Idaho Law Blog

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

It happened again this weekend.  I attended a block party for the members of our Home Owner’s Association and met several new people that had recently moved into our neighborhood. Inevitably, after introductions were done “the” question was asked: “What do you do for a living?” I answered that I am an attorney.  “What kind of law do you practice?” My basic answer is almost always the same: “I have the best job in the world. I get to help people do their estate planning.”

Once I have opened that door the discussion usually goes one of two directions.  First, the other person usually says that they need to get their estate planning done and that they have been thinking about it for years.  Second, the other person will tell me a story about what happened in their family or with a close friend who did not have their estate planning done. It is usually a vivid description of the all out war that followed the death of their loved one.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

I have been an estate planning attorney now for more than 20 years. I’ve helped numerous clients in every aspect of estate planning that can be imagined. I’ve learned a few things about the importance of estate planning documents and how they can provide protection for you while you are alive. As a result, when I meet with clients, I often have a conversation with them where I help them understand the fact that while their last will and testament is important, it is not the most important document they should have in their estate planning. During this discussion I help my clients understand why the power of attorney for health care could be one of the most important documents they have as part of their estate plan.

To be sure, the power of attorney for health care is just one of the several documents that each person should have as part of their basic estate plan. The other documents would include the last will and testament, a durable power of attorney, and a living will. It’s also possible that an individual may need a trust to take care of minor age children or individuals who have disabilities or special needs. Additionally, some individuals also like to use a trust as a way of avoiding probate for themselves.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

Over the past three years that we have provided this estate planning blog on our firm’s website we have often discussed instances where celebrities are other famous people have made serious mistakes with their estate planning. These mistakes range from either not having any estate planning done at all, to having a confusing estate plan that does nothing but cause contention and disputes between the person’s family members and loved ones. It’s easy to pick on celebrities because they are so visible. However, to be fair, we have also provided many articles about things that many celebrities have done right.

In today’s article we are going to discuss a celebrity who did things right. This celebrity is Burt Reynolds who passed away in the fall of 2018 at the age of 82. As with many celebrities, upon his death there were many articles having to do with his estate planning. Some of these articles stated that he had disinherited his son because his last will and testament had a sentence in it that stated the following: “I intentionally omit my son from this my last will and testament as I have provided for him during my lifetime in my Declaration of Trust.” In other words, it appears that Burt Reynolds used a living trust as part of his estate plan.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

As an estate planning attorney in Idaho one of the things I like to do is talk with parents about ways they can use their estate planning to provide an incentive to their children to be productive and to contribute to society. In other words, I think it is unwise for a parent to leave a large inheritance of money, property, or other assets to a young child or even a young adult. The reason for this is because it usually steals away from that individual the drive and desire for them to be successful on their own.

To be sure, it’s possible that you could have an unusual child. They may receive millions of dollars from you and it wouldn’t affect their desire to be successful on their own. However, this is a rare case. In fact, it’s so rare that it almost never happens. This brings us to the focus of this particular blog which has to do with Gloria Vanderbilt.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

I love my job! I get to spend my days helping individuals create estate plans that will both protect them while they are alive and provide a plan for distributing their money, property, and other assets to their family members and other loved ones after they pass away. I also get to work with family members after a loved one has passed away so they can complete the necessary probate process required by Idaho law. In other words, I get to use my expertise to help individuals who do not know what they need to do in order to move forward after they have lost a loved one.

In helping families complete the probate process, I am often asked this simple question: What does a Personal Representative do? The purpose of this article is to provide a short answer to this often asked question. However, first I want to explain how a personal representative is chosen.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

I am a fan of both estate-planning and Star Trek. I grew up with Star Trek as a kid and watched every episode I could. Additionally, cover for the last 20 years I have worked as an estate planning attorney in Idaho helping individuals customize and create their own estate plans to meet their needs and help them avoid problems in the future. It’s for this reason that I was fascinated by the recent story of actress Nichelle Nichols who played the character of Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series in the 1960s.

The 85-year-old actress was recently diagnosed with “moderate progressive dementia”, according to her doctor. Specifically, Nichols’ doctor described her condition as “major impairment of her short-term memory and moderate impairment of understanding abstract concepts, sense of time, place and immediate recall.”

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

Having been an estate planning attorney now for 20 years, I’m always on the lookout for interesting news and stories that I can use as an example to help my clients avoid serious problems when it comes to their own estate planning. The most recent story that I’ve learned of that is interesting and helpful is that of Aretha Franklin, who was known as the queen of soul.

Aretha Franklin died of cancer in August of 2018 at the age of 76. Her longtime personal attorney stated that he had been after her for a number of years to get her estate planning done including a written will. She was extremely private about her own finances and never consulted her personal attorney about getting her estate planning done. In fact, shortly after her death it was reported that she had no estate planning completed and that her estate would have to be distributed pursuant to the intestate laws that applied. However, it’s recently come to light that she did in fact have a written last will and testament. In fact, it appears that she had three of them. The problem is, that none of these Wills was created by a lawyer.

By Lane V. Erickson, Idaho Estate Planning Attorney

As an attorney who has practiced Idaho estate planning and probate law for the last 20 years I am always interested in stories about families and individuals when it comes to their estate planning. Often these new stories include celebrities who have either done something really well or have made some terrible mistake in their estate planning that was only discovered after they passed away and that resulted in serious problems for those who are left behind. However, every once in a while a different kind of story is reported on. Recently I read the news about the well-known movie director John Singleton. At a young age he wrote the screenplay for and then later directed the movie Boyz n the Hood for which he became both the first African American and the youngest person to have ever been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

As it turns out, at the age of 51, Mr Singleton suffered a stroke which ended up requiring him to be placed on life support. The main reason the story caught my attention was because it contained an announcement by his family that they had made the decision to take him off life support and that they didn’t expect that he would live afterwards. In fact, Mr Singleton did pass away shortly after life support was removed.