Do You Need a Living Trust?

You’ve undoubtedly heard the ads on the radio or seen newspaper articles recommending a living trust, instead of a will, as your major estate planning document. Is a living trust better than a Last Will and Testament? It depends.

Generally, the answer is no. Most people are under the impression that a living trust, also called revocable or inter vivos, will save your estate inheritance and death taxes. That is false. There is also a belief that a living trust will avoid the necessity of filing for probate. That is generally true, except that if the reason for someone wishing to avoid probate is to save money, that is probably a false savings, since probate fees in Maryland are approximately one-tenth of 1% of the total estate value. That means that the probate fee on an estate valued at $1,000,000 would be $1,000. The preparation of a living trust is likely to cost much more than that.

However, there are certain circumstances where a living trust is preferable to a will. If an individual owns real estate in more than one state, having a living trust makes the transfer of that real estate easier upon the owner’s death (because technically, the individual doesn’t own the property in various states, his trust does).

A living trust is a private document and, unlike a will, is not required to be filed with the probate court where it would become available for public inspection. Thus, if someone was interested in concealing the amount of his assets or the identity of his beneficiaries, a living trust would be the way to go.

Who Will Know If You’re In a Serious Auto Accident?

Maryland drivers can now add three emergency contacts to their driver’s license so police will know who to call if an accident occurs. The emergency contact information is stored electronically on an individual’s driver’s license and will be available only to authorized law enforcement and medical personnel.

You can go to the MVA’s website at www.mva.maryland.gov and add your three emergency contacts in just a few minutes! Go to the website, click “On-line Transactions”, then click “More”, look under “Other Services” and then click “Emergency Contacts” to add your contact names, addresses and phone numbers.

NOTE:  To perform this Emergency Contact transaction, you must be able to provide your driver’s license number, date of birth, and PIN or last 4 digits of your social security number.

Calming News for Alzheimer’s Patients

Anxious and sometimes violent, Alzheimer’s sufferers are the bane of loved ones and caregivers. At times, it seems as if nothing can be done to help them. But don’t lose hope.

A recent study showed that Nuedexta (a combination of quinidine and dextromethorphan) can help reduce anxiety and agitation. The drugs have been used separately for other treatments for years. Used together, they seem to work for Alzheimer’s patients.

WARNING! Family Caregivers at Risk of “Dementia”

It has long been known that stress and sleep deprivation afflict family members caring for loved ones suffering from dementia.

But what has not been appreciated until recently is that such caregivers often develop symptoms which mimic those found in individuals diagnosed with dementia, including memory loss and disorientation.

In fact, most caregivers with such problems are not suffering from the degenerative brain condition labeled “dementia”. However, they are experiencing the toll of caregiving to a close family member. If steps are not taken to ease the stress, the symptoms will probably worsen.

In time, they will render the caregiver unable to provide necessary care – “burnout” will have occurred.

What to do? Try to step back emotionally. Recognize that all your love and attention cannot reverse the person’s condition. You can only do so much. And that is a lot. Don’t blame yourself.

And you deserve a break – a respite. You need to recharge your own battery to deal effectively with the unavoidable stress of your role.

Don’t hesitate to ask other family member to help out. They owe it to you since you’re already the primary caregiver. If they are unable or unwilling, contact local nursing and assisted living homes. They often provide short-term respite care – during the day or overnight – so you can get the break you need.

You’ll be of no use to anyone if you fall victim yourself to “dementia stress”.

Light Exercise is Good

Health authorities recommend that older individuals participate in 2½ hours of exercise per week. That can be a discouraging number since most of us consider exercise of that sort to require going to the gym or jogging in the neighborhood. But that is a misconception.

What is termed light exercising such as walking and gardening can also be beneficial.

Experts say you can get the same benefit as more strenuous activity by engaging in light exercise of this sort (including slow dancing!) but you would need to double your time commitment to a total of 5 hours each week.

Don’t Change Your Will On Your Own!!!

Many people don’t understand that you cannot effectively change the terms of your will by simply crossing out language or adding new language and then adding your initials or your signature to your changes.

A change to a will, formally called a “codicil” or amendment, requires the same formalities that are necessary to make a will legally binding in the first place.

In practical terms what that means is a codicil must be prepared to change the terms of the will with necessary witness signatures and notarizations (if such is required where you signed your will). If that is not done, the amendments you desire will be considered null and void.

As an aside, if you need to change the terms of your will, please let me know. I can make sure that the codicil is done right.

Confusing Legal Terms

Elder Law and Estate Planning lawyers often use confusing terms to describe the documents that they prepare. One example is a “living trust” also called a “revocable trust” or “inter vivos trust”. All of these refer to a document that attempts to avoid probate by having a trust set up to take possession of a person’s assets and spell out the terms of distribution in the document, thus avoiding the need to file for probate (but not always).

“Living Will”, often a part of a document called an “advanced directive”, does not refer to a Last Will and Testament. It is a document which recites an individual’s wishes about end-of-life decisions such as when treatment should be halted and nature allowed to take its course.

“Last Will and Testament” describes a document that is filed for probate and designates who gets what of an individual’s assets when he or she passes away.