Hope, Change, and the Inauguration

Tomorrow marks an historic point in our nation’s history. Regardless of your politics, most will, in one way or another acknowledge and take part (at least in some, small way) this watershed event.

Whether you’re a news junkie, or just occasionally glance at the coverage of this event, it’s hard to miss the scope and scale of what’s happening in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama’s inauguration tomorrow will be the most elaborate, secure, and expensive in history.

The theme of the inauguration is “A New Birth of Freedom”. We know that President Obama’s theme for his campaign and fledgling administration is “Hope and Change”. What does it take to deliver the opening of this new administration, this bridge to a place of hope and change? A massive undertaking, a show of powerful organization and funding to rival all inaugurations before.

According to news reports, “Obama will wear bullet-resistant clothing, speak behind a protective glass shield and ride in the parade in the armored Cadillac limousine, with doors and windows so thick that he probably would survive a bomb blast.” There will be 58 different agencies working on the project and the price tag to the Presidential Inaugural Committee alone will be around $45 million.

In order to create this event and set the stage for the new president to pass his legacy on to the country, it was required that his team plan not just for what’s probable, but for what’s possible.

The same is true for you as you contemplate what’s necessary to assure a smooth transition for those you love in the event you become incapacitated and when you, ultimately, pass away. It is critical that you leave as few things as possible to chance. A properly created estate plan will help you to create this kind of security for those you love.

At a bare minimum, a good basic estate plan will include a will and/or trust, a durable power of attorney, and an advance directive for health care. A carefully designed plan, set up for you by a qualified estate planning attorney, will go even further to anticipate (and smooth over) as many of life’s bumps in the road as possible.

So, whether you take time out of your day tomorrow to watch the inauguration live, or you catch the highlights on tomorrow’s evening news – let this ceremonial transition of power remind you of the responsibility you have to assure just such a seamless transition for those you love and may, someday, leave behind.

A Boot to the Head

An educational piece on how not to write your estate plan.

Anna Nicole Smith’s Estate Planning Mess

Everyone may have had enough of the Anna Nicole Smith saga by now, but I could not let the moment pass without pointing to the mess she and her attorneys created with poorly drafted documents and poor planning in general.

Anna Nicole Smith jumped from one estate planning mess to another. As you may remember, she was the short term wife of billionaire J. Howard Marshall. For many years after he passed away, she was involved in litigation over his estate because J. Howard never included her in his will. Despite experiencing first-hand the emotional, financial, and time costs of J. Howard’s poor estate planning, Anna Nicole left behind her own mess.

On July 31, 2001, Anna Nicole Smith signed a will leaving all of her estate to her son, Daniel, to be held in trust with her friend, Howard K. Stern, as Trustee. As you may recall, Daniel died on September 10, 2006, at age 20. A few days prior to Daniel’s death, Anna Nicole gave birth to a daughter, Danielynn, on September 7, 2006. Later that month, Anna Nicole and Howard K. Stern had a commitment ceremony on a yacht in the waters off of Nassau, Bahamas.

So, by late-September, there had been significant changes to Anna Nicole’s circumstances. Yet, Anna Nicole did not change her will. She did not change it to leave anything to either her new daughter, Danielynn, or to Danielynn’s presumed father and Anna Nicole’s new domestic partner, Howard K. Stern. Further, she didn’t change her will to provide a guardian for Danielynn.

Anna Nicole died on February 8, 2007. Unhappily, it seems that she did not take a lesson from the mess she experienced over J. Howard Marshall’s estate. Not only did she fail to revise her estate plan after major changes in her life, but she included provisions in her will that override state laws. Those laws would have presumed she wanted to include children born after the will was written.

The laws of California (which govern her will) provide that children born after a will is written are presumed to be included unless the will specifically excludes future children. Anna Nicole included such an exclusionary provision in her will. Further, she appointed Howard K. Stern as guardian for Daniel. However, she did not specify that he was also to be guardian for any other children she may have. So, the question of who will be Dannielynn’s guardian is currently undecided.

Anna Nicole made yet another mistake. She used a will to dispose of her property. This made her affairs a public matter. She could have avoided some of the scrutiny over her affairs if she had used a Revocable Living Trust to hold and dispose of her assets.

Do not make the same mistakes that Anna Nicole made. Review your estate planning documents periodically. Upon any significant change in your life: the birth or death of a family member; marriage or divorce; or a significant increase or decrease in your assets. In addition, make your estate plan flexible enough to allow for changes in your life which may happen more quickly than you can change your plan. A qualified estate planning attorney can help you create a plan that anticipates changes in your life and can review the plan with you at regular intervals.

For additional information on estate planning and your options, visit our website at www.smithbarid.com. Or, if you would like to schedule an appointment to go over your estate plan and make sure your plan is adequate to protect your children and your assets, please feel free to call our office at (912)352-3999 if you live in the Savannah, Georgia area or email us at info@smithbarid.com.