{"id":1140,"date":"2019-01-29T21:59:30","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T21:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2019-01-29T21:59:31","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T21:59:31","slug":"how-the-titling-of-assets-could-have-a-major-impact-on-your-estate-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/how-the-titling-of-assets-could-have-a-major-impact-on-your-estate-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Titling of Assets Could Have a Major Impact on Your Estate Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By: Jessica\u00a0L.\u00a0Estes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\none thing that can mess up even the best estate plan, is the titling of\nassets.&nbsp; I cannot tell you how many times\na client will tell me they have the best trust or best will that encompasses everything\nfrom tax planning to creditor protection and disability planning for\nbeneficiaries.&nbsp; For many of them, though,\nit does not matter how good their documents are if their assets are not titled appropriately.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Often,\nclients will add a child or other family member to their account so if\nsomething happens, that joint account holder can access the funds to pay bills.&nbsp; But what are the consequences of having a\njoint account holder?&nbsp; First, it is\nimportant to understand that a joint account holder is deemed to own 100% of\nthat account, even if they never contribute any money to it.&nbsp; Not only does this mean they can withdraw all\nfunds without your consent, but it also means that their financial power of\nattorney can control and\/or access your funds.&nbsp;\nFor example, if your son is joint on your bank account and he gets into\na car accident and becomes disabled or requires long-term care, his power of\nattorney (likely, his spouse if he has one, or if he does not, a court-appointed\nguardian), might legally be required to use those funds for his benefit.&nbsp; Even if that does not occur, if your joint\naccount holder files bankruptcy, gets divorced, or gets sued, that account could\nbe garnished or liquidated.&nbsp; And,\nfinally, when you die, that account will automatically pass to the joint\naccount holder, who is under no legal obligation to distribute it in accordance\nwith your will or trust.&nbsp; So, what good\nwas that trust or will? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly,\nif you name a beneficiary on your bank account \u2013 usually referred to as \u201cpay on\ndeath\u201d or \u201cPOD\u201d \u2013 that account, upon your death, will automatically pass to\nyour named beneficiary.&nbsp; Likewise, any\nbeneficiary you designate on an investment account (\u201ctransfer of death\u201d, or \u201cTOD\u201d)\nor a life insurance or annuity policy will also pass upon your death to your\nnamed beneficiary.&nbsp; In these situations,\nneither your will nor your trust will govern who gets your stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also,\nif you have an individual retirement account (\u201cIRA\u201d) with a beneficiary\ndesignated, that account will pass upon your death to your named\nbeneficiary.&nbsp; This could cause any\nprovision in your documents that would allow the beneficiary to stretch-out the\npayments from the IRA over their lifetime, to be ineffective and require the\nbeneficiary to receive the all funds within five years of your death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover,\nif you have an account \u201cin trust for\u201d or \u201cITF,\u201d that account belongs to the\nindividual for which the funds are in trust.&nbsp;\nBecause the funds in this account do not belong to you, this account\nwill not be distributed in accordance with your will or trust.&nbsp; Rather, you should name a custodian to take\nover the management of the account upon your death.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And,\nif you have a trust, it does not mean your assets are now automatically in the\ntrust.&nbsp; Your assets need to be retitled\nand the ownership changed to the trust.&nbsp;\nThis will require action on your part to go to the bank or other\nfinancial institution and fill out change of ownership forms to have the account\nretitled in the name of the trust.&nbsp; If\nyou fail to transfer the ownership of the assets to the trust, then the trust\nwill not necessarily govern how the assets are distributed upon your\ndeath.&nbsp; Additionally, one of the benefits\nof a trust is to avoid probate, but if the assets are never transferred to the\ntrust prior to your death, your beneficiaries will first need to go through\nprobate. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So,\nreview your assets and make sure they are titled in a way that is consistent\nwith your estate plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Jessica\u00a0L.\u00a0Estes The one thing that can mess up even the best estate plan, is the titling of assets.&nbsp; I cannot tell you how many times a client will tell me they have the best trust or best will that encompasses everything from tax planning to creditor protection and disability planning for beneficiaries.&nbsp; For many<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/how-the-titling-of-assets-could-have-a-major-impact-on-your-estate-plan\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[701,704,703,8,44,698,198,403,64,102,221,437,702,189,46,692,697,96,108,694,203,699,693,208,695,237],"class_list":{"0":"post-1140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-annapolis-attorney","9":"tag-annapolis-elder-law-attorney","10":"tag-annapolis-estate-planning-attorney","11":"tag-asset","12":"tag-attorney","13":"tag-bank","14":"tag-beneficiary","15":"tag-creditor","16":"tag-death","17":"tag-disability","18":"tag-elder-law","19":"tag-estate-plan","20":"tag-estate-planning-attorney","21":"tag-estate-planning-lawyers","22":"tag-ira","23":"tag-itf","24":"tag-joint-account","25":"tag-lawyer","26":"tag-money","27":"tag-pay-on-death","28":"tag-pod","29":"tag-tax-planning","30":"tag-title-of-asset","31":"tag-tod","32":"tag-transfer-on-death","33":"tag-trust","34":"entry"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions\/1142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}