What if you are in the process of a divorce and you were admitted to a hospital? Imagine further that you were unconscious. What if your soon to be ex-spouse was your designated agent for making health care decisions as opposed to your children? That's not a good scenario.
The same scenario could apply to a durable power of attorney you have executed. While it would be contrary to the standard pre-trial order in Nebraska divorce cases, your future ex-spouse would have a "blank check" and full access to your assets.
My point is this. Once a divorce case is filed, it the best practice to revise all of your estate planning documents. ...
Read More
“A windfall that borders on the obscene”
Those are the words of Nebraska Supreme Court judge William Cassel dissenting in the case of Wisner v. Vandelay Investments. The case result was that the estate of a 90 plus widow ended up losing real estate worth over a million dollars due to unpaid real estate taxes of $50,000.
Gladys Wisner owned 480 acres of Lincoln County, Nebraska real estate. In 2009 Gladys moved into a retirement community. In 2010, the real estate taxes became delinquent. In 2011, the county sold a tax certificate for the property. It yields interest at the rate of 14 percent. Because of that high rate, Nebraska has a very active market in these financial ...
Read More
From CNBC. You don’t have to be wealthy to have an estate plan
I agree with the CNBC article at the link below and my basic will package gives you those three basic documents.
If you have a young family, it is prudent to name a guardian for your minor children in the unlikely event that both parents die.
The State of Nebraska has an estate plan for you in the event you die without a will, but that might not be what you want or in the best interests of your family.
Statistics regularly show that about half of all Americans have no estate plan. I'm working to improve the numbers here in ...
Read More