Archives for July 2013

Lessons from Sopranos Star James Gandolfini’s Estate Plan

Learn From the Expensive Mistakes & Smart Decisions Made By Sopranos Actor James Gandolfini In Planning for His Estate

James Gandolfini, the actor best known for his portrayal of Tony Soprano on HBO’s The Sopranos, died suddenly last month while on vacation in Italy.  His will is already on the Internet, available for everyone to read!  Thus, the first lesson we should all take away from what he did and did not do right in his estate plan –  establishing a trust keeps your private estate and financial matters private!

Estate planning attorney Julie Garber, who writes a column on Wills & Estate Planning on About.com, lists 5 other estate planning lessons learned from James Gandolfini:

Lifetime trusts are often better for beneficiaries.  James Gandolfini’s 13-year-old son and infant daughter will inherit a large portion each of the actor’s estimated $70 million estate once they reach the age of 21.  It may have been better to establish lifetime trusts for each of the children, then making them co-trustees at 25 or 30, then sole trustees at the more mature age of 35 or 40.  This would have protected their inherited assets for life, from creditors, bankruptcy, lawsuits and divorce.

If you own foreign real estate, you need a foreign estate plan.  James Gandolfini owned property in Italy, which his will specified should be turned over to his children.  However, Italy has forced heirship laws that may trump the will.  He should have consulted with an Italian attorney and had an Italian will drawn that passes the property in accordance with Italian law.

Update your will regularly.  James Gandolfini had updated his will just six months prior to his death, and a few months following the birth of his daughter.  By taking action to update his will following the new birth, he saved his heirs a lot of headaches and heartaches. But unfortunately, he missed a big one — he didn’t update for estate taxes.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts are a smart move.  James Gandolfini established an ILIT for his son Michael and funded it with a $7 million life insurance policy.  By setting up an ILIT, the proceeds from the insurance policy flow directly to the trust, with no New York or federal estate taxes on the $7 million.

Multiple executors and trustees can provide necessary checks and balances.  James Gandolfini had two children with two different wives.  He named his sister, his current wife and one of his attorneys as co-executors of his will and co-trustees of the testamentary trusts set up in his will, which was a savvy move to prevent any one beneficiary from being favored.

The one thing that Gandolfini and his lawyers did not think about enough was his estate taxes.  He’ll owe nearly $30,000,000 in estate taxes and much of it could have been avoided with good planning in advance.

If you would like to have a talk about estate planning for your family, call our office today at 720-625-6597 to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk. I can further advise you on all your options and make things as easy as possible for your family during an Initial Estate Planning Session.

How to Ensure Your Life Insurance Benefits Go To Your Heir

 

Recently, 11 major life insurance companies agreed to pay $763 million to the heirs of deceased policyholders after it was discovered the companies continued billing customers for their policies even after they were dead.

This agreement is the second in the last two years to be reached with insurance companies, which had previously agreed to provide restitution and do a much better job of locating beneficiaries after being sued by the attorneys general of several states for not paying out benefits to the heirs of deceased policyholders.

This pattern seems to indicate that we all need to do a better job to ensure that the life insurance benefits we pay out come back to our heirs, or named beneficiaries, in the way we intend.  Here are 5 tips for making sure those you intended benefit from your life insurance:

Be truthful in your application.  If you have not been completely forthcoming about a major medical issue or your health habits (smoking, drinking, etc.) in your application for a life insurance policy, that policy could be declared null and void and your heirs or beneficiaries would be out of luck.

Don’t let it lapse.  If your family is counting on life insurance benefits to pay the bills if something should happen to you, and you have not been paying the bills for the policy, your family is left unprotected.  If you are having trouble paying a more expensive whole life policy, consider exploring a less expensive term policy.

Have a beneficiary bench.  Having a beneficiary on your policy who dies before you do is a recipe for disaster – and it happens much more than you think.  Designate a secondary as well as a final beneficiary for your life insurance benefits, and update them as the need arises. We recommend naming your trust as the beneficiary of your life insurance benefits, rather than naming an individual or even series of individuals.

Play it safe.  If you die because you engaged in risky behavior (not covered by the policy) – or you take your own life – your heirs or beneficiaries will likely receive back only what you paid in premiums, and not the full value of your policy.

Talk about it.  The primary reason that a vast majority of potential beneficiaries never see a dime in life insurance benefits is because policies were lost or misplaced and family members were never told of their existence in the first place.  So if you have a life insurance policy, let your family know.  And ask them if they have one, too.

If you do planning with our firm, we prepare a Family Wealth Inventory (and keep it updated annually) for all of our clients.  Give us a call at 720-248-7621 if you’d like us to help you with this too and ensure your family never loses track of any of your assets after you are gone.