Elder Law and Estate Planning Provided to Mansfield, Massachusetts

A common estate planning error is failing to update all beneficiary designations. Attorney von Weiss emphasizes the need to update all beneficiary designations.

Easton, United States - April 4, 2019 /PressCable/ —

The author Brigitte von Weiss of VON WEISS LAW OFFICE is an estate planning and elder law attorney in Easton, MA. She is often asked about common estate planning errors.

A common estate planning error is failing to update all beneficiary designations. From their first meeting until the time when her estate planning clients sign their estate planning documents, Attorney von Weiss emphasizes the need to update all beneficiary designations as she finds that clients tend to update approximately ninety percent of their beneficiary designations, but somehow fail to update one or two.

Attorney von Weiss highlights this importance by telling the story of Mr. Smith. When she first met Mr. Smith in 2006,he had four minor sons. His goal was to prevent a situation where his sons would receive a significant inheritance at age 18, as he believed that a sizable inheritance at age 18 may bring about imprudent spending and distract his sons from attaining a higher education. Accordingly, his Last Will and Testament indicated that his assets were to fund a trust for his minor sons and his sons were to receive the remaining trust assets when the youngest attained age 25. After signing his 2006 Will and the Trust, Mr. Smith needed to update all of his beneficiary designations. In other words, he needed to go through the laborious task of naming the trust as the beneficiary of each of his life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and annuities.

In 2016, Mr. Smith returned to Attorney von Weiss’ office. At this point his youngest was 25, and Mr. Smith believed that his sons were mature enough to handle a sizable inheritance. Consequently, Mr. Smith asked Attorney von Weiss to draft a new Last Will and Testament. His new Will simply was to state that his sons each received a one-fourth share of his estate. After he signed his 2016 Will, Mr. Smith again needed to update all of his beneficiary designations. This time he needed to name his four sons as the beneficiaries of each of his life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and annuities.

Like many clients, Mr. Smith updated only about ninety percent of his beneficiary designations. Unfortunately, when Mr. Smith died, the beneficiary of his annuity still was the trust he signed in 2006 for his minor sons. This mishap complicated matters as now there was much more work to be done. Because Mr. Smith had overlooked or put off updating the beneficiary designation pertaining to his annuity, the proceeds of the annuity were paid to the trust and the trustee had the responsibility for the tax id number for the trust, tax returns for the trust, and an accounting to the trust beneficiaries. In contrast, if Mr. Smith had updated all of his beneficiaries when he updated his estate plan in 2016, the proceeds of the annuity would have gone directly to his sons, thereby avoiding the necessity of a tax id number for the trust, tax returns for the trust, and an accounting to the trust beneficiaries.

Nothing in this article should be considered legal advice as this is a complicated area of the law.

Contact Info:
Name: Brigitte von Weiss
Organization: The Von Weiss Law Office
Address: 50 Oliver Street, Easton, Massachusetts 02356, United States
Phone: +1-508-238-3005
Website: http://vonweisslaw.com/index.html

Source: PressCable

Release ID: 498953