Estate Planning with a Business

Estate planning with a business addresses owner succession, protecting assets and the smooth operation of the business.

Estate planning with a business is different. If you have children, ownership shares in a business, or even in more than one business, a desire to protect your family and business if you became disabled, or charitable giving goals, then you need an estate plan attuned to those needs. The recent article “Estate planning for business owners and executives” from The Wealth Advisor explains why business owners, parents and executives need estate plans.

An estate plan is more than a way to distribute wealth. It can also:

  • Establish a Power of Attorney, if you can’t make decisions due to an illness or injury.
  • Identify a guardianship plan for minor children, naming a caregiver of your choice.
  • Coordinating beneficiary designations with your estate plan. This includes retirement plans, life insurance, annuities and some jointly owned property.
  • Create trusts for beneficiaries to afford them asset or divorce protection.
  • Identify professional management for assets in those trusts if appropriate.
  • Minimize taxes and maximize privacy through the use of planning techniques.
  • Create a structure for your philanthropic goals.

An estate plan ensures that fiduciaries are identified to oversee and distribute assets as you want. Estate planning with a business especially focuses on managing ownership assets, which requires more sophisticated planning. Ideally, you have a management and ownership succession plan for your business, and both should be well-documented and integrated with your overall estate plan.   See here for a deeper dive into business succession planning.  https://galligan-law.com/business-succession-planning-in-your-estate-plan/

Some business owners choose to separate their Power of Attorney documents, so one person or more who know their business well, as well as the POA holder or co-POA, are able to make decisions about the business, while family members are appointed POA for non-business decisions.

Depending on how your business is structured, the post-death transfer of the business may need to be a part of your estate planning with a business. A current buy-sell agreement may be needed, especially if there are more than two owners of the business.

An estate plan, like a succession plan, is not a set-it-and-forget it document. Regular reviews will ensure that any changes are documented, from the size of your overall estate to the people you choose to make key decisions.

Reference: The Wealth Advisor (July 28, 2020) “Estate planning for business owners and executives”

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Estate Planning after Divorce

Divorce changes your estate plan, so make sure to update it and your beneficiary designations after the divorce.

Estate planning after divorce takes careful consideration.  Without a spouse as the center of an estate plan, the executors, trustees, guardians or agents under a power of attorney and health care proxies will have to be chosen from a more diverse pool of those that are connected to you.

Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “How to Revise Your Estate Plan After Divorce” explains that beneficiary forms tied to an IRA, 401(k), 403(b) and life insurance will need to be updated to show the dissolution of the marriage.

There are usually estate planning terms that are included in agreements created during the separation and divorce. These may call for the removal of both spouses from each other’s estate planning documents, assets, bank and retirement accounts. For example, in Texas, bequests to an ex-spouse in a will prepared during the marriage are voided after the divorce. Even though the old will is still valid, a new will has the benefit of realigning the estate assets with the intended recipients and avoiding difficulties in probating the will.

However, any trust created while married is treated differently. Revocable trusts can be revoked, and the assets held by those trusts can be part of the divorce. Irrevocable trusts involving marital property are less likely to be dissolved, and after the death of the grantor, distributions may be made to an ex-spouse as directed by the trust.

A big task in the post-divorce estate planning process is changing beneficiaries. Ask for change of beneficiary forms for all retirement accounts. Without a stipulation in the divorce decree ending their interest, an ex-spouse still listed as beneficiary of an IRA or life insurance policy may still receive the proceeds at your death.  Sometimes beneficiary designations or retitling of assets occur during the divorce process, but often they occur after resolving the divorce and aren’t complete by the time an estate planning attorney needs to be involved.

Divorce makes children assume responsibility at an earlier age. Adult children in their 20s or early 30s typically assume the place of the ex-spouse as fiduciaries and health care proxies, as well as agents under powers of attorney, executors and trustees.  Many clients often try to coordinate their estate plans with their ex-spouses to ensure their mutual children are provided for.

If the divorcing parents have minor children, they must choose a guardian to care for the children, in the event that both parents pass away.  This was always true, but the need for it is heightened if parents aren’t on the same page.

Ask an experienced estate planning attorney to help you with the issues that are involved in estate planning after a divorce.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (July 7, 2020) “How to Revise Your Estate Plan After Divorce”

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When to Sign Up for Medicare

It's important to know the deadlines for when to sign up for Medicare.
It’s important to know the deadlines for when to sign up for Medicare.

It’s important to know the deadlines for when to sign up for Medicare and the penalties that can be imposed for late enrollment.

Here are the important dates for Medicare enrollment:

  • You can initially enroll in Medicare during the seven-month period that begins three months before you turn 65.
  • If you continue to work past 65, sign up for Medicare within eight months of leaving the job or group health plan or penalties apply.
  • The six-month Medicare Supplement Insurance enrollment period starts when you’re 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B.
  • You can make changes to your Medicare coverage during the annual open enrollment period, from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7.
  • Medicare Advantage Plan participants can move to another plan from January 1 to March 31 each year.

Medicare Parts A and B Deadline. Individuals who are getting Social Security benefits, may be automatically enrolled in Parts A and B, and coverage starts the month they turn 65. However, those who haven’t claimed Social Security must proactively enroll in Medicare. You can first sign up for Medicare Part A hospital insurance and Medicare Part B medical insurance during the seven months that starts three months before the month you turn 65. Your coverage can start as soon as the first day of the month you turn 65, or the first day of the prior month, if your birthday falls on the first of the month. If you fail to enroll in Medicare during the initial enrollment period, you can sign up during the general enrollment period between January 1 and March 31 each year for coverage that will begin July 1. Note that you might be charged a late enrollment penalty when your benefit begins. Monthly Part B premiums increase by 10% for each 12-month period you delay signing up for Medicare, after becoming eligible for benefits.

If you or your spouse are still working after age 65 for an employer that provides group health insurance, you must enroll in Medicare within eight months of leaving the job or the coverage ending to avoid the penalty.

Medicare Part D Deadline. Part D prescription drug coverage has the same initial enrollment period of the seven months around your 65th birthday as Medicare Parts A and B, but the penalty is different. It’s calculated by multiplying 1% of the “national base beneficiary premium” ($32.74 in 2020) by the number of months you didn’t have prescription drug coverage after Medicare eligibility and rounding to the nearest 10 cents. That’s added to the Medicare Part D plan that you choose each year. As the national base beneficiary premium increases, your penalty also goes up.

Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan Deadline. These plans can be used to pay for some of Medicare’s cost-sharing requirements and some services that traditional Medicare doesn’t cover. The enrollment period is different than the other parts of Medicare. It is a six-month period that starts when you’re 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B. During this open enrollment period, private health insurance companies must sell you a Medicare Supplement Insurance plan, regardless of your health conditions. After this enrollment period, insurance companies can use medical underwriting to decide how much to charge for the policy and can even reject you. If you miss the open enrollment period, you’re no longer guaranteed the ability to buy a Medicare Supplement Insurance plan without underwriting, or you could be charged significantly more, if you have any health conditions.

Medicare Open Enrollment Deadline. You can make changes to your Medicare coverage during the annual open enrollment period from October 15 to December 7. During this period, you can move to a new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, join a Medicare Advantage Plan, or stop a Medicare Advantage Plan and return to original Medicare. Changes take effect on January 1 of the following year.

Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Deadline. Participants can move to another plan or drop their Medicare Advantage Plan and return to original Medicare, including purchasing a Medicare Part D plan, from January 1 to March 31 each year. You can only make one change each year during this period, and the new plan will begin on the first of the month after your request is received.

Reference: Yahoo News (July 27, 2020) “Medicare Enrollment Deadlines You Shouldn’t Miss”

 

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