Estate planning for a single
I am 80 years old. Live alone with my dog. No family except an older sister in Germany . Net worth including home about $800,000. I have filled out your 4 page questionnaire and listened to your 40 minute presentation on revokable trusts. Local lawyers want 10k to help. That is a lot ! I do not know what to do. You make so much good sense. I thank you for you smart advice.
Would appreciate any direction. ED
Terry Says
Well, you are the basis for my next column. You don’t need a lawyer yet. First, you need a trusted younger friend. And that is a real problem for so many women and men.
This friend — or several friends — will have to do the following:
– Have a healthcare power of attorney to make decisions if you cannot, perhaps unconscious or intubated.
– Have the power to use your assets for your care — withdraw from bank accounts for private nurses, or nursing home care not covered by insurance, pay your electric bills in your absence, or even sell your home to pay for costs of care.
– Take care of your dog!! (I do not say this lightly; it is my own one great concern.)
Only when you have figured out WHO this person can be, is it possible to make a Revocable Living Trust, naming one or two trusted people as successor trustees. It’s tough — because you are literally trusting them with your life as well as your fortune. There have been so many scams where trusting elders are defrauded of their money.
I’m still trying to figure out what to say in this column. Stay tuned.
