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Estate Planning Documents Every Young Professional Should Have

originally posted on: Monday, July 7, 2014

After graduating from college, and even law school, the thought of drafting your estate plan probably did not make the top twenty on your “to-do” list, and why should it? The only thing most young professionals have when they first start out is debt. However, after you land your first job, preparing your estate plan needs to move quickly to the top of that elusive “to do” list. It’s especially important if you are starting a family. Below are five documents that should be part of your estate plan.

1. Durable Financial Power of Attorney. A Durable Financial Power of Attorney is a document whereby you name an agent to act on your behalf concerning your personal financial affairs. Typically, your agent would step into this role only if you were unable to handle your own affairs; e.g., if you were in a serious accident or were extremely ill. Your agent can be a family member, a close friend whom you trust, or even a private fiduciary. The Power of Attorney gives your agent a wide range of duties and responsibilities that should be tailored to your own situation. Some of the responsibilities of your agent might include paying your bills, caring for your home, and even handling disputes on your behalf with the Motor Vehicle Division or the Social Security office. This is one of those documents that you do not need . . . until you do. If you do not have a Durable Financial Power of Attorney in place, and you are unable to make your own decisions, your family members may have to petition the Court to appoint a Conservator on your behalf, which can often be time-consuming, involve delays, and is expensive.

2. Health Care Power of Attorney. A Health Care Power of Attorney is similar to the Durable Financial Power of Attorney, except it is used for decisions concerning your health care. Again, you will name an agent who will have the authority to make health care decisions for you, if you are unable to make them for yourself. Your named agent can assist with placement, if you must be moved to a rehabilitation facility, and is often given the ultimate authority to follow your wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment, if you were in a terminal situation.

It is important to contact an estate planning attorney to draft this document, due to changes in the laws over the past several years such as decisions on the disposition of your body (i.e. burial vs. cremation). Also, a properly drafted Health Care Power of Attorney is necessary if your physician has determined that, due to your deteriorating mental condition, you must be placed in a Level One Behavioral Health Facility. Without a Health Care Power of Attorney containing certain language, such Facilities will require that a Guardian be appointed to act on your behalf.

3. Last Will and Testament. A Will allows you to provide, with a great deal of specificity, to whom and in what manner your assets will be distributed upon your death. A Will is much more simple than a trust. There are many options to consider when preparing the provisions in your Will, for example: Who will receive your personal property, what will happen to your house, who will serve as guardian for your minor children, and who will be responsible for paying your final expenses? While it may seem overwhelming at first, once you have addressed these questions, and have properly executed your documents, you will be relieved that you have made the task of distributing your property significantly simpler.

Depending on your estate and goals, a Revocable Living Trust may also be an option to consider. Even if you decide to create a Trust, it is still important to execute a Will. If you have a Trust, the sole beneficiary of your Will is likely to be the Trustee of this Trust.

4. Beneficiary Designation. If that first new job that you landed came with a 401(K) or an IRA program, make sure that you contact your Financial Advisor to ensure there is a current beneficiary designation for you on the account. A Beneficiary Designation states that upon your death, the assets held in that account pass immediately to the named individual(s). Typically the individual(s) will have to provide the custodian of the account with a death certificate and complete forms required of a beneficiary. If you do not have a beneficiary designation on the account at the time of your death, the funds will be distributed as part of your estate. Under IRS regulations an estate cannot be a beneficiary, therefore, if this occurs, the funds in the account must be distributed over five years, which is disadvantageous from an income tax standpoint. Speak with your estate planning attorney to determine if having a Beneficiary Designation fits with your overall estate plan.

5. Beneficiary Deed. A Beneficiary Deed allows you to name an individual who will receive your interest in real property at your death. Chances are, if you are married, you hold title to your home as community property with right of survivorship or joint tenants with right of survivorship. If that is the case, a Beneficiary Deed would only be used at the death of the second spouse. However, if you are the sole owner of a home, and again, all of your assets will be distributable to one or two individuals, such as your significant other or your parents, a Beneficiary Deed will allow for a smooth transfer without subjecting your property to a probate proceeding. There are times when use of a Beneficiary Deed might not be in your best interest, e.g., if you wish the property to be distributed to minor children.

After the necessary documents are executed, be certain that one set of originals is placed in a safe or safe deposit box in your bank and let your family know that the documents are there. It is wise to re visit these documents when a major life event occurs, such as a wedding, a birth or even a death, to ensure no changes to your documents should be made. If no major life events occur, it is always a good idea to contact your estate planning attorney every five years to ensure there have been no substantive changes in the laws that may affect your documents. The above information is based on the laws of the State of Arizona.

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”

– Alan Lakein, author of How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life

Posted in Estate Planning

Human trafficking: It ain’t just for sex anymore : Marti Oakley

May 8

Posted by Lark E. Kirkwood

“Again, once this “guardianship” has been sanctioned by the cooperating probate judge, the victim loses all rights of any kind whatsoever and is for all intents and purposes “dead in the law”. The guardian/conservator now legally owns the victim and can avail themselves of all of the victim’s assets of any kind. ”

When we think of human trafficking most of us immediately assume that this occurs only in the arena of sexual exploitation. At some point in time this may have been true. Today, human trafficking encompasses many forms and there is not one of us who can safely assume that we would somehow be exempt from any type of human trafficking.

While the sexual exploitation and trafficking for the purposes of sex is often highlighted in MSM, rarely do they ever report on the trafficking that occurs courtesy of our courts, unscrupulous politicians and yes, even those demi-gods….doctors, therapists and psychiatrists. There is money to be made exploiting the vulnerable, the sick, the weak, the aging (with assets) and even children who have been unfortunate enough to become wards of the state and forced into foster care. While sexual activity may not be the cause and concern in these instances, what happens to these individuals is no less a form of human trafficking for profit.

In each of the above stated groups, the trafficking of human beings for profit is facilitated by social service agencies, corrupt probate courts, and family courts. To be declared a “ward of the state”, is to be housed by, and to receive necessities and protection of the government. It also means to lose any and all rights of any kind, whatsoever. The “state” now owns what has become a chattel property and may do with that property whatever it desires to do. This oftentimes includes a form of leasing out the ward for pharmaceutical experimentation and profit, as was exposed in Florida and Alaska, just to name two, over the last several years resulting in the exposure of massive Medicaid fraud as foster children are routinely forced to take off-label high gear psychotropic drugs and vaccines. In a May, 2009 article, :author Evelyn Pringle notes:

“It is hard to come up with an adjective that adequately conveys the horror this is inflicting on America’s children and youth. Suffice it to say that when the country wakes up to the carnage this has caused, it will be recognized as the largest iatrogenic (doctor caused) public health disaster in history.”

These days, it seems more evident that the concern for children is not so much their safety and well-being, but rather; How much are they worth in the foster care system? As with our public school systems, big pharma is more than willing to pay for every child added to the forced drugging programs.

Trafficking of the elderly (with assets)

The human trafficking of the elderly (with assets) has become a national epidemic and disgrace. Probate courts routinely work with predatory professional guardians, payrolling attorneys, owners of notoriously abusive care facilities and social agencies to target and then obtain guardianship/conservatorship of the elderly whose only crime was to age with assets. These predatory professional guardians, strangers to the victim and their families, make their living robbing the estates of their victims.

Again, once this “guardianship” has been sanctioned by the cooperating probate judge, the victim loses all rights of any kind whatsoever and is for all intents and purposes “dead in the law”. The guardian/conservator now legally owns the victim and can avail themselves of all of the victim’s assets of any kind. These predators can and do instruct doctors to begin the administering of psychotropic medications not approved for use on the elderly, and many of the doctors who are also tapping the estate for inflated billing charges, comply with these requests.

Once legally kidnapped with the help of the cooperating probate judge and the local police department who conduct the kidnapping as a swat team raid, the victim is quickly housed in a participating facility and started on a drug regime that is seldom called for.

The drugs are especially useful when administered just prior to what is laughingly called a “competency hearing”.

The profits from human trafficking of the aging (with assets) was documented in the 2007 GAO report with estimates well over a billion in stolen assets obtained by professional predatory guardians/conservators and some family members across 48 states, although the GAO focused on only 20 cases:

“The GAO focused on cases in which a family member, agency, or private business was appointed as a guardian. In 20 cases, guardians appointed and approved by courts stole $5.4 million in assets from 158 incapacitated adults. ”

The recent Committee on Aging hearing very carefully orchestrated and scripted the public hearing to make it appear that the abuse is most always at the hands of family and friends. In truth, the largest percentage of cases of exploitation are committed by professional strangers who have a well established system in place with the same predators routinely involved in these deadly guardianships as is exemplified when examining the cases in a specific geographical area. The same judges, the same predatory professional guardians, the same payrolling attorneys and the same doctors and participating facilities, all involved in one predatory case after another. The staged committee hearing barely touched on this aspect of exploitation of the elderly, if at all.

What are you worth as a prisoner?

When John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General for the US under GW Bush, handed down sentencing guidelines to the states, not one state refused those guidelines even though Ashcroft was not lawfully empowered to make such demands. The result has been a explosion in the number of individuals held in federal and state prisons, many for what should have been short term sentences for minor crimes. This allowed Merrill Lynch to begin selling prisoner bonds, globally. And ML isn’t the only company engaged in the profitable human trafficking trade of selling human beings on the open market.

The sentencing guidelines were needed to confirm that prisoner X would be available for exploitation and forced labor for a guaranteed length of time. The whole system is run by

C.J.T.S. a corporation dedicated to the tracking and coding of prisoners and provides the software to do it. Using this system and one called CUSIP:

From Owners of the American Prison System

“a nine digit number (called Ordnance Number) is issued for the Certificate of Stocks going internationally to ANNA (Lynn’s note: see link for ANNA which is in Brussels, Belgium at http://www.cusip.com ). These Securities are sold through the Commodity and Security Exchange. The bottom line is they are selling stocks in the prison system. The jails are referred to as Warehouses and the prisoners are called Goods”

“From the moment a person is arrested for any reason, the prisoner cash register starts ringing. This can be for something as simple as a traffic ticket. The law enforcement department making the arrest assigns a pre-defined code to the charges being made. This code has a monetary value and the money starts rolling from this point on all the way through the system. Publicly traded prisoner stocks, took a tumble in 2008, but look as if they will rebound as the Obama Administration along with Senators McCain and Lieberman, and others such as Graham and Shumer devise plans to increase ever greater numbers of US citizens under the false flag of national security.”

Prisoners can also be subjected to forced drugging, pharmaceutical experimentation or exposure to pathogens among many other things.

Are you safe?

Never think for a moment that you are safe from the predator class. If anyone sees the opportunity to make a buck off you, your kids, your parents or anyone for that matter, you can quickly find yourself totally disenfranchised, without rights, without defense and without any means of extricating yourself from the system.

Human trafficking has evolved. We are now all considered commodities to be sold, traded, and used on the global market and as the global demand for organ transplants increases any one of us could be worth more dead than alive. We have been totally devalued as human beings and rendered as commodities. Our own government refers to us as “human capital, or as human expenditures” as if we were used cars sitting on a government sale lot.

___________________

Arizona and exploitation of vulnerable adults in probate courts

What is a “ward” ?

a. Law A minor or incompetent person placed under the care or protection of a guardian or court.b. A person under the protection or care of another.7. The state of being under guard; custody.8. The act of guarding or protecting; guardianship.

chat·tel

1. Law An article of movable personal property.

2. A slave.

Massive Medicaid Fraud Exposed in Psychiatric Drugging of Kids in US
Legally kidnapped: PBS reports Forced drugging of foster care kids

Prisoners of the system: Corporate organized crime runs the system of human trafficking for profit slave labor in Georgia.

Human Trafficking and the Elderly (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
The Signs Are Incontrovertible (hopeforslaves.com)
Expo sheds light on prevalence of human trafficking in NC (charlotte.news14.com)
Human Trafficking Is… (hopeforslaves.com)
Facts about human trafficking (hopeforslaves.com)
Google Trends Say Human Trafficking is Gaining Attention; Author Tackles this Difficult Subject in New Novel (prweb.com)

Posted in Abuse, Conservator, Elder Abuse, Elder Law & Finances, Exploitation, Fraud, Guardianship, Guardianship Abuse, Guardianships & Conservatorships, Incapacitated, Judicial Abuse, Law, Probate Court, United States, Ward

1 Comment

Tags: Abuse, Brussels, Conservator, Elder Abuse, Elder Law & Finances, Estate, Exploitation, exploitation of the elderly, Financial Abuse, Financial Abuse of Elderly, financial exploitation, foster care, Fraud, Guardianship, Guardianship Abuse, Guardianships & Conservatorships, Human Trafficking, humantrafficking, Incapacitated, John Ashcroft, Judicial Abuse, judicial accountability, Law, Marti Oakley, Medicaid, Merrill Lynch, probate, Probate Court, United States, Victims, Ward

Elder Abuse Checklist

Mar 21

Posted by Lark E. Kirkwood

from Wikipedia

Possible Indicators of Incapacity, Undue Influence and Elder Abuse :

Gifts to persons (caregivers, service providers, friends) who are not the natural objects of the client’s bounty
Gifts to anyone that are so large, given the size and nature of the client’s estate, as to threaten the client’s economic security
Loans, particularly if undocumented, to anyone; special scrutiny required if to non‑family members
Actions by client’s fiduciary (attorney-in-fact, trustee, other) that reflect poor judgment or conflict of interest
Existence of estate-planning documents naming non‑family members as fiduciaries or beneficiaries
Existence of joint accounts with non‑family members
Evidence that client signs checks prepared by others
Bequest plans or other arrangements favoring one child, particularly if a caregiver
Evidence of physical harm (bruises, cuts, etc.)
Evidence of excessive dependence on a child or other person, particularly if such other person is critical to the client’s independence and/or ability to avoid a nursing home
Material inconsistency between client’s understanding of estate and its true value
Excessive fees charged by professionals (trustees, attorneys, financial advisors, stockbrokers, other)
Unconscionable terms of loans or other financial arrangements.

Courses of Action When Elder Abuse Identified :

Require accountings from prior fiduciaries. Court procedures are available to compel such accountings.
Institute conservatorship/guardianship procedures to formalize authority in a third party who will be accountable to the courts.
Contact Adult Protective Services (or its equivalent) in the client’s community. [Caveat: Doing so may constitute a breach of confidentiality.]
Revoke or amend estate-planning documents that do not comport with client’s wishes.
Commence civil action against person(s) who take financial advantage of client. Such actions may include elder abuse (in jurisdictions so providing), fraud, negligence,
misrepresentation, theft and breach of contract.
Commence civil action against person(s) who physically abused the client. Such actions may include elder abuse, assault, battery, wrongful death and violation of Patient Bill of Rights (if events occurred in a nursing home).
Remove assets from accounts held jointly with suspected abuser.
Involve the police and raise possible criminal charges against abuser.
Draft documents (durable power of attorney, trust, other) to effect true, independent wishes of client.
Involve social worker, counselor, psychologist or professional geriatric care manager.
Involve professional, bonded fiduciary to manage assets for client.

Reposted from: http://financialelderabuse.wordpress.com/

Wealth is not a Barrier to Abuse and Exploitation – it’s an Invitation (larkkirkwood.wordpress.com)
Elder Abuse & Financial Crimes: What’s it all about? (larkkirkwood.wordpress.com)
Appalling information about Missouri & Elder Abuse! (larkkirkwood.wordpress.com)
National Organization to Stop Elder Abuse and Guardianship Abuse (larkkirkwood.wordpress.com)
Seniors and Conservatorship – helping you understand. (larkkirkwood.wordpress.com)
The 5 Senses of Abuse (larkkirkwood.wordpress.com)

Posted in Adult Protective Services, Elder Abuse, Elder Law & Finances, Fiduciary, Fraud, Incapacity, Personal Representative, Theft

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Tags: Abuse, Adult Protective Services, Attorney-in-fact, Atul Gawande, Beneficiary, breach of confidentiality, Breach of Contract, Capacity (law), checklist, client signs, Durable Power of Attorney, Elder, Elder Abuse, Elder Law & Finances, Estate, Estate planning, excessive dependence, Exploitation, Fiduciary, Fiduciary Abuse, Financial Abuse of Elderly, financial exploitation, forgery, Fraud, government, Incapacity, Law, Mandated Reporter, neglect, Nursing home, Patient Bill of Rights, Personal Representative, Power of Attorney, Signs of Elder Abuse, Theft, Trust, Trustee, Undue Influence, Violence and Abuse

Non-conservator * was appointed personal representative? Dad died intestate? What?

Mar 7

Posted by Lark E. Kirkwood

After my father‘s death on June 21, 2011, I sent copies of the “Will of Ronald Richard Kirkwood” via certified mail to the following:

Janice Cagle, Cedar County, MO public administrator & conservator & co-guardian of my father, Ronald Richard Kirkwood
Peter A. Lee, (Missouri Bar No. 55172) attorney for Janice Cagle AND guardian ad lidem (conveniently) for my father, Ronald Richard Kirkwood
Elizabeth V. Rohrs, (Missouri Bar No. 31433) attorney representing Mary Hackbirth Kirkwood * ( see photo below )
Cedar County Probate Court in care of Melinda Gumm, Cedar County, MO court clerk

I received all 4 notifications back signed and delivered. Mary Catherine Kirkwood *, (as listed this time), (see photo below) was then appointed personal representative of my father’s estate & that he died intestate. NOTE: Mary * was appointed co-guardian and NOT CONSERVATOR in the Guardianship proceedings (Case No: 10CD-PR0059), despite her requests & application. The Circuit Court of Cedar County, Missouri Probate Division, Judge Dennis D. Reaves, then put all fiduciary responsibility back in her hands on September 30, 2011?!?

Clearly this makes absolutely no sense.