SHATTERPROOF NEWSLETTER
JULY 2020
WWW.REIBLAW.COM | 940.591.0600
create the LLCs until you have the trust to own them, and it’s important to do these steps in order.
Like I said last month, estate planning isn’t as complex as it’s often made out to be. Most of the work on the front-end is up to the attorney, including getting all the documents in order according to your wishes. Yes, you’ll need to do some decision-making and information gathering in the last step of funding the trust — you have to get account numbers, and you may want to have your financial advisor or bank involved. You have to decide which assets you’re going to make the trust the beneficiary of, and which assets you’ll put beneficiaries on instead of listing in the trust. Even after you’ve created your plan, you’ll need to make these decisions. As always, it will depend on your situation — owning one car and a house will be simpler than if you own multiple properties and businesses. Maybe the decision-making involved in this step feels a little overwhelming, and that’s what causes people to drop off at this point in the process. The more complex your life is, the more it’ll take to complete the funding process. Of course, that also means if you don’t do it, there’s much more at stake. At our firm, we make it as easy as we can on our clients. We walk you step by step through the funding process. Some firms might give you comprehensive written instructions and have you do it yourself, others will merely mention the importance of funding but fail to give you any guidance. When you’re creating your estate plan, I urge you to ask your attorney if this is a step they will help you with. Ask if it’s included in their fee before you even start the process. Choose an attorney who will oversee the funding process with you — it’s something you will be so grateful for later. If you have any questions when it comes to estate planning or are not sure if you’ve completed the funding process, reach out to me. I want people to have all the information they need when estate planning so they don’t miss out on crucial steps that leave their assets vulnerable. – Scott Reib
THE NO. 1 QUESTION TO ASK YOUR ESTATE PLANNING ATTORNEY DON’T MISS THIS CRUCIAL STEP
So often, I see attorneys create beautiful estate plans, only to leave the crucial next step unfinished: funding the irrevocable living trust. Maybe the attorney tried to follow up with the client, but they just never came back to finish this step. Somehow, it often gets missed, and it’s a really important piece of the puzzle. In fact, you haven’t really finished the puzzle if you haven’t completed this step. Even a well-drafted trust will be useless if your assets aren't titled in the name of the trust while you're still alive. Just the other day I was helping a client, and as they were about to finish signing documents to shatterproof their business, they asked, “So when do we set up the LLCs?” “As soon as we create the trust,” I told them. You can’t
| 1 940.591.0600
Published by The Newsletter Pro | www.TheNewsletterPro.com
‘THE CHALLENGER CUSTOMER’ HOW TO SELL TO YOUR HOLDOUTS
sales. If your product or service can appeal to a reluctant audience, your business has the potential to maximize revenue and retention. When a company makes the decision to buy, it usually isn’t the result of one individual. Instead, it’s often a group discussion, and a vocal company leader can kill the deal. You may have sold most of the team on the offer, but with only one holdout, your most promising message could be lost. “The Challenger Customer” provides research-based evidence to help you pinpoint who will be the hardest to persuade and how to focus on them. You may not be able to outright convince them that what you’re selling is necessary, but with the right understanding and insight into how you can truly change their company for the better, you can hook a customer for life. Their support for your product or service will surpass that of even their most receptive team members because you focused on the biggest challenge. That’s the ultimate difference between high-performing sales teams and those that meet the bar by reaching for easy sales. If you want to take your sales to the next level and connect with more customers, you have to sell to the holdouts. “The Challenger Customer” provides you with the tools you need to get started.
The ideal customer is an eager buyer who’s ready to jump in from the first pitch. You have them engaged and committed, and all that’s left is to sign on the dotted line. You’ve made a sale with a lasting customer — right?
Perhaps, but numerous studies show that maybe it’s not that simple. In “The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results,” authors Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, Pat Spenner, and Nick Toman explain that creating and focusing a plan on the customers who appear cold
to your offer is actually the key to exponential
BIZ TOOL OF THE MONTH: How many times have you felt frustrated when you go to post a link for your website, or another platform used for your business, only to find that the link is miles long? Not exactly something you want to share on social media or marketing materials. The long, unruly link is exactly what Bitly seeks to put an end to. The custom URL shortener allows you to create a completely customized link, making it more shareable and clickable for prospects. As Bitly’s website highlights, businesses that use their customized links to build brand recognition see up to 34% more clicks. Being able to customize links can be especially helpful when you’re creating something like a YouTube video or Dropbox file — which can end up with really long URLs, making sharing or posting awkward. When it also comes to your business landing page, Bitly comes to the rescue. Bitly makes it easy to customize the concise link, building brand recognition. MAKE THOSE LINKS CLICKWORTHY
You also get insight into how people are using your links and data, including the number of clicks and geographic information about users, which can be useful as you try to measure your marketing efforts and decide which content resonates with your audience. With integration into just about every social media and digital marketing tool, Bitly makes it easier to have your business seen. Instead of interrupting your workflow, you can more easily manage your campaigns across platforms with just one step. The service has security in mind, too. Each link you create with Bitly is encrypted with HTTPS so it can’t be tampered with, ensuring the content you’ve invested in is kept safe.
At our firm, we appreciate Bitly for all these reasons. You can learn more about the service at Bitly.com.
2 | www.reiblaw.com
WHAT IS AN IRREVOCABLE LIVING TRUST?
WHY WOULD YOU NEED ONE? The main reasons for setting up an irrevocable trust are for estate and tax considerations. This type of trust removes all incidents of ownership, which effectively removes the trust’s assets from the trustor’s taxable estate. It also relieves the trustor of the tax liability on the income the assets generate. They’re especially useful to those who work in professions that make them more vulnerable to lawsuits, such as doctors. An irrevocable trust makes the assets designated within it safe from legal judgments and creditors. WHAT CAN AN ATTORNEY DO? If any of the above explanations feel just a little bit boggling to you, then that’s exactly why you’d need an attorney to help set up an irrevocable trust! It can be a complicated process with many details to get just right in order to make sure you understand what you put into your trust and all those involved understand and abide by its terms. When you sign up for estate planning services with REIBLAW, our experts will walk you through the process of creating an irrevocable living trust and discuss if it’s the right option for you. Call our office to schedule an appointment today.
The cover of this newsletter talks about how important it is to make sure you take that final step and actually fund your irrevocable living trust. But before you do that , you need to decide if an irrevocable trust is right for you. And before you can do that, you need to understand exactly what an irrevocable trust is and why it’s important to work with a lawyer to draft one.
WHAT IS IT? You likely know that a trust is an agreement between a trustor and a trustee in which the trustor gives the trustee the right to hold property or assets for the benefit of a third party, or beneficiary. So when it comes to an irrevocable trust, it’s really all in the name — once it’s created, it cannot be modified, amended, or terminated without the permission of the named beneficiary. This is in contrast to a revocable trust, which allows the trustor to modify the trust after it’s created without the permission of the beneficiary.
BREAKFAST SAUSAGE KEBABS
We want your feedback! In editions of this newsletter, we’ve covered everything from business contracts to how to handle the former spouse who wound up with everything because there was no business succession plan in place. But now we’re wondering: What would you like to see? You know those legal questions that Google can’t give you a satisfactory answer to? The ones that keep you up at night as you wonder whether it’s time to call a lawyer? We want to answer those. Send us your questions, and we’ll use them to address the topics you want to know more about. Text your questions and curiosities to 972.677.3002 .
Inspired by TasteOfHome.com
INGREDIENTS
• Maple syrup, to taste EQUIPMENT • 5 metal or soaked wooden kebab skewers
• 7 oz frozen, fully cooked
breakfast sausage links, thawed • 20 oz pineapple chunks, drained • 10 medium-sized, fresh mushrooms • 2 tbsp butter, melted
DIRECTIONS
1. Cut sausages in half. Thread alternating sausages halves, pineapple chunks, and mushrooms onto kebab skewers. Brush with butter and syrup. 2. Grill over medium heat, regularly turning and basting with syrup, until sausages are lightly browned, about 8 minutes.
| 3 940.591.0600
WWW.REIBLAW.COM | 940.591.0600
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
1801 HINKLE DR., STE. 100 DENTON, TX 76201
Biz Tool of the Month INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 2 2 3 3 4 Understanding an Irrevocable Living Trust Good Morning Breakfast Kebabs The Case That Was Frozen on Arrival
The No. 1 Question to Ask Your Estate Planning Attorney
Maximize Your Sales With ‘The Challenger Customer’
THE CASE THAT WAS FROZEN ON ARRIVAL THE WOMAN WHO SUED DISNEY FOR COPYING HER LIFE IN ‘FROZEN’ This is the story of a woman who just couldn’t let it go. It was the fall of 2014 — Dennis Rodman became friends with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie with Oscar winners at the Academy Awards became the most retweeted image of all time. And an author sued Disney for $250 million after she claimed that the company stole major elements of her published memoir to craft the movie “Frozen.” law. She cited 18 “similarities” to bolster her massive claim. For instance, Tanikumi claimed that both her book and the movie had stories of intense sisterly love, scenes under the moon, and talk about cold hearts. The tenuousness of the similarities alone would cause most people to dismiss Tanikumi’s claim like they would the ramblings of a red yarn-loving conspiracy theorist. And that’s
just what the judge who oversaw the case did, granting Disney’s motion to dismiss. The judge stated that copyright law protects expressions but not ideas. The themes that Tanikumi believed Disney had stolen from her story were under public domain, usable by anyone without permission. Only Tanikumi herself knows for sure why she went through all that trouble. Everyone else will just have to speculate what gave her the gall to take on a media juggernaut like Disney in court with next to no viable case. That said, several reviews of her memoir on Amazon mention ties to “Frozen,” so make of that what you will.
“Frozen” was released in November 2013 and saw massive box office success and critical acclaim. It seemed like Walt Disney Animation Studios was finally hitting their stride and catching up to Pixar movies’ quality animation and storytelling. Unfortunately, high-profile movie projects and financiers with deep pockets tend to attract all sorts of hullabaloo in the form of frivolous lawsuits. Author Isabella Tanikumi, whose only notable work to date is her 2011 memoir “Yearnings of the Heart,” sued Disney for an egregious $250 million after claiming that the winter wonderland adventures of Anna, Elsa, and Olaf were stolen straight from her memoir and her life and violated copyright
4 | www.reiblaw.com
Published by The Newsletter Pro | www.TheNewsletterPro.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook Proposal Creator