As Ben Franklin said ..."an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” - Estate Planning - Power of Attorney

Over the past few months we have run into clients who never thought they would need a Power of Attorney (POA). Without notice, they found themselves with a family member in crisis and they were unable to act for the family member as they felt they needed. People should know age or perceived health were not really factors either.

One client was a nurse whose husband suffered an aneurism in his brain. He was in his 40's and had some medical issues but leading a normal life. He collapsed one night and spent several weeks in a coma. When he came out of it, he was unable to communicate. She did not have a POA. Throughout the worst times, the client was unable to access health insurance records and medical records due to HIPPA and lacking a POA. Other basic decisions became harder to execute. Fortunately, he worked his way back to be able to grant a POA a couple months after the event.
 
Another client found herself trying to care for one parent with severe Alzheimer's Disease after the other parent died. The parents only gave POA's to each other. Fortunately, the ill parent was already in a care facility. The main problem was paying for it. All the parent's money was instantly locked up because the only person authorizes to make decisions just passed and the living parent had no capacity to make decisions. At that point, the only way to gain authority to make decisions for the court to appoint an guardian for the parent. 

The legal cost for appointing a guardian was thousands of dollars. Depending on the law firm and the complexity of the POA, a POA would have cost between $100 - $1,000; well below the thousands needed for the guardianship action. Also, my client had to advance the costs of the care facility, which was 10's of thousands, until the court granted my client the authority to recover her money from her parent's accounts.

While a POA may not avoid all needs for a guardianship proceeding, it definitely can make the transition easier and can lessen the stress and urgency of the matter. Also, a POA may never be used. But when you need it, you really need it and it is too late then if you don't have it. Prevent making a family crisis worse. Talk to an attorney about this vital legal tool; a Power of Attorney.

If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Mark M. Medvesky or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.

 #bankruptcy Chapter7 #Chapter13 #MontgomeryCounty #lawfirm #BucksCounty #Pennsylvania    

Powers-of-Attorney, Wills,Trusts; Agents, Executors, Trustees - What do they do and when do they do it?

Many people are not clear on the differences between Powers-of-Attorney, Wills, and Trusts. This is a quick basic explanation. I hope it helps.

A Power-of-Attorney (POA) is a document that grants one person the authority to take action and enter into commitments for another person. The person giving the authority is known as the Principal. The person given and exercising the POA is known as the Agent for the Principal. The POA is only good while the Principal is living. Once Principal passes, the POA is extinguished.

A Will is a document that directs the distribution of a person's assets, their things, after they pass.  The person having the Will prepared for their assets is the Testator. The Executor oversees the distribution. The property of the deceased is the Estate. The handling of the Estate is known as administering the Estate or the Administration of the Estate. A Will has no effect until the Testator passes.

A Trust is an agreement between a property owner and a second person or entity to take possession of the property and maintain it for the benefit and use of a third person, group of people, or an organization. The property owner establishing the Trust is the Settlor. The property usually includes money and investment accounts. It can include real property and other assets as well. The person who manages the Trust is a Trustee. The Trustee owes a special duty to the Settlor. It I called a fiduciary relationship. The Trust can be established before or after the settlor's death.

This a simple description to help people understand the basic concepts.  If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Mark M. Medvesky or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.


#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare #Trusts 

 

Estate Planning - Anyone who has life insurance and kids probably should set up a Trust ...

People seem to think only "rich" people need to set up Trusts for their families. Terms like "irrevocable," "testamentary," "special needs," pour-over," "unfunded," and "living" related to the word "Trust" generally sends shivers down people's spines and crosses their eyes. The purpose of the Trust and the people who are the beneficiaries will determine the complexity of the trust. But what I am talking about here is pretty basic.

Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many middle class parents have life insurance to protect their family if something happens to them. Most have the policies through their jobs. The value of the policies can run from $100,000 to $500,000. Usually, they name their spouse as the primary beneficiary. Sometimes they name their children as alternate beneficiaries and sometimes they do not name a secondary beneficiary at all.

If a tragic accident strikes and the parents of minor children died at the same time, what will happen to the insurance money without a trust? There is a real risk in Pennsylvania the money will be deposited into a sequestered account. That means the minor children and/or their caretakers will have limited or no access to the money. Then, as soon as the minors turn 18,  they will receive the entire sum. If both mom and dad had $250,000 of life insurance, the children would receive their share of the money at 18 with no controls, restrictions, or safeguards on the funds. Would you trust your 18 year-old child with $500,000?

If parents want to help guide their children financially even after they are gone, they can do it through an unfunded trust agreement. Basically, they have a trust agreement drafted to accept the proceeds of their insurance policy should their primary beneficiary (their spouse) not be alive at the time the policy pays out. The money would be paid into the trust and managed by a trustee.

The trust is a list of directions on how the money will be used for the support of the children and when they will receive control of the money itself. Parents can give the cash to them when the kids are as young as 18 or as old as they want. The money can be held in a trust until the beneficiaries turn 30 if the settlor wants. 

The trustee can be another family member, someone the settlor has a relationship with, or a professional trust manager or institution like a bank. The trustee is the gatekeeper and manages the money. A simple trust can help protect a young adult from wasting money before they are ready to properly manage it.

If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Mark M. Medvesky or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.
#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare #Trusts 

Military - Special Needs Trust for diabled military children

MOAA Reported; "Special Needs Trust Update" - http://bit.ly/1POdKqR - allowing military members and retirees the option of directing their " Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) payments to a Special Needs Trust (SNT) for permanently disabled children." Up until last year, this could not be done. That meant disable children would lose access to other public benefits. Now parents can use their survivor benefits to supplement their child's income instead of replacing it. It is a short article. If you know someone that may benefit from the new law, encourage them to talk to an attorney to help with their estate planning.

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Mark M. Medvesky or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.

#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare #Trusts 

Power-of-Attorney: They may be your "babies" ... but they aren't babies anymore

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This is the time when college students are packing up and leaving home for the school year. For those who are becoming "empty nesters." many things are changing for them. One of those things is their legal role in their children's lives. Their children have become adults as far as the law is concerned.

If something happens now and parents need to intervene, they may not be able to do so just because they are parents. HIPPA and other privacy laws may now apply to them. Also, the new college students are adults and are bound to their agreements. If someone wants or needs to assist the student with something like dealing with an apartment lease, that person, even a parent, my need to be granted the power to negotiate a resolution. Parents may no longer exercise power by virtue of being a parent.

One way to gain that power is for the child to give Power-of-Attorney to his or her parents. This will allow parents to step in to assist during an emergency. This may be a good time to talk to your "baby" about Powers-of-Attorney and their value. This is a document that is better to have and not need it than to need it and not have it. To find out more, talk to an attorney.

 If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Mark M. Medvesky or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.

#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare #Trusts 

Estate Planning: Debunking Some Myths and Considering Your Legacy

Original  article by R. Kurtz (Kurt) Holloway from our website:

A well thought-out estate plan is important. A plan offers you the opportunity to make decisions and do things that will give you peace of mind. Similarly, it will spare your family and loved ones unnecessary stress, confusion and other unpleasant experiences and help avoid arguments between family members. Further, your plan sends a message about how much you cared for people, your favorite charity or both. A plan is part of the legacy you leave.



Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Unfortunately, people have some common misconceptions about estate planning. Debunking the myths gets us on the road to achieving all of these benefits. Some of the more common myths include:

Myth 1: Estate planning is only for wealthy people.
 
Myth 2: Estate planning is complicated.

Myth 3: You need a will to prevent your estate from being taken by the government when you die.

Myth 4: Your estate plan should focus on how to save the most taxes.
 
Myth 5: Estate planning is expensive.
 
Myth 6: Estate planning is only about distributing your assets.

Kurt's article discusses the Myths in greater detail. Check it out. If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about R. Kurtz Holloway or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.

#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare 

Setting up a Trust - Why should I let someone else manage my money?

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many people find it hard to talk about the end of their life and how to handle their estate. Thinking about how to leave money to a child is generally a tough conversation. The idea of giving control of their life savings to a third party seems counter-intuitive. On top of that, there is generally a management fee that goes along with the trust. So why do it? Why not just give it to the children?
Well, did you see this headline on Yahoo Finance?

"22-year-old college student blows her $90,000 college fund and blames her parents" The article outlines a radio interview conducted by the Atlanta radio show “The Bert Show.” Excerpts from the article and interview:

"The woman, a 22-year-old college junior named Kim, ... she had managed to blow through a $90,000 college fund left to her by her grandparents. Kim has one year left of school and no way to cover her remaining $20,000 tuition balance."

...

“Maybe [my parents] should have taught me to budget or something. They never sat me down and had a real serious talk about it.”

...

“[My parents] said there was nothing they could do for me. They’re not being honest with me saying they don't have [money] because my dad has worked for like a million years and they have a retirement account.”

I truly do not believe this type of behavior is limited to our younger generation. The idea of creating Trusts has been around for quite some time. This case illustrates one good reason to consider creating a Trust rather giving the entire amount to a young adult.

If this young lady's grandparents would have placed this money in a Trust, they could have protected the girl from herself and provided her with the guidance she blames her parents for failing to provide her. They could have placed a mature individual or a financial institution to guide her and ensure she maximized the use of her gift for its intended purpose; school. The costs of managing the Trust may have been greater but the result would probably been more favorable.

 If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Mark M. Medvesky or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.

#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare #Trusts 

So They Could Stay Together - The Importance of a Power of Attorney

So They Could Stay Together

The importance of a power of attorney

One day a realtor acquaintance, Bert, called me from the home of an elderly couple, Hank and Martha Smith, who had contacted him about selling their house to move into a nearby senior living facility. They needed the money from their house to afford that. During the meeting, Bert realized Martha did not understand the conversation. When he had a chance to pull Hank aside, he asked him if Martha was capable of signing a listing contract. Hank admitted Martha had Alzheimer’s disease, but he assumed he could sign everything for both of them since he had no trouble signing his name on checks for their joint checking account and the house was in joint names.  Bert explained to Hank that he could not sign documents on Martha’s behalf to sell their house without a POA.

Hank sighed and said, "We’ve been married for 60 years and have never lived apart, but Martha needs specialized care soon. I can’t take care of her myself, as much as I want to do so. We need to sell our home, so we can stay together and she can get the care she needs."

Bert wanted to help this nice couple sell their house and knew they needed legal help so he called me from their house. After explaining the situation to me, Bert put Hank on the phone. I told Hank I could help them so he made an appointment.

When we met, Hank asked me if I could prepare a POA for this wife to sign. I explained in order for a POA to be valid, a person must have the mental capacity to fully understand what it means to grant someone the power to sign legal documents for her, including those needed to sell her property. This is known as being legally competent. A person who is not legally competent cannot make a valid power of attorney, and it is ethically improper for an attorney to knowingly facilitate this.

I told Hank about the several instances in the past when I declined to prepare POAs because I believed the person did not have the necessary mental capacity, but if Hank believed Martha was competent, he could ask her doctor to write a letter stating this and then I could prepare the POA.  Hank said that he knew Martha's mind was too confused to understand things. He then asked me what he could do.

I explained, "You could be appointed guardian for Martha but for that to happen you will have to...read more

If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about R. Kurtz Holloway or Wells, Hoffman, Holloway & Medvesky LLP, check out our website at www.whhmlaw.com.

#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare 

Estate Planning - Think Inside the (3) Boxes

A couple of weeks ago I had a conference with a middle-aged couple to review their old wills. They have children and grandchildren They came in with an estate distribution plan in mind which was straight-forward. We had an easy conversation about their children and grandchildren and about their assets. What I learned helped me to offer a few simple suggestions without complicating their plan. This helped them think of a few details for their wills that they had not considered. They liked the ideas and ask me to include those in the new wills they wanted me to prepare.

Then I raised a couple of the most important questions I ask all of my estate planning clients:

Do you have assets like life insurance, retirement plans or annuities that have beneficiary designations?

Do you own property jointly?

The answer to both of these questions is often "yes."

Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

That is the point in our conversation that I show my clients a very simple and effective estate planning tool which I created. It is a chart with 3 boxes on it. One box is for assets with beneficiary designations, one is for joint assets and one is for everything else. I explain that all of their assets can be put in one of those three boxes. Clients can now see how some assets are controlled by their wills and others are not.

This is often an "ah-ha" moment. Clients then understand the steps they need to take to connect all three boxes into a coherent plan. I can honestly say that every time I am finished explaining my "3-box" chart, folks tell me how helpful it was. I then give them the chart to take home with them along with specific ideas for them to finish the plan, like updating beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement plans and annuities.

Estate planning can be simple. We just want to be sure it is complete.

If you want want to know more about R. Kurtz Holloway, check out: http://www.whhslaw.com/attorneys/r-kurtz-holloway


#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #Montgomery_County #Souderton #Pottstown #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare 

Power of Attorney (POA) and "Living Will" - "I'm young ... I don't need those."

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That's what I hear from a good deal of my client's in their 30's, 40's, and even in their early 50's. Recently, I received a call from someone to ask for legal advice. Her brother was divorced, had a young child, was in his early 40's, and a construction worker. A couple weeks ago, a large piece of equipment collapsed and fell on top of him.

He suffered a traumatic brain injury, paralysis from the upper chest down, and was on life-support in critical care in the hospital. The prognosis was bad and the man's doctors really needed decisions on care. But instead of having one person appointed to make medical decisions to work with the doctors, the family broke out into a battle on who was going to determine what care would be authorized and the doctors were forced to extend what some family members felt was a painful and lingering death.

The family member that contacted me was doing so to commence the legal proceeding necessary to fight for the authority to make these medical decisions as well as other legal decisions for the severely injured worker. For a few hundred dollars of legal planning, the family would have saved the thousands it is getting ready spend on a legal battle. Also, the family has not been able to make any legal decisions or transactions while the victim has been incapacitated, like transfer money, exercise employee benefits, etc.

If this ends the way the family and doctors believe, the next fight will be over the estate. I understand there is no Will either. There were reasons I could not take the case. So my understanding of it is very basic. This is a tragic situation and a hardship on the family on many levels. A person is never too young to plan for the worst.

For a more detailed explanation of a Will, Power-of-Attorney, and a Healthcare Declaration/Living Will, check out our Estate Planning page http://medveskylaw.blogspot.com/p/wills-powers-of-attorney-living.html here and our website http://www.medveskylaw.com/Estate-Planning/Wills-Living-Wills-And-Powers-Of-Attorney.shtml

If you want assistance, legal representation, or just want to know more about Medvesky Law Office, LLC, check out our website at www.medveskylaw.com.

#Bucks_County #lawyer #lawyers, #MontgomeryCounty #Souderton #Law_Firm #Wills #Power-of-Attorney #Living_Will #Healthcare 

Retirement Funds - Have you ever heard of the 4% rule?

Like many people, I haven't been focused on retirement either. Coming up on my second year of having my own office I have been more focused on paying bills and keeping things running. Also, I hope to work well into my 60's and maybe my 70's if I build a practice and firm that allows it. So I haven't paid much attention to retirement myself.

While I was going through the headlines on line-this weekend, I found this article: Retirement: Is the 4% rule still relevant? http://usat.ly/1BlLyVW It talks about the rule of thumb that retired people should not withdraw more than 4% a year from their retirement accounts once they retire. Of course other factors need to be considered but it gives you a good point to start planning.

So why am I talking about it here? I'm not a financial planner and do not pretend to be. But I found it interesting. I never really knew how to value some of the benefits I've already vested in. After conversations with financial people, the only question I was asked, "How much do you need to live on in retirement?" I don't know ... one thing I do know is I don't plan to live in a 4 bedroom house after I retire and that is my biggest expense now.

But if I use this 4% rule, I know what I should be able to draw out of my saving and estimate a value to my other benefits. For instance, the way I see it anyway, a social security benefit of about $20,000 per year after I reach 65 y/o is similar to have saving $500,000 ($500,000 x .04). So if someone has this amount of benefit and they save another $250,000 in an IRA or 401K, they can plan about $30,000 a year in retirement funds and it is about the same as someone who saved $750,000 with no social security benefit (like someone who was self employed their entire work life).

But this also touches several parts of my practice. When people come to talk about estate planning... Wills, POA's and Trusts. This can give you an idea of what to put into a trust and what you can expect to have left when you pass.

Retirement funds are also relevant in divorce cases. Dividing the assets is part of divorce. This rule can be used to estimate how much a person will need to make up to retire after a divorce. It gives a point to begin new planning.

It is also important when we talk about Bankruptcy and debt. One of the mistakes people make when they are in debt is to start drawing down their retirement funds. Also, parents need to think about their retirement funds as they look to co-sign school loans or bail their kids out of other debt. So considering how much you need in saving to draw a decent monthly figure, bailing out s child with retirement money may not be your best option and co-signing a student loan, a non dischargeable loan, may be too big of a financial burden to accept.

So the 4% rule is a good starting point for a few different conversations. If a financial planner comes across this blog, I welcome further comment. I know I probably over-simplified this rule and retirement planning overall. But I still think a good place to start.

Learn more about my firm Medvesky Law Office, LLC at http://www.medveskylaw.com/

Planning to maximize your Social Security Benefits

Image courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Like many people, as I age, I think more and more about what my life is going to look like after retirement. One of the main components of retirement, I  think, is social security. I know too many people rely too heavily on this benefit but we should understand it no matter what.


I've listened to senior family members discuss Medicare, Part A and Part B coverage, the "doughnut hole" and prescription prices. But I never heard anyone talk about when to start benefits in general. I have been looking into social security myself. I know the decisions I make will impact me the rest of my retirement. I'm not close to retirement but I feel I may be starting a little late myself.  Here are a couple articles I found recently I thought might be helpful to people finding this blog:


"How Social Security works" - http://bit.ly/1qaoiI0
"How much do you understand your Social Security Benefits"  http://bit.ly/1xGhRw0
"How Social Security raise impacts retirees" - http://bit.ly/14wUE5Q


At some point I will seek advice from a financial professional. I know people hesitate to do this. I hesitate myself even though I know how important professional advice is and want people to come to me for related advice. I think people feel like it is an unnecessary cost, maybe a little embarrassed about how they have handled their money over their life, they can handle it themselves, they don't have enough money to warrant professional planning, etc. I have some of these feelings.


But I can tell you one thing for sure; through my practice, I know failing to plan for retirement is a harder problem to fix after you retire than it is approaching retirement. So if you haven't started thinking about, the articles listed above might be a good place to start. After your research, consider talking to a financial professional. If you don't know one, talk to friends, co-workers or other professionals you do know to refer you to someone you can trust. You can include attorney in this planning because this will lead into your estate planning as well.


NOTE: I apologize for a gap in my postings. I had major computer issues over the last week or so and all my attention has been focused on work-arounds to work and getting my computer fixed. I hope to be back on regular schedule this week. Also, I'm having issues uploading photos to this blog as well.

Are you ready to take care of your parents?

Talking about the future care of a parent can be one of the hardest conversations people have especially if the parents are included in the conversation. It seems parents are reluctant to explain their finances to their children and children are feel they are intruding if they push. This can lead to unexpected expenses later in life for adult children.


Image courtesy of photostock
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"A third of family caregivers spend over $10K a year," according to recent a article in the USA Today.  "About a third of family caregivers spend more than 30 hours a week on caregiving tasks, a new survey shows. And about a third spend more than $10,000 a year on caregiving expenses, such as medications, medical bills, in-home care and in some cases senior housing." http://usat.ly/1qKWLMs

This is a short article. It might be just the ice-breaker someone needs to start a dialogue with the family. If families can get their parents to open up earlier, it could make their parents' remaining years much more comfortable.

Putting money on the long shot ...

As the life expectancy increases and our savings drop, there is a good deal of talk about having a retirement fund to last as long as we do.   With that in mind, the US Treasury started pushing a new type of annuity. I came across this article on Bloomberg.com; "Betting on Getting to 80: Draw $40,000 a Year Forever, If You Don't Die First" http://bloom.bg/UwlTIb

"With $125,000, a 60-year-old man can buy a policy from New York Life that guarantees an income of almost $45,000 a year starting at age 80. The same $125,000 in a regular retirement account would need to grow at the unlikely rate of 11 percent a year from age 60 to 80 to provide that income, assuming 4 percent is withdrawn annually after age 80."

The new risk you face is not living long enough. "Those who die early help pay for those who live into their 90s and later." Every place you look and everyone you talk to talk about the risk of out-living your retirement savings. First came long term care insurance. This seems like a logical step as life expectancy increases. It surely is not for everyone and I'm not sure how I feel about tying up money for this long but definitely worth considering.

Estate Planning; planning for the unexpected as well as the inevitable ...

When I talk to clients about their Wills and related documents, they almost always approach it as if they have decades to live and they will have plenty of notice before they go off peacefully in their sleep. Let's face it, we all want to go that way and I believe that is a healthy belief. But we all know life doesn't always work that way and I need to get them to think about other possibilities.

This point was driven home for me personally this month through the tragic and violent death of my wife's cousins. In an instant, a truck crossed the center line and collided head on with their car as they were traveling to the shore for the weekend. In that moment, an elderly father lost his only two children, middle age-men lost their wives, and two young adults lost their mother.

When a generation of heirs are removed at one time, poorly planned estate documents can fail to fulfill your intentions. I'm not saying that is the case here because I don't know anything about the planning. I'm just commenting generally. This type of catastrophic event must be considered  when making these plans and this is the type of legal counsel we give when helping our clients.

But as we mourned with the family, I realized we may be missing an important part of planning by only discussing the legal aspect of this. When I started this post, all the possibilities for failure of an estate plan were swirling around my head. I planned to talk about that in more detail.  But as I have been going through this with my wife and her family I decided I want to jump to another area. The more personal side. There are things I mention in passing when I meet with people. But sometimes I feel could be intruding. I tell people, usually when talking about living wills and powers-of-attorney, the purpose of these documents are to make it easier for their family during times of crisis and emotional distress. But that counsel fails to capture the full gravity of unexpected end of life events.

To say our family was under a great deal of emotional stress would be an understatement. But this is not first time I've had a family member pass. All my grandparents have passed and I helped my Grandpa, Uncle and Dad plan my Grandma's funeral and memorial, and my Uncle and Dad with my Grandpa's, and finally my Dad's with my Sister and my Dad's significant other.

This time it seemed different. First of all, it was the matriarchs of two different families. They were the "doers" and "organizers" for the family. They maintained the rhythm of daily family life. The survivors were the Father, Husband/Son-in-Law, and a Grandchild/Child for each family.

Because of their ages, I suspect they never discussed what type of arrangement they would like for their memorials and I'm pretty sure there was little pre-planning as to funeral homes and such. The resulting memorials were something the family should be proud of and I'm sure the women would have been honored by the thought and effort the family expended to honor them.

But my point is watching them trying to put this together to honor their daughters/wives/mothers was like looking at a piece of torn fabric ... frayed ... damaged ... weakened ... so desperately trying to keep it together through their grief while trying to bring family and friends together. I could  not help thinking times like this could be just a little bit easier if people discuss funeral and memorial plans with their families.

That sounds relatively simple, right? While reminiscing with my wife about her cousins and in the spirit of my thoughts to discuss the end, I said to my wife, "At this time of my life, if I was to die suddenly, I would like to be buried in my [Air Force] uniform." I thought, good start and simple enough to follow and it was just one little aspect that I just took care of. Her response was, "Which one and where is it?" I know I want to be buried in my service dress uniform. She saw me in woodland camouflage, desert camouflage, and various blues uniforms. She has no reason to know which uniform let alone have any clue where all the items for my service dress are. So my "simple" request created several new questions for her. Maybe not so simple?

As a result, I have a new perspective on planning on the unexpected. I think planning on the inevitable is pretty standard. After this experience, my goal is to spend a little more time on the unexpected. It may not be a legal issue but I hope my clients benefit from the discussion.

(I apologize if this is a little disjointed and lengthy. I am trying to discuss a sensitive topic through a personal experience in a respectful and helpful manner)

DIY Lawyerin' - will you really save money?

"Do-it-Yourself" Lawyerin' can be a dangerous thing if not done right. I know many people think of attorneys as affluent but I am simply a small business owner and a new one at that. I understand clients are strapped and want to save money. But I could never recommend a person go it alone. I don't mind counseling clients in a way to help them do some of the work themselves but there is definitely a risk. Furthermore, some cases should not be done without the direct assistance of counsel.

One of the most common things I find clients can do and can do well is dividing the property during a divorce. When parties are open about their finances and can negotiate with each other, they usually can do it rather well. What I consider the right way to do this is for the couple to discuss the property split. Once they think they know what they want, one of them should contact an attorney to get help drafting the agreement.

After the document is written, the drafting party passes it to the other spouse. KEY: The second spouse needs to read it carefully and then take it to their attorney to ensure it says what they think and want it to say. Also, the attorney may find issues not address at all.

This process places both parties on equal footing. At this point, adults are free to give up or hold out for what they want. This is a way to cut legal fees while protecting yourself. I've had at least one client who filed the divorce himself, used me to draft the agreement, and finished all the other filings on his own. He saved a great deal of money on all the work he completed himself.

Unfortunately, I've had several people come into my office over the last year who allowed the other party draft the property agreement and never sought an attorney review. They ended up giving up assets they didn't mean to or address issues that caused them grief months after the divorce was finalized. They swapped a few hundred dollars for an attorney review for several thousands of dollars of litigation with a questionable probability of success. What is that saying? "A penny wise and pound foolish."

I have a client that wanted to participate in the administration of her mother estate to save money on fees. We worked out a plan and she was able to do some work to cut costs and I'm earning a decent fee. It wasn't the most time efficient method but it seems the client is happy.

I've also had clients come in with of documents (forms) that some just needed a little tweaking while others needed to start from scratch.  In these cases, savings obviously varied.

Other ways you can help conserve money when dealing with an attorney are by preparing your questions and building a list of questions to ask at one time either over the telephone or during the next meeting; listen to the answers before going on to your next question; answer your attorneys' questions openly (remember we are not judging you, we are analyzing your case), and by being prepared to hear an unbiased opinion and evaluation of your case. These things can help you use your time with your attorney more efficiently resulting in lower attorneys' fees.

Of course there are cases people should have legal assistance handling such as serious criminal charges, actively contested and litigation cases, and anything people don't completely understand. Because the stakes are so high in cases like this, people really need to consider hiring a lawyer.

While there are things you can do on your own and ways to decrease costs, I would never suggest doing so without any legal counsel on any matters. Without legal counsel, you run a greater risk of missing issues; losing rights and creating a situation that will cost even more in legal fees. And clearly there are some matters a party should not do themselves at all.

Medvesky Law Office, LLC is a general practice law firm serving clients in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Medvesky Law Office, LLC (http://www.medveskylaw.com/)   is a general practice  law firm serving clients in Southeastern Pennsylvania. We focus on Consumer Bankruptcy; Immigration; Wills/Living Wills/Power of Attorney; and Family Law. We can also assist clients with real estate deals, business issues, and criminal cases.

Firm Philosophy: We are dedicated to building authentic relationships with our clients, whether we are providing full-service representation or limited scope of service. Our goal is to make the process run as smoothly as possible while establishing trust and respect with each of our unique clients.