Friday, May 20, 2011

Recent Press Coverage of Estate Planning (May 20, 2011)

Kelley Greene and Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the Wall Street Journal report that as baby boomers enter retirement, abuse of documents known as financial powers of attorney is increasing. According to the article, it takes careful planning to bulletproof these legal documents and improve the chances that banks and other financial institutions will honor them. See Power Grab! (May 14, 2011).

Deborah L. Jacobs of Forbes writes that estate planning affects women more profoundly than men, in large part because they usually outlive their spouses and have lower lifetime earnings. Without proper estate planning, women are far more likely to see their living standards compromised in retirement. For these reasons, Jacobs offers a list of estate planning questions every woman should be able to answer. See Estate Planning for Women (And the Men Who Love Them) (May 19, 2011).

Rob Clarfeld of Forbes provides several reasons why do-it-yourself estate planning is a bad idea, pointing out, for example, that legal requirements for a valid will vary from state to state. He notes that people who do their own legal planning may think everything is fine, but after their death their family and loved ones have to deal with the consequences of an inadequate estate plan. See Do It Yourself Estate Planning – A Uniquely Bad Idea! (May 17, 2011).

Paul Sullivan of the New York Times reports that the wealthy are hesitant to take advantage of unusually high gift tax exemptions, in part because they don’t want to give their money away in case they need it later, and in part because they don’t want to take away their children’s incentive to work. Some are building incentive provisions into trusts, such as income-matching distributions, but those have potential downsides too. See Wealthy Hesitate to Take a Break on Estate Taxes (May 13, 2011).