About this time every year, I send a reminder to clients of the present and the past and to my personal friends as well, that they need to make certain that the documents that will govern the disposition of their estates are still in proper order and current with their wishes.
I suggest that you consider adopting this public service to be one that you do as well.
One of those reviews that is often overlooked, for an example, is who a client has listed on each of his life insurance policies, retirement plan trusts, Social Security account, and the like, to be at his death the beneficiaries of the corpuses of those accounts.
In most states the beneficiary designations that have been elected on those accounts -- for after all, properly prepared, they are legal contracts -- are not overridden by a conflicting designation in the person's will or trust.
So, for an example, the will may state that a person's entire estate will go to his wife at his death. But if his $250,000 life insurance policy lists someone else as the beneficiary of its proceeds, his wife will not receive that benefit.
A divorce, the death of a named beneficiary, or other circumstances that have changed since the documents were prepared, need to trigger thought and discussion with the proper professionals. Do there now need to be changes? Does the entire will or trust need to be rewritten?
Or how about this? Does there remain a need for continuing paying premiums on the Whole Life policy that was bought to make sure the children would be financially secure until they became adults?
One Certified Financial Planner, whose primary clientele are those who are retired, tells me that frequently when one of his clients dies, the surviving spouse will find that the deceased's life insurance still shows a former wife as the beneficiary. And that's to whom the life insurance company will pay the death benefits.
So the New Year soon will be here. It's the perfect time to make certain that we enter it with confidence that our personal business is in order. Send your clients and friends a reminder.
I use a printed 4.25 x 6.25 off-white card with matching envelope and with my names embossed at the top. I sign all of them.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS - PARK CITIES
Since 1964
214 503-8563
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