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Whether you are John D. Rockefeller, Sr. or not I would argue that the smaller the estate sometimes the more it matters. That home can really be valuable to the family. The retirement savings needs to be protected and needs to last.
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Greg McIntyre: Hi, this is Brett McIntyre with McIntyre Elder Law, coming to you from New York City. I’m talking about big town, small town, big estate, small estate, anywhere in between, it doesn’t matter. It’s all important. It’s important to do planning. I’m here at The Vessel, which is an amazing stairwell, and I’ll put some footage in of The Vessel as well at the end of this so you can see it. We’ve got the Hudson in the background. What a great city. What a great view, and I mean, I guarantee you within a few miles of where I’m standing, there are a lot of people with very, very large estates that need very, very in depth and extensive estate planning.
Greg McIntyre: But it’s really no different, even if you have a smaller estate or anywhere in between. Still, you start with foundational work. You get all your foundations knocked out. I would even argue that a smaller estate is more important to home, keeping that home in the family, using that for the family to use as a financial asset to own that for the rest of your life. That could be even more important to you with a smaller estate than with a really, really multimillion dollar or billion dollar estate, such as some of the people around us have. That could change the trajectory of a family, send a grandchild to college.
Greg McIntyre: Even in a large estate, you still need to start with foundations, the same as in any range. Foundational work, I say, is general durable power of attorney, which allows somebody to handle your finances for you if you’re incompetent or incapacitated, healthcare power of attorney, living will and will. All those things are extremely important. And then you could get into things like deed planning to protect, say a ladybird deed on the house, maybe a life estate deed on other property that you have in addition to the house or decide whether you want it to go into a little more complex trust planning. But trust planning really depends on assets and goals.
Greg McIntyre: Let’s say I had a farm that I wanted to stay in my family for generations and I didn’t want any of my knucklehead kids to turn it into a golf course or sell it off for development. I might want to put that in trust. If I wanted to protect my retirement, maybe some of my real estate, my home, I can put that in trust. Whether I have longterm care insurance can factor into this entire equation such as if I have longterm care insurance to pay for five years of assisted or nursing home care, then I’m not as concerned about locking everything down right now protecting me. But if I don’t, I might want to use something like an irrevocable trust or I might call it a Medicaid asset protection trust to really protect the home and maybe some other property and retirement assets so that those would be there for the rest of my life and then also would be there for my children and grandchildren’s lives.
Greg McIntyre: We engage in that planning all the time. The real failure is not to engage in planning. Do you think that the people that built these buildings and that designed this city didn’t engage in some long range planning? I guarantee you they did. To achieve great things, you have to plan, and you can certainly start small. We help people with small, medium, and large estates and anywhere in between, and we’re happy to do that. I’m Greg McIntyre with McIntyre Elder Law, just talking about big town, small town, large estate, small estate, it doesn’t matter. Planning is the key. If you want any help, you can reach us at 704-749-9244 or online at MCElderLaw.com/EstatePlanning. Have a great day.
Greg McIntyre: Joe Juniors, Joe Juniors. And what neighborhood are we in? We’re not at Union Square yet. Greenwich? Greenwich Village? Joe Juniors in Greenwich Village. This is breakfast with Drew. Say hey, Drew. He looks so stoic. Pretty much just eat what Drew eats. Drew’s a lot healthier than I am. This is probably one of my oldest friends in the world, and I can’t remember not knowing Drew. He’s taking time off of his busy international travels. We’re hanging out in New York City for the weekend, for a few days. He really does smile.
Drew: You got to take the snack shop whenever you can get it.
Greg McIntyre: Not too different than a snack shop, Joe Juniors.
