Estate Executorship: Importance and What It Entails

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Writing a will is an important part of the estate planning process, as it simplifies the process of distributing your assets and looking after your final wishes. This gives you the power to determine how your assets will be handled even after your death.

While it may not be pleasant to have to think about your own death, preparing a will offers a lot of benefits. One of them is that your loved ones will not have your estate to worry about in addition to grieving. Unfortunately, a lot of people still don’t leave behind a will – even celebrities.

What Happens to Money After You Die?

The sudden death of rock star Prince at age 57 was a shock to his legions of fans. But weeks after his April death the status of his $300 million estate remains in limbo, with hundreds of people – even a prisoner in Colorado – vying for a slice of the musician’s net worth.

So far, nobody has found a will indicating how Prince’s estate should be divvied up.

“It becomes a complicated mess,” when someone dies without a will, says Bill Van Sant, senior vice president and managing director at Girard Partners, headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

While the spotlight on and scale of the Prince estate may be unusual, the situation isn’t. A 2014 survey from online legal-services company Rocket Lawyer and Harris Poll found that 64 percent of Americans don’t have a will. Read full article at US News…

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

As part of the estate planning process, an individual may also name the executor, who will be responsible for overseeing the estate distribution.

Typically, a person will name someone trustworthy as the executor of his or her estate. While it is indeed an honor to be named executor of a person’s estate, it is also a huge responsibility. It becomes your duty to handle the property of the deceased until it is all transferred to those who are entitled and all taxes are paid off.

The following post provides a better breakdown of the executor’s role:

Checklist: The Executor’s Role

If you have been selected to serve as an executor, you have an important responsibility. Fortunately, you are entitled, at the expense of the estate, to retain an attorney to guide you through the complicated probate process…

With the attorney’s guidance, you will have the authority and responsibility to perform the following tasks:

• Obtain a copy of the latest will. Read the will and understand the instructions provided. Read full post at FindLaw…

It is also important to carefully consider whether you really wish to be named an estate executor. Depending on the situation, it could turn out to be a simple affair, or a difficult and taxing process. With about 1 in 8 executors describing the experience as a ‘complete nightmare’, you need to know what you are getting yourself into by agreeing to become an estate executor.

Image Courtesy of Flickr

Estates are unique, so you could be looking at anything from a range of simple decisions to seriously contentious disputes. It could become even more difficult if you are unfamiliar with the details of the estate. You are in no way obliged to act as executor even if you are the named executor.

How Do I End My Obligations From Being the Executor of a Will?

An executor is responsible for carrying out a will’s written directions and settling the final affairs of the will’s author, or testator. If you were named as the executor of a deceased person’s will, you are responsible for the duties and legal obligations of handling his estate. Due to the amount of work involved or other personal circumstances, you might have to resign as executor before or after you’re appointed by the probate court. Read full post at Legal Zoom…

It’s worth noting, however, that you can only renounce probate if you have not already acted in your capacity as an executor. This includes any tasks that indicate you have accepted the executor role.

Attorney Jonathan Meek has helped many individuals navigate this challenging area of estate administration and he is ready to assist you as well. Contact Meek Law Firm today to discuss your options. Call (704) 848-6335 or use the contact form on the right of this page to schedule a consultation appointment. We look forward to hearing from you.

Keep reading about Estate Executorship: Importance and What It Entails at Meek Law Firm

How To Ensure Business Contracts Work For You

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Contracts are inevitable when you’re doing business, which is why you need to learn as much as you can about contract law. This will help you create business agreements that make sense, protect your interests and are enforceable in case of dispute.

A simple definition of a contract is a legal agreement between two or more people or companies to do or refrain from doing something. It’s important to create proper contracts if they are to benefit you at all.

Image Courtesy of Blue Diamond Gallery

The following article from FindLaw highlights the most important considerations to make when drafting business contracts:

3 Contract Drafting Tips to Help Your Business

If you are in business, then you definitely enter contracts regularly. Sometimes you’re buying and sometimes you’re selling, but most likely you’re dealing quite a lot.

In light of that, you should create standard contracts for your business, or form agreements that are both general enough to work for different kinds of deals but specific enough that they address your priorities. If you don’t do this, chances are good that you’ll be continually getting into agreements that are on others’ terms. That might work some of the time but it’s not an ideal approach. Read full post here

A contract needs to guard your interests, and the only time you can make sure of this is during the negotiation process.

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia

9 Ways to Negotiate a Contract Like a Boss

There are things in life that people only learn to do the hard way. Negotiating contracts is one of them.

It’s an emotionally fraught process. I get that! Because I encounter so many people making the same mistakes, I felt compelled to write about it. I’ve been negotiating contracts for decades now. For the past 14 years, I’ve helped inventRight students negotiate theirs. This is what I’ve learned. Read full post at Entrepreneur.com

With business contracts being so common in business, it is always advisable to work with legal professionals that will review your contracts. However, this may not always be possible, particularly for small businesses or when that stakes are not too high. In such a case, it helps to know how to review your more simple contracts. Nick Oboikovitz gives his advice:

Sales Pro Tip: 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Accelerate Contract reviews

Small businesses are challenged with competing against larger companies with larger budgets.

As a salesperson who is selling contract management software to small businesses, I see a lot of clever ways other salespeople do more with less.

But when it’s time to review a contract, it gets more complicated and cutting corners becomes more risky.

Small businesses don’t have the same spend as larger companies, so it does not always make sense to hire a lawyer review a contract, depending on the size of the deal. But on the other hand, how you can you ensure you’ve vetted a contract for risks without the help of a lawyer? Read full post at Spring CM

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

If you have any concerns about your business contracts or any other legal issue in your business operations, it’s advisable to the professionals. An experienced lawyer in business law will give you expert guidance and advice that could help take you to the next level in business.

Keep reading about How To Ensure Business Contracts Work For You at Meek Law Firm

The Benefits of Assigning Durable Power Of Attorney

Image Courtesy of Flickr

When you give power of attorney to your loved one or a trusted individual (agent), that person gains the power to act on your behalf. However, one major limitation of this is that if you are deemed unable to act competently, your agent is automatically assumed to be unable to act too. The power of attorney becomes ineffective and a court appointed guardianship is necessitated.

This is a common problem particularly among the elderly:

One of the most common concerns I hear from people is “My older parent’s behavior is concerning me and I’m worried about her mental abilities.”

As I explained in my last post: it’s not always dementia but often it is. And unless a senior has done a good job planning ahead, it can be very hard and messy for others to intervene as needed.

But hopefully that’s not yet your situation.

In which case, you might be wondering: Given that it’s so common for seniors to eventually start slipping mentally, what kind of planning should older adults and families do to avoid this kind of situation? Via Better Health while Aging

Image Courtesy of Free Stock Photos

In order to go around this, there exists what is called the durable power of attorney. When you complete the durable power of attorney (POA) document, the agent is allowed to make decisions on your behalf should you become incapacitated. This ensures that this power is given to someone of your choice that you trust.

There are two main types of POAs:

• Financial POAs that grant the agent authority to make financial decisions on your behalf
• Healthcare POAs that grant the agent authority to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.

You also get to decide whether the POA become effective immediately or you can state that it should only become effective once certain circumstances take place. This can be, for instance, when a medical expert confirms that you are indeed unable to make decisions on your own (springing power), though this may sometimes create complications.

However, a springing power can be more difficult to use because disability is usually defined in the POA document and requires one or two doctors to submit a written certification that the principal is unable to manage their affairs. Also, many financial institutions have adopted internal rules about the certification of disability and tend to question the validity of a POA document. In recent years, the springing power has become frustrating to agents who are usually trying to use the document in an emergency. This is why we recommend a POA be immediately effective to avoid the hassles of a springing power.  Also, an immediately effective POA can be useful in case the principal is out of town, allowing the agent to step in and take care of important business in the absence of the principal. Via Kreisenderle

If you do not sign a POA document and become incapacitated, it would mean your loved ones would not be able to make important decisions concerning your health or finances until they are named your legal guardian in court. This may result in serious delays in getting services or even paying your medical bills.

Image Courtesy of Flickr

It is also important to note that durable power of attorney is only valid as long as you are alive. Should you die, your agent no longer has the durable power of attorney.

Just recently a gentleman came into our office to discuss this very issue. He was a joint owner of his mother’s only bank account, but she was the sole owner of a mutual funds account worth approximately $125,000. On a Friday, this gentleman thought that he should – as his mother’s Attorney in Fact – transfer the mutual funds into the joint account so that he could pay her nursing home bills. But because he had other things that he needed to take care of that day, he put off the transfer intending to do it at the beginning of the following week.

Unfortunately, his mother died that weekend and her son was no longer able to access her mutual funds account. Via Counsel First

In a scenario such as the one mentioned above, a probate estate must be opened in court, which would name the son the executor so he can access his mother’s account. It usually takes months to clear assets within an estate, and it also come with additional costs such as court and attorney fees as well as inventory taxes.

Image Courtesy of Flickr

As such, it is also advisable to name someone you trust as your executor, giving him or her authority to wind up your affairs after your death. Keep in mind that you are free to revoke a durable power of attorney at any time as long as you are mentally competent.

If you would like professional legal advice concerning your estate planning or estate administration in North Carolina, contact Meek Law Firm today. Attorney Jonathan Meek has assisted many people with their legal needs and he can help you as well. Call (704) 848-6335 or use the contact form on the right of this page to schedule a consultation appointment. We look forward to hearing from you.

Keep reading about The Benefits of Assigning Durable Power Of Attorney at Meek Law Firm