Re: [RCSE] Estate planning
This is a very worthwhile thread. I'll be interested in what's said on the subject. As to me, the matter has been given considerable thought. Before retiring 20 years ago, I had a 40 year career in the life insurance business. Much of the training was estate planning related. I also have a personal attorney who has been very helpful in accomplishing what I have in mind. Getting to the modeling stuff, I have an understanding with relatives named in my will. They don't have a clue about its worth, know what much of it's for (except common tools), or who might be a prospect for buying any of it. The understanding consists of having a trusted modeling friend haul off what they can't use, keep what he wants as a reward for the friendship long provided and offer what can't use over the RCSE or otherwise. I don't care what comes of it, other than wanting it in good hands who can use it. The idea of it being offered up at a yard sale is nauseating. I leave it to sthe friend to decide what the net amount to hand over would be, with no accounting required. I figure whatever that amounts to would be more than woefully uniformed relatives could possibly get trying to handle disposition of the stuff. My heirs otherwise come into piles of loot, mostly passing by contract outside of a will, and what might come out of the modeling stuff is quite incidental. I buy it for my use and pleasure without thought about what might ultimately become of it. It's a simple plan, but having no spouse, no debts or unpaid taxes that would prompt creditors or taxing entities to look for probate protection under the will and with Durable Power of Attorney in the hands of relatives named in the will, the will can just be filed for public record in case anyone wants to know if they were named in it. I leave $1 to several named people who may have notions they have something coming. - Original Message - From: Loren Blinde [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Soaring-airage.com Soaring@airage.com Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 10:06 PM Subject: [RCSE] Estate planning Let's say that tomorrow, due to circumstances beyond your control, you either go to heaven, ascend to a higher reality or become worm-food, RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
[RCSE] [RCSE[ Estate Planning
Guys: I am a practicing lawyer of the general practice persuasion, and when not making trouble on RCSE I do a significant amount of estate planning for "regular folks." Some basic advice: have a will don't get sucked in by a "trust mill"--most people don't need a trust, and most people that have one manage to screw them up before dying. you should have a living will and health care power of attorney lots of stuff passes by contract or survivorship, meaning your will has little or nothing to say about where this stuff goes. Make sure you know how your "non-probate" stuff is set up, since it is probably most of what you are worth. Examples: life insurance, joint bank accounts, retirement, payable-on death provisions in bank accounts, joint ownership if brokerage accounts, joint and survivorship deeds for real estate. Wills and stuff are controlled by STATE law, so check with your local counsel. There are some oddball state provisions. In Ohio, for example, a surviving spouse can take two cars and a boat and an outboard motor without going through probate court. At least one of the older members of my RC soaring club has a provision in his will that calls on the club to auction off his RC stuff amongst ourselves and put the money into the club treasury. We have already done thisfor one other membersince I have been flying, and I can tell you we treasure those items. Finally, there was a good article about wills, estates and "our stuff" in the AMA magazine in the last couple of years. Check it out. Oh yeah: try not to die. Tom H. NagelColumbus, OH
Re: [RCSE] Estate planning
Yes, very worthwhile. Very off topic. Perhaps a bit more valuable than others... Our RC stuff is very valuable to us personally, and it may have cost us a few tens of thousands. Bigger issues to worry about are the property, business, accounts, and equities that we may have acquired over the lifetime. Congress is still screwing around with the estate tax, so it's hard to say for sure what the picture looks like. Right now it's not really an issue if you have total assets of $1.5 million per person, or if married $1.5 million x 2 = 3 million. No federal taxes. That's a lot, but many have attained that and more. I'm not sure if Harley's contract is a trust, but I would assume it is. Trusts are an accepted means of avoiding the fees associated with probate and can serve to allow better and more efficient management and distribution of the assets. I can't stress enough how simple it is to get some planning and measures put in place. It's also a very smart idea to do the planning as early as possible, preferably before the money is made. Please also consider finding a good tax attorney to help with the planning. No offense, but insurance agents, investment brokers, etc. while probably good intentioned, are specialists in the products that they sell and their solution may be rather heavily weighted in that direction. The self-help books have merit too, but they are generally drafted to scare the hell out of the readers and generally seem to portray lawyers as very evil people. (Some are, but so are some of every profession) Interview several, audition them. Check to see if they are prompt with their written proposals, look for the little things. (Did they spell your wife's name properly). It may cost a few bucks, but the amount of BS and $$ it will save from the Federal Dumpster will be very worthwhile. In the end, you will likely find one that you are comfortable with. While we are on this tangent. Those of you with businesses would also do well to consider tax planning at the earliest. It is much easier to generate wealth outside your estate than it is to get it out of your estate after it's made. How many have purchased a building in the name of the corporation? Don't want to do that either... OK, enough. Lee Estingoy Overland Park, KS Lawyer with a Master's Degree in Taxation... No flame necessary, let's keep this civil. Besides, who do you hate more, lawyers or the IRS? :) - Original Message - From: Harley Michaelis [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Soaring-airage.com Soaring@airage.com; Loren Blinde [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 1:16 AM Subject: Re: [RCSE] Estate planning This is a very worthwhile thread. I'll be interested in what's said on the subject. As to me, the matter has been given considerable thought. Before retiring 20 years ago, I had a 40 year career in the life insurance business. Much of the training was estate planning related. I also have a personal attorney who has been very helpful in accomplishing what I have in mind. Getting to the modeling stuff, I have an understanding with relatives named in my will. They don't have a clue about its worth, know what much of it's for (except common tools), or who might be a prospect for buying any of it. The understanding consists of having a trusted modeling friend haul off what they can't use, keep what he wants as a reward for the friendship long provided and offer what can't use over the RCSE or otherwise. I don't care what comes of it, other than wanting it in good hands who can use it. The idea of it being offered up at a yard sale is nauseating. I leave it to sthe friend to decide what the net amount to hand over would be, with no accounting required. I figure whatever that amounts to would be more than woefully uniformed relatives could possibly get trying to handle disposition of the stuff. My heirs otherwise come into piles of loot, mostly passing by contract outside of a will, and what might come out of the modeling stuff is quite incidental. I buy it for my use and pleasure without thought about what might ultimately become of it. It's a simple plan, but having no spouse, no debts or unpaid taxes that would prompt creditors or taxing entities to look for probate protection under the will and with Durable Power of Attorney in the hands of relatives named in the will, the will can just be filed for public record in case anyone wants to know if they were named in it. I leave $1 to several named people who may have notions they have something coming. - Original Message - From: Loren Blinde [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Soaring-airage.com Soaring@airage.com Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 10:06 PM Subject: [RCSE] Estate planning Let's say that tomorrow, due to circumstances beyond your control, you either go to heaven, ascend to a higher reality or become worm-food, RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News
[RCSE] Estate planning
Let's say that tomorrow, due to circumstances beyond your control, you either go to heaven, ascend to a higher reality or become worm-food, depending on your own personal beliefs (off-topic for this forum). What happens to your stuff, presuming you think you'd care? A dear flying friend's recent death, who had the foresight to consider the question, made me think of this in real terms. Had he not done so, there would be a cache of primo sailplanes in the bottom of a dumpster; compounding the grief beyond that of his passing. You may have this sunshine vision of your flying buddies enjoying the fruits of your labors, but if its not written down, it may not be so. Just think about it it's all to easy to worry about it the day after tomorrow. Loren RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] Estate planning
Loren Blinde [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Let's say that tomorrow, due to circumstances beyond your control, you either go to heaven, ascend to a higher reality or become worm-food, depending on your own personal beliefs... There are some who doubt that the matter depends upon your beliefs. You may have this sunshine vision of your flying buddies enjoying the fruits of your labors, but if its not written down, it may not be so. Just think about it it's all to easy to worry about it the day after tomorrow. I'm not so sure that anyone I know would be comfortable flying a model that belonged to a dead friend. I mean, think about the day that it crashes. How would your beneficiary feel about that? Still it's true, wills are good to have. Mike -- _ \__|__/ (O) RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] Estate planning
On Mon, Aug 08, 2005 at 12:06:51AM -0500, Loren Blinde wrote: | A dear flying friend's recent death, who had the foresight to | consider the question, made me think of this in real terms. Personally, I told my wife to contact the local R/C club that I'm a member of and let them know if something happened to me. They've helped their member's widows before (by holding auctions of the equipment, mostly with club members, and giving the money to the widow or the estate), and I'm sure they'd do it again. (And I've gotten a few nice airplanes myself like that.) I guess I could explicitly put it in my will, in case something happens to us both, but I think I'll leave that to my children. (They're only 2 and 4, but they're certainly intersted in `daddy's airplanes!') | Had he not done so, there would be a cache of primo sailplanes in | the bottom of a dumpster; compounding the grief beyond that of his | passing. Well, people do have estate sales. I doubt the planes would end up in the dumpster unless they looked worthless, but I'd much prefer that my friends end up flying my planes then them to end up bought as a big lot for a few bucks and then sold on eBay ... -- Doug McLaren, [EMAIL PROTECTED] I was young and foolish then; now I am old and foolisher. - Mark Twain, A Biography RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
