Estate Planning

We see a lot of dissension in our office among family members who have differing opinions about the type of long term care that mom or dad should receive and how the parent's money should be spent to pay for the care.

Not to "beat a dead horse," but many of the issues that family members fight about could have been resolved if mom and dad had made the decisions in advance by doing their estate planning and developing a long-term care plan years in advance.

Roberson Law President Nancy Roberson has received a BV Distinguished rating from Martindale-Hubbell for receiving very high ratings from her peers and clients for both Nancy's legal ability and ethical standards. This is a prestigious rating by a well respected company in the legal industry.

Estate planning and elder law attorneys in Ohio have been on pins and needles the past year to hear the decision about the fate of legislation pertaining to titling a home in the name of a Revocable Living Trust (RLT).  The legislation was proposed by the Ohio State Bar Association to fix the problem of counting a house titled in the name of a RLT as a resource that would be included for determining if a person would qualify for Medicaid.  This problem was created several years ago by an Ohio appellate court decision.

Many Estate Planning Attorneys, Financial Planners, and Accountants took note of the tax changes that President Obama recently proposed regarding capital gains taxes.  If these changes took place, people inheriting real estate could suffer great tax consequences for the property they inherit.  

We are in the business of helping people prepare and plan for the inevitable, so every year we write an article advising our clients about what not to do when it comes to death and disability planning.  The mistakes we have seen people make throughout the past 30 years we have been in practice have caused a lot heartache, stress, and money for our clients to correct.

Over five hundred estate planning attorneys were originally looked at and then narrowed down to one hundred eight nominees. Only nineteen winners were chosen, after surveys were conducted and scored to determine the estate planning attorneys who provide exceptional service and overall satisfaction, resulting in an elite group of professionals. Nancy Roberson has been selected, and is named, as one of these elite professionals in the October issue of Cincinnati Magazine.

Many people do estate planning for reasons like avoiding probate, minimizing estate taxes, and bequeathing charitable gifts; however, another important reason is often overlooked. Doing estate planning for the purpose of making things easier on heirs is enough motivation for some people due to the legal battle that often ensues when a person dies before getting their affairs in order.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a video on its website titled "Four Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid" that summarizes some typical mistakes that people make when it comes to planning for a death or a disability.  The first mistake is a common one that we hear many times in our practice, which is not planning due to fear.  Believe it or not, many people are superstitious about planning for death.  People fear that once they get the ball rolling on estate planning, inevitably something bad will happen.

Have you heard the saying that planning for death is about one notch above getting a colonoscopy on a person's to do list?

Most people who call our office for estate planning advice assume that getting a Will is the most important activity when doing estate planning.  However, based on over 30 years of practice in this specific area of law, we know that the prior assumption is not the always the case.  

Estate Planning, in simple terms, is the legal process that takes care of yourself and your property, both during your life and after your death. Estate planning is not synonymous with wealth planning.  A common misconception is that you have to have a lot of money in order to do estate planning, an area of law that requires an intricate knowledge of the probate, tax, and trust code, and how they all work together.