Monday, December 1, 2008

Denver Colorado Estate Planning Attorney


Denver Colorado Estate Planning Attorney

If you have considered recently whether you need a will and estate plan you might want to remember the following:

Even small estates can often benefit from proper estate planning. Of course, if you have a taxable estate (in 2008 this may mean assets of more than $1,000,000) you should have an estate plan drafted by an experienced legal professional who knows the laws of your state (unless you just enjoy giving extra money to the government in taxes).* However, even for smaller estates, there are many situations you might not have considered where you and your business might benefit from proper estate planning.

Although there are many will documents out there on the web and do-it-yourself will kits, books and manuals, this is an area where there are many pitfalls for the unwary. Every state has different laws and they change periodically. A generic will or other documents may not work properly in your state or may not have the effect that you want them to, and no-one would ever know until the will is admitted to probate. Don’t leave your children or heirs with a big mess!

In Colorado you should consider the following:

* If you or your spouse have children by a previous marriage, you need a properly drafted will to make sure your assets are properly distributed at your death, so that such children are not inadvertently disinherited.

* If you are not married to your partner, you definitely need a will. Under the intestacy laws (for people who die without a valid will) the State of Colorado will inherit all your assets before your partner, who might have lived with you for years. This may not be at all what you intended! This especially applies to gay relationships which are not recognized under Colorado law.

* Generally speaking, while state probate laws are better than they once were they are still not tailored to unusual situations:

For instance, have you considered what happens if you or your spouse are disabled and not able to make critical medical and financial decisions? Who would you want to handle such matters? Normally, your spouse or family member must petition the court for an emergency temporary conservatorship or guardianship. This proceeding is expensive and can be time consuming. Worse, suppose you want your unmarried partner to make financial or medical arrangements rather than your parents or adult children? The law doesn’t recognize your partner’s rights. Who will have access to your bank accounts? Who will make important medical decisions? A durable medical and durable financial power of attorney, plus a Colorado living will can easily be drafted to handle such situations, but only before, not after an emergency! If you are unconscious for instance, you cannot sign legal documents! Then it will be too late and you or your family may be stuck with needless delay and thousands of dollars in unnecessary legal fees!

The important point to consider here is that proper planning empowers you! You make the decisions in advance instead of leaving critical decisions about your life to others, even family members!

Business and Succession Planning: Another area that can routinely benefit from proper estate planning is planning for your business. What happens if you or your business partner were to die or become seriously disabled, who would inherit there share of the business? Have you got key person insurance to handle the distribution of assets to your partner’s spouse or heirs?

These matters may seem unduly remote, but suddenly finding yourself in business with your former partner’s spouse or heirs or having to sell off the business to satisfy the claims of your partner’s estate or creditors can be devastating. What if it’s a bad time to sell? What if you want to continue in business, but lack the capital assets to continue after division and sale of the business?

There are many other similar contingencies. This is where proper succession and business planning go together to protect your assets. Do you want your children to have a share of your business while you are alive, but you want to maintain control?

If you are in business you got an estate plan to cover these and other contingencies?

There are solutions to these and other problems that can easily arise. Proper business planning is essential to avoid difficulties in the future. Consulting experienced legal counsel can be essential in dealing with these and a host of other issues surrounding your small business. A free initial consultation may help you decide whether these or other business planning techniques are right for you or your business.

Contact John V. Stege, Attorney at Law

My Website:

My Word-Press Web-site:

A Site that has articles on Estate Planning:


DO YOU HAVE AN ESTATE PLAN? IF SO, IS IT LINKED TO YOUR BUSINESS PLANNING? HOW PROPER LEGAL PLANNING CAN HELP YOU.

*As of December 2008 it appears that President Obama will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. If so, this would mean that the tax threshold for estate tax would revert to the situation in 2001, which would be a $1,000,000 exemption. Anyone with more than this amount could potentially be subject to tax. This area of law is most uncertain, so maximum flexibility in creating an estate plan is necessary.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

"No Jury In The World Would Convict Me!": Surviving Your Family Holidays!

If your family is at all like mine you probably remember the time when your father got drunk at your uncle's house on Christmas eve and insisted on wrestling with you and the relatives had to step in and break it up to stop him from breaking the furniture.

Or perhaps you recall the time your father's friend, whom he invited to stay the weekend over Thanksgiving when you where 16 tried to put the moves on you and your dad just laughed. Or the time your parents forgot you were with them and accidentally left you at the mall one Christmas.

But, the real recurring family trauma tends to be not those never-to-be-forgotten debacles you can tell your grand-children, but those every-single-year events where you KNOW what your relative is going to say. And you're all tense because you KNOW they're just waiting to say it. It happens every year. It's going to come up. And of course, it does.

Examples:

"So have you found a boyfriend/girlfriend yet?"
"You'll just have to lower your sights a bit. One can't be too choosy at your age!"
"When are you two going to get married/start a family?"
"Can you really afford that?"
"Didn't you just give up smoking recently?"
"When are you going to stop fooling around and get a real job?"
"That's ok dear. You'll find a man. You poor thing! We'll just all keep praying for you."


To be followed shortly by:
"Well, you're hitting the bottle a bit early today aren't you?"
My personal favorite is my dad's annual taunt: "You're getting a bit LARDY there! Getting a bit of a gut on you! Now I can still fit into my size 29 pants just like when I was in the Navy! Blah, blah, blah."

My family used to have a yearly Christmas sport of the "family argument." Everybody had a role in the fight and the results were pre-ordained.

No matter how many years pass. All you have to do is enter your family home and by magic you are now 9 years old again. It never fails. No matter how many times you tell yourself "I'm not going to react to Stella when she tells me I'm overweight" the minute she opens her mouth all our good resolve goes out the window. Family get under your skin.

But everything doesn't have to end up like this! There are options:

1. Realize that it could always be worse, and actually IS in other people's families: Like this poor woman whose mother-in-law threw her out of the house when they came to visit over Christmas holiday and she had have her parents wire money so she could fly home alone - her idiot husband didn't want to leave!

If that doesn't help:

2. This guy's advice seems some of the best: "I always respond 'Thank you for your input!'" when relatives say something insensitive that they KNOW is going to get under your skin that might be the best way to react.

3. Gretchin Rubin has: "7 Ways To Get Along With Your Relatives Over Thanksgiving" the best of which is probably the simple but underrated "don't stuff yourself and don't drink too much" concluding that "I basically had to give up drinking because alcohol makes me so belligerent."

Unfortunately, we can't always moderate the behavior of our relatives!

So perhaps the best advice is to surrender the idea of control. Many people have a mental image in their minds of "how the holiday should go." Perhaps it's a Halmark Family Christmas, perhaps it's just that "I pray uncle Charlie won't get drunk and try and feel up my date this year."

But, nothing ever goes the way it "should." And it's this "should" that causes so much stress. I was a self-expression coach a year ago and one woman in my group actually bought two Christmas trees every year -- one for her 8 year old daughter to decorate, and one to decorate "the right way" because having the decorations not evenly distributed over the tree in the "proper" fashion bothered her.

Needless to say that Christmas was such a stressful time of year for her that she emerged from the holidays totally exhausted and in need of a "vacation."

Imagine the "lesson" this taught to her poor daughter that nothing she ever did was "good enough." And of course, this woman was only carrying on the "lessons" of her own childhood that SHE wasn't good enough.

For some reason the holidays bring out the worst in some relatives.

But, you can accept that although you're NOT going to be able to prevent Aunt Muriel and your mom from fighting if they insist on fighting again this year, YOU don't have to become emotionally involved in it. The key is to give up the idea that things "shouldn't be like this."

You may be able to help by making a public declaration of your commitment to family peace this year, but be prepared to back it up if push comes to shove.

Overall having a sense of humor helps best and not taking yourself too seriously is a big advantage. So, instead of yelling at my father when he tells me "looks like you're getting a little lardy there!" I can always tell him "I'd prefer you didn't comment on my weight because it bothers me." Or, you can say "maybe you have some exercise tips for me!"

It couldn't hurt. And remember that whatever happens over the holidays, January 1st is only around the corner.