Time to Update Living Wills & Powers of Attorney?
It’s not uncommon for a client to indicate that they already have a Living Will or a Power of Attorney that they’ve signed. If those documents are suitable for continued usage, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. My practice is to discount my fees for my complete Living Trust Package to reflect the [...]
Barry Peters: Second String Trustees
For clients who choose to set up a Living Trust or Family Trust, one of the persistent issues is who to name as the successor trustee – the person who will take over when the client has passed away to make sure that his or her instructions are followed. My advice is to check first [...]
Barry Peters — Probate for Surviving Spouse
A common misconception is that a surviving spouse in Idaho does not have to go through the probate process. The assumption is that everything automatically becomes owned by the surviving spouse when his or her spouse passes away. In reality, such an automatic transfer does not occur. This is due to the fact that a deceased spouse is not legally required [...]
Barry Peters: Idaho Living Will Trends
After watching clients for twenty years, several patterns are becoming evident. First, almost all clients who go to the trouble of having a Will or Living Trust prepared opt to also have a Living Will prepared. This allows them to tell their family and friends what sort of medical care they want in the event [...]
Barry Peters: Storage of Wills & Trusts?
On completion of a client’s Living Trust, Family Trust, or Last Will & Testament, one of the final points to discuss is the storage of the documents. Though other attorneys handle things differently, my practice is to send the original documents home with the client, rather than storing them in my office safe. My advice [...]
Barry Peters: Will a Trust Protect from Creditors?
The short answer is “No.” Justice demands that legitimate debts be paid if the person who owes the debt has assets from which the debt may be satisfied. As this principle is brought to bear within the context of Living Trusts, there is no effective way in Idaho to place ones assets into a trust [...]
Barry Peters: Update Living Will? Power of Attorney?
As clients visit with me to take advantage of their free initial consultation, I normally take a few minutes to review any existing documents they have including their Living Wills and their Powers of Attorney. One issue that comes up with some regularity here in Idaho has to do with whether those documents need to [...]
Barry Peters: IRA’s & 401K’s in your Living Trust?
How are IRA’s and 401K retirement plans handled in a Living Trust or a Family Trust? An important part of the process of setting up a trust is moving all of your assets into that trust. So everything from your home, to your cars and bank accounts will be re-titled in the name of the [...]
Attorney Barry Peters: Protect Blended Families in Idaho
Blended families present their own challenges here in Idaho. Making them work takes remarkable patience and grace. One of those challenges is protecting both sides of the family after one of the spouses has passed away. In that situation, it is common for everything that that the deceased spouse owns to pass to the surviving [...]
Power of Attorney: How to Prevent Abuse
Lawyers are famous for looking at situations through the lens of worst-case-scenarios. It forces us to think about what might go wrong and then take steps to head off the resulting disasters. With respect to Powers of Attorney, we occasionally hear accounts of abuse by the agent named in the Power of Attorney. Typically this [...]
Wit & Wisdom
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