Indiana Estate Planning & Elder Law

Friends Of The Firm Friday - RHEA Services

 

 

 

 

 

All too often, families who have lost a loved one find themselves overwhelmed by the myriad responsibilities that come along with finalizing someone’s affairs. There are payments to be made or stopped, appointments to cancel, accounts to close, services to discontinue, people to notify, and paperwork to file. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to focus on handling these many details while still having the room to grieve the loss of a loved one.

This is the reason Sarah Kendrick founded RHEA Services; to be able to step into this gap and bring assistance to people in the bereavement process. Her team at RHEA Services are able to work alongside people who manage some of these many tasks, so that families can focus their minds and hearts on what matters most during this difficult time.

While doing the work of helping families finalize their loved one’s estates, it became clear how often people are unprepared and how difficult it can be to find the appropriate information after a loss. Understanding how overwhelming and challenging it can be to gather all the most important information, Sarah created the RHEA Services Pre-Planning Guidebook and developed a system of guided pre-planning sessions to walk families through filling it out. Working together, they record, consolidate, and secure one’s essential information, including the areas of: financial, insurance, medical, dependents, pets, social media, and more.

Sarah and RHEA Services are glad to be able to provide support and care for life’s transitions. You can find more information at www.RHEAServices.com or speak to someone today by calling 317-732-5181.

Facebook: RHEA Services

Instagram: @rheaservices

Phone: 317-732-5181

E-mail: [email protected]

5 Probate Avoidance Tips for Business Owners

If you’ve been in business for long, chances are you’ve heard at least a few tales of probate problems plaguing family members, would-be successors or remaining business partners. So, how can you avoid probate?

Many small businesses have had problems with probate. In the worst cases, the problems have led to the end of the business itself.

However, the truth is that most probate problems can be avoided with proper planning.

Recently, Forbes published an article titled "Five Ways Business Owners Can Avoid Probate Problems."

Their helpful list includes the following tips:

1. Trusts - If the business is placed in a trust, then it can pass to the next generation without going through probate.
2. Real Estate - Several methods exist to avoid probate with real estate including joint ownership and transfer on death deeds.
3. Personal Property - Make sure that business-related personal property is properly disposed of in an estate plan.
4. Wills - Even if you have a trust, you still need a will that works with that trust.
5. Succession Plan - Make sure you have a succession plan in place for the business.

Questions about these tips and how they can be put to work for the benefit of your business should be directed to an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: Forbes (May 4, 2015) "Five Ways Business Owners Can Avoid Probate Problems."

Can a Prenup Mess Up Your Estate Plan?

"Just because you have an extremely restrictive prenup doesn't mean you can't leave money to your wife," Mr. Bishop says. "The prenup protected the client's assets from being taken against his will, but he was still free to give them at his discretion."

 How do prenuptial agreements and estate plans mix? Will your spouse be provided for in the event of your death, or will the prenup halt financial circumstances?

Take a lesson from a recent Wall Street Journal article, titled "Creating an Estate Plan Around a Prenup." The article chronicles how an estate planning attorney worked with a client to ensure the needs of the client were addressed. After thoroughly understanding the estate planning goals of the client, the attorney created a plan that provided for the client’s family after he passed away. This plan preserved the terms of the prenuptial agreement that kept his wife from taking his assets and business in a divorce. The adviser suggested using family limited partnerships. This type of entity gave the client a way to provide for his wife with income from the business—without giving her control of the enterprise.

Under the family limited partnership structure, the client had 99% limited partner ownership in the two companies. When he died, his will would set out some of the limited partner interest to his wife. These shares would be given to a testamentary trust with the wife as trustee and beneficiary. As a result, the wife would receive income from the business through the trust; however, she would not get a controlling stake in the company.

The estate planning attorney created the partnerships and transferred ownership of the business assets into them. The WSJ reported that the client and his wife have been very happy with the results for more than 15 years now, with both a strong business and marriage.

Reference: Wall Street Journal (July 11, 2014) "Creating an Estate Plan Around a Prenup"