I often speak to groups on the topic of estate planning. (If you want me to speak to your group, please contact us!) When I do, I always talk about how best to protect kids in the event the worst happens and the parents both die. You see, if children are too young or too immature to do something sensible with an inheritance, I usually recommend that the inheritance should be held in trust. Inevitably, someone will say, "I named my parents as the beneficiaries on all my accounts. They ...
5 Things Your Kid Should Do Before Leaving for College
May is graduation month. (Congratulations, class of 2018!) Perhaps one of your children graduated from high school and is fledging the nest. Whether they are off to college or to some other great adventure, there are a few documents you should make sure your child completes before leaving home. (And if they've already left, call them and have them get on these tasks right away! Or next time they are home for a visit!) 1. Health Care Power of Attorney Now that your child is over 18, in the ...
Parental Alienation, Or One Way To Screw Up Your Kids Following Divorce
I’ve been working a lot in the family law arena lately — divorces and child custody cases. Thus, I’ve been thinking a lot about how and why divorces can lead to negative outcomes for kids. One major factor I’ve seen a lot of lately is the issue of parental alienation. Parental alienation is loosely defined to describe when one parent’s behavior interferes with a child’s relationship or attachment to the other parent. At its extreme, parental alienation can cause the child to come to ...
I Don’t Need An Estate Plan, Right? I Don’t Really Own Anything… Wrong!
When I talk to people about “estate planning,” the most common response is, “I don’t need an estate plan because I don’t have an estate.” The problem is that the word “estate” conjures visions of Hearst Castle or the Biltmore estate. People wrongly assume that they don’t need an estate plan unless they are uber-rich. But the reality is that, in the law, the word “estate” just means “all the stuff someone owns at the time of their death.” So, anyone who owns something (a favorite pair of ...
Do I Really Need A Will?
Following up on my last post, I get a lot of questions about whether people really need wills. The short answer is, of course, it depends! The purpose of a will is simply to announce (in a legally-binding way) your intentions for what should happen to your property and who should care for your minor children after your death. So if you have no kids, no spouse, and no property, then you probably don’t need a will. But once you are married, or have kids, or start to own property (like ...
I Want Fifty-Fifty!
In dealing with child custody questions, lots of people say they want “fifty-fifty,” without really knowing what that might mean for them or their children. People usually mean they want to alternate days or weeks in some fashion, figuring that they will split their kids in the same way they divide property. It doesn’t really work like that in Idaho. The standard for a court in determining child custody issues is deceptively simple: the court may order whatever seems “necessary or ...
