By Lee R. Phillips

It is on the news, in the papers and on the internet.  The whole world knows that Elizabeth Edwards, who died last month after a battle with breast cancer, made no mention of estranged husband John Edwards in her will.

I just read that, “the will names her 28-year-old daughter Catherine as executor and leaves everything to her three children. All of my furniture, furnishings, household goods, jewelry, china, silverware and personal effects and any automobiles … to be divided among them,” the will states, according to CNN.com.

I have a hard time believing that someone who went to law school passed her assets in a will.  A will is not private.  It must be probated and in the Court Proceeding everything becomes part of the public record.  That means we all know what happened.

Remember when Michael Jackson died?  The news media and tabloids were all drooling over how his multi-million dollar estate was going to be chopped up and the fights that might occur.  About two weeks after his death, it was disclosed that all of his estate was held in a living revocable trust. (more…)

A note from Lee R. Phillips

You may be starting to see warnings about your estate planning in 2010.  The estate tax has been repealed.  All Right!!!  It is a great year to die.  NOT SO FAST.  Don’t kill yourself yet.  All is not what it seems to be.

First a little reassurance that what you have done using the LegaLees system is ok.  The warning says that under a lot of estate plans the surviving spouse (spouse that lives after the first one of the couple dies) can be left out in the cold.  That won’t happen with the living trusts and wills in the Accumulation and Preservation of Wealth set.  The warning is for wills and trusts that try to control estate taxes by passing all or part of the estate directly to the children, not the surviving spouse.

My goal is and always has been to protect the surviving spouse.  The trusts are set up so that a shelter trust is created which removes the maximum amount that the deceased spouse could pass to the children without an estate tax (the “exemption equivalent” as the amount is called in the legal industry).  That amount changes.  It has been going up for the last decade, from $1 million to $3.5 million last year.  So if a couple had $4 million in assets and the husband died in 2009, a trust (Trust B) would have been created to “shelter” $3.5 million from estate taxes when the wife died.  This whole thing is explained in detail in my book, Guaranteed Millionaire.  It is a great read (not a boring financial book). (more…)

By Kristy Phillips

This is the Phillips family “off year” for Thanksgiving; our family is going to be spread across the country at the in-laws. Our oldest son is spending the day with us. I love Thanksgiving because I have so much to be grateful for. My family tops the list. I have three great kids. Ten years ago as I saw my children growing up and leaving the home I wished that I could freeze time. Well it didn’t happen, but honestly I can’t imagine life without our two cute daughter-in-laws, our son-in-law and our six wonderful grandchildren.

I have heard other grandparents muse that they wish they could have skipped the kids and gone right to the grand kids. Grandkids really are that much fun. There is a certain déjà vu about seeing your grandkids do something their parent did that is indescribable. I am around the grandkids enough to hear so many cute things they say and do. My heart melts. I don’t suppose my feelings are much different than most of yours. The peace of mind that comes from taking care of your estate and planning for emergencies so you can protect your family is one of the biggest reasons I can think of to get your will and trust in place. If you haven’t taken steps to put your affairs in order set a goal to get it done so you can enjoy the holidays.