{"id":302,"date":"2017-09-26T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.wordpress.com\/?p=302"},"modified":"2018-09-28T06:32:44","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T06:32:44","slug":"tuesdaytips-the-simple-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/tuesdaytips-the-simple-will\/","title":{"rendered":"#TuesdayTips: The “Simple” Will"},"content":{"rendered":"

All too often will-seeking clients call the firm<\/a> asking if we do \u201csimple\u201d wills, say they need a will, but don\u2019t want one of those \u201clong wills\u201d, or claim to not have anything, so they just need a \u201cbasic\u201d will.\u00a0\u00a0 Most law firms will respond to the client, \u201cYes! We can do that!\u201d\u00a0 But there are pitfalls that can arise, some foreseen and some unforeseen, when a person only has a \u201csimple\u201d will, and the client does not even know these potential pitfalls exist.\u00a0 On this week\u2019s #TuesdayTips article, ERA Law Group, LLC discusses how having a properly drafted will can mitigate many of these foreseen and unforeseen problems.<\/p>\n

Two common scenarios arise when people have a \u201csimple\u201d will that case issues: (1) Age issues, and (2) Disability issues.\u00a0 The first scenario, age, has two parts: (a) what happens if someone who is under eighteen (18) years old is set to inherit money or property from the decedent; and (2) what if someone who is over eighteen (18) years old is set to inherit money or property, but is irresponsible to handle a substantial inheritance?<\/p>\n

In Maryland, a person under eighteen cannot inherit money or property and hold legal title to that property in their own name.\u00a0 Someone else over eighteen must hold title to that property, for the minor\u2019s benefit, until the minor attains eighteen years old.\u00a0 Often times, though, the Testator or Testatrix (man\/woman who creates the will) might not think that a person at eighteen is mature enough to handle inheriting money or property; therefore, in a properly drafted under-stated age trust<\/a> (a.k.a. a minor\u2019s trust) set up in a will, he\/she can set the minimum age to inherit to an age he\/she feels is more appropriate.\u00a0 Often, a Testator or Testatrix will choose somewhere between age 23 and 25 because the person inheriting has completed college, grad school, a trade school and\/or has been working for a reasonable amount of time and a can hopefully manage an inheritance of money, property or both.\u00a0 Therefore, it is advantageous for your will to contain an under-stated age subtrust that directs how a minor\u2019s or individual\u2019s inheritance who is under a stated age will be held and managed.\u00a0 Last, this subtrust can avoid the requirement of court intervention if a minor is set to receive an inheritance and no provisions are made outlining how to handle a minor receiving an inheritance.<\/p>\n

The next scenario is: what happens if a person who is incompetent or disabled is set to receive an inheritance?\u00a0 It is possible that when a person dies, he or she has designated an individual who is incompetent or disabled to receive all or a portion of their estate<\/a>.\u00a0 If that happens, it can have dire consequences for the beneficiary.\u00a0 For example, what happens if the child of a decedent has a severe cognitive disability (i.e., severe autism or severe Downs Syndrome) and is receiving SSI and Medicaid because he is unable to work. If the parent does not do proper planning, that disabled child may inherit a substantial sum of money causing that child to lose his SSI and Medicaid benefits.<\/p>\n

Or this other scenario: a husband is in a nursing home on Medicaid because of severe dementia, but the wife still living in the community suffers a massive heart attack and dies.\u00a0 Now the husband in the nursing home may be designated in the wife\u2019s will to receive all of her estate.\u00a0 Now the husband in the nursing facility might lose his Medicaid benefits because he now inherited a house that needs to be sold.\u00a0 Remember, the husband has severe dementia, cannot sell the house himself, and does not have a power of attorney<\/a>.\u00a0 Now a guardianship issue has presented itself in addition to him losing his Medicaid benefits because he now has excess assets.<\/p>\n

All of the problems caused in scenario two can be avoided if the decedent\u2019s will has a properly drafted Incompetent or Disabled Beneficiary Trust.<\/p>\n

At ERA Law Group, LLC, we advise our clients of these potential pitfalls, even when the client wants to do \u201cbasic\u201d planning.\u00a0 Unfortunately, if not properly counseled, \u201cbasic\u201d planning can cause very complex issues later after someone dies.\u00a0 At that point, it may be too late to cure the issues.\u00a0 That is why ERA\u2019s \u201cbasic\u201d or \u201csimple\u201d will<\/a> includes both of these subtrusts\u2026we don\u2019t want our clients to be left stranded if these difficult and \u201cunforeseen\u201d scenarios come up later.\u00a0 Call us today at (410) 919-1790!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All too often will-seeking clients call the firm asking if we do \u201csimple\u201d wills, say they need a will, but don\u2019t want one of those \u201clong wills\u201d, or claim to not have anything, so they just need a \u201cbasic\u201d will.\u00a0 On this week\u2019s #TuesdayTips article, ERA Law Group, LLC discusses how having a properly drafted will can mitigate many of these foreseen and unforeseen problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306,"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":[412,413,428],"tags":[196,75,213,102,65,127,189,66,130,55,201,214,108,14,215,216,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-estate-planning","8":"category-family-law","9":"category-last-will-and-testaments","10":"tag-annapolis","11":"tag-attorneys","12":"tag-basic-will","13":"tag-disability","14":"tag-estate","15":"tag-estate-planning","16":"tag-estate-planning-lawyers","17":"tag-inheritance","18":"tag-last-will-and-testament","19":"tag-lawyers","20":"tag-maryland","21":"tag-minor","22":"tag-money","23":"tag-property","24":"tag-simple-will","25":"tag-testator","26":"tag-will","27":"entry"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","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=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":912,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eralawgroup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}