Legal Matters 

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman, www.bradfordholliman.com

Do you understand your finances? Here are four reasons to know your finances even if your spouse usually manages them. 

1. Since women live longer than men and often have older spouses, women are likely to be the surviving spouses impacted by their husbands’ wills and property law. 

2. Divorces trigger the division of assets. Overall, the divorce rate in the U.S. is falling, but the divorce rate of couples over 50+ is increasing, and that means there are more assets to divide.

3. If you are considering a second marriage and have children from your first marriage, you may want to consider a prenuptial agreement and estate plan that protects those children’s inheritances. In the U.S., 19% are second marriages.

4. Setting up your estate plan so that both parties can manage affairs easily on their own when needed due to the incapacity or demise of one spouse.

Know how all your assets are titled. Your attorney needs to know how assets’ titles and beneficiaries to advise you for your estate plan. Individual ownership can be more advantageous than joint ownership due to direct gifts, grants, inheritances, and assets a spouse may have before marriage. But it was not always this way. 

Did You Know? Women’s Rights Related to Assets Have Really Changed! 

In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s take a quick view of how women’s rights relating to assets have improved:

• 1846- Women could own, but not control, property in their own names.
• 1849- Married women could own and manage property in their own names during the incapacity of their spouses. 
• 1867- Married women were granted separate economy which meant they could have a separate estate.
• 1870- Women were no longer considered property of their husbands or fathers.
• 1960s- Women could open their own bank accounts. 
• 1974- Women could have their own credit cards with no co-signers.
• 1974- Women could buy a house alone.
• 1981- For a husband to have sole control of marital property became unconstitutional by a U.S. Supreme Court case. 
• 1981- Alabama’s intestate or probate law was changed to be gender neutral. 

A couple’s finances require day-to-day management, long-term strategic plans, and estate plans. You and your spouse should talk about finances on all these levels to make sure you are both “rowing in the same direction…” and then make sure your estate plan is in line with your direction.

–Melanie B. Holliman, JD 

Partner at Bradford & Holliman, LLC

www.bradfordholliman.com

205-663-0281

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman, www.bradfordholliman.com

What is a Legal Matters article doing discussing date nights to enrich your marriage? Legal matters such as estate plans are a spectacular way of letting each other know now just how important your marriage is by making sure you are on the same page. Each spouse should be ready to manage family affairs if the other is not there. Estate lawyers often talk about the peace of mind that a current estate plan provides clients. That estate plan can also provide a long-term sense of love and caring long after one of you is gone.

Plan a date night to discuss each of your individual thoughts on your estate plans (you do at least have wills, don’t you?), beneficiaries on IRAs, pensions, life insurance, and financial situations of elderly family members. You may be surprised by the assumptions each of you hold. Date night without kids in tow is a great time to talk about best guardians for any minor children. With 50% of children impacted by a divorce, the specifics of divorce decrees are a major factor in setting up estate plans. If you have adult children who are in stressful marriages or who do not manage finances well, you may want to talk about how your estate plan could be structured to prevent your child from losing inheritances in a bitter divorce or how to keep your adult child from misusing any future inheritance.

If one spouse exclusively manages family finances, make the discussion for one date night about how finances are managed and who the key contacts are – financial advisors, accountants, and even personnel contacts at employers. A one-month swap of day-to-day financial duties can be eye-opening for the spouse who does not usually manage it. Such as swap often increases the appreciation for the spouse who manages it.

In fact, these discussions could take several date nights even beyond February. These conversations are key to have even before you call your estate planning attorney. An experienced estate planning attorney can provide options you may not know about such as spendthrift trusts and can also make sure that your estate plan aligns with current Alabama estate laws. Add a little candlelight and tasty food, and your date nights can enrich your marriage and give you both peace of mind for a long time.

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD 

Partner at Bradford & Holliman, LLC

www.bradfordholliman.com

205-663-0281

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman

A new year is here. What did you put off last year that is still on your “to do” list?  In a great New York Times article in March 2019, Erik Winkowski wrote that “procrastination is about emotions, not productivity.” It’s more fun to alphabetize your spices than to review your estate plan and beneficiaries or update your net worth. It’s not time you lack; it’s the emotional fortitude to take the proverbial “bull by the horns” to tackle a job that is often tied to mixed emotions.

That’s one of the big advantages of having an experienced estate planning attorney on your team of advisors. A good lawyer can make sure your estate plan does not have legal gaps created by new estate legislation. And a good estate planning attorney will proactively ask you questions about your estate that you might not even think about if the whole process makes you uncomfortable. A one-size-fits-all form downloaded from an online site certainly can’t help you there. 

You should also update your net worth as part of a review of your estate plan so that you know what you have to bequeath, whether it is an antique train collection or a well-funded IRA. A current net worth helps you avoid forgetting an important asset. Updating your net worth in January will help when you get around to working on your 2022 taxes before April. Your accountant will thank you… and might charge you less.

One family I know often uses the phrase, “I haven’t gotten around to it.” Just make sure you get around to it when it comes to taking charge of your estate plan and net worth. You really don’t want to depend on Alabama’s estate laws for folks who die without a legally documented estate plan (intestate). To find an experienced estate planning attorney near you, check online with AVVO, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), and Martindale.

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD 

Partner at Bradford & Holliman, LLC

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman

More than ever, gift giving is fraught with peril this year. Consider the overseas shipping and delivery problems to stores near you, the increasing cost of shipping gifts to your loved ones, the predicted difficulties of timing when your gifts arrive, the possibility of your gift being the wrong size, color, style, or even a duplicate. Avoid all these issues and send a gift that is perfectly customized to your loved ones’ needs – funds for a full estate plan. Your own estate planning attorney can help locate an experienced estate planning attorney in your loved one’s hometown if needed.

A quick online search will tell you: “A staggering 79 percent of millennials (ages 18-34) do not have a will. Even more surprising is that 62 percent of those in the 35 to 44-year-old age group don’t have a will or living trust, and 60 percent of those in the 45 to 54-year-old age group don’t have one either.”  Now, it’s not that millennials don’t think wills are necessary. They just assume they can get around to it when they hit their fifties. Single millennials often assume that their families can just take care of matters using the state’s intestate laws… without researching what those laws are. Mistake! And that’s not even mentioning the critical need for financial and healthcare powers of attorney, healthcare directives, a plan for personal belongings, and guardians for their minor children.

If you are lucky enough to be with your loved ones in person during the holidays, use this strategic gift to discuss your own estate plan and the reasons behind it so that no unpleasant surprises create family problems after you’re gone. Perhaps combined with the joy of the season, this longer-term expression of affection will mean even more to your loved ones. And if changes in family members have occurred recently due to births, deaths, or divorces, give yourself the same strategic gift by updating your own estate plan.  

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD

Partner at Bradford & Holliman 

Estate Planning, Trusts & Special Needs

205-663-0281

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman 

Home care or hospice is stressful for families, but some legal tools can relieve at least some of the stress. With home care, families are faced with hiring an agency or becoming a direct employer of caregivers; both involve writing a lot of checks.  

A specific Power of Attorney naming an adult child is better than adding a child to the parent’s checking account in most cases. When the parent passes away, the assets in the Power of Attorney-managed bank account remain part of the estate to be divided as the will specifies. However, if one child is on the parent’s checking account, at the parent’s death, that entire checking account becomes the property of that child and is not divided according to a will’s terms.

Be sure a Durable Power of Attorney covers both financial and healthcare decisions. It is okay to have the sibling who just happens to be a CPA oversee the financial matters and the sibling who is in healthcare oversee the healthcare decisions. Healthcare directives are still needed. And the will could specify yet another sibling as the executor since, after the parent’s demise, the power of attorney has no power.

A critical factor is to set up these legal tools in advance since many patients requiring home care or hospice may no longer be legally competent, especially in cases of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. A family should have their parent’s net worth summary or at least a listing of all financial accounts, contacts, and beneficiary designations because these factors impact filing for Medicaid, if needed, and eventually, the settling of an estate. 

Since powers of attorney aren’t valid after death, families need to plan funeral and burial plans. If using a will, pre-need plans for the funeral and burial may be useful in reducing families’ stress. A trust can continue after death and handle these plans. When in her upper 90s, one lady (who lived to be over 100) had a trust in place, a power of attorney, healthcare directives, and set up her pre-need plan with her local funeral home. Her heirs were ever so grateful. 

If you have an elderly family member facing home care or hospice, check with a qualified estate attorney to make sure that you have the right legal tools in place during this stressful time.

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD 

Partner at Bradford & Holliman 

Estate Planning, Trusts & Special Needs

205-663-0281

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman 

The phrases “I want to set up a trust” or “you need a trust” are heard often in estate planning attorneys’ and financial advisors’ offices. The phrases are simple but can mean many different things. The first thing to understand is that a “trust” is not a simple document where the client fills in the blanks. We like to say that a trust is not like a one size fits all t-shirt. Trusts are not just for the super wealthy either.

Trusts are contracts designed to fulfill a client’s specific goals. These goals determine the type of trust and the terms of the trust. Even the title of the trust does not tell the reader very much. A family trust can mean many different things depending on the wording of the document. A revocable trust should mean that the trustmaker can revoke or terminate the trust, but the terms and conditions of the trust can be as varied as the colors of the rainbow. Two of the basic types of trusts are:

1. Revocable Trusts allow the trustmaker to stay in control of the trustmaker’s assets. The trust should avoid the probate process at the trustmaker’s death and make the transfer of assets to the designated beneficiaries much faster and easier. These trusts also provide more privacy since they can avoid public access to probate records. Revocable trusts do not have asset protection features of irrevocable trusts precisely because the trustmaker is still in total control.

2. Asset Protection Trusts, if designed correctly, should protect the trustmaker’s assets from creditors. They are generally irrevocable. The laws of the state where the trust is created have a lot to do with the level of protection the trustmaker receives.  Some states have laws that offer more protection than others.  

Using the framework of these trusts, a trustmaker may do everything from directing when a minor grandchild receives an inheritance to implementing plans to reduce capital gains taxes, income taxes, investment for growth, and estate taxes. Most importantly, remember that any form of trust planning takes an experienced estate planning attorney to guide you through the process of determining the appropriate type of trust and the specific terms that should be included in the trust. The second most important item is that you must then put your assets into the trust by updating titles of financial accounts, real estate, and real property.  

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD

Partner at Bradford & Holliman 

Estate Planning, Trusts & Special Needs

205-663-0281

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman

Heading off to college is a major step toward becoming an adult, but it is not all dorm linens and electronics. Adulting work occurs before heading to campus so let’s talk about the ‘what ifs” and help set up the right legal documents. Here are four things to discuss with your college student.

1. Healthcare and Durable Powers of Attorney. Discuss how a comprehensive durable power of attorney lets you be a backup manager for your college student’s financial affairs. If the college is in a different state, check the age of majority. Your college kid may be considered an adult at college and a minor in Alabama, so a healthcare power of attorney is advisable. Alabama’s age of majority is 19, but Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana’s age of majority is 18. Mississippi’s age is 21. If you are a blended family, keep in mind who has legal custody and the legal right to make healthcare decisions.

2. Will. If your young adult has substantial assets, you may want to help set up a will, particularly if you do not want those assets added back into your estate. Alabama’s laws for those with no wills (dying intestate) may not align with you and your young adult’s wishes in case of a tragedy. And of course, copies of these legal documents should be with your student’s belongings and in your own files.

3. Contact information. Make sure your young adult has all your contact information in his or her wallet and phone, perhaps under ICE (In Case of Emergency).  Encourage them to add emergency contact info to Alabama’s database associated with driver’s licenses. You do not have to redo the driver’s license. Go to alabamainteractive.org/dl_renewal. Also don’t forget to exchange contact info with all roommates’ parents. 

4. Financial Affairs. Discuss cash flow to prevent calls home about running out of funds. Your young adult needs to know upfront when funds will be transferred.  Having a parent as a bank account signee through a power of attorney may be a good idea based on your young adult’s financial acumen. This talk is a great chance to reiterate that expenses should always be less than income. 

If your young adult balks at this advance planning, just explain the adage of carrying an umbrella so that it won’t rain. Introduce your young adult to a qualified estate planning attorney long before packing the car for college and before your college student gets absolutely giddy about heading off to college: Adulting 101.

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD 

Partner at Bradford & Holliman 

Estate Planning, Trusts & Special Needs

205-663-0281

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters
Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman

As your family enjoys July 4th, give some appreciative thought to the 377,210 veterans and their families who live around you here in Alabama. Alabama has 1,713 military personnel who have served in post-9/11 wars which ranks 7th highest per capita in the nation.

The Veterans Administration and several non-profit and volunteer organizations work to take care of these special individuals who have served our country. However, VA-accredited Alabama elder law attorneys can offer a more comprehensive understanding of Alabama’s specific nuances in both estate planning and asset protection as well as VA benefits than out-of-state resources.

These attorneys develop strategies for veterans considering their veteran benefits and any civilian work benefits both while the veterans are alive (Disability Benefits) and for their families after they are gone (Aid and Attendance). VA-accredited Alabama elder law attorneys can also assess veteran benefits in the context of long-term care, Alabama Medicaid, asset protection, guardianships, conservatorships, wills, and various kinds of trusts that are beyond the scope of VA benefits.

A good understanding of both pension and service-connected claims and Department of Defense benefits is needed to make the best choices at the right times for a veteran. Sometimes, a non-service-connected pension is a better choice. Without knowledgeable advice of CRSC (Combat-Related Special Compensation) and CRDC (Concurrent Retirement and Disability) payments, a veteran can lose out on benefits. Many veterans are eligible for Tricare for Life or CHAMPVA health insurance that provides important free health coverage.

VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (VA DIC) is best known for the benefits for veterans’ surviving spouses and children, but it may also apply to a parent based on the VA’s special definition of a parent which includes loco parentis. It is easy to miss these options without VA-accredited legal advice.

As your family enjoys hot dogs and fireworks this month, give a salute to the veterans around you who have defended our country in so many ways for so many years. And if you are a veteran or a veteran’s family, thank you for your service and talk to a VA-accredited elder law attorney about your VA benefit options soon.

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD 
Partner at Bradford & Holliman
Estate Planning, Trusts & Special Needs
205-663-0281
www.bradfordholliman.com
No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.

Legal Matters

Brought to you by: Community Partner Bradford & Holliman

Most couples specialize tasks- one may manage investments while the other pays day-to-day bills or one mows the grass and the other does all the laundry. Maybe only one bites the bullet and handles taxes. That’s fine as long as both are well-briefed on each other’s roles. The biggest problem is when a partner becomes incapacitated through injury, illness, or death, and the spouse has no clue how to handle matters. Here are four ways to avoid that crisis.

1. Keep a current net worth statement that contains all accounts, account numbers, passwords, account owners, as well as the funds. Talk through it regularly such as twice a year.  

2. Both members of a couple need to know all autopay bills with links, user IDs, passwords, and payment methods. Many spouses are frustrated to find out that important bills such as utilities, medical, car, and house insurances are not paid when their spouses are not “on the job” due to illness or even death. Due to financial scams and identity theft, banks and investment companies are extremely cautious about changes in accounts, so make sure in advance that both of you are set up with decision-making authority and access even if only one of you regularly handles it.

3. You may know your spouse’s favorite foods, color, and TV show, but could you rattle off all of your spouse’s medications, dosages, and why the medicine is needed? Can you quickly put your hands on copies of healthcare power of attorney and healthcare directives? Get it in writing and update them regularly so that a surprise run to the emergency room is less complicated.

4. Some couples swap duties for a month every year, pretending that their spouse is going on an extended trip. Other couples formalize a “show and tell” for each other on a regular schedule. Others discuss short-term financial needs and long-term goals during tax season. Be creative for what works for you and your spouse. The important part is to keep each other in the know. You just may appreciate what your spouse does even more, too.

In the corporate world, this process might be called a contingency plan or a management succession plan, but in a family, it’s just good teamwork. Take care of your spouse and enjoy your marriage!

-Melanie B. Holliman, JD

Partner at Bradford & Holliman 

Estate Planning, Trusts & Special Needs

205-663-0281

www.bradfordholliman.com

No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of service performed by other lawyers.