E316 Estate Planning Dos and Don't Bothers for Solo Agers

E316 Estate Planning Dos and Don’t Bothers for Solo Agers

Since we do so many probates, we see what parts of your planning actually helped with probate (dos), and which ones didn’t really matter (don’t bothers).

We are reviewing this info so that you don’t spend too much of your valuable time on planning that won’t help all that much. This is based on our annual executor check in calls, in which we hear from our clients who have well intended plans to gather information for us, should we need it. Which in most cases, we don’t. We are trying to save you stress and make the estate planning process a little bit easier.

Solo ager estate planning “dos”

Solo ager estate planning “dos”

Good and proper storage of original documents is important. It’s best to keep the original with your professional executor or other third party. Do not keep it yourself. This is for many reasons, such as access your home or apartment. Additionally, if a third party loses your will, probate could still move forward with a copy. However, if you lose it, it’s presumed that you intentionally destroyed it. Same goes for a safe deposit box – it’s hard to get access to this. It’s not impossible, but it’s very challenging.

Update your emergency contacts and be sure your executor is among those listed. An emergency contact list should be given to someone who will know of your death. This could be a building manager, doorman, neighbor, primary care physician, etc. You want to make sure they know who to notify in the event of your passing, including of importance, your executor and next of kin.

You should also review your beneficiary designations. We have talked before about why we don’t like beneficiary designations, but if you have them, make sure up to date. Or better yet, get rid of them. You certainly want to make sure they represent your wishes, and not your wishes 10 or 20 years ago.

“Don’t bothers” for your solo ager estate plan

“Don’t bothers” for your solo ager estate plan

Don’t use treasure maps. We have received detailed letters and emails with where the will is, where their important documents are, and even where their spare keys are. More often than not, the location of these items will change by the time of your passing. It may take us longer to use the treasure map to find them than it would to simply look on our own. Plus, it would be a waste of time searching if they have been moved. It’s not worth the amount of time you’d spend writing this type of “map.”

We don’t need contact lists. Typically, the lists we’ve seen include building managers, financial advisors, etc. These change often. We find when we make these calls, the people on the list no longer even work there.

Speaking of lists, detailed lists of assets which include balances and very specific info is also not needed. High level information is good enough (such as the name of financial institution). Balances change daily, so by the time you write it down, it’s likely changed.

Sort of helpful

There are a few things we would categorize as sort of helpful, but you don’t need to spend time on these, if you don’t want.

Sort of helpful

Password lists are one example of a sort of helpful thing to do. A list is nice to have, but post-death access to online accounts is not permitted, even if we have your password and log in. We simply can’t use those passwords. Email and social accounts may have some use to be able to access names and addresses, although again, we have rarely used these. Same with phone passwords. We seldom log into a decedent’s phone, and if we do, it’s only to find a contact name that we couldn’t find elsewhere.

A high level asset list is sort of helpful. It will give us a general sense of what you own to point us in the right direction. We would use this list along with the other items we collect (mail, past tax returns, bank statements, etc.) to be sure we aren’t missing something.

A list of contacts that are likely to not change is also sort of helpful. This includes next of kin, your primary care doctor, and possibly your CPA. It’s good info to know, but likely, we would get the newest information from the documents we have gathered.

Solo Ager Book

If you don’t already have my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan,” click the link below for a copy.

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E312 Why Beneficiary Designations Are Bad

E312 Why Beneficiary Designations Are Bad


It’s understandable that beneficiary designations seem like an excellent and easy estate planning tool. But from our experience, when someone actually dies, beneficiary designations are often bad news.

We’ll describe a few reasons why beneficiary designations cause problems in probate when estate plans become reality. Then you can decide for yourself if beneficiary designations are worth the risk.

Outdated beneficiary designations don’t reflect your wishes

Outdated beneficiary designations, don’t reflect your wishes

Often, by the time a person dies, their beneficiary designations are way outdated and no longer reflect the wishes of the decedent. How do we know that the designations are outdated? The beneficiary designations clearly conflict with the will, trust, letter of last instructions, and last conversations.

Why? It is too easy to forget to update your beneficiary designations. It’s easy to download a beneficiary form from the bank website, sign, and return it. But, it’s very easy to forget to submit a change of beneficiary form when you make changes to your estate plan. For privacy reasons, the bank doesn’t list your beneficiaries when you get your statements. You have to remember to check if you’re not reminded on a regular basis.

During our annual reviews, we try our best to nudge our solo agers to keep their beneficiaries up to date (or remove them). My preference is to remove the beneficiary designations and let everything flow through the will.

What happens if there is not enough money in an estate?

What happens if there is not enough money in an estate?

Accounts with beneficiary designations are NOT part of the probate estate. This means that your Executor has no control over those funds. The money will go directly to your named beneficiary (who could be your girlfriend from decades ago that you forgot to remove…).

Too many accounts with named beneficiaries can result in a cash-poor estate. There are not enough funds to pay for estate expenses, court fees, appraisers, debts, or even for the heirs named in your will. Not having money to pay debts and creditors can cause more problems, because creditors may go after the heirs.

Even worse, there may not be any funds available to pay the beneficiaries named in your will, because the bank accounts went directly to the account beneficiaries. It will be sad for the heir in the will, since it wasn’t your intent to leave them with no inheritance.

Hard to know until probate has already begun

Hard to know until probate already begun

It creates an annoying catch-22. Meaning, banks/brokerages only reveal if there are named beneficiaries to the beneficiaries themselves or to a court-appointed executor. How do you know if probate is necessary if you don’t know whether there are any beneficiaries?

Your executor may waste time and money to set up probate, only to find out that there was no reason to probate because the accounts have named beneficiaries. It’s frustrating to tell the family that they paid us just to tell them that the account funds are going elsewhere.

Also, the banks do not reveal this information easily, even to the court-appointed executor. Sometimes executors still have to jump through hoops to get the banks to cooperate.

Solo Ager Book

Beneficiary designations seem great on paper, and I get it. But, time and again, we’ve seen how this does not end well in reality. Hopefully this prompts you to just take a look at all of your accounts sometime soon.

If you don’t have it already, click on the link to my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan,” for a free download.

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E309 Limited Powers of Attorney for Solo Agers

E309 Limited Powers of Attorney for Solo Agers


If you’re a solo ager and you must use a power of attorney (POA), make it as limited as possible.

We received the following from a solo ager listener: “You state in your book that a financial power of attorney is not necessary if there’s a solid living trust in place. (I don’t feel the risk of abuse is a critical concern in my case). However, my lawyer says I need to name one.”- Lori

This attorney refused to complete our listener’s estate plan unless she included a financial power of attorney.

Why I avoid POAs whenever possible

Why I avoid POAs whenever possible

Powers of attorney are very overpowered. It can be executed with just a simple notary with no witness requirements. But, for that basic execution, there is unlimited control over someone else’s finances, house, etc.

Powers of attorney are pretty unstructured. There are no guide rails in the law for how an agent under the POA is compensated or whether there should be an accounting proceeding.

Besides, if you have a revocable living trust, then you have most of the benefits of a power of attorney. You would only need a POA if you are traveling abroad or incapacitated. You’d need someone to manage the funds on your behalf so you don’t fall into arrears or foreclosure.

I don’t think the risk of having a financial power of attorney is worth covering those outlaying scenarios. If you ever read a standard power of attorney, you’ll see that the agent has the power to do almost anything with your finances and property.

A supreme example from the news headlines is of Brooke Astor, a famous New York philanthropist. Her son was able to siphon about $80 million from her estate with a simple POA, contrary to the rest of her estate plan.

You might read the scenario above and say, well, I’d only give power of attorney to someone I trust. We’ve seen people who used to be the most trusted candidates go astray. Money does interesting things to people. This fear should not keep you from creating an estate plan, but keep in mind that you should minimize the use of a POA.

Why would an estate planning lawyers insist you sign a POA

Why would an estate planning lawyers insist you sign a POA

The short answer is that I don’t know why anyone would be that stubborn to make their client do things their way. It’s like a doctor saying, “Get this surgery and you will be better. If you don’t listen to me, then I won’t be your doctor anymore.”  If they can’t explain their reasons to your satisfaction and still insist, consider changing lawyers.

Some attorneys have always done estate planning “packages”, and haven’t changed with the times. It might be hard to leave an attorney that you’ve been working with for a long time and who you are otherwise comfortable with. But, if you can’t get a decent answer to this pretty powerful question, it might be worth getting at least a second opinion.

Ways to limit a power of attorney

Ways to limit a power of attorney

If you feel that you need a power of attorney, then ask the attorney to make it a limited one. There are two main ways to limit a POA:

The first way is to get a springing POA instead of a general POA. A general POA is effective immediately upon signing. A springing POA is conditional; those powers only come into existence if certain conditions are met. Usually this means that you must be deemed incompetent by two physicians.

The second way to limit a POA is to only choose specific powers for the agent to have. You don’t want to check the box that says your agent under the POA has the power to gift all of your money. And you certainly don’t want to check the last box that says, “All of the above.” Carefully choose only the powers that are needed to accomplish your goals. If it’s not something you would do in your own capacity, don’t give someone else the power to do it!

Solo Ager

If you don’t already have my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan,” click the link below for a copy.

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E307 End of Life Decisions for Solo Agers

E307 End of Life Decisions for Solo Agers


How do you find a trustworthy fiduciary to make end of life decisions for you if you’re a solo ager? We get these questions often from our solo ager clients and followers:

“What provisions may be made if someone has no healthcare proxy?“

“When there is no one to take care of you as you age and you become ill, how can you ever find a fiduciary you can trust?”

We’ll review the problem, the lack of options, and if/when we’re able to help.

Solo agers’ problem

Solo agers’ problem

This end-of-life fiduciary problem is very similar to the executor problem, but more intimate.

Typically, solo agers do not have the traditional spouse or adult kids to fill the role. Some solo agers don’t want to burden (or are not comfortable asking) more distant relatives or friends to fill the role. An end-of-life fiduciary is not just a money or estate administration role, but rather extremely personal medical role. This means asking someone to make important end-of-life decisions for you and even be present at your death bed.

The bottom line is that you do NOT want a random court-appointed stranger to fill this role. A court-appointed fiduciary wouldn’t know you or your wishes at all.

Not many options

Not many options

With executors, you have the option of choosing professional executors , as well as banks, trust companies, and in some states, there are certified professional executors. There is a small, but developed industry around professional executorship. But there are far fewer options for someone to be your hired health care proxy/agent.

In the case where a health care agent is hired, it is usually an attorney. This isn’t always a great option either. One of our followers said that she talked to an attorney and didn’t feel comfortable with her because all she talked about was the hourly fee. The attorney quoted over $800.00 just to “sign her up.”

Another said that the attorney “refused to have an initial meeting with me because she’s a ‘busy person’ and I’d have to hire her before she’d see me.”

Obviously, an attorney won’t provide these services for free, but the attorneys can be more tactful about it. For example, when we are asked to serve as a professional executor, we meet with the person to make sure we are a good fit. It’s hard to imagine someone would want name a health care agent without meeting them first.

How (and when) we‘ll be your health care proxy

How (and when) we‘ll be your health care proxy

We do not accept this role capriciously. I won’t do it unless I am your nominated executor/trustee or otherwise known you for at least several years.

Again, I want to make sure we have a good working relationship. This includes annual calls and check-ins (which we have discussed in other episodes). I want to be sure that I have a directional sense of your personality and wishes before I commit to making medical decisions. When the end-of-life period comes, it is a stressful time both for the client and me. I need to feel confident I can faithfully carry out your wishes.

My book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan,” can help you prepare for end-of-life decisions. Click the link below to receive a free copy.

As always, keep your questions coming!

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E303 How to Choose an Executor Who Will Accept

E303 How to Choose an Executor Who Will Accept


E303 How to Choose an Executor Who Will Accept

A common question from our Solo Agers is: does my executor have to accept?

Because our Solo Agers spend a LOT of time carefully choosing who will be their executor, it would be terrible if that carefully chosen one decides to not even serve! Our Solo Agers understand the significance about who they choose, and they take it very seriously. We touched on this in Episode 221, but we’ll dig a little deeper into the topic here.

It’s just a nominated executor

It’s just a nominated executor

The first thing to know is that this is just a nomination for an executor. When Solo Agers pick who they want as their executor, they should remember that it is not a contractually bound role. That chosen executor is not required to serve; he or she is just nominated for that position.

It is up to them if they decide to serve at the time of your passing. There are many reasons why the nominated executor may not accept. They may have new health problems, or maybe they moved. In fact, many nominated executors don’t even know they were appointed until the time comes.

Is being executor too much work?

Is being executor too much work?

There are some things to consider to be sure your executor will actually accept. Being an executor is difficult, and probate is a lengthy process. We discussed this in Episode 184, touching on the hours, months, and expertise required to fulfill the executor’s duties. It almost ends up being a full-time job! Having this job hanging over the executor’s head can easily stress them out.

It is important to choose someone who is well-suited, meaning they have the legal or tax background and especially the time to devote to the task. Or you can just hire a professional executor. We have the staff and systems set up to deal with the challenges of executorship.

Unfortunately, your nominated executor may agree to serve but won’t realize it’s too much work until they’ve already accepted. It is important that you do your research ahead of time so that you know what exactly you’re asking of them.

Is there enough compensation for your executor?

Is there enough compensation for your executor?

An executor may decline if it’s too much work for too little pay. In New York, executor compensation is set by state law, and it is a percentage of probate estate (meaning the assets that go through the executor’s control). But it does NOT include non-probate assets such as accounts with beneficiary designations.

If your estate includes creditors or tax issues, but there are only a few probate accounts to deal with the issues, your executor may decline to serve. Otherwise, your executor will be paid very little for dealing with all the headaches. No one wants to deal with that kind of mess and barely get paid.

A solution may be to write a minimum executor compensation in your will, so that even if there are not enough probate assets, your executor could still be reasonably compensated. However, the statute is already set, so the executor may have to fight to get paid properly.

Another solution is to make sure you have enough probate accounts by removing beneficiary designations from some of your accounts. However, your executor may not be able to accurately evaluate how much work is involved vs. how much compensation they will receive. Just because an estate is large does not necessarily mean that there are enough funds available to pay the executor properly.

If it turns out to be too much work for too little pay, they may end up with unhappy memories of you. If you think your estate might present the issues discussed above, give us a call to talk through the pros and cons of hiring a professional executor or not.

Solo Ager Book

Below is the link to my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan,” which addresses the challenges of probate and executorship. And, as always, keep sending in your questions!

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E299 When do Solo Agers Need a Revocable Trust

E299 When do Solo Agers Need a Revocable Trust?

Sometimes a revocable trust makes great sense for a solo ager estate plan. Generally, revocable trusts aren’t so great in New York, because they can be hard to fully fund. The main goal of a revocable trust is to avoid probate. Since revocable trusts are hard to fully fund, the goal of avoiding probate is not usually met. Here are a few reasons a revocable trust may nonetheless work for a solo ager.

Distant or disinherited heirs

Solo agers tend to have distant or disinherited heirs. By definition, a solo ager is usually unmarried, without children, or those individuals are not in the picture. Naturally, this puts the solo ager in a situation where their heirs are distance (nieces, nephews, siblings, etc.).

We had a recent client whose solo natural heir was a distant cousin. In this case, a trust makes sense to avoid probate. When the remaining heir is a first cousin, there are extra hurdles during the court process such as: hiring a genealogist to submit a genealogy report, having the Public Administrator (PA) review court dates, and it generally makes probate longer and more difficult.

To be clear, this process not only applies when you leave something to that distant cousin. Rather, the probate process requires you to notify you natural “default” heirs under New York State law, which includes distant cousins. Even if you don’t want to leave anything to the distant heir, the estate is still required to go through this process if the estate is probated.

Distant or disinherited heirs

Similarly, if you have a disinherited family member, they have the opportunity to object to your will or wishes during the probate process. Having a trust still gives them the opportunity to object, but it is not as structured as probate. Under the probate process, the heirs must be served notice of the proposed will distributions, during which they have the right to object. When administering a trust, the heirs are not required to receive notice. Unless the heirs do some digging on their own, they may not actually object.

As mentioned above, you must fully fund your trust in order to avoid these problems. Say you have an apartment, a few bank accounts, and a few brokerage accounts. If, for example, the apartment does not make it into the trust, you still have to go through probate even if the bank and brokerage accounts are in the trust. Even if only one asset goes through probate, you are at risk for a longer probate process (described above) and the potential issues with distant heirs.

In lieu of guardianship

In lieu of guardianship

A revocable trust can be useful in lieu of guardianship. Putting your assets into a trust can help avoid and maybe deter the dreaded court-appointed stranger. There are situations where court-appointed strangers/guardians might impose themselves on a solo ager with no advocates. They might get the court to agree that the solo ager is incompetent to manage assets (when in fact, the solo ager is able). Thus, the court-appointed guardian gains control over the solo ager’s assets. The Netflix movie, “I Care a Lot,” is a dramatized version of how something like this could happen.

If all of your assets are in a trust, and the trust is drafted properly, the court will not appoint a stranger or guardian to gain control of your assets. The trust states who will receive your assets, so there is little incentive for a person to try to get appointed as your guardian.

For the goal of avoiding guardianship, partial funding of the trust if ok if you are able to get the majority of your assets into the trust. As long as the assets that don’t make it into the trust are not enough of to lure a court-appointed stranger, then it should be fine. Again, it is a lot of work for someone to convince the court that you are incompetent.

End of life planning (maybe)

End of life planning

When you are terminally ill, you know that the end is near. This makes planning easier, because you know what your assets will be upon your passing. In contrast, planning at a younger age means that bank accounts will change or you may buy and sell houses.

Knowing roughly when you might die makes it less likely that you will miss something during the trust funding process. But, even if you know that exact date and time that you will die, it’s still hard to capture every asset. Also, if you are terminally ill, you may not want to spend your last moments planning your trust.

Solo Ager Book

Again, revocable trusts don’t make a lot of sense for most situations in New York, but they do make sense for solo agers for the reasons listed above. If you want to learn more, check out my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan,” on Amazon. Or, if you fill out the form below, we’re happy to send a free copy to you.

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E295 Executors as Privacy and Emotional Buffer for Solo Agers

E295 Executors as Privacy and Emotional Buffer for Solo Agers

Executors see a lot of intimate details and secrets as part of their job. If the executor was a friend or family member of the decedent, this can be very emotional and hard to unsee. It’s often better for friends and family to have a disinterested professional executor instead. Using a professional executor without emotional connection can spare the family and friends from the intimate details.

Professional executors protect secrets

Professional executors protect secrets

Executors have a legal duty to protect and honor the reputation of the decedent. Decision-making is not all about the money in the estate. Sometimes, the executor needs to make a decision that costs some money, but it’s worth it to protect the legacy and reputation of the deceased.

So, what kind of secrets might the executor need to protect?

It’s not exactly a secret, but oftentimes executors protect the legacy of the decedent’s living conditions. The executor understands that revealing a hoarding situation would be embarrassing. Similarly, the decedent may have been pinching pennies in a sparsely furnished apartment, but did not let anyone know about their true financial situation. An example of this was the Brooke Aster case: she was a very wealthy woman who contributed millions to charities. Unfortunately, her estate was heavily contested and the ugly details about her end-of-life living conditions became public. Ms. Aster had been sleeping on a urine-stained mattress in her kitchen. Not an image she would have wanted the public to envision.

Executors also protect the knowledge of the decedent’s habits. Sometimes the decedent drank more than people knew. Maybe that’s what the decedent felt he needed to do to get through his final years, but that doesn’t mean he’d want his family and friends to know. This also extends to drugs (prescription and recreational). Another habit to protect is the decedent’s pornography addiction or sexual habits. It would be uncomfortable for the kids and grandkids to know about grandma’s active sex life.

Professional executors spare your heirs from regret

Professional executors spare your heirs from regret

We clean up those embarrassing apartments. It can be emotionally shocking for friends and family to see how you lived, ate, and slept. They might be unprepared to see a medicine cabinet full of pain killers. The image they draw from your living conditions may lead them to believe you were lonelier than you really were. It can cause them to grieve more once they see how you lived.

If you want them to have only the fondest memories, spare them from the estate cleanup.

Professional executors buffer drama among heirs

Professional executors buffer drama among heirs

As we discussed, it is hard to unsee those secrets. This often leads to the heightened emotional state of the family/friend executor, which can spark conflict and drama among heirs. For example, the executor friend might blame the decedent’s boyfriend for not taking better care of her at the end of her life. Sometimes it’s better if family and friends are in the dark a bit; no need to see it all.

A professional executor can work through the issues of the estate without getting emotionally involved. To the extent that there is any drama, we act as a buffer. Let the heirs get mad at us.

Hiring a professional executor allows family and friends to have fond memories of you and allows them to continue healthy relationships with each other.

Solo Ager Book

To learn more about estate planning for Solo Agers, click the link below for a free copy of my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.”

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E290 Professional Executor vs Beneficiary Designations for Solo Agers

E290 Professional Executor vs Beneficiary Designations for Solo Agers



A few Solo Agers have asked if they can use beneficiary designations instead of a traditional estate plan. We’ll explain some pros and cons of beneficiary designations, and why a professional executor may work better.

Why traditional estate planning doesn’t work for Solo Agers

Why traditional estate planning doesn't work for solo agers

Most traditional estate plans are centered around a friend or family acting as your executor to manage probate. Solo Agers often don’t have an assumed family member to serve in this role. Sometimes a Solo Ager has a friend or sibling, but for several reasons, it wouldn’t work out for those loved ones to serve. For example, friends and siblings may be the same age or older than the Solo Ager. There also may not be the same level of trust that one would have with a spouse. Or maybe the relationships are estranged.

For the reasons above, Solo Agers seek to avoid the need for an executor altogether. It’s not hard to blame them. For example, we had a Solo Ager client (no kids, no family, no close friends) who could not get it through to other attorneys that she had no one to appoint. She became so frustrated with their standard advice that she wanted to avoid appointing an executor altogether.

Why Solo Agers like the idea of beneficiary designations

Why solo agers like the idea of beneficiary designations

Beneficiary designations go directly to the heirs and “avoid probate.” This is common with life insurance and retirement plans. When someone dies, the beneficiary just fills out and submits claim forms. There is no need to go through probate for that particular asset.

Sounds easy and great, right? But in most cases, using only beneficiary designations does not work. Sure, it would work for a particular account, but realistically, you are probably not avoiding probate altogether. In order to completely avoid probate, you need a 100% perfect beneficiary designation plan. This means you cannot leave any assets out of your plan (zero assets left in probate, zero lingering debts or taxes). This becomes highly unlikely.

Any outstanding debts at the time of death need to be paid by the estate representative. Because of this, probate has to happen anyway to figure out pro-rata which accounts need to be reduced to pay your funeral bill or lingering medical bills, unsecured mortgage or credit card bills.

If all assets go to named beneficiaries, then the IRS goes directly after your beneficiaries. Your heirs will be harassed until the taxes and debts are paid. No one wants that for their loved ones. Additionally, it’s unlikely that someone will volunteer to act as your executor and deal with these issues.

Why Solo Agers like the idea of a professional executor

Why solo agers like the idea of a professional executor

The main attraction is that you appoint someone (experienced) to handle everything. The worry is that it will be hard to find a professional executor and it will also be expensive to hire one.

Regarding the cost, the executor’s fee is set by state law. This fee is the same whether you hire your 19-year-old unemployed nephew, or the esteemed professional executor. It is more bang for your buck to go with the professional!

How do you find a professional executor? First, you know that we can fill that role! Second, you can go to a bank and see if they have a trust officer who can serve (even if you don’t have a trust). However, most banks have liquid minimum asset requirements of 2 million or more (meaning this cannot include your home).

How do you name a person as your executor? You don’t necessarily have to pay an estate attorney to draft your will. While it’s usually a better idea to hire an attorney to draft the will (especially in complex situations), there are plenty of good estate planning software programs you can use yourself.

If you find a professional executor, interview them before you commit to appointing them. To learn more about executors and estate planning, check out my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.” For a free E-copy, click the link below.

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E286 How Will My Executor Know I Died

E286 How Will My Executor Know I Died?


Many of our Solo Agers wonder “how will my executor know I died?” (Especially if they’ve chosen me as their professional executor, as opposed to someone they see daily). Solo Agers tend to live alone, so this is a very understandable and common question.

Notify in case of death

Notify if case of death

In New York, many Solo Agers live in buildings with a doorman, which is very convenient. Many of these buildings have “Notify in Case of Death/Emergency” forms. The Solo Ager would put my name on the form and indicate that I am the executor. Also, your doorman or super will know if something is wrong when they don’t see you coming and going anymore. Over time, they tend to recognize routines and changes to them.

Some doctors have similar forms to add my name as attorney/executor. The doctor will know what to do from there.

Perhaps you made pre-paid funeral arrangements, or you have chosen your funeral home. The funeral home should also have the same type of forms.

Leave clues

Leave clues

Aside from having official paperwork to notify the executor, you should also leave clues of who to contact in case of death.

Make sure your executor is listed in your paper address book. Believe it or not, it’s not always easy to get contact information from a person’s cell phone.

Another way is to put the executor/attorney’s business card on the refrigerator. Hopefully it would be obvious to someone who comes into your home that they should call that attorney upon your passing.

Once you have asked us to be your executor, we send you items on occasion, such as books and holiday cards. This is a less subtle way to let someone know who to contact. Maybe your neighbor comes in and finds that you have passed. If she sees the “How to Hire a Professional Executor Book” on your coffee table and a holiday card from us on the mantel, then hopefully she would put the clues together and call our office.

Annual check-ins

Annual check-ins

Once you hire us to be your professional executors, we call you for annual check-ins. These calls will naturally result in casual mentions among friends: “I was just taking to my executor…”

So now your friends know that you have a professional executor, even if they don’t know my name. That should trigger them to search for my name upon your passing. Asking friends to remember little details of your life is probably not realistic. So, a few clues are more likely to recall something you said earlier.

Another reason these check-in calls are helpful is that the conversations give me an update on ongoing health issues. If there is a downward trend, I will know to monitor your situation a little more often.

Worst case scenario, if you were to pass away a minute after we hang up from our annual call, I’ll know within a year when it’s time for our next call. It’s not ideal, but it works.

There’s no perfect way of letting me know, but these are the most common scenarios. If you don’t already have one, please click the link below to get a free copy of my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.”

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E282 When Receiving an Inheritance Changes Your Solo Ager Estate Plan

E282 When Receiving an Inheritance Changes Your Solo Ager Estate Plan


How does receiving an inheritance change your own Solo Ager estate plan? A family inheritance will increase the size and complexity of your estate, so let’s discuss what that means for Solo Agers.

Increases the size of your estate

Increases the size of your estate

How does this inheritance result in a more complex probate for you later on?

The more you have, the higher the risk of conflict. This is because there is more at stake. If your niece and nephew were going to each receive $20,000; that’s a nice chunk of change, but not worth hiring lawyers for. But if they are now going to receive six figures each, it gets more complicated. Also imagine if you plan to leave the niece $100,000 and the nephew $300,000; the niece could feel she’d have the funds to hire an attorney and make it worth the fight.

Then there’s taxes, and we’re not just talking about estate tax. When you have more assets, you’re more likely to have capital gains issues. Or, even ordinary income tax clearance issues on your final 1040. The higher your net worth, the more complicated or diverse are your assets. If you inherited a bunch of stock and bought/sold them to organize your estate, it could cause issues getting the tax clearance on your 1040 if you die shortly after.

It also depends what you are inheriting. If your current estate is made up of bank, brokerage, and real estate, then it’s probably pretty straightforward. But what if you inherit commercial real estate, a share of a small business, art, Bitcoin, etc.? Those are new assets that can add twists to your plans. Maybe the executor you appointed isn’t equipped to deal with these types of assets.

This leads to the next question: Do you now need a professional executor?

As Solo Ager, you may have chosen a friend or distantly related family member as executor. Now that your estate is more complex than you originally planned, the more burdensome and difficult it is to administer the estate. You’re now asking more from the executor than you did initially, and maybe it’s time to consider hiring a professional executor.

Reduce amounts to your heirs

Reduce amounts to your heirs

Receiving an inheritance could compel you to reduce the amount you give to your heirs. It seems counterintuitive; if you inherited more, why would you give less? For example, our client recently inherited a large amount of money from his father, who passed away. His initial estate plan was to give a good chunk to his niece and nephew (25% of his estate to each and 50% to charity).

Since he received dad’s inheritance, his estate is significantly larger. In our client’s opinion, 25% of his now-large estate is a bit too generous for each of his heirs. On top of all this, the niece and nephew have already inherited from our client’s deceased father, too!

In this situation, our client felt it was appropriate to reduce the heirs’ shares and bequeath those funds to others.

Leave more to charity

Leave more to charity

Along the same lines, you may decide to leave more to charity. If your estate is bigger, you have more options to give to good causes. You can give (more) to charity, since you have enough to leave good amounts to friends and family and still have funds left over.

Now that you have more to leave to charity, there are different techniques and strategies available to you. For small estates, it’s not worth the legal and accounting fees to set up certain plans. But now, the amount you’re leaving to charity is large enough to cost-justify a trust or other planning tool that better suits your legacy and goals.

We have Solo Agers who are grateful to have inherited from older family members, and they have told us how it’s impacted their own estate plans. We wanted to share with you so that you can be prepared, too.

If you have not already done so, please click the link below to get a free copy of my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.”

Free copy of “The Solo Ager Estate Plan”

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