Page 24 - September Issue

What’s your plan?
FOP BENEFITS PLAN
Whether it is your finances, insurance protec- tion or planning your estate, without a solid plan, started early, your retirement and what you leave your family at your death is at great risk.
TOM TUOHY
The good news is you can do something about itnow.
Next month I will be writing about the impor- tance of having a financial plan and insurance protection for your family. This month, I will share information on the importance of estate planning and, in particular, establishing a Living Trust.
A Living Trust allows you, or you and your spouse, to create a detailed distribution plan for the next generation and avoid the time and cost of probate court. It is affordable and it is conven- ient.
However, it falls into the dreaded category – planning for death. For the young, there is the sense of immortality. There is plenty of time. For those approaching retirement, there is the unsettling reality of mortality. There is less time than you want to think about. So you don’t. No matter our age, we put it off. And that can be a very costly and heartbreaking decision.
and evidentiary hearing, we prevailed. However, if she had a fully-funded Living Trust estate plan, all
Here are some facts: • A will does not avoid probate. • If you have assets in your name, at your death, they are
of this could have been avoided. Like most people, she tried to do the right thing, and just did not know there was a much better option for her intent, and to protect her children's inher- itance.
subject to probate. • In Cook County alone there are more than 100,000
pending probate files - and 10 judges. The entire
While you might not relate to this situation, it is one of many uncertainties that could prove to defeat your best intentions for your family, including:
process can take a minimum of 18 months. • Without a proper plan, you could disinherit your own
children.
• Your surviving spouse remarrying and your children being disinherited.
"Our Mom Organized Everything..."
One day after their mother was murdered, three devastated daughters were sitting in my conference room. They had brought their mothers red accordion folder that was perfectly organized. Their mother, a police officer, had told them that if anything happened to her, she wanted them to know she had organized all her affairs so everything would be in order. One of the daughters reached into the folder and said they were pretty sure their mother had a Last Will and Testament. My heart sank.
• Thousands of dollars in probate costs. • Real estate and investments depreciating while tied up
policies or deferred savings accounts. I have created nearly 3,000 Living Trust estate plans for
I knew that if their mother had a will, there would be a long, expensive and painful road ahead. The will would have to be filed and a Probate Estate would be required to be opened. The process would prolong the daughters’ grief and prevent closure for at least 18 months. However, it was potentially far worse.
clients, many of them police officers, from patrol to superin- tendent. In every estate plan signing in my office there is one common feeling at the end, and almost everyone expresses it – relief.
Their mother was murdered by their stepfather, who then committed suicide. Since she died without any estate plan, and her husband survived her, he was entitled, by law, to 50 percent of her estate pursuant to the Spouses Elective Share.
We all know we should have an estate plan. Even if we don’t know all the pitfalls, we can guess correctly that the conse- quences of not having an estate plan are not good. And yet, the majority of people put it off.
As it stood, the man who murdered her would inherit 50 per- cent of her children's rightful estate. Since he then took his own life, his daughter from another relationship would then inherit his estate. We filed a petition under the Slayers Statute to deny him from profiting from his homicide, and, after a long process
Don’t hold off any longer. Call today and let's take care of your family and your Living Trust.
in probate. • Outdated or omitted beneficiaries on life insurance
P.S. You are entitled to 50-percent reduced fees under the FOP Benefits Plan – call or email me today and I will give you another $200 off the fee. This is your incentive to get it done.
24 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2015