As the world mourned the loss of singer, actress and producer Whitney Houston after receiving news of her death, her family began to make plans for what appeared to be a forthcoming battle over control of Houston’s estate. With the announcement this week that Houston left behind not only a Last Will and Testament, but a trust as well, everyone in Houston’s camp likely breathed a giant sigh of relief.

While Houston attained monumental success in her professional career, she was plagued by personal demons. Houston battled a drug and alcohol addiction as well as spending close to 20 years in a stormy relationship with singer Bobby Brown. Her marriage to Brown produced Houston’s only child, now 18 year old Bobbi Kristina. Bobbi Kristina was expected by most to inherit the bulk of, it not all, of Houston’s estate. The concern was that Bobbi Kristina reportedly battles her own drug and alcohol demons, making her potentially unfit to handle an inheritance valued at what she was expected to inherit. Houston’s family was concerned that Bobbi Kristina’s father would attempt to gain control over the inheritance by petitioning for conservatorship of Bobbi Kristina.

With the news that Houston left behind a trust, those concerns were all but abolished. While Bobbi Kristina did inherit all of her mother’s estate, Houston was smart enough to create a trust which allowed her to appoint a trustee of her choosing to oversee the management and distribution of the assets used to fund the trust.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

In the mid 1990s, the State of Oregon began using a two page form known as a “Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment”, or POLST for short, to allow people to make medical treatment decisions ahead of time in the event life sustaining or life prolonging measures become necessary at some point down the road. Although aimed at seniors, the form may be executed by anyone. The POLST form allows more choices than a standard “Do Not Resuscitate,” or DNR, order, but falls short of appointing a proxy to make decisions on your behalf as does a typical living will.

What a POLST form does do is provide the option to make decisions regarding three areas of treatment — Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR, Medical Interventions and Artificially Administered Nutrition. The individual executing the form has the option to select a response in each section. In the Medical Interventions section, for example, the individual may choose either “Comfort Measures Only,” “Limited Additional Interventions,” or “Full Treatment.”

The response to the POLST form has been extremely positive. Since its inception, 14 other states have adopted the form with another 20 considering the adoption. In Oregon, once the POLST form has been completed, the form is entered into a state-wide database so that any hospital in the state can locate and access the form in the event they are called on to treat a patient who has executed the form. The popularity of the POLST form shows that people want the ability to make choices right up to the end of life.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you have recently lost someone close to you, you are going through a grieving process that is as individual to you as your fingerprints are. No two people experience grief in the same way. Denial, anger, sadness, and fear are just some of the emotions you may be dealing with as a result of your loss. Because each person has an individual response to grief, there is no “standard” grieving process and no set period of time that it takes someone to get through it. But how do you know if your grief has become something more serious such as major depression? The answer to that question is difficult, even for the experts, to decide on.

The American Psychiatric Association, or APA, and its diagnostic manual has long warned doctors away from diagnosing major depression in people who’ve just lost a loved one. It’s known as the bereavement exclusion in the DSM, or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A proposed change in a draft of the DSM’s next edition, however, due out next year, eliminates that bereavement exclusion, leaving many worried about where to draw the line between grief and depression.

Although the bereavement exclusion has is proponents and opponents in the world of counseling, most professionals agree that the longer the grieving process continues, the more at risk you are for falling into a true depression. In addition, they agree that if you are concerned that your grief is not moving in a positive direction, then it is time to seek help.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Members of the Auburn gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender, or GLBT, community, are often in a unique, and sometimes precarious, legal position with regard to the rights they have to make decisions for a partner or inherit from a partner. If you are a member of the GLBT community, then you owe it to yourself and your partner to create a comprehensive estate plan now so that your wishes are clear and required to be legally followed. While each situation is unique, the following estate planning tools are often utilized by the GLBT community.

• Trust: A trust can potentially be used in a variety of ways. It may allow control of assets to pass to your partner in the event of your incapacity. It can also provide a direct route for assets to pass upon your death without the need for them to go through probate.

• Power of attorney: A power of attorney can be used to give your partner the legal authority to act as your agent in legal transactions. If the POA is made durable, this authority will also survive your incapacity in most states.
• Pay on Death Accounts: Financial accounts and titles can often be converted to “pay on death” accounts. Typically, this means that ownership of the asset will immediately transfer to your partner upon your death. In the case of bank accounts, the funds held in the account will be payable to your partner upon your death.

• Last Will and Testament: This is your chance to leave specific items or assets to your partner in the event of your death. You may also wish to appoint him or her as executor of your estate.
• Living Will: Sometimes referred to as an advanced directive or healthcare directive, a living will allows you to legally appoint your partner to make healthcare decisions for you in the event of your incapacity.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you are a philanthropist then you likely wish to include a mechanism to continue giving after your death in your estate plan. A charitable trust is often the perfect estate planning tool to accomplish this goal. Along with allowing you to continue to give to a cause that is dear to you, a charitable trust often offers attractive tax and probate avoidance benefits as well. If you want to combine charitable giving with non-charitable giving, either the charitable lead trust or the charitable remainder trust may be the solution. Both of these split interest trusts offer the ability to provide for both a cause and a loved one.

• Charitable lead trust: A charitable lead trust provides payments to a charity (or more than one) for a specific period of time after which the assets that remain in the trust pass to a non-charitable beneficiary. Often, the lead interest (portion that is paid out to the charity) will qualify for a charitable tax deduction. An example of a lead trust is as follows: You fund a trust with $150,000. The trust terms call for 5% of the trust assets to be paid out to a charity each year for ten years with the remainder interest paid to your children upon termination of the ten year term.
• Charitable remainder trust: A charitable remainder trust works in reverse of how a charitable lead trust operates. Both a charitable and non-charitable beneficiary are designated. The non-charitable beneficiary receives a portion or percentage of the trust for a specified period of time after which the remainder interest passes to the charity. In the above example, assume that the trust terms call for $1,000 to be paid to your son each year for his lifetime. After his death, the remaining trust assets will then pass to the named charity.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

In America we are bombarded with messages about the importance of planning for retirement. The doomsday predictions have most of us worried that no amount of money is adequate to set aside for retirement. As a result, many Americans start planning for retirement early on and put as much aside as much as possible toward the “golden years” fund. Of course planning for your retirement is essential, but over-funding your retirement account can create its own taxing problems. Excess income that is left over at the time of your death could be subject to income and/or estate taxes, resulting in the loss of over half the assets left in your estate upon your death.

Although experts are continuously throwing out figures that tell us how much we will need in order to live comfortably when we reach our golden years, the truth is that it is virtually impossible to know how much your will need. A serious and lengthy illness could drain resources rapidly. On the other hand, you could remain healthy until the day you die and use only a small fraction of what you saved.

Leaving any excess funds to your spouse upon your death avoids incurring estate taxes; however, it then over-funds your spouse’s estate in many cases. The good news is that there are a number of estate planning tools available that can allow you to retain control over your assets while you may still need then and then transfer them to loved ones without subjecting them to the often hefty tax burden incurred by estate tax exposure. The key is to plan early, just as you did for your retirement, by conferring with your estate planning attorney.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you are a Millbury resident who is fortunate enough to have acquired what you consider to be a legacy worth leaving behind when you die, then creating a legacy plan is essential. Although we all leave behind a legacy, if you plan ahead, you can determine what that legacy is and how it continues to function long after your death.

Think of legacy planning as an extension of your estate plan. A basic estate plan provides a roadmap for how your wealth will be distributed after your death. A legacy plan adds to your estate plan and allows you to ensure that your wealth will continue to provide for loved ones, family members and even causes that are important to you. Without a thorough legacy plan, a significant portion of your wealth could be lost to taxes or could simply be wasted by poor management on the part of beneficiaries.

Although each Millbury legacy plan will be unique to the individual for which it is created, a legacy plan often makes use of the numerous trust options available to a grantor. For example, you may choose to create a generation skipping trust that provides some income for your children while retaining the principal for your grandchildren. You could also choose to create a charitable trust that can continue to provide funds for a charity that is close to your heart. Instead of simply leaving assets to beneficiaries outright, a legacy plan offers the chance to effectively manage your wealth long after death.

Your legacy plan is what you make of it. It is your chance to make decisions now, while you are still here, that will impact future generations and determine what your legacy will be.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Blended families have replaced the traditional nuclear family as the norm in America over the last several decades. If you are making plans for a second, or subsequent marriage, you are hardly alone. Blending two existing families comes with a laundry list of concerns and considerations, among them the decision how to approach finances. Aside from any personal, or emotional, feelings you have on the matter, there are some pragmatic and legal considerations that are important when deciding whether or not to join all, or some, or your assets with your new spouse.

One important state specific consideration is whether co-mingling assets will create a marital asset. In some states, for example, co-mingling inherited funds makes them marital assets and no longer your sole asset. You may, therefore, wish to keep family inheritance funds separate. Likewise, be sure to make specific bequests of family heirlooms, or other items earmarked for your children from a previous relationship, in your Last Will and Testament to ensure that they go to the intended beneficiary.

On the other hand, while it is important to protect an inheritance, it may be equally important to ensure that your future spouse have access to funds or assets in order to care for himself or herself as well as any future children you may have together in the event of your untimely death. Converting financial accounts to joint accounts, or payable on death accounts, is a simple way to do this.

By structuring your estate plan properly, you should be able to protect both your previous assets and children, as well as your future husband and subsequent children.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Legendary singer and actress Whitney Houston was found dead of unknown causes in her Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room where she was staying in anticipation of appearing at the Grammy Awards scheduled for the following day in Los Angeles. While the world began to mourn Houston’s death, sales of anything related to the artist began to soar. Best known for her soulful rendition of the song I Will Always Love You, Houston was once considered to be the darling of the record industry. With a string of chart topping singles in the 90s and a successful cross-over to acting with roles in Waiting to Exhale and The Bodyguard, it appeared as though Houston was poised to have a long and prosperous career. Sadly, a battle with drug and alcohol addiction as well as a tumultuous long-term relationship with singer Bobby Brown seemed to end Houston’s career at a relatively early age. Although the final value of Houston’s estate for probate purposes will be calculated as of the date of Houston’s death, the ultimate value for beneficiary purposes will continue to increase as sales continue to soar.

While it is unlikely that you count a record deal or movie residuals as part of your estate assets, you do likely have estate assets that will continue to grow even after your death. Investment accounts, for example, will increase in value when managed properly. Interest in a business can increase in value exponentially at any time if the business takes off. Intellectual property rights can also turn into a valuable estate asset long after your death as well. Be certain to take assets such as these into account, and the possibility that they will provide long-term income for your estate beneficiaries, when creating your estate plan.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Nebraska lawmakers are pushing for social media legislation that may be the first of its kind in the country. The legislation focuses on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, micro-blogs and e-mail accounts for people who are deceased. The law would allow the executor of the estate for the deceased access to accounts held by the deceased.

Currently, social media giant Facebook, has a policy that creates a memorial page for a deceased account holder once notified by family members of the death of the account holder. At that point, “friends” may post comments to the account holder’s page; however, no one may access the page itself to update status or make changes to the page. The proposed legislation would change that by granting the estate executor the right to log on and make changes, delete the account or post status updates. The legislation also covers other social media such as e-mail accounts or micro-blogs.

Of course, the legislation specifically excludes granting rights to the executor if the deceased expressed a contrary desire in his or her Last Will and Testament or specifically left the rights to another individual.

In the digital age, the Nebraska law reminds us that the definition of “assets” is ever evolving and that we must constantly review and update our estate plans to reflect changes such as these. Even two years ago, the average person may not have thought to include computer files, websites or other digitally stored information as an asset in an estate plan. As we continue to depend more on electronic media, the need to include “assets” such as these in a comprehensive estate plan becomes all the more important.

The Law Offices of James A. Miller is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.