ABA’s new book “Wills and Estate Administration”

ABA’s new book “Wills and Estate Administration”

   By Kenneth Vercammen, Esq.

Straightforward and to-the-point, Wills and Estate Administration provides step-by-step guidance that firms can use to handle all aspects of an estates practice, from initial client intake to closing the file. Topics are defined in six parts for ease of use:

   Preparation for Wills/Estate Planning Interviews

   Interviewing Clients

   Additional Estate Planning Issues

   Estate Administration

   Guardianship of Disabled or Incompetent Parents

   Marketing Your Wills and Estate Administration Practice

     Making this an essential resource for solo and small firm practitioners, the author includes numerous forms for each topic, and they are also available for download online. The book is basic and written to help new and transitional attorneys. In addition, tips on practice management will help seasoned attorneys.

Author: Kenneth A Vercammen Edison, NJ

Sponsor: Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division

Publisher: ABA Book Publishing

   List Price: $79.95


ABA Price: $69.95

ISBN: 978-1-63425-380-2

Product Code: 5150484

2015, 290 pages, 7 x 10, Paperback

    

http://shop.americanbar.org/eBus/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=224827061

ABA Service Hotline
 800-285-2221
312-988-5000


   Sample chapter available http://shop.americanbar.org

"Have just finished Ken Vercammen's excellent book on Wills, Estate Administration, and Guardianship. It is a very practical book that examines the business of an estate and trust practice. This step-by-step analysis is complete with forms and helps even the seasoned practitioner streamline his practice."

-Thomas D. Begley, Jr., Esq., Begley Law Office, NJ

About the Author: Kenneth A. Vercammen is a trial attorney in Edison, NJ. He is co-chair of the ABA Probate & Estate Planning Law Committee of the American Bar Association Solo Small Firm Division.  The is the author of the ABA book “Wills and Estate Administration, available at http://shop.americanbar.org/.”

He is a speaker for the NJ State Bar Association at the annual Nuts & Bolts of Elder Law & Estate Administration program. 

He was Editor of the ABA Estate Planning Probate Committee Newsletter. Mr. Vercammen has published over 150 legal articles in national and New Jersey publications on Wills, litigation, estates, probate law and trial topics. He is a highly regarded lecturer on litigation and probate law for the American Bar Association, NJ ICLE, New Jersey State Bar Association and Middlesex County Bar Association. His articles have been published in noted publications included New Jersey Law Journal, ABA Law Practice Management Magazine, and New Jersey Lawyer. He established the NJlaws website www.njlaws.com which includes many articles on Estate Planning, Probate and Wills.

KENNETH  VERCAMMEN & ASSOCIATES, PC

ATTORNEY AT LAW

2053 Woodbridge Ave.

Edison, NJ 08817

(Phone) 732-572-0500

 (Fax)    732-572-0030

www.njlaws.com

http://www.njwillsprobatelaw.com

Table of Contents ABA’s new book “Wills and Estate Administration”

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

PART 1

Preparation for Wills/Estate Planning Interviews . . . . . . . . . . 1

Handling Telephone Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Initial Responses to Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Calls from New Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Subject Matter of Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Reminder Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Telephone Consultations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Rejected Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Estate Planning Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Exhibit 1-1: Will Appointment Cover Letter . . . . . . . . . . 7

Exhibit 1-2: Estate Planning Appointment Cover

Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Exhibit 1-3: New Client Cover Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Exhibit 1-4: New Client Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Exhibit 1-5: Confidential Will Questionnaire . . . . . . . . 14

Exhibit 1-6: Estate Planning Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . 21

Exhibit 1-7: Power of Attorney Questionnaire . . . . . . . 26

Exhibit 1-8: Will Estate Planning Consult Bill . . . . . . . 29

Exhibit 1-9: Agreement to Provide Estate Planning

Legal Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

PART 2

Interviewing Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Initial Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Importance of Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Will Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Will Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

IV Wills and Estate Administration

Preparing Drafts of Estate Planning Documents . . . . . . . . . 40

Guardianship of Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Need for Periodic Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Cost Reductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Revisions in Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Children from Prior Marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Separated or Divorced Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Gay and Lesbian Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Referring Cases Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Explaining Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Will Preparation Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Power of Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Importance of Power of Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Gift-Giving Clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Going into Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Living Wills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Statute Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Health Care Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Advance Directives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Organ Donor Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Estate Planning for Alzheimer’s Patients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

The Missing Client—Be Wary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Tax Matters and Credit Shelter Trust Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . 64

What Is a Credit Shelter Trust? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

State Estate Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Document Signings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Wills Signings Outside Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Follow-up after Signing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Newsletter to Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Uniform Probate Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Exhibit 2-1: Will—Husband to Wife with Trust for

Minor Children and Guardians Selection . . . . . . . . 83

Exhibit 2-2: Will—Widow/Widower Spouse with

Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Exhibit 2-3: Will—Unmarried Couple with No

Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Exhibit 2-4: Will—Basic to Spouse and Children

with No Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Contents v

Exhibit 2-5: Will—Unified Credit Trust to Reduce

Estate Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Exhibit 2-6: Will Revision Services Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Exhibit 2-7: Codicil to Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Exhibit 2-8: Will Services Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Exhibit 2-9: General Durable Power of Attorney

Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Exhibit 2-10: Revocation of Previous Wills and

Powers of Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Exhibit 2-11: Living Will and Durable Power of

Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Exhibit 2-12: Power of Attorney Taking Effect . . . . . 119

Exhibit 2-13: Will Draft Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Exhibit 2-14: Will Signings Outside Office . . . . . . . . . 123

Exhibit 2-15: Post-Will Signing Letter to Clients . . . . 125

Exhibit 2-16: Client End-of-Case Questionnaire . . . . 128

Exhibit 2-17: Brochure Request Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Exhibit 2-18: Referral Thank You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

PART 3

Additional Estate Planning Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Preparation of Letters of Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Content of Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Confidentiality of Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment . . . . . . . 138

Patient Information Disclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Prenuptial Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Problems of Probate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Revocable Living Trusts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Transferring Property into the Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Irrevocable Trusts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Marital Tax Deductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Special Needs Trusts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Medicaid Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Impact of Divorce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Medicaid Spend-Down and the Mentally Incompetent . . 151

Long-Term Care Expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Questions to Ask about Long-Term Coverage . . . . . . . . . 152

VI Wills and Estate Administration

Signing House Over to Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Providing for Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Unexpected Illness/Disability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Exhibit 3-1: Letter of Last Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Exhibit 3-2: Confidentiality of Files/Requests for

Copies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Exhibit 3-3: Acknowledgment of Receipt of

Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Exhibit 3-4: HIPAA Authorization to Disclose

Patient Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Exhibit 3-5: Irrevocable Trust [Wife to Husband] . . . 167

PART 4

Estate Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Filing a Probate Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Qualifying the Executor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Probate Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Inheritance Renunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Assets That Do Not Pass under a Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Tax Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Finalizing the Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Testamentary Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Consulting Fees for Probate Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Intestacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Elective Share of Spouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Undue Influence Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Caveat to Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Removing an Executor of an Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Complaint for Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Executor’s Commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Unsold Real Estate and Other Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Exhibit 4-1: Condolence/Will Revision Letter . . . . . . 202

Exhibit 4-2: Probate/Inheritance/Estate

Administration Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Exhibit 4-3: Retainer Cover Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Exhibit 4-4: Agreement to Provide Probate Legal

Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Exhibit 4-5: Executor Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Contents vii

Exhibit 4-6: Notice of Probate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Exhibit 4-7: Certificate of Mailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Exhibit 4-8: Transfer Inheritance Tax Bureau

Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Exhibit 4-9: Release and Refunding Bond

Letter/Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Exhibit 4-10: Real Estate Waiver Filing . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Exhibit 4-11: Agreement to Provide Legal

Services—Probate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Exhibit 4-12: Will/Estate Consultation Bill . . . . . . . . . 231

Exhibit 4-13: Renunciation for Administration . . . . . . 232

Exhibit 4-14: Complaint to Remove Executor,

Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Exhibit 4-15: Complaint to Replace Executor . . . . . . 245

PART 5

Guardianship of Disabled or Incompetent Parents . . . . . . . 249

Exhibit 5-1: Guardianship Interview Form . . . . . . . . . 252

Exhibit 5-2: Guardianship Legal Services Fees . . . . . 257

Exhibit 5-3: Complaint for Guardianship . . . . . . . . . . 260

Exhibit 5-4: Affidavit of Next of Kin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Exhibit 5-5: Letters to Doctors to Be Delivered

by Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Exhibit 5-6: Affidavit of Doctor 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

PART 6

Marketing Your Wills and Estate Administration

Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Seminars Sponsored by Community Organizations . . . . . . . . 265

Hosting Seminars in Your Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Seminar Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Seminar Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

American Association of Retired Persons Membership . . . . . 267

Happy Hour Networking with Professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Marketing via Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Setting up a Blog on Wills and Probate for Free . . . . . . . . 268

Gift Certificates for Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Maintaining Client Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

viii Wills and Estate Administration

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Exhibit 6-1: Sample Letter to Senior Groups . . . . . . . 271

Exhibit 6-2: Confirm Will Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Exhibit 6-3: Sample Flyer for Will Seminar . . . . . . . . 275

Exhibit 6-4: Items to Bring to Wills and Elder Law

Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Exhibit 6-5: Law Office Seminar Promotional

Flyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Exhibit 6-6: Wills and Estate Administration

Seminar Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279