Is California’s New Transfer on Death Deed a Safe Alternative to a Living Trust?

Perhaps you’ve heard from a well-meaning friend or advisor that you can use an inexpensive Transfer on Death Deed to keep your property out of court without going to the trouble of creating a Living Trust. If so, read this before you rely on a Transfer on Death Deed to ensure that you aren’t creating more trouble for the people you love.

On January 1, 2016, Assembly Bill 139 went into effect, providing California residents with a new way to transfer residential property to their heirs. Specifically, the law creates a Revocable Transfer on Death Deed (TOD Deed), intended to be a simple tool for transferring ownership of real property to beneficiaries upon the property owner’s death.

The law was initially heralded as a welcome alternative to Revocable Living Trusts, which some believe to be costly, time consuming, and complex. A TOD Deed allows named beneficiaries to assume ownership of your residential property without undergoing probate or trust administration.

However, before you rely on a TOD Deed as a cheaper alternative to full-on Revocable Living Trust planning, consider these factors …

First, the TOD Deed only applies to certain types of real property:

1. A single-family home or condominium,
2. A single-family residence on agricultural property of 40 acres or less, or
3. A multi-family residence with no more than four units.

Moreover, a TOD Deed has several other restrictions and requirements.

1. It must be signed and dated before a notary to be valid.
2. It must be recorded within 60 days from the date it’s signed.
3. It does not permit designation of beneficiaries by class (e.g. “my siblings”).
4. It must strictly adhere to the form prescribed by the statute.

Finally, and most importantly BEWARE of these major risks: The TOD Deed offers no protection from your creditors.

1. If your property is held joint tenancy, your joint tenant becomes the sole owner upon your death and has full control of the property, and your Transfer on Death Deed is inapplicable.
2. Unlike with a Living Trust, a Transfer on Death Deed cannot be used to manage, sell, or borrow against the property during your incapacity. This means that if you become incapacitated, there’s no action your beneficiary can take to get access to using your property as a resource for your care, as your Trustee could, if you had your property in a Revocable Living Trust.
3. If the beneficiary is a minor upon your death, a court-appointed custodian will need to be named to control your property until the child reaches legal age. With a Living Trust, you get to name the person to handle the property until your child reaches legal age, and you can even set up your trust so that when your child does inherit it, he or she can receive it protected from a future divorce or future creditors.
4. Title insurance companies have been reluctant to insure clear title until three years after the grantor’s death when a Transfer on Death deed is used. During this time, the beneficiary will likely be unable to sell or borrow against the property.
5. The property may be subject to Medi-Cal Estate Recovery, if you received Medi-Cal benefits.

Unless extended, the new law will sunset on January 1, 2021, but TOD Deeds executed before that date will remain valid.

Warning: Since its inception, significant flaws have been found within the statute, and some advocates believe it will lead to increased elder abuse. For more on this, read a letter from the Executive Committee of the Trusts & Estates Section of the California Bar, appended as an exhibit to the California Law Revision Commission’s Memorandum # 2017-35.

Given these concerns, we recommend against the use of the TOD Deed and advise those seeking to transfer their real estate in a manner that is best for you, and the people you love to schedule a Estate Plan Strategy Session with us to choose an option that will best meet your needs.

Life insurance is a purchase only made once or twice in a lifetime, so it is common to be unaware of the ins and outs of policy protection. The potential pitfalls are significant, however, so review the following tips and learn how to buy life insurance like a pro.

Get the Right Type of Amounts

Life insurance policies are generally sold by highly commissioned sales people or by order takers. In either case, you need to be sure you are in the know, before you buy, lest you get sold a policy or amount you don’t need, or you overlook the types and amounts that are right for you. We can help you make objective decisions about your insurance needs, with no commissions payable to us, so you know you’re getting our 100% on your side analysis.

Don’t Name a Minor as a Beneficiary

If you’ve named a minor child as a beneficiary, or even a secondary beneficiary, after your spouse, you could be creating double trouble. First, your life insurance would have to go through a court process and subject to the control of a financial guardian, and then second, whatever is left would be distributed to your minor child when he or she turns 18. You can easily avoid this by naming a trust as beneficiary of your life insurance, thereby keeping your life insurance out of court and ensuring your child doesn’t receive control until he or she is ready. Plus, then you get to decide who takes care of the life insurance money you are leaving behind, until it’s distributed to your child. And, you can even build in protection against your child’s future divorce, or any creditor issues.

Term Insurance to Fund Divorce Settlements

If you receive child support and alimony, insist that your spouse have a  term life insurance policy to guarantee you are able to collect on your settlement, even if your ex-spouse dies while still paying out your divorce settlement.

Compare Quotes for Whole and Term

Experts suggest most people only need life insurance to cover their working years and while they raise a family. Term life insurance is typically affordable and covers you when you need it most. Permanent insurance is best when you know you will have estate taxes to cover OR if you want to use insurance as an investment vehicle with guaranteed returns, but often big commissions to make up in the early years of the policy. One of the services we provide to our member clients is to review all insurance policies, both in place and those being considered, to provide objective evaluation before you buy.

Don’t Overlook Living Benefits

A living benefits rider could allow you to access funds if you were diagnosed as terminally ill or with a chronic and debilitating condition.

If you are ready to purchase a life insurance policy that works for you, start by sitting down with a Personal Family Lawyer®. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can walk you step by step through creating a financial plan that will help you provide for your family no matter what. A Personal Family Lawyer® offers Estate Plan Strategy Sessions that help you protect and preserve your wealth for future generations. Before the session, we’ll send you a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment to complete that will get you thinking about what you own, what matters most to you, and what your wishes are when you die. Schedule online.

Planning to Protect Your Assets

Asset protection planning is an important step to take in safeguarding your hard-earned assets from being lost, inadvertently, because you overlooked something important.

​The most foundational level of asset protection is to plan for what will happen to your assets in the event of your incapacity or death because you are 100% guaranteed to have one or both of those happen to you.

If you become incapacitated or die without proper planning in place, your assets will get stuck in the court system, and could be delayed in getting to your loved ones’ or even lost. If you have not reviewed your planning for death or incapacity in the past couple of years (or ever at all), you will want to call us for a Estate Plan Strategy Session as soon as possible.

And, what about planning to protect assets from things that could happen during life, such as potential litigation, taking on too many debts, accidents or other mishaps?

First and foremost, buy insurance! Insurance can do two things an asset protection plan can’t: pay to defend you in the event a lawsuit is brought against you and pay to settle any lawsuits. Bottom line: insurance says I love you. And, if you need it, you’ll be glad you have it.

As part of your Estate Plan Strategy Session, we will look at the types and amounts of insurance you have, and determine what else may be needed, or if you are even over-insured.

If you have a business, make sure you’ve fully separated personal and business assets. And that you are using your business entity properly, to ensure that any business activities are kept within your business entity, and that you have us review any personal guarantees before you sign something that could create personal liability for you.

If you need more thorough asset protection, due to an upcoming marriage, or engaging in other risky behavior, please contact us sooner rather than later.

Asset protection cannot happen after something happens. It must be set up ahead of time to be effective, and so it must happen now, if you want to get set up right.

Protecting your assets takes know-how. If you’re ready to develop a smart asset protection plan, consider sitting down with a Personal Family Lawyer®. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can help you with your asset protection planning needs. Our Estate Plan Strategy Session guides you to protect and preserve what matters most. Before the session, we’ll send you a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment to complete that will get you thinking about what you own, what’s most important to you, and what you can do to ensure your family is taken care of.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Bitcoin. But, you may not know what it is or how it affects your estate planning. Or, maybe you’ve got yourself some Bitcoin, but haven’t given thought to what would happen to your digital currency in the event of your death or incapacity. So, today’s article will dive in with some initial thoughts of what happens to cryptocurrency when you die, and then we’ll get deeper in future articles.

There are now over 800 digital currencies available, though Bitcoin is the most well known.

And each one operates a bit differently, and with a different purpose.

What they all have in common is that they are digital currencies, in the form of “tokens” that you can now buy (or invest in) and in some cases use to exchange for goods and services.For example, more and more providers of goods and services are accepting Bitcoin as a payment method, just as they would cash or credit.

And, even a few accepting the lesser known currency called Ripple (XRP).

But, as of this writing, there are no providers we’ve heard of accepting, for example, the lesser known cryptocurrency of ProCoin (PROC), a coin based on shopping rewards. But, the coin is tradable on the open coin market, currently at $.12, though it’s been traded as high as $.38.

If you want to learn more about how these digital currencies work, please do let me know and I’ll write more about it in the future.

For today, I want to cover what you need to make sure you’ve got in place from a “what happens when you become incapacitated or die” perspective if you are holding digital currency.

Because if you have not planned for the transfer of your digital currency at the time of your incapacity or death, it could literally be lost to the ethers. And, if you invested in Bitcoin back in the day before it got popular, that could potentially be millions of dollars lost to your loved ones.

There are two things for you to consider if you are holding digital currency

1. That your loved one’s (or whoever you would want to have your currency) know about it; and
2. That they know how to access it and cash it in or hold onto it.

If you are holding your currency in an exchange, such as coinbase, with 2-factor authentication, it could be very difficult for your loved one’s to access your currency. We are in process of setting up a digital account administration system for our clients and you can look forward to that in the coming months. Having that in place would allow the executor of your estate to handle all digital accounts, not just crypto accounts.

Until then, best practice is to transfer your cryptocurrency into a “paper wallet”, which is kind of ironic given that it’s a digital currency. And it basically involves storing codes offline that allow you to access your currency. Here’s the thing, if you lose those codes, or your loved ones can’t find them, it’s the same as all of your currency being gone.

You can read more about the different storage options for cryptocurrency here.

Bottom line: if you have cryptocurrency and you want your loved ones to have it after you are gone, you should probably call us so we can make sure it’s not lost upon your incapacity or death.

As a new technology, cryptocurrency can be a bit confusing, and not many lawyers are even thinking about this issue yet. But we are, so give us a call and let’s have a Estate Plan Strategy Session during which we can help you to  protect and preserve what matters most. Before the session, we’ll send you a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment to complete that will get you thinking about what you own, what’s most important to you, and what you can do to ensure your family is taken care of. Schedule online.

Dealing with the financial stressors of caring for an aging loved one can affect your ability to provide them with the care and compassion they need. It can also put the security of your financial future at risk. To mitigate these concerns, consider these useful tips to help you make informed decisions about how to protect your retirement while caring for senior parents.

Don’t Leave Your Job

Many adult children end up putting their professional lives on hold to become a primary caregiver for their elderly parents. Financial experts advise against this because of the sudden loss of income and valuable benefits. Consider caregiving options that support your ability to maintain your earning potential.

Create a Budget

Review the actual costs of being a primary caregiver before making any drastic changes like leaving your job. Also, consider whether your loved one’s assets can be utilized to cover some of the costs involved in providing care inside or outside the home.

Look for Benefits Elsewhere

Free or low-cost benefits that can help cover some of the costs of caregiving, such as home health aides, are often available to seniors. Similarly, review the limitations of public benefit options such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Consider Relocating Your Parent

It is common for seniors to prioritize remaining in their own home while they age. Although understandable, this can be a very expensive, and often unrealistic option. If opening your home to your loved one is an option, it can be far less expensive.

Seek Professional Help

Geriatric care managers can help you establish a caregiving plan that meets your needs and assist you in identifying resources to save time and money.

Protect Your Parent From Scams

Financial elder abuse is on the rise, so make sure your loved one’s finances are protected. Telephone, postal mail, and internet fraud is common and can be easily avoided when a close relative or friend is keeping tabs on the accounts of a senior loved one. Consider talking with your parents about stepping down as Trustee of their trusts and letting you step in now to monitor their finances, and if they do not have a Trust holding title to their accounts, meet with us now to look at whether it makes sense to set that up for them (and for you).

Discuss the Future

Now is an opportune time to review your loved one’s wishes for his or her estate and consider your own financial goals and how helping to care for a loved one might affect them.

Caring for a loved one can take a toll, both financially and emotionally. If you are ready to create a financial plan for caregiving, start by sitting down with a Personal Family Lawyer®. A Personal Family Lawyer® can help you plan for changes in life at every stage. Our Estate Plan Strategy Session guides you to protect and preserve what matters most. Before the session, we’ll send you a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment to complete that will get you thinking about what you own, what’s most important to you, and what you can do to ensure your family is taken care of. Schedule online.

In the sea of financial planning wisdom, there are too few messages about the importance of mindset. Think your salary can bring you safely to retirement? Think again. Gone are the days when simply saving money was enough to get you to retirement. With pensions practically a thing of the past, it takes more than just a big piggy bank to afford retirement. Do you need a second income to afford retirement?

Saving strategies aside, changing your mindset from that of a consumer to thinking like an investor, or even an entrepreneur through a side hustle, can give you the security you’ll need to ensure a comfortable retirement.

Many people believe that investing wisely is the key to taking your retirement planning into the 21^st century, but is it really enough? Smart financial advisors recommend multiple income streams to ensure you can retire comfortably. Even with a healthy retirement savings, it is wise to look for ways to diversify your income sources.

Enter: the side hustle. Your side hustle (i.e. a second job, side business, or income-generating investment) boosts your income while minimizing risk that you’ll run out of money down the road. Your salary isn’t guaranteed, but with a side hustle (or a few), you won’t put your retirement in jeopardy if you lose your job or change jobs.

If an advisor focuses just on the certain amount you need to save by age 55 to retire, they might not have your best interests in mind. In reality, there is no magic number. No one can predict how much you’ll need or even tell you where you need to keep your money. That’s why it’s so important not to limit your retirement planning to simple money saving techniques.

If you are ready to take the next step toward planning wisely for your retirement on the road to reaching financial independence, start by sitting down with us. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we will walk you step by step through creating a plan that will help you achieve your financial goals. Ask about your Money Map Planning Process or start with a Estate Plan Strategy Session, which will give you absolute clarity on what you own, and what will happen to all of it when something happens to you, so you can make informed, empowered decisions for the one’s you love. Before the session, we’ll send you a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment to complete that will get you thinking about what you own, what matters most to you, and about your wishes in case you become incapacitated or when you die. Schedule online.

Trusts vary in their structure, funding, and terms, so it’s hard to know how divorce will impact your trust without review. It’s safe to say, without question, your trust (and really your entire estate plan) should be reviewed during your divorce to prevent unforeseen negative outcomes.

The impact of a divorce on your trust can depend on:

The Trust’s Structure

Trusts frequently name the spouse as a trustee and beneficiary. In divorce, clarify your wishes in regards to these provisions. Even if you want to keep each other in your financial plans going forward, the trust should be amended appropriately after your divorce is complete, so your intention is clear.

Whether It’s Revocable or Irrevocable

If it’s revocable, changing the terms of the trust is easy, but you may have to wait until after your divorce is final to do it due to “orders” that go into effect when you file for divorce that prevent you from moving assets. If your trust is irrevocable, it might be necessary to petition the court to change the trustees, and the trust assets themselves may or may not be part of the divorce judgment.

Your State’s Laws on Community Property

Divorcing parties sometimes attempt to shield assets in trusts to keep them out of the pockets of the soon to be ex. When done surreptitiously, this could significantly complicate the divorce. Even when the assets in a trust are separate property, the income from the trust might still be considered for child support and alimony purposes.

Trusts can be affected by divorce, so you should take steps to protect your trust and your intentions. If you are ready to take that step, meet with us for guidance.

As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can help you navigate your divorce so your assets, including those held in trusts, remain under your direction and control.  Our Estate Plan Strategy Session guides you to protect and preserve what matters most. Before the session, we’ll send you a Family Wealth Inventory and Assessment to complete that will get you thinking about what you own, what’s most important to you, and what you can do to ensure your family is taken care of.

When you create your estate plan, the idea that one of your adult children would ever use their inheritance to bankroll a cult is probably something you’d never dream of, much less anticipate.

Yet that’s exactly what 40-year-old Clare Bronfman, heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Seagram’s fortune, did with hers.

In the end, with her inheritance—and the power that came with it—she was led her down a dark path that seems almost too outlandish to be true.

In May, Clare pled guilty to felony charges of harboring an illegal alien and fraudulent use of a deceased person’s identity as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The charges stem from her role as an executive board member of Nxivm (pronounced NEX-ee-um), a group that prosecutors described as a “deeply manipulative pyramid scheme” that forced some of its members to endure slave-like conditions and even have sex with the group’s leader and founder, Keith Raniere.

Had she gone to trial for her involvement with Nxivm, Clare would have faced up to 25 years in prison. But given her plea, she’ll likely serve just over two years. Her sentencing is scheduled for July 25.

Following Clare’s plea, Raniere, 58, was found guilty in June on seven felony counts, including racketeering and sex trafficking. He faces up to life in prison when he’s sentenced on September 25. His conviction comes following a six-week trial that exposed the world to Nxivm’s sordid inner workings and put wealth’s dark side on full display.

Unforeseen threats

Clare’s sad story highlights just how risky it can be to leave money outright to your children. Indeed, bestowing significant wealth upon your children or grandchildren can turn out to be a blessing—or it can just as easily be a curse.

Fortunately, there are proactive estate planning solutions designed to safeguard your adult children from such scenarios. And these planning protections aren’t just for the extraordinarily rich like Clare’s family—inheriting even relatively modest amounts of wealth can lead to similar issues. Regardless of your asset profile, we can help you put the proper planning vehicles in place to help prevent your heirs from falling prey to wealth’s darkest temptations—or even losing their inheritance to simple mistakes.

Indeed, the planning strategies we describe here can safeguard your child’s inheritance from being depleted out by other, less devious events, such as a divorce, a catastrophic medical expense, or even a simple accident. You just never know what life has in store for your heirs, and the right planning protections can ensure their inheritance is protected from practically all potential threats—even those you could never possibly imagine.

From self-help to self-sabotage

Clare joined Nxivm, which was billed as a life-coaching program, in 2002 at age 23. She reportedly joined the group in hopes that its mentoring might help her fulfill her dream of making the U.S. Olympic equestrian team. In large part due to her substantial financial contributions, Clare quickly rose to the top ranks of the organization and became increasingly close with Raniere.

According to a recent Forbes article, Raniere took advantage of Clare’s estranged relationship with her elderly father, Edgar Bronfman Sr., and emotionally manipulated her into believing that her family’s money was “evil and that she had to purify it by spending it on ethical things like Nxivm.”

To help convince her, Raniere constantly reminded Clare that the Seagram’s fortune was made selling alcohol, and that her grandfather, Samuel Bronfman, earned millions by conveniently setting up his Canadian whiskey distillery directly on the U.S.-Canada border during Prohibition.

Under the spell of Raniere’s devious manipulation, Clare reportedly came to view her financial support of Nxivm as a way to make up for her family’s past. All total, Clare is said to have poured roughly $150 million into Nxivm. Much of the money was spent on funding Raniere’s failed investment schemes in real estate and commodities.

Another big chunk of Clare’s inheritance was spent suing Nxivm’s detractors. During her time with the group, Clare reportedly hired nearly 60 lawyers and spent approximately $50 million on lawsuits against journalists, ex-girlfriends of Raniere, and others who were critical of the group.

Big money can cause big problems

While we don’t know the exact age Clare came into her money or just how much of it she had access to, her total inheritance was valued at an estimated $200 million. The inheritance was reportedly held in a trust, but given that she funneled roughly three-fourths of that sum into Nxivm in just more than 15 years, it’s likely her money was disbursed outright with little or no direction on how it could be used.

Though her case is extreme, Clare is certainly not the first wealthy person to be negatively impacted by inheriting too much money at a young age—nor will she be the last. Similar cases occur quite often, and no matter how well adjusted your children or grandchildren may seem, there’s just no way to accurately predict how their inheritance will affect them.

One unique planning vehicle designed to prevent the potential perils of outright distributions is a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust (LAPT). These trusts last for the lifetime of their respective beneficiaries, and provide them with a unique and priceless gift. With an LAPT, for instance, the beneficiary can use and invest the trust assets, yet at the same time, the trust offers airtight asset protection from unexpected life events, such as divorce or serious debt, which have the potential to wipe out their inheritance.

Exercise your discretion

When drafted properly, an LAPT can be used to educate your beneficiary on how to handle their inheritance. This is done by allowing the beneficiary to become a co-trustee with someone you’ve named at a specific age or stage of life, and then the beneficiary can become the sole trustee later in life, once he or she has been properly educated and are ready to take over.

The LAPT is discretionary, which means that the trust would not only protect your heir from outside threats, like creditors and ex-spouses, but also from their own mistakes. The trustee you name holds the trust’s assets upon your death. This gives the person you choose the power to distribute its assets to the beneficiary at their discretion, rather than requiring him or her to release the assets in more structured ways, such as in staggered distributions at certain ages.

Your direction and guidance

Many of our clients choose to provide non-binding guidelines directing the trustee on how the client would choose to make distributions in up to 10 different scenarios, such as for the purchase of a home, a wedding, the start of a business, and/or travel. Some clients choose to provide guidelines around how they would make investment decisions, as well.

This ensures that future trustees will be aware of your values when determining whether to make distributions, as well as how to invest trust assets, rather than operating in a vacuum of information, which often leads to problems down the road. In many cases, the beneficiary may eventually become the trustee him or herself, and then resign and appoint an independent trustee, if needed, for asset-protection purposes.

Don’t take any chances

You might think that something as depraved as what happened to Clare Bronfman would never happen to your children or grandchildren—but don’t be so sure. It can, and does, happen to even the most successful and upstanding among us. Having too much money at a young age is a Pandora’s Box, so it’s best not to open it.

Yet even if your heirs never experience a threat as evil as Nxivm and Raniere, their inheritance is still vulnerable to more common threats like divorce, poor spending, and sudden accident or illness.

Meet with a trusted advisor to see if a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust is the right option for protecting your family wealth and loved ones from situations and circumstances (no matter what they may be), which are simply impossible to foresee.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Estate Plan Strategy Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.

In a recent Facebook post “Processes to go through with your parents before they die,” Daniel Schmachtenberger, founder of the Critical Path Institute, outlined seven simple exercises to use with your parents that can offer significant healing and completion for their life and yours.

While Daniel shared these processes in the context of the impending death of a parent, the reality is that your parents are heading toward death, even if there is no official diagnosis. And starting these processes when mortality is not immediately on the table is even better.

1. Help them make a timeline of their life

Create a timeline of all the big events in their life, starting with birth and their earliest memories up to the present. This is a great way to get to know them even better while you still can. Recalling their life through these stories can help them harvest the gifts, relive the good times, and identify any areas that still feel unresolved.

There are apps for creating timelines, but it is easily done with pen and paper. Create the timeline by writing “birth” on the far left of the page, and draw a horizontal line going towards “death” on the far right. Experiences are placed on the line chronologically in the order they occurred. Positive experiences are depicted as vertical lines going up from the horizontal line, and difficult experiences as lines going down. Write short descriptions to correspond with each experience.

One way to help prompt memories is to ask questions about different people, places, and things from their past: romantic relationships, jobs, and places they lived. Going through old photos, letters, and music can also trigger meaningful memories.

When documenting their life events, the positive experiences can simply be recalled and enjoyed. For the negative ones, you can ask them what they learned from the experience and write that lesson in the description. In this way, you can find beauty and meaning in all of it.

2. Relationship healing

To foster healing in your personal relationship with them, focus on three areas:

●       Peacemaking: Forgive them for any way they hurt you, and help them forgive themselves. Apologize for the ways you hurt them. You want to ensure that neither of you feels any residual pain (resentment, guilt, or remorse) in the relationship.

●       Appreciation and gratitude: Write them a letter detailing everything you learned from them and all the positive experiences you had together. Go deep within to discover all they did for you, really appreciate it, and use the letter to help them feel your appreciation. Pinpoint any of their virtues you hope to embody most in your life and share that commitment with them, so they know they will live on through you once they are gone.

●       Reassurance: It is common for parents to resist leaving you over concerns for your future well-being. Reassure them that you are alright, will be alright, and it is okay for them to go. Using estate planning to help them get their affairs in order is a major part of this.

3. Family healing

If possible, help other family members go through the above healing process with your parents. Help your dying parent make peace with everyone in their life, even if some individuals cannot speak directly with them. Reassure them that you will help take care of those loved ones who are in the most need.

4. Wisdom gathering

Ask them for life advice on anything and everything you can think of. As the old African proverb says, “Every time an old person dies, a library burns,” so make sure to write down or record as much of their personal wisdom as possible.

5. Bucket List

To make the most of the time you have left, ask them if there is anything they really want to experience before they go, and fulfill as many of these bucket-list items as you can.

6. Help them see how they touched the world

In addition to documenting the positive impact they have had on your life, help them inventory all of the meaningful ways they have touched the lives of others. You want them to clearly see all of the beauty and meaning their life has brought to the world.

7. Help them be at peace with passing

While the above steps can help bring them peace, if they experience any fear of death, do your best to help them move through that. When death comes, you want them to be ready to greet her as an old friend.

If they are fond of a particular religion or spiritual practice, you can recite their favorite verses, hymns, and/or prayers. Or they might find comfort in hearing their most beloved poems or songs. Silent or guided meditation is often helpful as well. But sometimes, simply offering them your loving presence and holding their hand is enough.

We are exceedingly grateful to Daniel for sharing these practices. If you would like to share them with friends or family, you can either share this article from us or share Daniel’s note directly here.

Preserving your family’s intangible assets

While the above steps can help bring them peace, if they experience any fear of death, do your best to help them move through that. When death comes, you want them to be ready to greet her as an old friend.

If they are fond of a particular religion or spiritual practice, you can recite their favorite verses, hymns, and/or prayers. Or they might find comfort in hearing their most beloved poems or songs. Silent or guided meditation is often helpful as well. But sometimes, simply offering them your loving presence and holding their hand is enough.

We are exceedingly grateful to Daniel for sharing these practices. If you would like to share them with friends or family, you can either share this article from us or share Daniel’s note directly here.

Legacy planning

Though estate planning is mainly viewed as a way to pass on your financial wealth and property, when done right, it also enables you to preserve and pass on your true legacy: your memories, values, and wisdom. And it can also be a source of overall healing in the family. With the right support, having these all-important final conversations does not have to be intimidating or awkward at all.

Proper estate planning can keep your family out of conflict, out of court, and out of the public eye. If you’re ready to create a comprehensive estate plan, contact us to schedule your Estate Plan Strategy Session. Even if you already have a plan in place, we will review it and help you bring it up to date to avoid heartache for your family. Schedule online today.