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    Wise Man or a Fool- Biblical Estate Planning Principles
    Wise Man or a Fool- Biblical Estate Planning Principles
    Wise Man or a Fool- Biblical Estate Planning Principles
    Ebook150 pages2 hours

    Wise Man or a Fool- Biblical Estate Planning Principles

    By Ray Eichenberger

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    About this ebook

    The author, a retired attorney who practiced law for nearly forty years, explains Probate and estate planning from a decidedly Biblical perspective.  The Bible commands that we use our money, finances, and resources to give back to God and to bless others in doing so.  The work encourages the reader to use his or her estate planning to further God's work in His kingdom on earth and for others.

     

    The book covers many topics in estate planning- Wills, Medical Directives, Powers of Attorney, and guarding against the Will Contest.  But, there is an emphasis on how to avoid Probate Court involvement in Estates, and an in depth discussion of how to use survivorship ownership, payable upon death ownership,

    Living Trusts, and family LLCs to do so.  The ramifications of federal and state taxation on Estates and decedents are also discussed- income tax, capital gains tax, federal and state Estate taxes, and the federal gift tax.

     

    The author also relates his personal war stories which involve humorous and sometimes weird situations which he encountered in his law practice dealing with Probate and estate planning topics.  The book concludes with planning examples for different kinds of personal needs- Living Trusts, LLCs, special needs Trusts, grandchildren's Trusts, Medicaid qualification Trusts, and more.

     

    This is a must read for Christians as they devise their Estate plans, and for anyone else who wants to wisely plan their Estate.    

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRed Foot Racing Stables
    Release dateJul 7, 2023
    ISBN9798223645443
    Wise Man or a Fool- Biblical Estate Planning Principles
    Author

    Ray Eichenberger

    Ray Eichenberger is a retired attorney, and lives in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.  Ray has a B.S. in Education from Miami University, a B.A. in HIstory from Miami University, and a Juris Doctor from Capital University.  Ray's hobbies are golf, travel, and racing and breeding standardbred horses for racing.  Ray is a Christian author with twenty books to his credit, including non-fiction Christian themes, and fictional works.  Ray can be contacted at RedFootBooks@aol.com.

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      Book preview

      Wise Man or a Fool- Biblical Estate Planning Principles - Ray Eichenberger

      PROLOGUE

      I practiced law in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio for almost forty years before I retired.  A large part of my civil practice as a sole practitioner consisted of probate and estate planning, with a concentration on helping people avoid Probate with their advanced planning.  My practice also included such other areas as civil trials and appeals, which serve as a complimentary background to some of the more contentious issues which arise in the field of estate planning.

      I am also a lifelong Christian, having been born into the Lutheran church, and now attending a fundamentalist, unaffiliated Bible teaching and preaching church for over thirty-five years.

      As a result of the above backgrounds, this work will have a decided Christian slant to the topics of probate and estate planning, and there will be references to what the Bible has to say about the topics.  As you have already seen, the title of this work is derived from Solomon’s somewhat acerbic, fatalistic, and sarcastic views on the subject as mentioned in the Scripture quote just before this Preface.

      But, this work will also be enjoyed by and be useful for anyone who wants to take the time to thoughtfully and prudently consider these important topics.

      As a caveat and reminder as I begin, please be aware that the topics of probate and estate planning are very much governed and applied under the laws and statutes of the individual state where you reside.  No estate planning should be undertaken without consulting an attorney who knows the ins and outs of the individual laws of your state as they apply to your particular personal issues and desires.  Certain federal tax issues also enter into estate planning, and those topics are governed by federal law as to estate taxes and gift taxes.  All tax laws at both the state and federal levels are subject to change at the whim of state legislatures and Congress.  Estate planning attorney and tax experts should be consulted periodically even after an estate plan has been established, and you should keep aware of changes in tax issues which might affect your previous planning.

      CHAPTER ONE

      BEGIN BY GETTING ORGANIZED

      Probate and estate planning are topics which are easy to put off and to ignore.  Human nature is the culprit for most procrastination.  We all think that we’re going to live forever, and we correspondingly believe that there is no hurry to address these vital issues of our lives.  The feeling of I’ll do it later, can be pervasive.  But, failing to plan can have drastic and unintended consequences.  Tragically, you won’t have to deal with those consequences because you’ll be gone, but you might well leave unintended, burdensome, and costly unpleasant situations for your heirs to deal with.

      I once discussed that potential to saddle heirs with problems and worries as stated in the preceding paragraph with a delightful elderly woman client, and she immediately got a mischievous grin on her face and quipped, My children have been such a pain in the rear over the years (cleaned up), they would deserve such a fate.  I laughed right along with that woman, because we can all see the truths of some of these situations.  But, hopefully that is not your situation.  She was just kidding, and we did some planning, but the comment was hilarious.

      The ultimate goal of estate planning and probate planning is the final creation of legal documents.  But, I have found that often the acts of creating and executing the various documents comprise the simplest, easiest parts of the process.  Before anyone sits down to sign even a simple Last Will and Testament, there are some preliminary steps which will make the planning process proceed much more smoothly.  These steps first involve creating a master list of your property owned, and any other kinds of interests that you might have even part ownership of.  The second part of the equation requires much more thought.  That second step is the determination of where you want your assets to go, how you want those items divided and to whom, and whether there are any unique situations confronting or concerning your heirs which might affect the planning process.

      START BY CREATING A LIST OF YOUR ASSETS

      The first step of creating a list and master sheet enumerating your assets is fairly straight forward.  You should begin this by simply noting the entity, addresses, and account numbers concerning any real or personal property that you own.  As simple as this sounds, I have worked with plenty of adult children over the years whose last, surviving parent had just passed away.  If this imperative, but simple step of estate planning had not been accomplished, some of these adult children have no idea of what their now deceased parent owned and where those assets were located.  Adult children surviving that last parent usually have a good idea of where their parent has done their personal banking, but the specifics of the information may be very vague.  In several situations, before the advent of online banking and financial accounts, we literally pieced together the information of what a decedent owned by waiting on the U.S. mail to arrive to receive account statements.

      Even that wait for account statements to be delivered after death has, of course, changed in recent times.  As more and more people, even the elderly, abandon mailed statements and rely on online banking and financial resource access, the situation has become more difficult to manage.  We attempted to rectify that growing trend and tendency by making a part of estate planning the divulging of account screen names and passwords (if not given to heirs, then placed with estate planning documents).  But, a comprehensive list of assets, which is kept updated as to additions and deletions, should alleviate the necessity of even sharing screen name and password information.  More on that later.

      Your list of financial assets should include everything that you own.  Bank assets and investment accounts are usually thought of and considered.  But, such things as life insurance and other types of insurance coverage should also be noted as to company, address, and account numbers.  Other types of insurance certainly include health and medical insurance, as your heirs might have to deal with the expenses of your last illness after you pass away.  But, I also told my clients to include such things as casualty, home, and car insurance so that other people also have access to that information.

      As to personal property, it is wise to keep such things as car title documents in an easily discoverable and accessible place.  I discovered over the years that many people prize their personal possessions, and have collections which they wish to pass down to their heirs as well.  As a result, it is correspondingly an excellent idea to make a list of personal property that you own, and include with that list bills of sale and receipts for the purchase of particularly valuable items.  These items would include household goods and furnishings, and collectibles.

      When your list of assets is compiled, put it in a safe place, and tell your fiduciary where they can find the list if you pass away.  More importantly, keep the list updated and add and delete items if you should happen to acquire new property, sell anything, or give property away prior to your death.

      If is also a wise decision to put real estate documents such as deeds and mortgages in a safe place for easy access.  The legal importance of such documents dealing with real estate ultimately lies in the fact that they have been recorded in the appropriate office in the county in the state where the property is situated, but having the documents readily available simply removes a step for anyone to have to search for them on the public record indexes.  Similarly as to real estate deeds, it is also a good idea to have title insurance policies on your real estate kept in the same location as these other documents.  Any heir who desires or is forced to sell your real estate after your death will be greatly assisted by referring to title insurance policies.  Although I am dating myself, when I first started practicing law it was still popular to have title abstracts for real estate.  These abstracts were a thick collection of documents which made notes as to every transaction ever performed concerning the history of the parcel of land in question.  In later years when they were used, photo copies of deeds and mortgages and any liens were all included in the abstracts.  As a person who loves history, these inches thick abstracts of title were fascinating.  Many abstracts went back to the original grant of the land titles from the United States government, and invoked the names of Presidents and other federal officials.  In my native state of Ohio, many of these land abstracts begin with grants of large parcels of land from the United States when Thomas Jefferson was President.  The abstracts also provide a little microcosm of United States social history- some of the old deeds contain bans on ownership by certain religious groups and racial groups.  I usually just read such restrictions and property covenants and shook my head at the fact that such things were placed on the property records of the day and at one time in our history considered legally binding.

      When thinking about and considering assets, it is also a wise step to make a list of the names and addresses of your creditors and your account numbers.  Include on that list how much money is owed, and arising from what type of debt (credit card, mortgage, car loan, other loan, etc.)  Once again, even elderly people in recent years have abandoned receiving bills resulting from debt in the mail.  Monthly debt might be subject to automatic withdrawals from an account, or might be managed by receiving electronic monthly statements which need to be paid.

      You also might find yourself with people who owe you money.  That situation could reveal other planning and family dilemmas.  I was always surprised about how many parents loaned money to adult children.  Some of these parents had other children, and believed that their assistance to one child should not be to the detriment of post-death financial gifts to their other children.  As we shall see and consider later, some parents are willing to forgive debt owed by potential heirs, and some are not.  Estate planning documents should clearly set out whether such debt existing at death is to be repaid or forgiven.

      CREATE A LIST OF YOUR HEIRS AND WHERE YOU WANT YOUR PROPERTY TO GO

      The most daunting task of preparing to draft documents might well be trying to decide who you want to be your heirs and where you want your money to go when you die.  I have worked with parents over the years who have several or more children, but yet due to family circumstances don’t necessarily want one or several of the children to receive assets.  The reasons for that decision can be many, including ire and wrath at adult children’s behaviors, or the fact that adult children received their bequest ahead of time by way of a necessary monetary gift and will now receive nothing when their parent is gone.  More on that later.

      That problem is then compounded by any special problems that are perceived to accompany any gift that you might give to any individual heir.  Such problems might include having an adult child with special needs.  Another issue which I have had clients encounter is the adult child who has no financial acumen at all, and who will probably just quickly blow through and waste any property which is given to them.  Other people desire to give minor grandchildren gifts through estate planning, even though their adult parent is still living.  Such desired gifts to grandchildren might have the planning motivation of providing the young child with funds for their college education.

      As we will discuss in a later chapter, I strongly believe that any Christian’s estate

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