Patinelli & Chang, LLP

What to Do When You Cannot Find a Will

If one of your parents passes away and you do not think that they have a will or cannot find it, then you should know what to do.

Many Americans pass away, without ever having created a will. Many others have created wills, but they do not tell their families about them.  As a result, the families cannot find those wills, when they are needed. These are very common occurrences that often give children, whose parents have passed away, a lot of headaches.

Fortunately, things do not have to be too difficult. There are a few steps people need to take if they find themselves in this situation, as Forbes discusses in "Your Parent Didn't Have a Will: What Should You Do Now?"

Those steps include:

·         First check to see if your parent had a safety deposit box. Your parent might have created a will and put it in their safety deposit box. It is very common for people to leave their wills there. It can be difficult to gain access to these boxes, but it is possible.

·         Search around the house for a will. Check any place your parent put any important financial or legal information. You might find a will stuffed away in some old file folder at the back of a drawer.

·         While you are doing this, gather all of the information that you can find about your parent's finances. This information will help you later, so you might as well get it while you are searching for the will.

·         Hire an estate attorney to help you. The attorney can assist with the probate process and make things much easier on you.

Reference: Forbes (June 4, 2018) "Your Parent Didn't Have a Will: What Should You Do Now?"

Ashes Stolen in Transit

 

Postal worker leaves package on doorstep during Christmas season and the package is stolen.

A thief in Arizona stole a package that contained the cremated remains of an Arizona woman's father rather than a Christmas present, according to Fox News in "Ashes of woman's father stolen from front porch of Arizona home, reward offered." The package was left there by a postal worker, even though a signature was required.

The postal service is investigating the incident and has offered a $10,000 reward for information. The woman would just like the ashes back, so she can take them to her brother in California.

If this unusual story has any sort of lesson, it might be that it is not a good idea to ship a loved one's ashes during the holiday season.

Reference: Fox News (Dec. 18, 2017) "Ashes of woman's father stolen from front porch of Arizona home, reward offered."

Suggested Key Words: Estates, Funerals

Grave Trippers

Many people who were well known in their own time, get forgotten by history. A pair of brothers likes to seek the graves of those people and talk about their stories. They are getting a TV show about it.

New York brothers Vincent and Robert Gardino have a very unusual hobby. They like to visit old cemeteries and seek out the final resting places of people who were once minor celebrities while they were alive, but who have been mostly forgotten about by history.

The brothers have developed a lively banter when they visit these graves and discuss the lives of the deceased between themselves.

Their banter is entertaining enough that it could soon be coming to your television, as The New York Times reports in "Like 'Car Talk,' but With Dead People."

The brothers are developing a television show for PBS that will feature the two of them visiting the graves of people all over the country. The proposed name for the show is "Grave Trippers."

While at first glance, this might not sound like an interesting show, the brothers are being compared to the brothers on NPR’s Car Talk.

If their banter is that lively and entertaining, this show could be a good watch for anyone interested in history and the lives of people in the past.

It should also have plenty of discussion about the historical graves themselves and presumably what happened to the people's possessions when they passed away, if there is anything interesting about the estates.

Reference: New York Times (Sep. 21, 2017) "Like 'Car Talk,' but With Dead People."

Unusual Prenuptial Agreements

Prenuptial agreements are a great way to set the terms for what will happen if a couple ever gets divorced or when one of the spouses passes away. They are meant to protect assets when necessary, but they are increasingly being used for something more.

When two people get married, it is not unusual for one or more of them to have much greater wealth than the other. The wealthier person can use a prenuptial agreement to guard against a divorce that strips him or her of too much wealth.

Another common issue is when one or both of them enters the marriage with children from a previous relationship.

They might want to protect against a spouse getting too much of an estate and leaving their children with little to inherit.

Prenuptial agreements are an excellent way to guard against both of these potential problems.

They allow a couple to come to terms beforehand, so everyone is happy.

However, some people try to do more with prenuptial agreements, as Market Watch reports in "Prenuptial agreements contain more bizarre 'lifestyle' clauses."

Prenuptial agreements are now being used to guard against undesired behavior by future spouses.

For example, some agreements now penalize a spouse for cursing, gaining too much weight or hanging out with friends too much.

The problem with these agreements, besides the obvious who would want to marry someone with those types of demands, is their enforceability.

A court is unlikely to enforce an agreement that penalizes a spouse for gaining an extra few pounds over the limits set out in the agreement.

Reference: Market Watch (Sep. 9, 2017) "Prenuptial agreements contain more bizarre 'lifestyle' clauses."

Offering Condolences in Torrance CA

When someone you know passes away, one of the most important things that you can do is to sincerely offer condolences to the deceased's loved ones.

A lot of the time when we see other people hurting, we wonder what we can do to help.  We often conclude that there is nothing we can do. It is common for this to happen, when we learn that someone has passed away and we see their family in mourning.

As humans, we lack the ability to bring the deceased back to life.

There are other things, however, we can do to help the family that do not require much time and effort as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog points out in "How Condolences Alleviate Grief."

The easiest and one of the best ways to help people mourning for a loved one, is to let them know we care and to offer our condolences. This does not require a grand gesture. It only requires a sincere statement of sympathy.

Sending a card or flowers is another way to offer condolences. Charitable donations in the name of the deceased is also a small thing that can let grieving people know you care.

This is important. Knowing that other people really do care helps those who are grieving.

It does not fix everything. It does not bring anyone back to life. Nevertheless, it does help people move on and makes it easier for them to handle other things that need to be done when a loved one passes away, such as making funeral arrangements and dealing with the estate.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (March 20, 2017) "How Condolences Alleviate Grief."