

Liabilities: Your PR will also need to locate and notify each liability you maintain. It is wise to keep documentation and contact information for:

• mortgage

• vehicle loans

• student loans

• credit card debt

• home equity line of credit

• loans against retirement accounts

• personal loans

Thank you for reading.  Remember, a blog is NOT a lawyer nor is it legal advice.  This post is meant to spark conversation, discussion and reflection.  Please consult with a licensed attorney in your state of residence for advice specific to your situation.  Thank you and be well.

Book Review -- From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

Book Review -- From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

November 5, 2021

Keeping with the ghoulish nature of the past week, Halloween and Day of the Dead, I picked up Caitlin Doughty's book, From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death.  Published in 2018 the book chronicles her travels around the globe to experience death rituals different from those commonly practiced here in the US and Western Europe.  The reader travels with the author to Mexico, Japan, Bolivia, Indonesia, Spain and other destinations.  

Without question this book is a macabre read.  Some of the practices explored, such as decomposition of the human body in a literal compost heap are intriguing to those interest in a low carbon end to their earthly time.  However, other experiences may be more challenging to read about.  For example, the "ma'nene' " in Tana Toraja, Indonesia where relatives have an annual visit with a mummified loved one, was unsettling for me as a reader.  

Overall I would rate this book a 3 out of 5.  Lack of practicality for many of these ancient practices stuck out to me.  Also, it is a sad but true fact that many families contain a rate of dysfunction or unhealthy relationships where the intimacy of washing a corpse would be impractical if not traumatic for the survivors.  Doughty's prose are easy to read and vivid.  For anyone interested in an anthropological exploration of death and funerals, this book would be an excellent investment of time.  

Sample Letter to the Trustee of a Child's Trust

Sample Letter to the Trustee of a Child's Trust

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

October 22, 2021

Today I dip into my own files to share the sample letter I give to all of my clients who have opted to create a testamentary trust for their children.  What is a testamentary trust?  It is a will that allows a parent to appoint the Personal Representative (known as an Executor in other states), a Guardian for a minor child, distribute their probate assets, and includes the recipe for a trust to be created if both parents die.   This is a way to transfer your assets into a trust if you die, managed by a trustworthy trustee you appoint, until an age you set for the children to reach before taking control of the money themselves.  Children can request funds from the trustee for expenses, but the trust has to agree to the expenditure.  Providing guidance to that trustee on what you think should be paid for is crucial when making this trust the most useful if you die before your children are old enough to manage the funds on their own.  

Sample Letter to the Trustee

Providing additional information on your wishes for how trust monies should be used in the event the trustee is appointed by the court upon your death is an excellent way to enhance your estate plan. While advisory only, additional information on your intentions may reduce emotional stress and financial expenses if and when the trust is implemented.  Topics to consider include, but are not limited to:

    • Investment – preferences on what assets are liquidated or not, what should happen to the family home, use of “target date funds”.

    • Use of funds if there are multiple children – will younger children require more funds because certain events have not yet occurred for the younger child, but have occurred for an older child.  For example, a 16 year old may need full assistance for college tuition, but their 23 year old sibling has finished school and has already received financial assistance from the parents. 

    • Daily Lifestyle – provide a list of daily activities you feel are important to be paid for from the trust.  For example, paying for the family pet(s), providing cell phone service to a child, or funding private lessons for a child’s hobbies / interests.

    • Education – discuss how you wish the funds to be used to support education: tuition, tutors, test prep, computer purchases, etc. 

    • Travel – discuss if and how trust monies should be used to pay for a child to travel and/or to pay for relatives to travel to visit a child.  Think about what “travel” means – is a day trip to the Magnificent Mile in Chicago or a night in the Wisconsin Dells “travel”?

    • Family traditions and values – mention any family traditions or values that the trust monies should support.  For example, is attending a religious or secular summer camp an annual occurrence you wish to be continued?

    • Holidays and gifts.  How, if at all, should trust monies be used to celebrate holidays, birthdays and gifts.  Are there specific items you desire a child receive upon reaching a certain age or life milestone.  

    • Milestones – would you want certain milestones to be celebrated with purchases, such as a car at 16, paying for all or parts of a wedding, providing a down payment on a first home, or funding a business start-up.

    • Restrictions – what, if anything, should trust funds NOT be spent on.  Keep in mind other sources of money your child(ren) may have if you have passed away (Social Security Survivor benefits, provision by your former spouse, a trust established by another family member such as a grandparent).

 

The author's children back when she was still taller than her kids. 
M. Gustafson Gervsi 2021

5 Overlooked Items To Include With Your Estate Plan

5 Overlooked Items to Include with your Estate Plan

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

October 11, 2021

Estate planning is the act of taking control of paperwork related to illness, death and taxes.  The obvious documents include things such as a power of attorney for health care, durable power of attorney for finances, beneficiary forms, a will, and sometimes a trust.  If you are looking to have an well organized plan that offers easy access to documents to ease the burden of your final affairs on your loved ones, consider including the following with these otherwise obvious documents:

1. Copy of your state and federal income taxes for the past 3 - 5 years.  The include information on your accountant and assets that generated a loss or gain that may not otherwise be found;
2. Deed to your home, cabin, or other real estate.  The deed will be needed at some point during the handling for your affairs, and finding it now allows you to review the wording to confirm it says what you think it says.  For example, is the cabin you inherited from your mom in your name or your name at that of your spouse?  That wording may or may not cause problems for your surviving spouse;
3. Copies of your health, disability, life, and burial insurance.  Having copies of these documents provides the person/entity handling your estate with documentation of what your policies did and did not cover;
4. Instructions on personal possessions that may not be of obvious value to your loved ones.  For example, my husband is a hardware electronics engineer with an entire work area full of gadgets.  I've paid enough attention to know some of those instruments can be worth tens-of-thousands of dollar.  Yet, I know that if I were grieving his untimely death I may not have enough mental recall to know which ones were and were not worth any significant value.  What possessions might you have that would be worth the time and effort to liquidate but not be obvious?
5. Copies of beneficiary forms for your retirement and other investment accounts. Beneficiary forms are essentially a contract between you, the owner, and the company that holds and manages your asset, stating where it will go upon your death.  When you maintain a copy of the form there is proof in your records of where you designated the asset to pass upon your death.  When you fail to maintain a copy of the form, you are leaving it up to the company to document its existence.  Mistakes can and do happen.  One too many times I have seen a loved one struggle with the fact a beneficiary form for a life insurance policy cannot be found and it is distributed in a manner that contradicts what the loved one had been told.  

Image by M. Gustafson Gervasi, 2021

Thank you for reading.  Remember that a blog is not legal advice, but rather a tool to spark discussion and conversation.  Please seek legal counsel from an attorney in your state of residence for advice specific to your situation. 

16 Lessons Learned: Estate Planning & Probate Practice

16 Lessons Learned: Estate Planning & Probate Practice

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

October 1, 2021

Today my practice is old enough to have its own driver's license -- #16!  Since 2005 I have been fortunate to counsel clients in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin on issues related to estate planning and probate.  Today I pause to share 16 lessons I have learned while navigating my practice:

1. People often need a push to make the call to get on an attorney's calendar to complete an estate plan.  International travel and the arrival of a baby used to be the biggest nudges, then COVID 19 arrived to spur record numbers of people to take action and make a plan;
2. It is immensely easier to make decisions about who will do what and where assets will go when you are NOT also dealing with a severe illness.  Don't wait to plan until you have a stage 4 cancer diagnosis.  Sadly, it is the number one thing to prompt clients to call;
3. The type of estate planning vehicle (will versus trust) is less important than who you put in charge to handle your final affairs.  If that person is not the right person for the job it will be a mess no matter if you funded a trust or used a simple will;
4. Organized paperwork is a huge gift to leave your loved ones -- the greater the mess, the more they'll stress;
5. People think they know where their documents are until they need them.  Double check today to avoid a crisis in the middle of a crisis;
6. No one will be the perfect fit to raise your children if you die, but having no plan is far worse.  Aim for 85% in terms of a good fit and nominate that person(s);
7. We cannot really know how a person will  handle functioning as a health care agent or personal representative until we observe them acting on another's behalf.  You can always amend your plan if that person no longer seems to be a good fit.
8. Grief exacerbates family tensions.  There are two sisters out there who will never speak to one another again because of an armoire. But it really isn't about the armoire, it is about so much more that was never really faced;
9. Estate planning is about taking control of the "who" and "what", but not the "when";
10. Do not wait to travel until you retire. Tomorrow is not guaranteed;
11. We no longer memorize out loved ones phone numbers.  Write them down so they can be accessed when they are most urgently needed;
12. Family cabins and farms are not just pieces of land, they are a family member.  Plan accordingly;
13. You can lead a horse to water but not make it drink.  Sometimes you need to let the chips fall where they may and then get to work.  In other words, you cannot compel your loved ones to do an estate plan;
14. Leaving all of your assets to your "responsible" child who will "take care of the others" is a horrible idea, and one that may cause that responsible child a lot in gift taxes;
15. Laws related to estate planning and probate and state specific, unlike immigration, a federal law, that is the same from Maine to California.  Most people are not aware that what their sister in Maryland wrote may not be appropriate for one living in Wisconsin; and
16. People are compelled to use the same estate planning documents as their parents and grandparents even though their lives are drastically different. 

Bonus #17 -- In Door County, Wis there is a white fish known as the "Poor Man's Lobster" or Lawyer.  This sign is from Oct. 2009 when my family enjoyed a few days in the lovely area of my home state. 

Thank you for reading.  Remember that a blog is not legal advice, but rather a vehicle to spark thought and discussion.  Please consult an attorney in your state of residence for legal advice specific to your situation. 

9 Things to Mention When Writing Instructions to a Trustee for Children

9 Things to Mention When Writing Instructions to a Trustee for Children

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

September 22, 2021

With a flourish you date the document and scrawl your signature on the line hovering above your name typed in Times New Roman font.  You drop the pen, sit back, let out a breath and say "we'll, I'm glad that is done".  In that moment you have created (or updated) your will.  Your children, age 13 and 11, now have legally appointed guardians if you and your spouse were to die.  The document also creates a trust fund to hold assets for the kids if they are orphaned before the youngest is age 30 (an age you set).  You are ready to cross "draft a will" off of your to-do list and get back to living life!

It's true. The will is dated and signed (hopefully in accordance with the witnessing requirements of your home state), but is it really ready-to-go? If both you and your spouse were hit by the proverbial bus on your way home, would the trustee you nominated in your will really understand how you meant for the money to be spent?  They can guess.  But you can also push just a bit harder and make it all easier by recording some of your thoughts and intentions.  

If you want a will that really does as much as it can to ease the cost and suffering of an untimely death, I suggest your buy yourself a pumpkin spiced latte, microbrew, or a heart healthy glass of red wine and work through these 9 points.  

1. Investment.  Do you have a preference on what assets of yours are liquidated?  Should some assets, such as a home or stock be held in the trust and not sold;
2. If you have more than one child.  What if your older child is done with college and that expense has been covered, but you have a senior in high school facing four years of large tuition.  How would the trust be used?
3. Daily Lifestyle.  Do you think the trust should pay for your tween's cell phone and data?  What about your child's passion for tennis or guitar?  How should trust fund monies be used to pay for daily living and hobbies?
4. Education.  Most people would say "yes, use the trust to pay for education".  What is "education"?  Is it tuition, transportation, dorm fees, computer equipment, tutor fees, test prep services?  
5. Travel.  It might be obvious that the funds should be used to continue a life focused on travel.  But what about the trust paying for extended family to travel to visit a young child?  For example, should the trust pay for Grandma to fly from Baltimore, Maryland to visit a 3 year-old grandchild in Madison, Wisconsin?
6. Family Traditions and Values.  Ask yourself if the trust monies should support long-held family values, such as annual summer camp at a religious or secular facility.
7. Holidays and Gifts.  How, if at all, should the trustee you trust monies to pay for gifts and celebrations associated with holidays and birthdays.
8. Milestones.  What is your opinion on trust fund resources being used to buy a car when a child turns 16 or marries at 23 or wants help with a down payment on a first house?
9. Restrictions.  Do not overlook the question of things you do NOT want the trust to pay for, such as a cult your teenager has recently discovered or activities that could be funded by an adult child working or a minor child using Social Security Survivor Benefits.

Buses in Panama City, Panama. M. Gustafson Gervasi 2019

Lost 401Ks and Pension Accounts

Lost 401Ks and Pension Accounts - In Estate Planning Everything Needs a Home

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

July 13, 2021

Pop culture routinely tells us that the human mind is meant to be creative, solving problems, and dreaming up new ideas.  The brain, they claim, is not meant to hold a laundry list of to-do items or an inventory of our assets.  Attempts to go against the grain inevitably leave us standing in the produce aisle of a grocery store scratching our heads about what items we need to buy in order to fix dinner. 

The same pit-fall captures quite a few of us when it comes to our retirement dollars.  According to CNBC from 2004 to 2013 more than 16 million 401K and pension accounts, with a balance of $5,000 or less, were left with a former employer.  In total, $8.5 billion was lost and not usable by retirees.  As a result, there is a current legislative proposal aimed to help connect individuals with lost accounts through a national “lost and found” database.  Read more of CNBC's reporting and the proposed legislation here.

One day there might be a national database to track lost accounts.  However, right now there is not.  Yet many of us have old retirement accounts scattered across the array of employers and careers we amass over decades of work.  If you prefer to take action now rather than pin your hopes on a "one day" government program to help, I recommend finding a home for all of your financial information.  Start with a labeled spot.

Why label a place for things?  Well, quite simply it works.  Earlier this summer my husband and I celebrated a wedding anniversary.  He splurged (well, a splurge by our standards) and bought a store card.  I on the other hand went for a gift.  I placed labels in different parts of our home to give him a guide to wear items "belong".  He had always said he wished our home were more like his engineering lab.  So I went with it, and it worked.  All it took was a label for "razor & shave cream" and "tooth brushes" for him to actually put them away after using them in the morning.  One label, and boom, I no longer found myself picking up his items.  

Perhaps this gives you a good laugh or a shake of your head at our odd ways, but pause on the idea for a moment.  Do you have a labeled home for your retirement account documents?  If a trusted member of your family or friend network walked into your home after you had a sudden illness or death, would they be able to easily identify assets that will be of great importance?

Being organized with your important papers is a huge gift to your loved ones.  While it may not eliminate the work of handling your final affairs, a bit of organization on your part can go a long ways towards easing the burden on your loved ones.  So, buy yourself some mailing labels and get to work!  Organize your file cabinet or start a 3-ring binder to hold important paperwork and documents.  Start with the big picture: sort them into illness, death, and taxes.  Those three concepts are at the core of estate planning and can jumpstart your organization efforts.

Thank you for reading.  Tune in during the months ahead as I delver deeper into the topic of having an organized and well-maintained estate plan.

The author, Melinda Gustafson Gervasi, with her equally frugal spouse, Charles.

Remember, a blog is not meant to convey legal advice.  Instead, it sparks thought and conversation.  Always seek legal advice from an attorney in your state of residence for counsel on your specific situation.