Check out our April newsletter!
April 2025
AVOID PROBATE! PLANNING AHEAD Estate Planning | Probate | Guardianships for Your Life Chapters Give Your Loved Ones an Inheritance, Not a Headache
When you ask someone with an estate plan why they established one, most people explain they wanted to provide extra protection for their loved ones if anything unexpected happened to them. Your estate plan allows you to designate who receives each of your assets, name your powers of attorney, determine guardianship for your children, and more. It creates additional safeguards for you and your loved ones, but there’s another reason everyone should consider establishing one. A proper estate plan will help your loved ones avoid the probate process when you pass away. If you’ve never experienced probate court firsthand or heard a horror story from a friend or family member, you may have no idea what to expect. In the grand scheme of things, probate doesn’t sound so bad. It’s the process of sorting and administering your estate under court supervision. However, it opens the door to a stressful situation that can create familial disagreements that lead to infighting. The last thing we want is for our families to fight amongst themselves when we pass away; it should be a time for grieving. Here are four benefits that come with creating a full-fledged estate plan and avoiding probate. Fewer Fees Going to court for probate can be incredibly expensive. Your estate will often have to cover court costs, executor fees, accounting fees, attorney fees, and more throughout the probate process. It becomes costly very quickly. You’ve worked hard your whole life to earn enough money to support yourself and your family. Don’t let your savings go to unnecessary court costs and fees! Saves Time Not only is probate court costly, but it also requires plenty of time, effort, and commitment. Depending on the size of your estate, the probate process could take months or even years to finalize. The executor will need to identify, value, sort, and distribute all assets. The process could take even longer if any unique assets, out-of-state beneficiaries, or assets require a tax return. Reduces the Risk of Disputes As I stated earlier, probate opens the door to potential family disputes. You may have promised a specific piece of jewelry or property to one of your kids, but local intestate laws determine that those assets go to someone
else. The longer probate takes, the more potential for families to start fighting amongst themselves. Keeps Everything Private We don’t want the entire world to know about our private business, but the details of probate proceedings are considered public record, and anyone can review them. Avoiding probate ensures nobody outside the involved parties will see the contents of your estate. Avoiding probate isn’t as simple as establishing a will and expecting everything to fall into place. You’ll likely need to explore opening and placing your assets into a trust. Creating an estate plan that aligns with your wishes and desires is the best way to gain peace of mind about tomorrow. If you have any questions about probate
and how to avoid it or the estate planning process, please call us! - Kim Boy er
BOYERLAWGROUP.COM 1
Celebrate the Small Things WHY EVERY WIN MATTERS
Practical Ways to Celebrate Small Wins Incorporating small celebrations into your daily routine doesn’t have to be complicated, so here are three strategies to help you get started. • Track your achievements in a progress journal. Seeing progress in writing can be very rewarding and provide much-needed motivation when things get difficult. • Share your win with friends and family. When you celebrate your achievements with others, you strengthen personal connections and add positivity to the experience. • Reward yourself. Even simple rewards reinforce the habit of recognizing progress and help make the journey more enjoyable. Achieving small goals is always worth celebrating. Acknowledging every step forward, no matter how seemingly insignificant, helps you stay motivated and confident while improving your overall mental well-being.
Working toward big goals is a rewarding and exciting process, but it can also feel overwhelming. It’s easy to get bogged down thinking about how far you still have to go, but you can use a simple strategy to maintain your momentum: Focus on small achievements. The Science of Small Wins While seemingly insignificant, celebrating small wins has psychological benefits that can carry over into every aspect of your life. When you celebrate small achievements, your brain releases dopamine, the “feel good” chemical that lifts your mood and motivates you to keep going. This positive reinforcement generates momentum, making it much easier to tackle the next step.
Acknowledging small wins also has a measurable impact on mental health. It reduces stress, improves resilience, and helps build a growth mindset. Focusing on your accomplishments allows you to alter your perspective, and you learn to see challenges as opportunities for growth.
NO WILL, NO WAY Don’t Let Nevada’s Intestate Laws Be the Boss of Your Legacy
When you take the time to create a will or trust, you are making the choice of who receives your assets and under what terms. But what happens if you don’t have any sort of estate plan in place when you pass? Your assets will be subject to Nevada’s intestate succession laws. This is called an “intestate estate” — meaning there is no valid will. Assets that go through the probate process are those solely in the decedent’s name without a beneficiary designation. Trust assets are governed by the trust, and assets with a valid beneficiary designation will go to the named beneficiary or beneficiaries. Other assets go
through probate if they are over the threshold amount. Without a valid will, the intestate succession laws state who gets what. Things become more complicated when you have children or living parents. If you have one child, they will inherit 50% of your separate property while your spouse receives the rest. If you have multiple children, they will equally share two-thirds of your separate property while your spouse gets the rest. If your parents are still alive, they’ll inherit 50% of your separate property if you don’t have any kids. The order of inheritance for unmarried individuals is children, parents,
siblings and their descendants, and other more distant relatives. Sometimes, people are motivated to get their estate plan in place when they would be very unhappy with an intestate distribution. Take the time to be thoughtful about your estate and put together a solid plan.
702-255-2000 2
Some American institutions were built to last. In 1794, a shipbuilder named Joshua Humphreys earned his status as an American hero by designing the first half-dozen warships used by the U.S. Navy. Amazingly, one of these ships, the USS Constitution, remains commissioned to this day after being used in some of our country’s most significant achievements at sea. The USS Constitution was first commissioned circa 1797 during the Quasi-War with France before being shipped off to North Africa during the U.S. conflict with the Barbary Pirates. However, the ship’s greatest fame came during the War of 1812, when it helped secure a victory against the British Navy. Known for its virtually impenetrable construction, the USS Constitution earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” after it was victorious against a British warship known as the HMS Guerriere. When the war-worn Old Ironsides seemed to be nearing the end of its structural life and would need to be decommissioned in 1830, a national campaign to save the ship kept it in service. By 1881, Old Ironsides finally got its well- earned retirement, and the ship was officially decommissioned. Was that the end of this iconic vessel’s storied history? Not by a long shot! In 1931, the Navy returned the ship to a different kind of active duty, where it remains to this day. These days, Old Ironsides is docked in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts — next to a nonprofit museum dedicated to preserving its incomparable impact on American history. The warship and museum attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, and official USS Constitution crew members are on hand to deliver presentations on the frigate’s extraordinary past. More than 200 years after it first left Boston Harbor, Old Ironsides continues to stand (or, more accurately, float ) as a symbol of American ingenuity and our nation’s commitment to liberty and freedom for all. America’s Invincible Icon A Deep Dive Into ‘Old Ironsides’
TAKE A BREAK
CLASSIC FISH FRY
Ingredients
• Vegetable oil • 2 lbs fresh cod • Salt and pepper, to taste • 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 2 cups plain bread crumbs • 1/2 tsp mustard powder • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper • Lemon wedges
• 2 large eggs • 2 tbsp water
Directions 1. Pour 2 inches of vegetable oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat. 2. Cut cod into 4 servings and season with salt and pepper. 3. Place flour into a pie tin. Whisk egg and water in a second pie tin. Combine bread crumbs, mustard powder, and cayenne in a third pie tin. 4. Coat your fish in the flour tin, then the egg tin, then the bread crumb tin. 5. Set coated fish in hot oil and fry for 5 minutes on each side. 6. Serve with lemon wedges and enjoy!
BOYERLAWGROUP.COM 3
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
5235 S. Durango Drive, Suite 103, Las Vegas, Nevada 89113 | 702-255-2000 | BoyerLawGroup.com BOYER LAW GROUP
Inside 1 Give Your Loved Ones an Inheritance, Not a Headache 2 The Psychology of Celebrating Small Wins Don’t Let Nevada’s Intestate Laws Be the Boss of Your Legacy 3 A Naval Legend Lives On Classic Fish Fry 4 Coco’s Corner: Garden Goals
It is starting to get warmer and the first pink flower in our yard bloomed. Ella loves the pink flowers and was so excited to bring the first one in and happily gave it to Mom. Mom put the pink flower in a bowl of water and put it on the dining room centerpiece. Okay, that flower must be pretty special for Mom and Ella to get so excited about it. COCO’S CORNER GARDEN GOALS This is my first spring. I really had to see what all the excitement was about. So, I jumped onto the dining room chair and right up onto the table and grabbed that pink flower into my mouth. Mom and Ella told me all about spring and planting and growing and that flowers are not for eating. Wow! You can plant vegetables and fruit and herbs — which no doubt taste better than that flower. But flowers can make your home look beautiful! Gardening sounds like a great way to connect with nature and participate in a healthy hobby! What might you plant this spring?
Coco
702-255-2000 4
Published by Newsletter Pro | Newsletterpro.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator