Your Benefits, Explained!
Part 4: The Asset Detail Report —Very Important, Critical to the Success of Your Plan, and Constantly Ignored
As of this writing, our firm is handling approximately 20 probates. That’s not a lot considering we have thousands of clients, but it is 20 too many. This will result in probate fees in excess of $100,000 for the loved ones our clients left behind. How did this happen?
Did we draft their documents incorrectly? No, we did not.
Did we give bad legal advice? No, we did not.
Did the laws change? No, it wasn’t that, either.
If you’ve read this far and still feel confident that your assets are safe and your family will avoid probate, think again. Our team created the asset verification process and Asset Detail Report a little over 15 years ago after we conducted a survey of 2,000 clients and discovered that only 1 out of the 2,000 had all of their assets titled properly. Are you confident that you are the 1 out of 2,000?
Here is what happened: In each of those 20 cases, we asked our clients before they passed if they wanted us to review the title and registration of their assets to make sure they were consistent with their trust. In each of these cases, the client declined — and now their family is stuck spending thousands of dollars and months or years in probate. The silver lining of this situation is that you and your family can avoid it. All you have to do is say “YES” to the verification process we offer all of our clients .
You are the 1 out of 2,000 if you have …
1. Completed the Confidential Financial Information Questionnaire and returned it to us;
What does the verification process entail?
2. Provided us with all of the supporting documents listed on the questionnaire;
The process ensures your assets are properly coordinated with your trust and that your trust is correctly “funded.” It’s a service included as one of the benefits of your Life Plan Membership . The process is simple. After you agree to the verification process, complete our Confidential Financial Information Questionnaire, and provide the applicable supporting documentation. Then, we will prepare an “Asset Detail Report” and send it to you. This report indicates which assets are titled correctly, and which assets need to be corrected. We repeat the process until all of your assets are correctly titled. Some of the work of correcting these assets may fall on you. For example, you might need to visit your bank to update an account or contact your life insurance company to ensure that a beneficiary is designated correctly. This may seem like a hassle — until you realize that it will save your family thousands and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in probate fees! A family with a house, worth $500,000 for example, will pay approximately $25,000 in probate fees on the house alone. Probate essentially flushes part of your beneficiaries’ inheritance down the drain. Once you have completed the verification process, you can breathe easier knowing that your heirs will be able to skip the expensive and time- consuming probate. Our team will send you an Asset Detail Report each year so that we can keep your trust fully funded until you pass.
3. Received an Asset Detail Report;
4. Corrected any flagged assets;
5. Repeated steps 3–4 annually.
If you have not done these five things, your family might end up in probate. If you have completed steps 1–4, you are in a good position. You simply need to repeat the steps when you receive your annual Asset Detail Report from our firm. But if you haven’t even completed Step 1, you need to start the verification process now — which is included in your Life Plan Membership — before it’s too late. To get a copy of our Confidential Financial Information Questionnaire and a list of necessary supporting documents, call our office at 800-698-6918. From there, we’ll guide you step by step through the process of protecting your family and your legacy from probate. The Asset Detail Report is just one of the many benefits you receive with your Life Plan Membership. This is the fourth benefit we have covered in these newsletters so far. Keep an eye on your mailbox next month to learn about the next one!
2 PrestonEstatePlanning.com
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