If you are like a lot of Americans, you may have a loyal four-legged friend by your side, and indeed dogs are fantastic companions.  In the eyes of your dog you are the most important person in the world and there is no denying that it is a good feeling to be held in such high esteem, even if it is coming from a canine point of view.

All kidding aside, pets are obviously valuable to people of all ages but owning a dog can be especially good for senior citizens.  It is not uncommon for elders to experience loneliness late in their lives, and the companionship that a dog can provide can really go a long way toward filling that gap.

In addition, dogs can provide protection.  Of course there are some breeds that are capable guard dogs, but even small dogs have keen senses and they can let you know if they hear something outside that doesn’t sound quite right.

If you do have a dog late in your life you are going to have to take the animal into consideration when you are planning your estate.  Finding a caretaker is going to be the first step, and once you identify someone to care for your dog you are going to have to provide this individual with the financial resources necessary to do so.

One option that is available to you would be the creation of a pet trust. If you would like to find out how to set up a trust for the benefit of your dog don’t hesitate to get in touch with an experienced Indianapolis estate planning lawyer to set up an informative consultation.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

In the field of estate planning there are a lot of acronyms tossed about that can be kind of confusing to the uninitiated.  We like to highlight one of these from time to time in an effort to demystify things, and with that in mind we will take a look at the CRUT.

In an estate planning context the acronym CRUT stands for a charitable remainder unitrust.  These vehicles are utilized to provide individuals with tax efficiency while satisfying their philanthropic urges in the process.

With these vehicles you fund the trust and you name a beneficiary who will receive annuity payments from the trust on an annual basis at minimum. These payments must equal between 5% and 10% of the value of the trust. When you are creating the trust you set a term during which you will be receiving these payments, and this can be for the rest of your life if this is what you choose.

Most people are going to act as their own Trustee, but you must also select a charitable beneficiary.  This charity will assume ownership of the remainder that is left in the trust after its term expires.  This remainder must equal at least 10% of the contributions into the trust.

When you create the trust you are shifting assets out of your estate and reducing your estate tax exposure in the process.  You also may take a charitable deduction that is based on the IRS rules surrounding charitable remainder unitrusts.

To learn more about CRUTs and other tools that are utilized to deliver estate tax efficiency simply take a moment to set up an appointment to sit down and discuss things with a good Indianapolis estate planning attorney.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Most people are going to have to choose between a will and a trust when they are making estate plans, and there are some significant advantages that go along with opting for a revocable living trust.

When you use a revocable living trust you can enable the transfer of assets to your loved ones outside of the process of probate.  Probate is a legal process during which the probate court that is local to the deceased supervises the administration of the estate.  The actual hands-on tasks are performed by the executor or personal representative.

This legal process can be quite time-consuming, and the heirs to the estate do not receive their inheritances until the probate court has done its work.  There are also significant costs that are going to be incurred during the probate process and every penny spent is money that could have otherwise gone to the family of the deceased.

However, if you do use a trust you are still going to need to execute a particular type of will called a pour-over will.

You are probably going to have assets in your own personal possession when you die even if you do have a revocable living trust that contains the lion’s share of your resources.  The pour-over will is utilized to express your desire to direct these remaining assets into the trust after you pass away.

To learn more about trusts, wills, and other estate planning tools simply take a moment to arrange for an informative consultation with a licensed and experienced Indianapolis Estate Planning lawyer.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Because of the high incidence of divorce in the United States at the present time there are a lot of blended families out there, and there are many different types of scenarios to address in an estate planning context.  We are going to take a look at a relatively common one here and offer a typically utilized solution.

To explain by way of example, let’s say that you married your childhood sweetheart and had three children along the way.  You accumulated assets as a couple and you both feel as though your children should benefit from these resources after you pass away.

This is all well and good and easily accomplished when you are married, but let’s say that you get divorced.  You both go your separate ways with your share of the community assets.  For the purposes of this example we will say that you get remarried at some point in time.

How do you provide for your new spouse after your death without giving this individual control over who inherits the assets that you leave behind after he or she dies?  One answer would lie in the creation of a qualified terminable interest property trust.

With the QTIP you allow for your spouse to benefit from the income that is earned by the trust throughout the rest of his or her life.  However, he or she can’t direct who will receive the trust’s assets after his or her death.  You name this beneficiary when you are creating the trust.

The qualified terminable interest property trust is one of the blended family solutions that are available to you.  To explore them in detail, simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with a good Indianapolis estate planning lawyer.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Just about everyone is aware of what a simple last will is utilized for, and the execution of this document can be the right choice for some people who have a very uncomplicated estate. However, there are some other types of wills that are routinely used in estate planning as well and we would like to take a look at some of them here.

Living Wills

A living will does not have anything to do with the transfer of personal property.  This document is an advance health care directive, and it is utilized to express your wishes regarding medical procedures such as the use of artificial life support measures.  Different people have different opinions on the subject so it is important to make yours known in a legally binding manner.

Pour-Over Wills

A lot of people choose to utilize a revocable living trust as their primary vehicle of asset transfer. But at the same time, you may not have all of your property in the trust at the time of your death. Pour-over wills are used to direct assets into the trust after your death.

Ethical Wills

An ethical will is in a sense a kind of a parting letter to your loved ones.  Traditionally these documents share moral and spiritual values, but you’re free to pass along any information that you would like to should you choose to author an ethical will and make it a part of your estate plan.

Aside from these there are many other types of documents that are used in estate planning.  The combination that is right for you is probably going to be different than the combination that is optimal for the next person.  For this reason the only practical way to proceed is to devise your estate plan with the assistance of a licensed and experienced Indianapolis estate planning lawyer.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Experience is undoubtedly the best teacher, but when it comes to estate planning you don’t have the luxury of learning from your mistakes.  However, you can become wiser by observing the mistakes of others.  Though you don’t have a window into the lives of people that you don’t know, the media gives us perhaps too much information about the lives of celebrities.  Some of the stories surrounding the estates of famous people can be instructive as you are making your own plans for the future.

For example, think back to the very highly publicized case involving Anna Nicole Smith and the son of J. Howard Marshall.  Marshall left Smith, to whom he was legally married at the time of his death, out of his will.  The courts took her contention that he intended to leave her half of his fortune seriously, making the point that he wouldn’t have married her if he didn’t want to assume some financial responsibility for her well-being.

This matter played itself out for some 15 years before finally being resolved this past summer after both Smith and Marshall’s son were long dead.  Had the elder Marshall stated his intentions more clearly with witnesses present this long drawn out battle may never have taken place.

There was an announcement recently involving another famous person who could have made better advance plans.  88-year-old billionaire Liliane Bettencourt was deemed incapable of handling her own financial affairs by a French court.  Going back about three years her daughter initiated a suit contending that her mother was being manipulated by a photographer named Francois-Marie Banier.  Banier somehow wound up with over $1 billion of the Bettencourt fortune and was named sole heir in a revised will.

As it turns out the daughter, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyer, and her two sons will be handling the family fortune under an order handed down by the court.  Clearly, this case underscores the importance of intelligent incapacity planning when you are devising a comprehensive plan for aging

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are individuals out there who question why you would want to (or need to) engage the services of an estate planning attorney.  They figure that all you have to do is draw up a last will and the matter is closed.  And in fact, there are websites out there that will sell you blank generic last will documents.  They tell you that all you have to do is fill in the blanks and you have all of your bases covered.

The truth is that estate planning is not something that you want to take on as a hobby or Do-it-Yourself project.  It is a serious matter that involves transferring very significant financial assets to those that you love the most as your final act of giving.  Doing so requires expert advice, and one of the reasons for this is because of the fact that you as a layperson are probably not aware of all of the various estate planning vehicles that are available to you.

One of these legal instruments is the charitable remainder unitrust or CRUT.  These trusts can satisfy your philanthropic desires while providing you with an ongoing source of tax efficient income for life.  The way that it works is you fund the trust and make yourself the primary beneficiary and the trustee.  You receive annuity payments from the trust equaling at least 5% of its value but no more than 50% of its value annually. You also name a charitable beneficiary who will inherit the remainder that exists at the end of the trust term, and this remainder must be at least 10% of the original fair market value of the trust.

When you fund the trust you are removing those assets from your estate so you gain estate tax efficiency in the process.  You are also entitled to a charitable deduction under IRS regulations governing charitable remainder unitrusts.  If you place appreciated securities into the trust they can be sold incrementally by the trust and as a result your capital gains responsibility will be spread out over the trust term.  And in addition, because it is an irrevocable trust assets placed within it are protected from creditors.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Depending on the size and scope of your assets and the specific nature of your wishes it may be necessary to implement a combination of estate planning instruments to enable the optimal transfer of assets.  However, when you engage the services of an experienced estate planning attorney, he or she can greatly simplify the matter and explain your options to you in an understandable manner.

This having been stated a lot of people are only going to need a very basic estate plan.  Everyone must decide on some vehicle of asset transfer, and it is also wise to have an incapacity plan in place so that decision-makers of your own choosing are empowered to act in the event of your incapacitation.

When it comes to passing along assets to your loved ones most individuals immediately think of the last will, and this is of course an option.  But when you use a last will as your primary vehicle of asset transfer your estate must pass through the process of probate.  There are pitfalls involved with probate including significant expenses, and many people choose to avoid it through the creation of revocable living trusts.  With these vehicles the transfer of assets takes place outside of the probate process so it is done more quickly and efficiently.

For the most part incapacity planning revolves around executing the appropriate powers of attorney.  You would want to use durable powers of attorney because they remain in effect upon the incapacitation of the grantor.  With these documents you name attorneys-in-fact who are empowered to act in your behalf should you become unable to make decisions on your own at some point in time.

The best way to approach estate planning is to recognize the fact that it is a legal matter that requires the expertise of an experienced estate planning attorney.  With this mind, your first step is simple: arrange for a consultation with an elder law or estate planning specialist.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Everyone has heard of the last will, which is the most common vehicle of asset transfer used in the field of estate planning.  It is interesting to note that in the past this document was comprised of two different components and generally termed the “last will and testament.”   When it was broken down in this manner, the will was used to transfer real property and the testament was the portion of the document that was devoted to the transfer of personal property.  During current times the distinction between the two is rarely used and the document is simply known as a last will.

There’s another type of will that is widely recommended in estate planning circles these days called a living will.  The living will is used to state your preferences regarding medical procedures should you become unable to answer questions in real time due to incapacitation. The issue that is central to these documents is usually going to be whether or not you would want to be kept alive through the use of artificial life support systems if you were in a terminal condition.

There is a third type of will that is not as well known as the first two called the ethical will that you may want to consider including in your estate plan.  The ethical will dates back to biblical times and has been a part of the Jewish tradition for centuries, used to pass along the moral and spiritual insights of the author to future generations.  These days it is used by people of all faiths and by some people who are not particularly religious at all.

With the ethical will there are no hard and fast rules about what can and cannot be included.  It is simply a final letter of sorts presented to your loved ones intended to pass along information that you want them to know.  Composing an ethical will can be personally cathartic to the author as well as extremely instructive to the readers.  An ethical will can provide your family members with wisdom that money cannot buy, and this shared experience and insight may be the greatest gift that you can give them.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When the layperson hears the term “estate planning” the thing that usually comes to mind is the last will, and this is of course one way to pass along your assets to your loved ones after you die. However, many people prefer to use a trust such as a revocable living trust once they pay a visit to an estate planning attorney and hear about all the options that are available to them.

For the majority of individuals the primary reason why a trust may be preferable to a last will is because the transfer of assets facilitated by the trust does not have to pass through the process of probate.  Probate is the period during which the validity of your will is determined by the probate court, and anyone who wanted to contest the will could do so during this interim.  The possibility of will challenges in and of itself is one of the reasons why people choose to avoid probate.

In addition to this, probate is time-consuming and it can be expensive.  Your heirs will not receive their inheritances until the estate has been probated and closed, and this can take anywhere from several months to multiple years depending on the complexity of the case. Expenses involved with the probate process can consume anywhere from perhaps 2% to in excess of 5% of the total value of your estate.

These are the reasons why you might want to avoid probate via the creation of a trust.   But if you do, you would also want to include a pour-over will.  You may acquire property after you have created the trust, and for logistic reasons you may choose not to place certain property into the trust while you’re still alive.  The pour-over will directs any assets that you have remaining into the trust after you pass away so that none of your personal property is subject to distribution via the law of descent.

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.