Musings and Counsel from London Baker Law

Conversations are an important part of estate planning. Sometimes they’re a little uncomfortable. Hold those conversations anyway. Read the companion blog post: Estate Planning Conversations Watch the companion video: Estate Planning Conversations Video

Most people have heard the word probate. Far fewer really know what it means until they’re suddenly in the middle of it. Read the companion blog post: PROBATE Acronym Article Watch the companion video: PROBATE Acronym Video

Topics include: What is a Durable Power of Attorney How life coaching helps Putting planning off is expensive – emotionally and financially Biggest surprise when people decide to plan. Hardest decisions Living Wills and Last Wills are often confused by people

Probate is an expensive proposition – monetarily and emotionally. With foresight and attention it can be avoided.

This sometimes-personal conversation occurred a few weeks after Hurricane Milton devastated Tampa in October 2024, and now is a good time to remember the lessons: get your documents in order and make sure you have backups and copies. The 2025 Hurricane Season is upon us, and it's time to prepare. Organize your legal documents, save remote copies/backups with family, backup services, and perhaps key people mentioned in your documents.

Two main ones in my experience – lack of proper beneficiary designations on bank accounts, IRAs, life insurance…AND residences being incorrectly titled – especially when purchased by people in committed relationships. They often think, "For sure, if one passes, the other automatically owns the whole." Not so! It's easily avoided.

This happens. Sometimes a person appointed Power of Attorney dies. It’s readily remedied. I recommend successors already be in place to prevent having to do anything.

This is not true. Any amount of money requires some estate planning. Much that’s needed doesn’t need an attorney

What’s the most important thing someone can do to get started with their estate plan? A good place to start is to do an inventory of what you have. Not just tangible property – pictures, books, etc., but more intangible property like bank accounts and life insurance. Next figure out who you want to represent you with documents that are relevant while you're alive and those that come into play after you pass. Work with a good attorney.

This role only comes into play after someone passes. This person is the one you’ve chosen to dispose of your estate – whatever you own when you pass that hasn’t been legally designated to go to someone specific. A good plan covers tangible personal property from vehicles to knickknacks. Sadly, probate is the result if anything hasn’t been beneficiary designated.

The first is a Last Will and Testament, which describes how an individual wants their property (the legal term is "bounty") distributed after passing. The other three are essential while an individual is living. Durable Power of Attorney – someone who can make financial decisions, access digital assets, do planning for government benefits, sell property Health Care Surrogate – someone who can make talk to doctors and make medical decisions if you’re not able Living Will – how you want end-or-life situations handled from letting you pass as soon as it’s determined there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery to being kept alive at all costs

If you love your family, you plan. When you pass, your loved ones are best served if you give them a plan. Then the only thing for them to do is grieve. You plan to provide that luxury.

Part of my commitment is to minimize and mitigate indecisiveness in the estate planning process and to minimize suffering of all parties involved in a probate situation.

This, like other pieces of planning, can be hard. Florida allows pet trusts where money can be set aside for the specific purpose. Many times people, as they age, decide there will be no more pets because they’re not going to run the risk of dying and not know where their animal will go.

This can be tough – people feel obligated to name spouses, to name children, to name family. Trust is the key. The people named have to be willing to honor your wishes – not there own – whether as a power of attorney, a healthcare surrogate, or a personal representative after you pass. These can be VERY hard choices.

Horrible situations are those that could be avoided with a competent counsel. Homes don’t go where someone wanted because they didn’t find out how to get it done. Money goes to people you wouldn’t give a dime to. Children wind up with family members who look good on paper and who you wouldn’t allow to babysit.

An estate plan is where you’ve pulled together, in one place, all your "bounty" – physical and intangible – naming individuals to take care of you now if needed and to distribute the "bounty" after you’re no longer here Anyone who is 18 needs a plan – tough things happen, and help is needed. Young people die, and without a plan, things are even more painful and heartbreaking. Without designating people, no one can help.

I do Estate Planning – Wills, Powers of Attorney, Health Care Surrogates. I do special needs trusts when it’s judicious to do – already existing situation where it will be needed or potentially they’ll be a situation where it’s needed And, I’ve learned the value of Elder Law – to protect assets of people who’ve worked hard, saved, and have assets, and they think they have to lose everything to apply for government help.

Why do people avoid thinking about the mess they might leave when they die. People think they have it done when they don’t. For example, people have Wills that leave a home to their children and think that’s all they need; sadly, without some legal counsel. However, the children will need to probate the Will in order to own the home when they could have owed it outright with a little planning.

If you get hurt and are unconscious and don’t have a health care surrogate designated, there is no one to speak to a doctor If you own a home in your name only and get married or get involved in a committed relationship, you might think that person owns the home when you pass – sadly, that’s incorrect.

At one second after midnight on a person’s 18th birthday, parents lose the right to have access to doctors, banks, school…without the 18-year-old designating them, in a legal document, able. A “Will” is also a valuable instrument for the tragic situation where someone dies and there’s a medical claim, or personal injury claim, or even if they’re part of a class action suit – like Camp LeJeune. The “Will” provides a place to receive proceeds from an unforeseeable, tragic event.

People often think they need a Trust when they don’t. It does depend on how large there estate is; are there minor children; are there special needs children or adults; are there situations where you don’t want someone to receive a large amount of money all at once. And they’re ‘revocable’ in that whoever establishes the Trust can change it any time without permission of a beneficiary.   Last Wills and Testaments, if filed with a court after a death, are available to the public at large. Trusts are not.

One of the hard things to do after someone dies is to figure out what to do with their "stuff" – potentially even for minimalists. It’s a true gift to have someone you car about take possession of something tangible to enjoy now, while you’re alive. For intangibles – money, for instance – having accounts beneficiary designated means the financial institutions distribute virtually automatically – no family individual has to be involved. The effort makes things easier on your loved ones. It's a gift to them.

Planning in advance allows a family to grieve when someone passes – avoiding calling an attorney to start a court case; avoiding arguments with other family members; sparing expense for funeral/cremations. One of my greatest victories is when a client calls after a loved one has died and I can reassure them that all is taken care of and nothing needs to be done until they’re ready.

Revocable trusts are just that – revocable; can be changed, modified, dissolved s long as the person who established it is living; they are excellent vehicles to be sure assets go to children as minors cannot inherit until they’re 18.

I’m always honored when people are inspired by my having gone to law school and point out someone who was there with me who had big hurdles to overcome to get where they wanted to be. If you want something badly enough, it can happen.

Planning is about taking care of your family later. Sometimes people disinherit family members, and that can be tough.

How does each work? What is the purpose of each?

My previous career was in life coaching – asking difficult questions and helping people answer them. This capacity is very helpful in my legal practice as there are often questions that need to be asked that can appear threatening to the person being asked – do I choose this child or that child or someone not related. I’m able to ask with empathy, diminishing the scariness of the question.

When a person gets one second after midnight on their 18th birthday – it’s time. It doesn’t matter if you think you own anything, it matters most at this point to appoint someone to help with finances and health if need be – powers of attorney and advanced health directives, and a Last Will is a good thing since we’re never promised tomorrow.

First, decide it’s time. Then pull together everything you own, tangible, intangible and then decide who you want to have represent you for possibilities while you’re alive (financial, health) and for after you pass.

These are difficult conversations that need to be had.

What’s the difference? When does each come into play?

I always wanted to be a doctor – thinking medical. Almost 50 years to the day of my high school graduation I became a doctor, albeit a doctor of law.

Planning needs to be done and done right, because we really can never know when we’ll leave this earth. To work with an attorney is to be sure the right questions are asked. It’s to be properly informed by a practitioner instead of by your neighbor or the opinions of friends who aren’t attorneys. Attorneys help people think and make better choices.

DIY Wills? I do appreciate the temptation to DIY AND strongly advise against it for fear the document created will not do the job when it’s needed. Living Wills Living Wills are documents people prepare for when the end of life is approaching – it provides a place to indicate choices about treatment or not and at what stage treatment ends. It’s an essential document to help the person dying do so on their own terms.

About a Minor Child My practice is to recommend a Revocable Living Trust so that a child’s inheritance can be safe-guarded if the child is inline to inherit before they are legally able to inherit money on their 18th birthday, and after 18 if a parent doesn’t want to trust them with assets that young. Contesting a Will First thing I would tell someone is “I chose estate planning and probate to never have to be in court. Contesting a Will involves litigation. I will counsel that fees can be expensive and the emotional toll on a family even more expensive. Then I refer to someone who does do will contests.

Your Last Will and Testament is the catch-all documents for any part of an estate that may have slipped through the cracks while planning to avoid probate. It also serves as a place holder if there is some type of lawsuit that needs a place to deposit funds after someone passes – personal injury, malpractice.

My recommendation with minor children is always a trust given that most wouldn’t have trusted themselves with substantial money when they were 18.  Trusts also allow for parents to determine at what age a child would receive money and what for.

I’ve always been honest and direct – some might say ‘brutally honest.’  People who know my depend on me for this.  I’m honest because I care.  My intuition and compassion help in making difficult decisions/confronting difficult situations.

People die unexpectedly.  People deteriorate gradually without it being notice. People don’t have plans in place to mitigate what happens in either of these situations.  The horror of them can be mitigated.  Part of the reason planning is not done is, generally, we can’t imagine being sick or dying.

This can be done – through direct financial gifts indicated in a will or through pet trusts.  That it can be done is helpful to pet owners who are concerned about what happens if they pass before their animals.

An estate is any asset a person owns.  Probate is necessary when any asset is only owned in the name of an individual without a beneficiary designation.  A Trust will, when done correctly, keep assets out of Probate.

I appreciate the temptation to do this.  As you’ll hear, it can go badly.  Best to hire an attorney or at least have an attorney review what you created.

When people ask me this, I tell them I don’t handle this.  My conversation would be ‘what has you want to do this’?  Answering “it’s the principle of the thing” is valid.  It’s a personal choice. It’s expensive, there’s no promise of success, it’s emotionally draining.  And, I can refer you to someone who does litigation.

Trustees have specific responsibilities – and it’s important to choose the right person. About speaking to an attorney – absolutely if you own anything and want to be sure it gets to the right person when you pass.

One of my favorite learnings from school was the phrase “it depends”. For me Trusts are when there are minor children, disabled children or adults, and people who might need government benefits. That being said, it still depends.

People talk about being too old…Not if you really want to do something.

Coaching was what I did before becoming a lawyer…it serves the legal practice and being an attorney was/is a walk of faith and a way to be of service.

It’s an interesting question I like to answer.