Legal Matters
The season for watching and reading Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol has arrived. Let’s take a moment to review this oft-viewed tale in the context of estate planning.
With some prodding, Mr. Scrooge spent Christmas Eve reflecting upon his life and the shape of the world when he would no longer be alive in it. Afterward, Mr. Scrooge took decisive steps. He purchased a turkey, went to church, visited his relations, and made good with the Cratchits.
If his life review prompted Mr. Scrooge to retain counsel to plan his estate, what might he have needed? A twenty-first century answer would be that he would want at least three documents. A durable power of attorney, delegating his authority to an agent, so that his business might operate if he became incapable of managing his affairs. An advanced directive, making many of his health care decisions in advance of his final illness, although such documents weren’t typical in Dickens’s day. Finally, at the very least, Mr. Scrooge would want a will that would identify an executor and dispose of the property and assets he spent a lifetime accumulating. Although Fred, Mr. Scrooge’s nephew, might inherit the bulk of the estate, Scrooge did become a second father to Tiny Tim, and would likely have provided for him by a specific bequest in the will. Indeed, given Tim’s poor health, Mr. Scrooge would have wanted to consider a trust, to set aside funds for his care.
We may surmise that Mr. Scrooge had an estate. From what we know of his character, he likely took a buy and hold approach: purchase shares in a sound company, and watch those investments grow exponentially. Was he a miserable miser? Humbug! He lived a life long devoted to two words: compound interest.
No doubt Mr. Scrooge kept records, which greatly benefitted his executor when the estate went into probate. He likely accounted for every lump of coal that he doled out to Bob Cratchit. When the great man died, his executor did not face a wilderness of disorganized papers and debt collectors red in tooth and claw. No, after Mr. Scrooge went to his reward, his executor sat down to review clean balance sheets, greatly simplifying the probate of the Scrooge estate.
This holiday season, I hope that you will, between church and turkey, find time to enjoy A Christmas Carol, whether or not it inspires you to reflect on estate planning.
A Happy Christmas to you all!
– Mitchell McNaylor
McNaylor Law, LLC
Shelby County, Ala.
[email protected], 205-419-7377
Watch the video below to learn more about estate planning.
