Digital Estate Planning

 Just when you think you've finished all your estate planning tasks... what about your digital assets? 

"Your digital life includes dozens of usernames and passwords. Providing a digital estate plan can help your family deal with your accounts with minimal fuss" according to Marguerita M. Cheng, CFP®

"State laws such as the RUFADAA (Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act) offer the executor of an estate or attorney access to a person’s online accounts after incapacitation or death. These laws help you to protect your digital assets. But you need a digital estate plan to enable your family to access your digital assets if you pass away."

Your digital estate includes all of your electronic and virtual accounts and assets, such as:

• Social media accounts
• Email accounts
• Photos saved in the cloud

and much more!

Steps for creating a digital estate plan include:

1. Take inventory.

2. Decide how you want your digital assets handled.

3. Pick a digital executor.

4. Store your digital estate plan in a safe place.

Get all the details at: https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/easy-steps-for-digital-estate-planning

After the Death of Your Spouse: Next Financial Steps for Surviving Spouses

 As a surviving spouse, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all the administrative and financial to-do items that you have to handle soon after the death of your spouse. There's a lot to do, much of which you've never done before. And you're supposed to get it all done while grieving.

This book, by Mike Piper, CPA, walks you through it, in plain language.

Many surviving spouses find themselves overwhelmed by all the administrative and financial to-do items that have to be handled in the months after their spouse’s death. There’s a lot to do, and they’re supposed to get it all done while grieving. And in many cases, the situation is made more difficult by the fact that the surviving spouse is not the one who regularly handled the household finances.

I wrote this book to walk people through it, in plain language. It’s the book I want my spouse to have, in case something happens to me.

Fortunately, some of these to-do items for surviving spouses are important but not urgent. And in fact, for some of these items, it’s best to wait. Many people report experiencing “brain fog” in the weeks or months following their spouse’s death. They find that they have difficulty concentrating and difficulty performing tasks that would normally be easy. Major, irrevocable decisions are best put off until this period is over, in cases in which it’s practical to do so.

That’s why the book is broken down into two parts: immediate next steps and intermediate next steps.

The book’s table of contents is as follows:

Part One: Immediate Next Steps

1. Learn the Terms (The Estate Administration Process)
2. Getting Organized
3. Notifying Necessary Parties
4. Initial Responsibilities as Personal Representative
5. Updating Your Own Estate Plan

Part Two: Intermediate Next Steps

6. Social Security Planning
7. Further Responsibilities as Personal Representative
8. Handling Inherited Retirement Accounts
9. Additional Options as a Beneficiary and Surviving Spouse
10. Tax Returns
11. Reassessing Your Own Finances
12. Reassess Your Portfolio
13. Finding Professional Assistance

Conclusion: What’s Next?

Appendix A: Does an Inheritance Create Taxable Income?

Appendix B: Social Security Widow(er) Benefit Math Details

Appendix C: Dealing with Trusts

 

Apps to help with the logistics of death of a loved one

 When my parents died I was the executor of their wills and trust. I used a variety of written resources (provided by insurance companies) and online (AARP) as a guideline for settling the estates. Now there are apps to help with the process! Thanks to Sophia Laurenzi writing for The Washington Post (and one of my sisters) for bringing the article to my attention. 

"What do you do after someone dies? Most people expect to deal with intense grief, but they might not realize how many logistical details arise after a death. Those tasks can feel overwhelming: deciding who to call, learning where to get death certificates, planning memorials and navigating finances."

There's an app for that!

Apps and websites such as Cake, Lantern and Empathy exist to help with the death of a loved one. 'Kat Reed founded EstateGrid after she published a workbook called “Begin Here: Helping Survivors Manage” to help her father manage the death of her mother.'

Check out the apps and websites and tuck this info away for when you need it.

Responsibilities of an estate executor

"An executor is responsible for sorting out finances such as assets, liabilities, taxes, etc. of the deceased and distributing the assets to the heirs. An executor is not required to be legal or financial expert but takes on a fiduciary duty by maintaining highest degree of trust, impartiality, good faith, diligence and honesty" explains Komal Matwani, writing for WealthManagement.com. Get the details at: https://www.wealthmanagement.com/estate-planning/responsibilities-executor-explained

In some states like Utah, the term for an executor is "personal representative."   

A condensed crash course in estate planning with implications for inherited IRAs

 Wow, that's a long title for a blog post but the link below to Inheritance and IRAs is a good refresher/reminder on tasks to complete...soon, maybe before the fast approaching end of the year.

• The importance of having a will
• The tax implications of inheritance for spouses and other beneficiaries
• The different scenarios that can occur in inheritance planning
• The rights spouses and beneficiaries have in the process
• Extenuating circumstances that could change the outcome of an inheritance
• How inheritance works for different types of assets outside of an IRA

https://www.birchgold.com/inheritance-and-iras/

Remote online notarization (RON)

Besides the Covid factor, RON (also called Remote Electronic Notarization) is useful for convenience and safety, as well as when you are in a different state from the notary. 

Having just helped a relative settle an estate, RON could have saved us some trips to offices. 

Thanks to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for this info. 

"With RON, notaries can meet with you on video to verify your signature on an electronic document."

Many states have laws that allow RON on a permanent basis. Other states have put temporary measures in place to allow it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

State laws about RON vary, but many include three key parts:

• Allowing notaries to use audio-video communication to witness the signature;
• Requiring notaries to verify the identity of the person who is signing the document; and
• Requiring notaries to record the audio-video communication. 
• Check out your state's laws: https://www.nass.org/initiatives/remote-electronic-notarization

What to Do When a Loved One Dies

"Settling a deceased family member's affairs is not a one-person task. You'll need the help of others, ranging from professionals like lawyers or CPAs, who can advise you on financial matters, to a network of friends and relatives, to whom you can delegate tasks or lean on for emotional support." Leanne Potts, writing for AARP, explains the process and provides a detailed list of tasks facing the survivors of the deceased. Below is the list; for full details: https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2020/when-loved-one-dies-checklist.html

To Do Immediately After Someone Dies

Get a legal pronouncement of death

Tell friends and family

Find out about existing funeral and burial plans

Within a Few Days of Death

Make funeral, burial or cremation arrangements

Secure the property

Provide care for pets

Forward mail

Notify your family member's employer

Two Weeks After Death

Secure certified copies of death certificates

Find the will and the executor

Meet with a trusts and estates attorney

Contact a CPA

Take the will to probate

Make an inventory of all assets

Track down assets

Make a list of bills

Cancel services no longer needed

Notify the following of your loved one's death:

• The Social Security Administration

• Life insurance companies

• Banks, financial institutions

• Financial advisers, stockbrokers

• Credit agencies

Cancel driver's license

Close credit card accounts

Terminate insurance policies

Delete or memorialize social media accounts

Close email accounts (& social media)

Life will be so much easier for our survivors if we gather this information, prepare a will and letter of last instruction and provide guidance on your wishes.

 

 

 

Build a Financial Map for your survivors

As part of your estate planning and letter of last instruction, every adult needs to build a financial map for their survivors and estate executor. The best description I've seen is available at https://humbledollar.com/2021/01/for-their-sake/. 
 

Financial expert Adam M. Grossman describes why and how he built a "financial map" for his wife:
"A FEW YEARS BACK, I found myself in the emergency room, thinking I had a serious condition. As I sat there, I worried about my family, including my wife and young children. If I didn’t come home, would my wife have a clear picture of our finances?"

"Financial map. If you’ve prepared an estate plan, that’s great. But don’t stop there. Put yourself in your family’s shoes. Would they know where to find the original, signed documents? Would they know how to contact your attorney and what steps to take first? I recommend drawing up a simple, one-page summary—what I call a financial map—that will tell your heirs where to find important documents, vendors and the other information that I describe below."

Contact list. 

Balance sheet. 

Further commentary. "In most cases, a simple balance sheet is sufficient. But if you have any unusual holdings—an annuity, a pension, employee stock options or stock in a private company or partnership—you should write up brief descriptions for each." 

Assets under the radar. "Do you have assets that would be hard to find—a safe deposit box, for example? I’ve seen more than one person hide cash around the house, stashing it in books and filing cabinets."

Easily accessible funds. "When someone dies, banks and brokers move quickly to freeze the deceased person’s assets. That’s why you want to be sure to hold at least some assets in a joint account with a spouse or other family member."

Letters. "To complement their formal estate plan, many people write letters to provide further guidance to guardians, trustees or executors. These letters can articulate some of your more personal wishes..."

Passwords. 

Subscriptions. 

Arrangements. pre-paid funeral arrangements and your desires for final good-bye ceremony.

Full details at: https://humbledollar.com/2021/01/for-their-sake/