The 101 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 The Single Biggest Mistake – Not for the One Certainty in Life…Death.

Mistake # 1: No Estate Whatsoever.

Mistake # 2: Out-of-Date Wills.

Mistake # 3: Losing your Will.

Mistake # 4: Do-It-Yourselfers and Handwritten Wills.

Mistake #5: Not Signing Your Will Because You Physically Can't.

Mistake #6 Not Properly Executed Documents.

Mistake #7: The Best Laid (Estate) Plans.

Mistake #8: Dying Intestate or without a Will.

Chapter 2 Mistakes Involving Tangible Personal Property.

Mistake #9: Nemo Dat Quo Non Habet (Latin for "He Who Hath Not Cannot Give").

Mistake #10: Not Properly Documenting the Delivery and Completion of a Gift.

Mistake #11: Selling Valuable Tangible Personal Property Too Close to Death.

Mistake #12: Bequeathing Tangible Personal Property that You Do Not Own.

Mistake #13: Mentioning Too Many Details in Your Will.

Mistake #14: Not Including Any Details in Your Will.

Mistake #15: Not Providing Properly for the Care of Your Pets After Your Death.

Mistake #16: Leaving Too Much Money for Your Pets After Your Death.

Mistake #17: Giving the Same Tangible Personal Property Item to More than One Person.

Mistake #18: Not Properly Providing for the Disposition of Your Artworks after Your Death.

Mistake #19: Not Providing for Your Tangible Personal Property in a Revocable Living Trust.

Chapter 3 Mistakes Involving Real Estate.

Mistake #20: Not Confirming How Title is Held to Real Estate Before or Right After Death.

Mistake #21: Forgetting that Real Estate Usually Passes Subject to Loans and Mortgages.

Mistake #22: Not Draining the Water Pipes in a Vacant House in Cold Weather.

Mistake #23: Failing to Maintain Adequate Property and Casualty Insurance on Estate Property - Especially Vacant Real Estate.

Mistake #24: Failing to Provide that Children, or others, May Continue to Reside in the Family Home with the Executor's or Trustee's Approval.

Mistake #25: Failing to Provide that Existing Leases Will Terminate on Reasonable Terms After the Death of the Owner of the Property.

Mistake #26: Owning Land, a House or an Apartment in a Foreign Country.

Mistake #27: Assuming That a Co-operative Apartment Building Board Will Always Do What You Would Like It to Do.

Mistake #28: Placing Real Estate in a Trust Without Checking on the Ramifications of Doing So.

Chapter 4 Mistakes Involving Executors and/or Trustees.

Mistake #29: Selecting Only One Executor in a Complicated Estate.

Mistake #30: Selecting Too Many Executors.

Mistake #31: Selecting an Even Number of Executors.

Mistake #32: Selecting Executors with a Conflict of Interest.

Mistake #33: Not Compensating (or Under-Compensating) Your Executors.

Mistake #34: Not Selecting Your Spouse as an Executor.

Mistake #35: Surprising Your Spouse with the Terms of Your Will.

Mistake #36: Not Naming Your Children as Executors.

Mistake #37: Naming Your Children as Executors.

Mistake #38: Naming a Literary Executor in Your Will.

Mistake #39: Naming a Corporate Fiduciary That Can Be Removed by an Individual Fiduciary.

Chapter 5 Mistakes Involving Guardians, Minors or Step-Children.

Mistake #40: Not Naming the Biological Parent as the Guardian of Your Minor Children.

Mistake #41: Naming the Biological Parent as the Guardian of Your Minor Child.

Mistake #42: Failing To Periodically Review Your Choice of Guardian(s).

Mistake #43: Assuming that Your Step-Children Have the Same Legal Rights as Your Biological Children.

Chapter 6 Mistakes Involving Prior Marriages, Prenuptial Agreements and Significant Others.

Mistake #44: Not Taking into Account the Terms of an Existing Separation or Divorce Agreement.

Mistake #45: Entirely Disinheriting Children or Grandchildren Out of Stupidity or Inadvertence.

Mistake #46: Not Taking Your Spouse's Legal or Statutory Rights into Account.

Mistake #47: Putting Your Child in Charge of a Surviving Spouse Who Is Not His or Her Parent.

Mistake #48: Assuming that Your Divorce Automatically Revokes Your Will in its Entirety.

Mistake #49: Not Updating Your Will at the Start of Your Divorce Proceedings.

Mistake #50: Not Respecting the Validity of A Prenuptial Agreement.

Mistake #51: Not Mentioning the Prenuptial Agreement in Your Will.

Mistake #52: Failing to Fund a Revocable Living Trust During Your Lifetime in Order to Avoid Probate.

Chapter 7 Estate Mistakes Involving Tax and Copyright Issues.

Mistake #53: Eliminating Your Residuary Estate because of High Taxes on your Personal Property.

Mistake #54: Not Taking Full Advantage of the Available Tax Exemption Amount.

Mistake #55: Not Having Assets Titled in the Name of Each Spouse.

Mistake #56: Failing to Ascertain if Gift Tax Returns Were Ever Filed.

Mistake #57: Failing to Pay the 5 percent Annual Minimum Distribution Requirement for Private Charitable Foundations.

Mistake #58: Not Having a Buy-Sell Agreement in a Closely Held Business, Partnership or Limited Liability Corporation.

Mistake #59: Failing to Title Appreciated Real Estate in the Name of the Spouse More Likely to Die First.

Mistake #60: Separating the Copyright Interest from the Work of Art Itself That Is Bequeathed to a Charity.

Chapter 8 Estate Mistakes Involving Disgruntled Friends and Family.

Mistake #61: Lack of a No Contest or In Terrorem Clause in Your Will.

Mistake #62: Using A One Dollar No Contest/In Terrorem Clause in Your Will.

Mistake #63: Using a Codicil Instead of a New Will.

Mistake #64: Impulsively Changing Your Will By Whipping Out a Quick, "Down and Dirty" Codicil.

Mistake #65: Not Contacting the Attorney for the Beneficiary of a Will When Trying to Settle a Dispute with the Attorney for the Executor.

Mistake #66: Requiring Survivorship by a Certain Number of Days.

Mistake #67: Not Including Your Long-Time Secretary or Assistant as a Beneficiary in Your Will.

Mistake #68: Entirely Disinheriting Children or Grandchildren Out of Anger or Vindictiveness.

Mistake #69: Failing to Mention the Names of the Heirs You Intend to Disinherit in Your Will.

Mistake #70: Directing That a Specific Attorney or Other Advisor Be Hired by Your Executor.

Mistake # 71: Not Taking Advantage of a Qualified Disclaimer within Nine Months of Death.

Mistake #72: Offering Too Large an Amount at the Outset of Negotiations.

Mistake #73: Arguing with Your Attorney about Legal Fees.

Mistake #74: Fighting With a Lawyer with "Criminal" Clients.

Mistake #75: Having Your Former Mother-in-Law Own a Life Insurance Policy on Your Life.

Mistake #76: Not Getting the Original Will Back from the Person Replaced as an Executor.

Chapter 9 Mistakes Involving Funerals, Burials or Cremation.

Mistake #77: Not Appointing Someone to Make Burial and Funeral Arrangements.

Mistake #78: Spending Too Much on a Funeral or Burial.

Mistake #79: Providing Overly Detailed Funeral and Burial Instructions in Your Will.

Mistake #80: Prepaying for Your Funeral, or Not.

Mistake #81: Directing That There Be No Funeral or Memorial Service.

Mistake #82: Losing the Deed for your Cemetery Plot.

Mistake #83: Directing that Your Bodily Remains or Ashes Be Buried or Scattered in an Illegal Manner.

Mistake #84: Directing that your Pet’s Remains Be Buried Together with Yours.

Mistake #85: Getting Too Religious in Your Will.

Chapter 10 One of a Kind Mistakes by Celebrities and Icons.

Mistake #86: Not Making Charitable Gifts in Your Will When Your Sons Are the Heirs to the British Throne.

Mistake #87: Mentioning the Name of a Lawsuit Involving You in Your Own Will.

Mistake #88: Leaving Your Estate to an Older Person Outright and Not in Trust.

Mistake #89: Leaving It All to Your Girlfriend Who Has a Drug Addiction.

Mistake #90: Making a Bequest with Politically Incorrect or Racist Strings Attached.

Mistake #91: Not Properly Identifying an Organization that Receives a Bequest.

Mistake #92: Not Providing How to Determine that Your Wife Has Regained Her Sanity.

Mistake #93: Murdering Your Spouse (or Anyone Else).

Chapter 11 Rookie or Boneheaded Mistakes.

Mistake #94: Making a Material Misrepresentation on a Life Insurance Application.

Mistake #95: Not Settling a Dispute When the Downside is much Greater than the Upside.

Mistake #96: Making Handwritten Changes to a Will after it Has Been Signed and Witnessed.

Mistake #97: Acting as a Witness to a Will In Which You are Named as a Beneficiary.

Mistake #98: Removing the Staples from an Original Will.

Mistake #99: Putting Your Original Will In a Bank Safe Deposit Box Which May be Sealed.

Mistake #100: Preparing Only a Videotaped Will Instead of a Written One.

Mistake #101: Owning a Large Amount of Life Insurance in Your Name Individually.

About the Author.

Index.