Modern Family Matters

Estate Planning Resolutions: The Benefits of Reviewing Your Estate Plan Annually

January 26, 2021 with Attorney, Triston Dallas Season 1 Episode 20
Modern Family Matters
Estate Planning Resolutions: The Benefits of Reviewing Your Estate Plan Annually
Show Notes Transcript

Associate Attorney, Triston Dallas, joins us to discuss why it’s important to reevaluate your estate plan annually.

2020 has been an unusual year specifically, with many families experiencing sudden changes, whether it’s a loss of family member, a business, a retirement nest egg, or a home. Alternatively, some individuals have gained a family member, a home, a business, or a change in life trajectory. 

Whether you’ve experienced negative or positive changes this past year, the importance of reviewing your estate plan to ensure that it’s still operating as you intended with appropriate funding and plans in place cannot be overstated. 

Listen to our podcast to learn about which areas of your estate plan are especially important to review annually, and how you can take steps to ensure that your assets and family are taken care of and in good hands.

To learn more about how Landerholm Family Law and Pacific Cascade can help you with your estate plan, call our office at (503) 227-0200 or visit our website at www.landerholmlaw.com or www.pacificcascadefamilylaw.com 

Disclaimer: Nothing in this communication is intended to provide legal advice, therefore you should not interpret the contents as such.

Intro:

Welcome to Modern Family Matters, a podcast hosted by Steve Altishin, our Director of Client Partnerships here at Landerholm Family Law. We are devoted to exploring topics within the realm of family law that matter most to you. Our discussions will cover a wide range of both legal and personal issues that accompany family law matters. We strongly believe that life events such as marriages, divorces, re-marriages, births, adoptions, children, growing up, growing older, illnesses and deaths do not dissolve a family. Rather, they provide the opportunity to reconfigure and strengthened family dynamics in healthy and positive ways. With expertise from qualified attorneys and professional guests, we hope that our podcasts will help provide answers, clarity, and guidance for the better tomorrow for you and your family. Without further ado, your host, Steve Altishin.

 

Steve Altishin  1:12  

Hi, everyone. Welcome to our Facebook Live broadcast. I'm Steve Altishin, Director of Client Partnerships here at Landerholm Family Law. Today I'm here with attorney Tristan Dallas, our Estate Planning Specialist, to talk about why this time of year is a perfect time to review your estate plan. How are you doing?

 

Triston Dallas  1:31  

I'm doing well. Thanks for having me, as always.

 

Steve Altishin  1:33  

Well, thanks for coming. So before we start in, let's talk a little bit about estate plans in general. I know there's a common misconception that estate planning is only for those more senior members of our society, and also just for people with major assets. But that really isn't true, is it? 

 

Triston Dallas  1:53  

No, no. Estate planning is for everyone. As you know, we've mentioned this in a previous video webinar, everybody has an estate, whether it's super small, super big, or if everything you own is contained within a small town or it's International. There are definitely steps that every individual can take in order to manage your estate, and to pass their estate on to their loved ones.

 

Steve Altishin  2:20  

So why is it a good idea, let's say at the end of the year, the beginning of a new year, to kind of sit back and make an assessment of your estate plan?

 

Triston Dallas  2:29  

Yeah, I mean, a lot of life happens in a year, a lot of things can change. As we go through today, we'll talk about some of some major high-level points. But 2020 specifically, it has been an interesting year, a lot of things happened for everyone. From being quarantined and no work happening for virtually the entire population for several weeks on end, to businesses going under and people losing retirement, their nest egg and, you know, their homes. All kinds of things have happened. And just because those negative things have happened, or even positive things may have happened, it doesn't mean that you want to overlook things like your estate plan. This is because a lot of what has happened this year can affect the plan. So make sure that it's still effective, it still does what you want. And depending on how its structured, your estate plan may not necessarily have the funding or the assets you once thought it did in order to pass on to your loved ones. And on top of that, I mean, health wise, anything can happened at any time unfortunately. And with the pandemic, if you don't have an estate plan, this is the time that you want to speak with an attorney and take those steps to get one done, just because you're gonna want to make sure your family or loved ones have been taken care of, and you don't just leave things in the hands of the state, just in case the worst were to happen.

 

Steve Altishin  3:54  

Well, that makes total sense. And like you said, especially this year, it's not just a normal looking back over your year, but it's also really looking forward. And it seems like it's really important these days to concentrate not just on the past, but looking forward. So let's take a look at some of these life events that can affect an estate plan. And before we do that, specifically, can you just touch on some of the main documents that are part of your estate plan? How they can be affected by life events as we move forward?

 

Triston Dallas  4:37  

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the first thing anybody ever thinks about is a will when it comes to an estate plan. And that's a big portion of probably the estate plan for most people, but it isn't the end all be all. And isn't the only document or thing to analyze. In any estate planning there is also tax planning and estate tax planning, gift tax planning. And so there are a myriad of documents that could come into play with those, and we won't get into the minutiae of all of that, and get lost in the weeds. But understand that there are a lot of tax documents that could come into play here. From the other perspective, and not just thinking about tax, I mean, there are trusts--that's the other big thing that people think about when they think about estate planning--and there are different types of trusts, from irrevocable to irrevocable and charitable remainder, and all kinds of trust, special needs, etc, etc. But even beyond that, and those documents only really speak about potentially just asset distribution upon death in connection with the tax portion of things. But other documents that are important to have and consider are your power of attorney, deciding how things are done when something has happened to you but you haven't passed away, and who's going to step in and help with those things. Healthcare or advanced directive, who's going to make medical decisions for you, potentially, if you can't make them for yourself? Understanding where your retirement is, and one that we've kind of thrown out there a couple of times that people overlook probably most often, that can be a very big vehicle, is life insurance. And just understanding how that can play a part into your estate plan, depending on how it's going to be structured.

 

Steve Altishin  6:23  

Yeah, that makes complete sense. It all kind of made me think that, as we now start to look at some of the life events and the revisions, we aren't just thinking about the beneficiaries that may change, but also the people that are what we call the fiduciaries, the executors, the Trustees. That can all be changed. So having said that, let's start with one of the major options that some people may have that can vastly affect their lives, which is getting married, or getting divorced, or getting remarried.

 

Triston Dallas  7:05  

Yeah, there's so much that kind of goes into it. And, you know, we did recently do a webinar specifically on this topic, we did more of a deep dive. So definitely check that out. But all those things-- divorce, marriage, remarriage-- all have big implications to your estate plan. You're bringing a new life, or multiple new lives, into your world of assets. And you may want to do things differently, depending on which of those things has happened to you during the year. Specifically with marriage, as we mentioned before, you can't completely disinherit a spouse. And not to say that anybody would want to, but you do need to understand that if you've already created an estate plan prior to marriage without some type of prenup or anything like that, that they're going to have interest into your estates in the event of your passing. So you do want to take that into consideration and figure out, in regard to this marriage, how do I create my estate plan in a way that all the things I previously wanted can still be accomplished with also taking care of my new spouse, or children, what have you. And when you have blended families, and you're worried about that issue, that can be a thing as well, and a big, big point to consider and to think about. And with divorce, as we mentioned before, if you're getting divorced, you're not going to leave your estate to your ex spouse. And there are things in place and policies in place to avoid that, but they aren't ironclad. And so you want to make sure that you're removing all doubt, in regards to your estate plan, and your beneficiary documents, whether it's retirement or life insurance, to make sure that your ex spouse isn't the one that's listed as the beneficiary. So there's a lot of things that you want to consider, and there's a lot of pitfalls that somebody can easily walk into without really thinking about.

 

Steve Altishin  9:02  

And I guess it's not just things that happened to us. That said, what about one of your children getting married, or your children adopting someone or them remarrying?

 

Triston Dallas  9:15  

Yeah, there's a term within Oregon laws called right of representation. And so the best way to explain it is, if you have two children and you draft your estate plan, or you plan on giving your assets to your children equally with right of representation, it essentially bifurcate your estate, and then creates an interest for their entire line. So if both of your children have children, and something happens to either them, their line still has interest into the entire portion that their father or mother was supposed to have. So if it's 50% and your child passes away, but your grandchildren from that child are still alive, they would inherit that 50%. So it's important to understand that concept, even if it doesn't mean you'll have to take a specific action right this second. But on the flip side of that is, if you're setting up things like a college fund, or marriage fund or anything like that, or even early retirement-- I've seen clients do that as well because they want to make sure that their grandchildren are taken care of from very long down the line-- you want to make sure that if you're doing it for one grandchild, and you want to make sure all the other ones get it, you do have to make a concerted effort and take some specific steps to make sure that happens. And make sure your plan coincides with the plan that you have in your head about distributing your assets.

 

Steve Altishin  10:43  

Birth, adoption, the new life of a new family member, are all obviously big, big reasons to look at your will. Other things people may not think about is, what about the death of someone in your family, or your spouse, child, maybe even a grandchild?

 

Triston Dallas  11:00  

Yeah, yeah, I mean, all those things are important to consider. And going back to the adoption point, that's probably one of the biggest pitfalls when it comes to children or grandchildren. Just because sometimes your estate plan may not have been drafted in a way to consider them as a true heir of your estate. And if you want them to be or don't want them to be, you do need to make that clear. So you want to make sure you're looking into making sure that your wishes are followed in that way as well. In regards to death, it's kind of the opposite side of the same coin. As we just mentioned, if one of your children passes away, and only one of them has a child, it could affect how the division of your estate is adjudicated, or distributed. And then of course, with a passing spouse, blended families, those things are going to have a big impact on exactly how your estate is going to be administered at your death. But also with things like your, you know, if you have a passing spouse, you're potentially inheriting more estate, again, depending on how the plan is really put together. But you might have tax implications that you have to now reconsider. You know, if they had interest into assets that were separate from yours, or there's a prenup, and those of the things, you do want to, again, reevaluate where things are. Because you don't want to overlook things that are potentially, you know, something like a retirement. If one spouse dies, and the other spouse inherits that retirement, that easily could push somebody over the tax limit, or the tax threshold in Oregon, which is only a million dollars--state tax that is. So you want to understand kind of where your finances are, where your assets are, and, again, how they would be distributed in the event of your passing.

 

Steve Altishin  13:00  

Let's talk a little bit about your becoming ill, or disabled, or your spouse becoming ill, or disabled. While we talked a lot about beneficiary changes that can come, this could also lead to changes or the way your estate is managed and who might manage it.

 

Triston Dallas  13:24  

Yeah, yeah. Very good point, and very good question that we all should consider. I mean, the first one with your own illness, in the event of something like that, where you have a severe illness where you can no longer handle your own assets, the best thing to do is have something in place to make sure that your family members, or those that you trust, can step in with ease to take care of you, and make sure that your assets are managed well. You don't want to make that process difficult for them. Because it's only going to make things difficult for you when you're back and healthy and trying to pick up the pieces there. Having a power of attorney is a big thing that can help, and you get to specifically designate what things that person can and cannot do. So it's just something where it's a lot of autonomy that you have, obviously with your own assets, but it's an easy step that can be taken. And that will solve a very big problem. That's only just one specific example there. With a spouse, it's kind of similar, just on the other side. Making sure you can step in and, even though you would be married, it isn't guaranteed that what your spouse owns or has, if it isn't a joint asset, that you're just going to be able to step in and take action. So you know, again, you and your spouse are married and you would think that you guys are "one" and it wouldn't be an issue but it can be. Third parties are going to be, especially like banking institutions, they're going to be very conservative about what they're gonna allow somebody to do without a power of attorney, or something like that listed on the record for them. And for disabilities, for children, whether they be minors or adults, you start running into special needs planning and special needs trusts and those types of things. In your estate plan you may want to leave money for them in order to take care of them. But if you're not doing it in a particular way, and that person is receiving some type of state aid or state finances or anything like that, you can end up affecting or even kicking them off that aid without the proper planning. So you do want to take all these into consideration. And like I said, a lot of things happen in a year a lot of us have family members or friends that have dealt with a lot of medical issues, especially with COVID. It's easily that we could have fallen, or a somebody that we know could have fallen kind of under hard times, dealing with a disability or a medical issue of some sort.

 

Steve Altishin  15:58  

So, what if one of your children or grandchildren reached the age of majority? Say they turn 21, or 25, or 18, or whatever make click something in your estate plan.

 

Triston Dallas  16:13  

Yeah, and again, this one's a little bit more focused, depending on how your plan is created, and depending on specifically how you want things to be distributed. If you have a trust that has a graduated distribution schedule where a grandchild or a child is not going to receive something from you until they reach 18, or anything like that, which then has an effect on the assets that you have. Or if you're going to make some type of gifts or do any gifting because they're going into college or anything like that, you do want to re-evaluate where your estate plan is, where your tax planning is. There is a gift tax that could creep up depending on the amount and level of the gift you make. So you want to consider all of those things as you're making those gifts, or even considering them. And again, just how that affects your plan overall, and down the line. And that's probably one of the bigger things. The other thing is, when you have children or grandchildren and they become a majority, they can take a bigger role in your estate plan, if you want them to. Sometimes a married couple may only have one child, and they want this person to step in as backup of their entire estate plan for different roles that they couldn't do before. And so being able to reevaluate your planning or even bringing them in so they can understand where you're planning is, is something that is probably very valuable to an individual.

 

Steve Altishin  17:44  

Well, that makes sense. It kind of makes me just think back on ours. We would not have named our two and five year old an alternate executor, but as they became adults, that can happen.

 

Triston Dallas  18:01  

Yep. Yep.

 

Steve Altishin  18:04  

So looking now to assets, which can be an issue. I think this also can be not just from the sort of general beneficiary or the general distribution, but even like specific asset distribution. What happens if you have sizable changes in the value of the asset you own? Or especially maybe one particular asset goes up tremendously?

 

Triston Dallas  18:29  

Yeah, The first thing that comes to mind is just, what are the tax implication there, now and down the line? Again, 2020, being what it is, people have lost businesses, people lost family members, and maybe inherited something that could be a sizable amount. And now you have to deal with that, you have to analyze that. And again, Oregon being what it is, and the state tax threshold being only 1 million, you've incurred a sizable amount, even with a small home or small retirement, you can be pushed over that. So you want to understand how that affects you, how it affects your family. And additionally, what steps you can take in order to limit or even mitigate the estate tax as it is, even though you may be reaching over that threshold. And those are things that you may not necessarily just be able to find out, or most of the stuff you're not really going to be able to find out just by going to the internet. So you want to speak with an attorney or speak with an accountant, or both, and understand what the tax implications are there. And then, you know, depending on the way your plan is drafted and how you're distributing assets, if you're giving one asset to one individual and another asset to another individual, but you wanted things to be a little bit equal. Well what if one asset balloons and creates that disparity? So you want to understand how that affects that as well.

 

Steve Altishin  19:53  

Moving on to another sort of particular instance; what happens if you sell or buy, but I'm thinking even more sell, your principal residence, or you buy or sell a business? Are there particular things about that that you should be aware of?

 

Triston Dallas  20:13  

Yeah, for sure. Selling a residence has multiple levels of tax implications. Your principal residence, usually within some type of plan, there's a specific clause or reference to your principal residence. And so if that changes, you probably could, depending on how your plan is drafted, get away with not having to take specific action right away. But you do want to make sure that it's clear as to what assets you do own, as they're in your estate plan. Whether that is just listed in your will and how it's going to be distributed, or mislisted in a trust. Understanding, 'Okay, now, if I fill in my principal place of residence, it's no longer in my trust, I need to make sure it's clear that it's been removed', but at the same time, you're probably purchasing a new home, and you're gonna need to place that home into the trust and get that funded there. So you know, your trust is probably the bigger worry, just because you want to make sure you're using that vehicle. And as you get assets or remove assets, you do need to make sure it's clear as to the funding of the trust. Or it may be not in the trust at the time of your passing, and therefore not receive the same benefits you're hoping it to have as being a trust asset. Sale of a business, there's a lot of things there, a lot of moving parts, especially if you have a partner, or you've got shareholders or anything like that. This is just because there's going to be specific succession planning that's going to be of note in the business itself, and may have its own rules that you need to make sure that you are following so there isn't any confusion or missteps there. And also so that your portion, or that interest, can be passed on to your heirs properly. But again, selling a business, as we mentioned in the previous note, you're going to incur probably a big interest into something. Whether it's just buying a new home, or you're going to get a payout for selling your business, you're gonna need to consider how that affects the short term and the long term in terms of taxes in your estate plan.

 

Steve Altishin  22:33  

Well, I think you just said something that was really important, and a lot of people don't get, especially when you're talking about trusts. And it's that opening a trust and putting money in it or putting something in it and giving it to your kids when you die, well you may sell that thing or buy a new thing, and they don't automatically go into that trust, do they?

 

Triston Dallas  22:57  

Nope. No, you do have to take action. When you get a new asset, purchase a new asset, acquire a new asset in some way, if you want it to be in the trust, you have to take specific actions to put it into the trust. It's not an automatic thing.

 

Steve Altishin  23:13  

Yeah. So what about acquiring property in another state? Let's say I decided to buy a beach house in California or property somewhere in another state?

 

Triston Dallas  23:25  

Yeah, the issues you run into is not fully contemplating how that may affect, or how the administration of the estate will go. Having real property, the state may trigger probate in that state as well, depending on, again, how your plan is set up. With trusts you might be able to avoid some of that. But you just need to understand how the administration of your estate is going to go, and the steps that your fiduciary may need to take. And obviously, make them aware that this is something, for the fiduciary that would be stepping in, to know. Obviously, if it's a spouse, they're going to know about it. But you know, the backups and all that, it's probably good for them to know what is in your estate. So understanding those things are really kind of the big picture things, as opposed to more micro, smaller immediate issues.

 

Steve Altishin  24:24  

Right. So what if I moved? What if I just moved to Oregon from Florida, or moved to another state from here?

 

Triston Dallas  24:35  

It doesn't mean that the whatever you've created or put together is invalidated, it just means that potentially there are going to be new laws that apply. So you want to understand how that works. For example, just going back to acquiring property in another state, the same situation happens if you acquire property, let's say in Oregon, and you acquire a home and then you move to, let's say, California, but you didn't sell the property here in Oregon. Essentially, that's just a property in another state. So you end up having to deal with the same questions that we previously mentioned. So moving just means that different laws may apply. And you want to understand how the trust laws and the probate laws affect your estate planning and distribution at the end of the day. And then tax planning, every state is going to have different rules on the estate tax threshold. So just go into Washington, I think they're either just under 3 million, or just over 2 million, as far as the threshold. So that changes the evaluation a little bit, as well, as you have less of a worry about kind of hitting that number, if you're only at 800,000 a year. If you're in your 60s and 70s, you may be a little bit less worried there because of the higher threshold. But you do want to make sure you understand personal property versus real property. Personal property is going to have a little bit less of an evaluation or worry than things like real property and how they're administered and dealt with in your mind.

 

Steve Altishin  26:12  

So what about the people that are helping run our estate? We've raised our kids, we've given them everything, and then the ingrates move off to another state. Can they still be the personal representative?

 

Triston Dallas  26:27  

Yeah. The person you picked to act in any role in your estate plan can, for the most part, be anywhere, I'll say anywhere in the US. When you have a trust, and you start having, let's say, a trustee, that's going to be someone in a different country, you run into some other issues. But for the most part, that person can be anywhere, but they need to understand where the estate will be administered. Let's say it's probate, and the person is in Oregon, but their son or daughter is in New York, or Pennsylvania, or something like that, they will have to deal with Oregon in order to administer and probate the estate. So just making sure they understand how their role is actually going to work if they're not actually in the state where you reside, and where your assets are. And especially if this is somebody who you really want to be a part of your plan, and they're living internationally. You definitely want to make sure you're talking to an attorney to make sure you're not running into issues there.

 

Steve Altishin  27:29  

Yeah. So kind of following the line of our kids growing older and moving away. What about us hitting retirement age? Is that something we need to consider?

 

Triston Dallas  27:39  

Yeah. I mean, your your income changes, right? Before then, you're earning an income and saving, and putting things in a retirement. That retirement is growing, growing, growing. And then you hit a peak and you retire. And now all you're doing is taking that retirement, and it's slowly starting to come down, or drastically starting to come down depending on what you do. And so what you're going to be leaving or be able to provide to your beneficiaries or your heirs, is going to change on a regular basis, because you're starting to spend those saved assets and those saved funds. But even kind of beyond that, is, it's going to change potentially where your tax obligations are going to be. If you're already kind of teetering at that million dollar mark, and now you're in retirement, you're gonna be spending that stuff down, it's less likely you're going to have to deal with it. But you do want to plan for it, have a contingency plan because, you know, anything can happen. But it may be less of a worry, if you're trying to make sure you're under that threshold and worried about early gifting or anything like that. So it is something to consider and is something for you to understand, especially with things like social security benefits and all those as well. You just want to make sure you understand how it's really affecting the bottom line in terms of taxes and distribution.

 

Steve Altishin  29:02  

I also imagine that if I received an inheritance, if someone passes away and suddenly I get a lot of stuff, that certainly might have an effect.

 

Triston Dallas  29:15  

Yeah, it does. And it just goes back to like selling an asset or incurring an asset that increases in value, your tax liability could change. And now you have assets, additional assets, that you can pass on to your heirs in some way, potentially, depending on how you're receiving the asset from mom or dad or uncle or anything like that. So if it's something that you do have the right to control, or the autonomy to utilize the asset as you see fit, now you have something else that you need to consider. Like I said, when it comes to Oregon, first and foremost it's going to be understanding how it affects that estate tax planning. And I do want to mention, going back to the previous point, is when you're in retirement, and you're spending down your retirement, and you're using social security, if you're hoping to leave some of that retirement to children, but now you're using most of it because you're in retirement and that's your source of income, then you kind of fall into, Okay, well can life insurance, or anything like that, cover some type of funds that you want to leave to your heirs? If that's something that you want to do, understanding your finances and what you have and don't have is going to be important in order to accomplish those types of goals.

 

Steve Altishin  30:39  

These are all great for important life events, and there's probably a lot more. The way that you're giving us this knowledge is, it's kind of things that touch the things you own, or things that touch the people that will be involved in your estate. Any of those could have an issue. And not necessarily life events, I imagine there are other changes that can occur that are hallmarks or flags to make you think about your estate plan.

 

Triston Dallas  31:21  

Yeah, for sure. The first thing that comes to mind is just changing laws, changing procedures. With the change in a presidential administration coming up, the federal estate tax may may go down, as far as the threshold. Right now it's pretty hefty, it's at the 12 plus million mark. It could go back down to as low as five, six million, as it was previously. So understanding that point is probably the first thing that will come to mind. And then, this is not necessarily a change in your life but a change to the things that are around you, if you find there's a charity that you're now very close to, or want to support, changes in how distributions of retirement is handled could come up. Just look at a year ago with the Secure Act, and how that changed how individuals can distribute their retirement, and the required minimum distributions. And even that connected to things like special needs planning. So there are things that happen outside of your control that you may not necessarily know of, and may not necessarily even be connected in, in a way outside of your attorney, to understand that that's an issue. And so just even getting the time to speak with an attorney or just taking the time on your own to figure out, 'Okay, what things are out there that may affect me, that didn't come from me,' -- those are important. And then just social impact. Again, COVID, and everything that we've dealt with over the year, changes your perspective. It changes the way that the world is operating. And that itself is probably something that you should think to yourself, 'Okay, maybe I need to reevaluate'. It's going to be even bigger than just the estate planning piece. It's just evaluating where everything is. And this kind of falls into children. Some people will call them children, but pets! Pets are another thing you want to make sure are covered. People do leave trust for pets. People do have specific clauses or terms in like power of attorney when it comes to their pets and want to make sure that they're taken care of as well. So those are some things. Obviously, it's not an exhaustive list. But a lot of things can change in a year, as I mentioned earlier, and when those things do change, you want to make sure that you're keeping on top of how that affects your bottom line, how that affects your estate plan, how that affects your beneficiaries when you're no longer here, or how that affects you when you can't make decisions for yourself, but you need somebody else to step in and do so.

 

Steve Altishin  34:00  

I gotta say, we've gone over our 30 minutes, but we could probably go a lot longer. But unfortunately, it's time to wrap up. And Triston, thank you so much for joining us today.

 

Triston Dallas  34:11  

Thank you for having me.

 

Steve Altishin  34:12  

It was wonderful to have you here, and you gave us important tips. Not only just to help us know what planning tips to use, but also just help us remember that estate planning is for everybody. So with tha,t I also want to thank everyone who tuned in today to our Facebook Live broadcast. And if anyone has any questions again, please feel free to send an email or post them here on Facebook, or you can send me an email at steve@landerholmlaw.com and we can set you up. Triston had mentioned about having a consultation and Triston definitely does that. So if you have any questions, shoot me an email or post it, and we'll make sure we get you set up. And with that, everyone, until next time. Stay safe. Have a great day. See you next time. Thank you.

 

Triston Dallas  35:10  

Thank you.

 

Outro:

You're listening to Modern Family Matters a legal podcast, focusing on providing real answers and direction for individuals and families as they navigate the growths, changes, and challenges of creating their new family dynamics. Modern Family Matters is sponsored by Landerholm Family Law, serving Oregon and the Pacific Northwest and devoted to providing clients with compassionate and fierce legal advocacy with a firm belief in the importance of upholding the family unit amidst complex transitions. If you are in need of legal counsel or have additional questions about a family law matter important to you, you can visit our Landerholm Family website www.landerholmfamilylaw.com, or call us at (503) 227-0200 to schedule a case evaluation with one of our seasoned attorneys. Modern Family Matters, advocating for your better tomorrow and offering solutions on legal matters, important to the modern family.

 

 

Show Notes:

Associate Attorney, Triston Dallas, joins us to discuss why it’s important to reevaluate your estate plan annually.

2020 has been an unusual year specifically, with many families experiencing sudden changes, whether it’s a loss of family member, a business, a retirement nest egg, or a home. Alternatively, some individuals have gained a family member, a home, a business, or a change in life trajectory. 

Whether you’ve experienced negative or positive changes this past year, the importance of reviewing your estate plan to ensure that it’s still operating as you anticipated with appropriate funding and plans in place cannot be overstated. 

Listen to our podcast to learn about which areas of your estate plan are especially important to review annually, and how you can take steps to ensure that your assets and family are taken care of and in good hands.

To learn more about how Landerholm Family Law and Pacific Cascade can help you with your estate plan, call our office at (503) 227-0200 or visit our website at www.landerholmlaw.com or www.pacificcascadefamilylaw.com 

Disclaimer: Nothing in this communication is intended to provide legal advice, therefore you should not interpret the contents as such.