Ohio Probate Lawyer Blog

If you have family members who depend on you, you know you should have life insurance. But should you have a life insurance trust? Most people don't, but more people should.

What is a life insurance trust? An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is a trust that is established for the ownership and control of a life insurance policy, whether whole-life or term. In order for an ILIT to be effective, the settlor or grantor of the trust (usually the person whose life is insured by the policy held in trust) may not have any "incidents of ownership" in the policy.

As the name suggests, the trust cannot be revoked, meaning the insured person is no longer the owner of the policy. The ILIT manages anything to do with the policy during the insured's lifetime, and manages and distributes benefits paid out upon the insured's death. An ILIT may contain an individual policy, or a "second-to-die" policy which pays out when the second person in a couple dies.

You may be among the people who should consider an ILIT if any of the following apply to you:

You Want to Avoid Gift Taxes.

An ILIT can be drafted to avoid gift taxes if it is set up like a Read More

If you are the beneficiary of a trust, you have certain rights under Ohio law. Exactly what these rights are depends somewhat on the type of trust you expect to benefit from. Many people create revocable living trusts during their lifetime, with their descendants named in the trust document as beneficiaries after their death.

Frequently, with a revocable living trust, the creator of the trust (also known as the grantor, settlor, or trustmaker) not only funds the trust, but serves as both trustee and beneficiary during their lifetime. The word "revocable" in the name of the trust means, simply, that the settlor can revoke the trust at any time, destroying the interest of any future beneficiaries. Under these circumstances, the beneficiaries have very few rights. They cannot compel the grantor not to revoke the trust, or to manage assets in a certain way.

After the settlor dies, however, the trust is no longer revocable. A successor trustee takes over, and the named beneficiaries do have rights. The trustee is obligated to meet them

Rights of Beneficiaries to an Ohio Trust

Knowledge, it is said, is power, and a trust beneficiary's primary right is to… Read More

If you are serving as the guardian over the property of a legally incapacitated adult, you are well aware of the responsibilities involved in managing your ward's property. Under Ohio law, guardians are now able to enter into consent sales of real estate in guardianship cases, if the sale of the ward's interest in real property is in the best interest of the ward. This ability facilitates the process of selling real estate for the ward's benefit.

There are four requirements to allow a consent sale to take place. First, the ward's spouse, if any, and any person entitled to inherit the real property from the incapacitated person must consent to the sale of the property. This consent must be in writing and filed with the probate court. Most county probate courts have specific forms for this purpose.

Second, when all necessary consents are filed, a bond must be executed in an amount that the probate court deems sufficient. Third, the sale of the real property must be at least 80% of the appraised value of the property as determined within the two years prior to the sale.

Lastly, in order for a consent sale of real estate to take place in a guardianship case, nei… Read More

If you have accumulated significant assets during your lifetime, you may be thinking about the best way to preserve them from future creditors, including lawsuit creditors. A third-party irrevocable trust could be the answer, but it's not right for everyone. How can you tell if it is best for your asset protection needs?

First of all, what is a third-party irrevocable trust? Let's break down the name. Any trust involves a person creating the trust (the grantor) entrusting property to someone (the trustee) to manage for the benefit of someone (the beneficiary)

If a trust is a "third-party" trust, that means that the grantor who is creating and funding the trust is not the beneficiary; in other words, unlike an Ohio Legacy Trust, the trust is created and funded by a third party. If the third-party trust is irrevocable, that means that the grantor cannot revoke the trust (at least not without permission of all beneficiaries) and take back the assets in it. So, although an irrevocable third-party trust has advantages we will… Read More

Preventing will contests is something most people making a will don't think much about, but probably should. Picture a scenario in which the matriarch of a family dies and leaves behind two heirs: a daughter, and a granddaughter, child of the matriarch's late son. Now imagine that she left her granddaughter the great majority of her estate. The granddaughter claims that her grandmother did this of her own free will. The daughter with the reduced inheritance claims the granddaughter exerted undue influence on her grandmother, who was not of sound mind, to get her to change her will.

A lengthy and contentious will contest ensues, in which accusations are hurled, relationships are destroyed, and much of the estate is consumed in legal battles, rather than going to the heirs. In the end, the court makes a decision as to whether the matriarch's will was valid or procured by undue influence, and the heirs take the assets to which they are entitled, but with a sense of bitterness and loss.

Similar scenarios play out in probate courts in Ohio, and throughout the country, every day. The players may be different, but the story is the same: a will is challenged, heirs fight,… Read More

If you've been appointed or named as personal representative of a deceased person's estate in Ohio, you already know you have a lengthy "to-do" list. However, you may not have thought much about what NOT to do as the personal representative of the estate.

Here are some rules for how to avoid trouble when you're administering a loved one's estate.

DON'T Neglect to Give Proper Notice of the Estate.

Anyone who would be entitled to inherit from the deceased if he or she died without a will is entitled to notice of the probate of an estate. Heirs may choose to waive their right to notice, but the personal representative is obligated to go through the process of giving notice or securing a waiver. This is usually routine, but can be touchy, say, if Uncle Joe had a child out of wedlock who was never publicly acknowledged but whom everyone knew about. Don't be tempted to do an end run around the law. Notify everyone who has a legal right to notice.

DON'T Distribute any Assets Until You Have Fully Assessed Possible Claims Against the Estate.

Part of the reason for the probate process is to allow the personal representative to notify potential credit… Read More

When you think of assets, what springs to mind? If you're like most people, the answer is bank and investment accounts, real estate, and other tangible things with financial value. But you have other things of value that you can't put your hands on—that is, unless your hands are on your computer, phone, or tablet. In other words, your so-called "digital assets."

A decade ago, few people thought about digital assets. But now, when so many people have a social media presence on multiple platforms, and manage much of their financial life online, management of digital assets is increasingly important. And if you are not able to manage your own digital assets, either after your death or because you have been somehow incapacitated, what guidance is available for the person charged with doing so--your fiduciary? Or, what if you happen to be a fiduciary, in charge of managing assets or making decisions for someone else's benefit? What rights and limits do you have to access someone else's digital assets?

Managing Digital Assets for Someone Else

There are a number of scenarios in which you might act as a fiduciary with regard to another person's digital assets. O… Read More

If you inherit a retirement account, particularly a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA, you have some decisions to make. Unlike some inherited property, which you can just set aside until you are ready to deal with it, retirement accounts require timely action on your part, while you may still be dealing with the grief of the loss of the person whose account you inherited.

Fortunately, you don't need to take that action on your own. An estate planning and probate attorney can give you the advice you need in order to make those decisions, and the guidance you require to carry them out. In the meantime, here are some general basics to help you understand your options.

Options for an Inherited IRA if You Are a Spouse

What you can (or must) do with your inherited retirement account depends primarily on three factors: whether the IRA is traditional or Roth; whether or not you were the spouse of the owner, and whether or not the owner had reached the age of 70 1/2 w… Read More