By Michele Marxkors Kelsaw, Attorney at Law, MBA
R-E-S-P-E-C-T your loved ones by making a P-L-A-N. This is the ultimate lesson we can learn from Aretha Franklin and Prince.
Ensure your documents are legally enforceable and valid.
Arthea’s loved ones are now in a fight about handwritten wills that have been found since the Queen of Soul’s death. They will likely spend months (perhaps longer) and thousands in legal fees to fight about the validity of these documents. All this time, no one gets access to Aretha’s fortune, money flies out the window to the attorneys, and family relationships are being destroyed by conflict. You can avoid this mess for your family by working with our office to ensure that you have a plan in place that will work when you and your loved ones need it.
Ensure your loved ones can locate your documents and property.
There is over $988 million in unclaimed property in Missouri alone. Make sure none of your property goes to the government when something happens to you. Avoid Aretha’s mistakes but ensuring your loved ones know how to locate the legal documents they need to take care of you in the event of your incapacity and to seamlessly and easily collect assets after your death. Ask us how you to avoid probate completely with a revocable living trust.
Ensure your trusted attorney has up-to-date copies.
Avoid any disputes about hand-written documents or outdated wills, trusts, etc. by ensuring you work with an attorney that always has up-to-date copies of your plan and knows how to effectively assist your family in putting that plan into action. At MK Legal Planning, we conduct three-year reviews with our clients to ensure their plans will work when they need it.
Avoid the cost of probate by using a Revocable Living Trust.
We estimate that it will cost your family approximately 5% of the value of any assets passing through probate court. This estimate does not include fights between heirs such as in the case of Aretha and Prince. It also does not include the ongoing fees associated with failing to plan to protect minor children. Probate is public. A simple search on Google will reveal the copies of the handwritten wills be disputed in Aretha’s case as well as wills of other public figures. Planning ahead using trusts can allow your loved ones to avoid these high costs.
Avoid the delay of probate by using a Revocable Living Trust.
It has been over 3 years since Prince’s death and still no one has received a dime. The case drags on in probate court without a clear end in sight. All of this could have been avoided and assets distributed in the way Prince wanted within months of his death if he had taken the time to plan ahead.
As you can see, it is so easy to avoid these situations of court and conflict by working with a trusted legal advisor to proactively plan. This is the very type of planning that we assist families with daily here at MK Legal Planning.
This article is a production of MK Legal Planning. Michele Kelsaw, Attorney at Law, MBA, helps clients proactively plan to ensure their wishes are honored throughout life and beyond. We give our clients the confidence to know their loved ones will always be cared for in the way they want by the people they choose.
The first step in working with Michele is to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session. Contact Michele at (573) 578-2848 or email michele@mklegalplanning.com to find out how you may obtain this session for no charge. Check out her blog at https://www.mklegalplanning.com/blog or email us to be added to her weekly email newsletter.
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. This publication is for informational purposes. Nothing in this publication is legal, financial, or tax advice. MK Legal Planning recommends that you consult with an accountant or other tax professional in conjunction with an attorney to form an advisory team. This publication does not create an attorney-client relationship with the firm or its attorney. © 2019 MK Legal Planning.
