E288 There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Estate Plan

“There’s no such thing as a perfect estate plan,” Sherlock Holmes would probably say if he did probate. What we mean is that things may not work out the way you plan, no matter how hard you try.

We’ll review an anonymous probate case study, where even in an ideal planning scenario (knowing the time of death to the minute, and plenty of time to plan ahead), there were all sorts of probate problems.

Solo Ager, Linda, was terminally ill, and had a planned end of life. This means she knew, to the minute, when she would pass, and she had months to plan in advance. Here’s how her probate unfurled. This is not a criticism of Linda; rather an acknowledgement that it is difficult to plan a perfect estate.

What part of her estate plan worked?

First, Linda hired us as her professional executor. This acted as a safety net because we are experienced to look for problems (and she let us know that there would be problems).

Linda also had pre-planned funeral arrangements, which allowed her remains to be treated exactly how she wanted.

She made sure to arrange for the care of her dog. This helped to avoid the panic of a dog in the apartment with no caregiver.

Lastly, she did a good job of canceling her utility services. Usually, we have to determine what services the decedent utilized, so this saved lots of time.

What part of her estate plan didn’t work?

First, Linda did a good job of preparing her will and naming a professional executor. However, she kept her original will in her apartment, instead of storing it with her attorney or somewhere else. This caused problems for several reasons.

If your original will gets lost, it is presumed that you intentionally destroyed it, thereby revoking it. If your attorney, CPA, or trusted advisor loses it, then they can petition the court to rely on a copy. The professional has no right to revoke your will, so it can be assumed that they just lost the original. While a professional losing a will is not good, at least it doesn’t negate the whole thing.

Storing the original will in your apartment requires another layer of the court process. The executor needs the will to get letters of testamentary in order to enter the apartment. This doesn’t work when the will is in the apartment to begin with. It’s quite the conundrum. It’s not the end of the world if this happens; there is a special procedure in place so the executor can enter the apartment to look for the will. This procedure just adds more time and money to the process.

Second, Linda relied too much on her cell phone. She had a lot of information on her phone, and she referenced that information in her instructions to us. She even gave us the password to her phone. Unfortunately, her phone was stuck overseas. We learned the hard way that you can’t just mail a phone. The battery causes issues in shipping, and the phone may be dismantled by the custom agents. There is a lot of red tape in mailing a phone. Now, either I or another authorized person will need to transport the phone to the United States.

Lastly, Linda arranged for her keys to be mailed to us, but we have not received them. Once we get appointed by the court, we will work it out with her apartment building.

What were some unexpected probate problems?

First, Linda assumed that her friends and heirs would work harmoniously with her professional executor (me). So far this has not worked out. One family member thinks I am a fraud because Linda didn’t tell her family about her plan. Another heir is not happy about how this is working out, so the heir hired her own attorney.

Linda assumed that I would be able to call her family and friends to get information that I need. But that didn’t happen. I doubt Linda expected this from her loved ones – no one usually does.

Of course, we will work around all of these issues; it’s what we do! From a planning perspective, her plan was a very good best-case scenario. There was no time variables and she had plenty of time to plan. But, even in the best situation, nothing is perfect.

To learn more about probate, check out my book, “How Probate Works,” available on Amazon. The best way to plan is to look at how it may all unfurl in the end.

Request your free consultation

If you are human, leave this field blank.

Name *

Email *

Phone *

Message (optional)

Send

*

reCAPTCHA is required.