When we last met Jenna and Mark Livingston, they were hunkered down in St. Thomas, U.S Virgin Islands, waiting for Hurricane Astrid to pass. As they huddled in the town assembly hall, Jenna, an attorney, and Mark, a pediatrician, bemoaned their failure to adequately plan for the care of their children in the event of their death. Both age 30,…
Jenna and Mark Livingston were living the life of Reilly. At age 30, they had thriving careers—Jenna as an attorney, Mark as a pediatrician—and three children, aged five months, two, and four. Together, they lived in a four-bedroom home in an exclusive neighborhood with their dog, Pepper. Five months after the birth of their third child, Mark decided Jenna required…
After years of marital discord, John and Angie Wakefield finally decided to call it quits. John filed for divorce in California on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, asking for a fair and equitable division of community property, retention of all separate property, and shared custody of their two children. In her response, Angie not only requested child support, she sought…
Mary and Thomas Charleton had five adult children. Unfortunately, not all of them had the means to purchase their own homes. So after each child married, the Charletons offered them a low interest loan to cover the down payment, up to a certain dollar amount. All of the children took advantage of the offer.
By the time Mary died—at age 62–three of the loans had been repaid in full. However, the couple’s daughter, Dory, made a partial repayment. When she got divorced after five years of marriage and was forced to sell that home, Dory decided she should no longer be required to repay the loan. A son, Robert, figured the amount of the loan would just be taken out of his share of his parent’s estate. He was fine with that. He made no effort to repay the loan.
Upon the death of their respective husbands, Sara and her daughter, Mary, decided to move in together. Since Sara’s home bore no mortgage, Mary sold her home, and placed the proceeds into a retirement account. They agreed to share living expenses, as well as the cost of maintenance and property taxes on the home. They also agreed that when Sara died, Mary would inherit the home.
When Miranda Jones married Scott Ludlum, with their six children in total, they anticipated a Brady Bunch existence. For many years, they co-existed peacefully, then Scott became seriously ill. It seems upon marriage to Miranda, Scott had failed to update his Living Will, Financial and Healthcare Powers of Attorney, and HIPAA Release. In all of those documents, Scott had appointed his former wife, Lenore, to make healthcare and financial decisions should Scott be rendered incapacitated.
Failure to timely probate estates creates problems for heirs
When Franklin Davies died, his wife, Jennifer was quite confident that all their ducks were in a row.
After Franklin inherited a significant number of assets from his father, Harold, the couple decided to create a Living Trust and place most of those assets in the trust for the benefit of their children. Among those assets was a beachfront home. Eventually, Franklin and Jennifer decided to make that home their main residence.
Lost or Undiscovered Assets Pose Problems for the Administration of an Estate
When Jonathan Morgan was named the executor of his father’s estate, he thought he had an easy task ahead of him. After all, his father, Harold, had assured him that he had carefully listed every asset he owned on a sheet of notebook paper attached to his will.
Should You Hire A Professional Fiduciary?
Marilyn Simons was irate.
“I’m telling you, Bob, that estate planning attorney thinks we have raised a bunch of dummies. We have three children, all perfectly competent adults. Why shouldn’t we nominate one of them to oversee our affairs? I am quite sure none of them would object.”
Anna Mercer’s family was quite excited when she met and married Klaus Jergen. After their joyous nuptials, the couple moved to Vienna, Austria, where Klaus was employed at a local school as a history teacher. Anna, a pastry chef, soon found employment at a local bäckerei or bakery, where she perfected the art of the Sachertorte and the Linzer torte.…
Preplanning avoids disputes over gifts and loans
After Marilyn Walker’s untimely death, her family solemnly gathered for the reading of her will. According to her attorney, Marilyn divided her estate equally among her four children. Everything seemed cut and dried, until Marilyn’s eldest daughter, Kate, spoke up.