Estate Planning

Beneficiary Designation Debacle

Published on: January 15, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

If your beneficiaries are out-of-date, when you die, your assets could go [to] the wrong people – a former spouse, for example – no matter what your will says.

Often, the biggest mistakes we can make when it comes to our estate planning are also some of the easiest to prevent. For example, the consequences of failing to update your beneficiary designations can be catastrophic, while the “fix” is as easy as a phone call or completing a paper (or online) form.

A recent Forbes article titled “The Big Estate-Planning Goof You May Be Making” puts the importance of proper beneficiary designations in perspective.

Four Business Succession Questions Houstonians Need to Ask

Published on: January 14, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

While your goal might be to attract the most qualified buyer that will pay the asking price and lead the company on a path of continued success, it is what you expect of your life post-sale that should constitute how you execute the deal.

Done right, a business succession or sale requires the ability to ask the right questions, let alone have the right answers. And there is no shortage of good questions to ask of yourself, your company, your family, and of course, the potential buyer.

Fortunately, a recent article in The Business Journals titled “Key questions to ask when planning to sell your business” will give you a head start on the questions, but you must supply the answers.

Money Talks With Your Parents

Published on: January 9, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Aging parents need to establish a plan and communicate it with their adult kids — and adult kids need to ask their parents about their finances.

In our own lives, our parents start and run the money conversations from that first allowance to gearing up for those college loans and beyond. Later in life, the roles are reversed and our elderly parents might need a money conversation about their own future and well-being. Unfortunately, to make that conversation happen, it may be up to the adult children to take the lead.

Yes, it is truly a role reversal and often an important one. How do you start “the talk” and get it right?

Estate Planning Resolutions for Houston Families

Published on: January 8, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Here are the must-do estate-plan tasks you should get done now.

What's on your list of New Year's resolutions? Yes, it's that time of year yet again. In addition to the normal list of diet, exercise and the sort — did "estate planning" make the list for 2014?

We all know that an estate plan is a matter of personal responsibility. No one truly can plan your estate for you, at least like you would. Trouble is, you might know what needs to get done, and you might have put it on that master to-do list, but you still need to have the resolve to get it done. For many of us, estate planning is that perennial subject on the to-do list.

Inheritance Planning On Both Sides

Published on: January 7, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

"You cannot predict what may happen between now and receiving an inheritance," said Ireland. "The earlier you start preparing, the more financially secure your own retirement is likely to be."

Planning for an inheritance can be a tricky endeavor, for both givers and receivers. On one side, the giver has to make appropriate arrangements for their estate in order to fulfill their wishes and bequests. And on the other side, the future heirs have to consider how they intend to handle their gifts. Both need to be prepared if there is an unforeseen change of plans.

According to a recent CNN Money article titled “Average American inheritance: $177,000,” it is a tale of two facts:

Talk To Your Houston Heirs About Their Inheritance

Published on: January 1, 2014 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

For many people, estate planning is both a private matter and morbid topic – not something that parents want to discuss with their adult children. While having such conversations takes a lot of courage, families that speak freely about these delicate issues can avoid problems down the line.

Thinking about your estate, setting up your estate plan, and carrying out your wishes is not the entire process of estate planning. You really must take this process one step further.

You need to take the still more difficult and under-practiced step: discussing your estate and your estate plan with your heirs and loved ones.

Houston Families: Pass The Assets, But Don’t Drop The Ball

Published on: December 20, 2013 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

A comprehensive estate plan ensures that wills, trusts, ownership forms and beneficiary designations are in sync with your wishes. Is your plan up-to-date?

As the old adage puts it, most folks do not “plan to fail, they just fail to plan.” In this sense, leaving an inheritance behind can get a bit tricky and can take some expert guidance to do it well.

This business of leaving an inheritance was taken up by Forbes recently in an article titled “How To Inherit Wealth Without Screwing Up.” (Incidentally, it is hard to inherit wealth without screwing it up, but this piece has far more to do with the ways you can leave it behind and screw it up, in spite of the title).

Planning For Your Own “Brady Bunch” in Houston

Published on: December 6, 2013 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

When Carol and Mike Brady got together on the classic TV show "The Brady Bunch," there wasn't a lot of discussion about how the couple would handle things like updating their life insurance policies to reflect their new, blended family, or covering the cost of things like braces and college tuition for their six kids.

Blended families, however loving, oftentimes have more than a few things to address when it comes to financial and estate planning. The modern day "Brady Bunch" brings about many planning obstacles.

Indeed, the challenges faced by the blended family are frequently discussed in professional financial and legal circles. In part, this is because blended families are the new normal. If your family is “blended,” then it is only prudent to consider any tips regarding common challenges you may face.

Your Houston Business Exit: By Design Or By Default?

Published on: November 18, 2013 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

What will be the most likely exit scenario from your business when the time comes?

If you own a small business, what will your last day at work be like? What is your exit strategy? The answer hinges on whether your exit will be by design or by default.

To exit your business by design requires coordinating your personal estate with the estate of the business. Oftentimes the two are intertwined. Ask yourself the question recently posed in the title of a recent Forbes article: “How Will You Leave Your Small Business The Last Time?”

Houston Parents Should Share Financial And Estate Plans With Family Members

Published on: November 15, 2013 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Give a copy of your wills, trusts and powers of attorney (financial and health care) to anyone named or authorized to act on your behalf, and store the originals at home; otherwise, your children could have trouble getting them at the critical time.

The best laid plans of mice and men alike may fall apart in the face of chance. On the other hand, many plans fail because key participants to the plan are unaware that there is a plan. Call it a “failure to communicate.”

If you have put your financial and estate house in order, then it will all be for naught if your heirs are caught unaware.