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Avvo Q&A: "Can dad put me on the deed?"

2/19/2016

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I will begin syndicating the responses I give to certain estate and probate questions posted on the advice website Avvo. 

We begin with a question regarding estate planning. I'll place the question here and then my answer after the "read more" break.

What is the process we need take on adding me to his deed, or doing a trust?

My dad has property in Ga., and it only has his name on it. At this time he has no will. He's 73 yrs old. We are wanting to put my name on the deed and he is wanting to do a trust will. If he does that type of will does he need to put my name on the deed? My mom is deceased. And there are three other kids besides me. I'm the one that writes out bills and does his banking for him. Basically looks after my dad.


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Facebook at vanguard of digital inheritance

2/25/2015

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Image attribution: How to Start a Blog howtostartablogonline.net
Facebook users (of which this firm is not one) have long since realized that their accounts are digital journals of their lives. These records are valuable, not only to users, but to their posterity. 

Responding to the needs of its consumers, Facebook now allows users to name a "legacy" contact who may use the deceased's page for certain purposes. Notably, this FB "executor" may not continue to make new posts. He can, however,
  • Respond to friend requests (presumably with information about the death), 
  • Archive photos and posts, and
  • Make one, final post.

The new user may not, however, access private messages sent to the deceased. 

This law firm has encouraged its clients to name a "digital executor" and to make online passwords and account information an essential part of their estate plan. 

Sources:
ABA Journal
USA Today
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Opelika, Alabama "Wills for Heroes" Event

6/12/2014

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PictureTanner Pittman (front-left).
On June 11, 2014, Tanner Pittman volunteered as a pro bono attorney at the Lee County, Alabama, Sheriff's Department, drafting estate planning documents for officers. 

The day-long event assisted 30 officers in drafting wills and other essential planning documents. 

Credit is due to Samantha Copelan of Haygood, Cleveland, Pierce & Thompson, LLP for her efforts in coordinating the event in conjunction with State Bar representatives.

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He had a power of attorney; there's nothing I can do . . . 

10/11/2012

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 . . . or is there?

Often, a child or close friend of an elderly person will be granted a power of attorney to help the elder handle her financial affairs. Such power of attorney is usually quite broad, granting the trusted agent the ability to, among other things, sell property, open and close bank accounts, and the like.

Far too common is the case where the trusted person then uses the power of attorney for his own financial gain. Family of the exploited elderly person find out only later (often after her death) about the misdeeds. 

Given that the wrongdoer was granted a full power of attorney to do anything they thought proper with the grantor's financial affairs, isn't it impossible to sue the agent for misappropriating money or property, for re-titling assets in the agent's name?

No. In Georgia, as in most other states, an "agent . . . cannot have any interest or do any act adverse to the interest of his principal . . ." Furthermore, "[t]he agent shall not make a personal profit from his principal's property; for all such he is bound to account." First National Bank of Paulding County v. Cooper, 252 Ga. 215, 215 (1984). 

If a loved one dies and the family fears he has been exploited through misuse of a power of attorney, what can be done? Foremost, an attorney should be contacted immediately. Placing an injunction on distribution of mis-titled insurance policies and accounts early on can save an estate large sums. A "constructive trust" may likewise be placed over the assets of the wrongdoing agent to ensure the stolen property isn't dissipated before the case comes to trial. 

Often, such matters settle early. Faced with the reality of their misdeeds and the plain wording of Georgia law, many power-of-attorney-abusing agents will simply allow the matter to progress without putting up a fight. Even in absence of a settlement, a court showing that an agent did some act contrary to the interests of his principal is not as difficult as - say - showing that a will signer was incompetent, and litigation is often worthwhile for the estate.
 
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Estate tax trap for non-citizens

3/9/2012

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As Alpharetta, Georgia, probate attorneys at the Tieger Law Center rightly report this week, estate taxes can be devastating to non-US citizens. 

The reason is that most U.S. citizens' estates currently pay no taxes on the first $5 million of the inheritance. Not so for non-citizens, where every dime after $60,000 is presently taxed at a 35% rate.

The “logic” behind this policy works in the case of foreign nationals who earned money abroad all their lives, brought it into the U.S., and then died. Less so for the more typical case of a foreigner who lived and worked in the U.S. for decades, paid taxes during his lifetime just like an American, and then leaves a modest estate worth more than $60,000.

The author of Tieger Law Center’s blog post recommends gifting using offshore family corporations. Other approaches to the problem abound, but key to all of them is beginning to plan early.

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Tanner Pittman, LLC is an estate planning and probate law firm that assists clients in the LaGrange, Newnan, Columbus, and Metro Atlanta areas. 
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Afraid of bequeathing a tax burden? Use a Roth IRA.

2/16/2012

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Congress has been mulling over allowing the "stretch IRA" benefit to lapse. At present, when you inherit a properly titled IRA, you can continue to allow it to grow tax-deferred, taking only certain required minimum distributions over your lifetime. 

That may be all about to change if Congress repeals this lenient rule in the latest transportation bill. 

All of which, says estate planner Ronald Morton, should make Roth IRA's even more attractive as savings vehicles. Since Roths are paid into with after-tax earnings, they trigger no tax hit when distributions are made, as they would be when the Roth is received as part of an inheritance. 

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Tanner Pittman, LLC is a LaGrange, Georgia, and Metro Atlanta estate planning law firm that advises clients on structuring their retirement assets for inheritance purposes. 
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Millionaire girlfriend adoption

2/14/2012

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John Goodman, the Florida millionaire,  has notoriously adopted his girlfriend, who is only six years his junior. 

Trial and heirs blog has a very interesting analysis of the matter here. As the authors explain it, a primary reason for the adoption is that Goodman's irrevocable trust for his children needed tending to. 

It seems the trustee of the trust, in Goodman's view, was not managing it well on behalf of his teenage children. And since the trust was irrevocable, Goodman himself could not do anything to change the trustee. 

Enter his girlfriend. Goodman's plan appears to have been to make her his legal "child," thus giving her the right to more closely monitor the behavior of the trustee from the standpoint of a beneficiary of the trust. 

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Tanner Pittman, LLC is a LaGrange, Georgia, and metro Atlanta law firm that advises clients on estate planning matters, including irrevocable trusts 

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"Stretch" IRA may fade away as estate tool

2/13/2012

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Presently, when an IRA owner dies, the named beneficiary of the IRA may take distributions of that account over his or her actuarial lifetime. The benefit of this is that the principal of the IRA continues to grow tax-deferred, resulting in very significant lifetime gain. 

Estate planning attorney Ronald Morton fears this benefit may be marked for death by Congress. He cites to a recent Forbes article addressing the same concerns. 

Tanner Pittman, LLC is a West Georgia and Atlanta-area law firm specializing in estate planning and complex planning to avoid estate and gift taxation for affluent individuals and families.   
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Estate planning mistakes that increase tax liability

2/11/2012

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Estate planning firm the Tieger Law Center posts a synopsis of a Vending Times article on the top five ways to leave your estate to the IRS.  It's well worth a read.



Tanner Pittman, LLC is a West Georgia and Atlanta-area law firm specializing in estate planning and complex planning to avoid estate and gift taxation for affluent individuals and families.  
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Grandparents' visitation rights

1/23/2012

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The Supreme Court of Georgia clarified the visitation rights of grandparents to visit their grandchildren in a ruling on January 9, 2012. 

The ruling is not so interesting for what it does address (touching on the technical niceties of family situations involving an adoptive step-parent) as the point of law it stands for: that grandparents have no de jure rights to visit their grandchildren if the children's parents are married to one another.

This point of law sometimes relates to estate planning issues, as estate and probate attorneys find they feel like practitioners of "domestic" law far too often. Family rifts wind up in wills and blow up in probate. 

The relevant statute, O.C.G.A. § 19-7-3, is below in its entirety for the reader's reference, as is the Supreme Court opinion. Click the "read more" link to find them.

Tanner Pittman, LLC is an estate planning and probate law firm that regularly advises clients on planning around difficult family situations. Feel free to contact us today about your own such issues.  


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