May 21, 2025

Plan-Protect-Pass On! Wills, trusts, digital assets. Create your lasting legacy and impact!

Plan-Protect-Pass On! Wills, trusts, digital assets. Create your lasting legacy and impact!
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Season 1

Demystify two of the most commonly confused tools in estate planning - wills and trusts. Learn the pros and cons, and how to decide which is right for you. The other crucial topic is digital assets, crypto, social media, and cloud storage. Your digital life matters, and we explore how to plan for your online assets to make sure your digital legacy is protected.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio ( www.w4cy.com ) part of Talk 4 Radio ( www.talk4radio.com ) on the Talk 4 Media Network ( www.talk4media.com ). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV ( www.talk4tv.com ).

Ask Good Questions Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media ( www.talk4media.com ), Talk 4 Podcasting ( www.talk4podcasting.com ), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

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liability explicit implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

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or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W FOURCY Radio.

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Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

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six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

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W fourcy dot com. This week and every week, we

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will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,

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as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,

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let's join your hosts, Vanita bel Anderson, as together we

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start with Asking Good Questions.

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Hello, and welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. My

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name is Benita bell Anderson. I'm your host, and today

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I have a very special guest and I will invite

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him to the podcast stage right now. His name is

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Chris Johnson.

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Hi, Chris, Hey, how are you?

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I am great and you're coming at us from Texas, right.

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Hoson Hot, Texas Hot. I'm a Floridian and a Texan.

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I've spent about my first half of my life in Florida,

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second half so far in Texas.

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Cool. Well, Chris as an attorney and also an entrepreneur,

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and I'm going to let him just fill us in

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a little bit on his background.

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Sure.

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So, I'm a business lawyer and entrepreneur and I own

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like really different three different segments of businesses. It's law firms,

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and then it's real estate and title, and then it's

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and then the third one be like financial services type

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things that that's kind of the.

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Sphere of what I do.

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Throughout my experience with my title company, which I've had

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now for it's been five, six seven years, something like that,

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I saw that the number one problem in closing a

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file or probate estate planning type issues, and I felt

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like there weren't enough people that understood probate or even

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had a will things like that. I felt like it

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was an underserved segment of the community where they were

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forced either like pull a form offline that they may

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not understand they could mess it up, or go to

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a boutique estate planning firm that just overcomplicated things and

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charged a bunch and the way that they operated business

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was a little archaic. And so I saw this need

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and I created Texas a state and probate lawyers.

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And I think that's a lot of you know, what.

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We've talked about before, Budda, and what I'd like to

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talk about today is like wills and trusts and just

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different things like that maybe help some of your viewers.

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Well, we will thank you for that. We will start

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out with talking about wills and trusts and kind of

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get a handle on that, and then I want to

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turn to digital assets because you know, as a financial advisor,

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I'm always trying to get people get you will done,

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get your will done, and when I see it not done,

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then you know, it just causes all kinds of problems.

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And even with a will, there still is a lot

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of times, a lot of complexity that I've seen clients.

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Have to deal with.

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So let's just start out with the whole idea of

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wills and trusts. What what's the big difference between a

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will and a trust?

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Okay, so I'll say what each is, and then maybe

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as i'm talking through that I'll talk about the differences.

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So what a will is, it's someone's wishes as to

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how they should have how they want their estate to

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be distributed upon their death. Okay, those wishes have to

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be implemented by a court and that and that's one

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of the biggest misunderstandings that people have. They're like, why

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have a will? So that's it? Just they died and

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you know, the stuff went.

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Like we followed the will. No, the will is.

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Admitted, filed with a court and admit and admitted, and

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then the will allows someone called an executor to implement

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the wishes as set forth in the will, and then

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you close everything out. So the will makes probate, which

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you have to do regardless of whether there's a will

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or not.

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It makes it cheaper and more efficient.

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What I you know what I sometimes call it. I

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call it babysitting instructions.

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Okay, great, Yes, babysitting instructions are good. I like that.

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So that's that's what a will is and what a

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trust is. So that's a different set of instructions. And

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instead of wishes that the court's going to stamp and

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order on, maybe the executor is going to do some things.

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The trust. The trust.

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It's a contract, okay, and one of the parties to

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this contract is the trustee. So the trustee is bound

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at a certain time. We can talk about when that

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happens to fulfill the wishes of this person right for

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the benefit of someone else.

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Like there's somewhereronments there.

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These things, and I'll talk about common misunderstandings.

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There's something.

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Part of the problem with the state planning is we

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have all these different terms for different things. So I

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don't really like the term living trust, and if some

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people use it's just because I think it has different meanings.

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So I like to kind of how I learned it

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is there's really revocable.

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So that means the person setting it up can take

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it back during their lifetime.

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They can change it at anytime.

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That's revocable. Irrevocable is I can't take it back, okay, done.

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So key distinction when you can't take it back the

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trust actually forms. Now it's this separate thing that is

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separate from the person that that created it. And so

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because it's separate, it file its own taxes, and the

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tax rates kind of suck on airrevocable trusts, So that's

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something to consider. There is good asset protection once it's

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air vocable, and I'm kind of you know, it's redundant here,

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but obviously you can't change it, like you're stuck with

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it like forever, never can be changed. So a lot

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of people think about this revocable trust, which I think

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they sometimes called a living trust and it's floated on

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social media, is something that.

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Would protect you.

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Revocable trusts, which you can change during your lifetime. Very

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often the incomes just passed through through to the grants

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or the person that created it who remembers still live,

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so during their life that incomes being imputed to them.

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It's not really a separate trust, so there's no asset protection.

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Revocable trusts are wonderful.

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Tools in states where the probate process is expensive and slow,

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and you want things to pass.

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Outside of probate.

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So the revocable trust, you designate this property and it

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goes in to the trust on death, and then the

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trustee will distribute it out themselves to the beneficiary rather

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than go through that stamp.

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And you know the order process.

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Now to make just the kind of button button the

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loop on this. Even though someone has a revocable trust

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or another trust.

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Everyone always has a will.

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Anyway, and and that's just to kind of catch all

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the leftover stuff that we might have forgotten to include.

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Look, I'm guilty of it too.

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I mean I just went through a divorce last year,

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and so I was making a list of all my property.

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I have a revocable trust myself, and not everything was

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in that revocable trust. Not everything was titled properly. It's

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part of the reason I don't like these.

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The attorney, I know, because I'm busy. I don't have

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time for it.

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I mean, what am I gonna do spend my weekends

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updating the titling of my accounts or are going to

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spend them hanging out with the kids and fishing, right, And.

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So part of the reason I try to.

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Stay away from really complicated things. Not that a revocable

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trust is terribly complicated, but it's probably more than.

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Most people need.

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But the reason unless you're like in a state that

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has horrible appropriate but Texas is pretty really easy actually,

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and I think Florida is relatively easy. It people just

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don't follow through with it. And then so you meet,

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you do it, you spend all this money, and then

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it just slowly all the protections kind.

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Of fade away.

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So you always need probably regular meetings with an advisor,

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you know, it's your financial advisor is actually a great

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tool for stuff like this.

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I would love it, you know, financial advisors, more of

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them did it.

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They're not going to do the legal work, but they

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like checking in to make sure dated and titled correctly,

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and beneficients and all that stuff is immenseally important.

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Well how how how does the I mean? One of

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the ways that I have talked to people about this

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is saying, if a trust is owning the property, then

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the trust doesn't die where the person. When the person dies,

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then everything has to be distributed, but the trust goes on.

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And so sometimes that helps people understand why they can

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get something out of the trust. But why how does

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the trust help avoid the probate process?

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So, as I described with the will, probate, a court

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process is the mechanism that something is transferred from one person.

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To the next upon death.

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Right trust is a triparth type contractual relationship. There's the

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grant or settler, that's the person that made it. Then

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there's the trustee, then there's the beneficiary. These are separate

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people and a three party agreement essentially, and the assets

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transfer through the contract.

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This is this is.

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Like a fundamental and I hope that's the easiest way

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to explain it, because this is a fundamental part of

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our country.

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Maybe in other countries as well. I'm not sure. We

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can pretty much do whatever we want by contract.

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As long as it's not illegal or like against public

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policy or something. But the ability to do this and

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avoid the probate process is you know, this is one

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of the ways we can contractually do it. Just like

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you know, if you're going to file litigation, you can

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be in the core process, which is the default, or

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you can have an arbitration provision, which is you're agreeing

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to arbitrate this dispute outside it's really not too different

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from them.

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So it's court contract. That's how trust gets it out

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when you're.

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Dealing with the revocable trust and the way that the

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money flows.

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Well, is there a cost difference between just setting up

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will or setting up a trust or in a kind

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of a companion to that would how many assets should

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you have before you start thinking about having a trust?

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Mhm, Okay.

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A lot of this is contingent on the state that

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you're in all right, blue bluer states, maybe states with

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a more difficult probate process. For those states that have

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maybe their own inheritance tax rules, you know, maybe there's

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some issue with transferring too much.

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Money on death.

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For those states, the number is going to be lower.

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Let me just say that for my general rule of

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thumb when I'm talking to people in Texas is if

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you have a million, two million, maybe even three million dollars.

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That's that's the millionaire next door.

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They don't need an incredibly complicated estate plan.

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That's who Texas is.

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State and probate lawyers is for those and other people too.

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They're the ones that just need the basic estate planning documents.

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Our basic will has a like a pour over into

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a trust automatically created when there's a child at.

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Issue, and so that's fundamental right.

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You don't want and you can't have a ten year

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old inheriting money, so you set up just a little

233
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:40.679
trust for that purpose. When we start getting between five

234
00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:45.440
and ten million dollars, now you're kind of talking revocable more.

235
00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:50.720
The revocable trust piece. If you have a business, now

236
00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:51.799
probates slow.

237
00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:56.919
So if there's if there's a situation where you want

238
00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:59.960
people to step in on day one and start opera

239
00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:04.200
reading something as though they're the owner, then you need

240
00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.840
to either need to give them the keys beforehand so

241
00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:08.759
they can open the door and let people in and

242
00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:11.960
continue running the business, or you need to set for

243
00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:15.279
it up in this revocable trust so you can set

244
00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.879
up someone to the trustee on day one has the

245
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.639
authority to run the business. So for those people, this

246
00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:25.200
revocable trust mechanism.

247
00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:25.679
Is important too.

248
00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:30.159
And within this number range right now, the exemption which

249
00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:34.519
we haven't talked about, what is it Benita thirteen million?

250
00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:36.960
Is it thirteen or something like that?

251
00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.440
Fifteen So it's fifteen million dollars that's per person. If

252
00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:44.919
you're married, you have you know, the carryover and all that.

253
00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:49.480
So it's like thirty Well Trump's president, now, I don't know.

254
00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.320
You don't want to bet on horses. Who knows what's

255
00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.759
going to happen. That's it's probably going to sunset lower,

256
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:00.159
is my guess. So if you're in the range of

257
00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:05.360
ten million plus, now you get into I think should

258
00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:09.000
I create some kind of irrevocable trust.

259
00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:13.159
What that means again, money can't change it, not mind anymore.

260
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:15.120
Putting it in this trust.

261
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.720
There's cost involved with that, administrative cost, tax returns, all

262
00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:19.240
that stuff.

263
00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:23.679
Do the costs do the benefits outweigh the cost. Now,

264
00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.120
if you have an estate.

265
00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:34.320
Fifty million plus, now you're substantially harmed by the death taxes,

266
00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:37.000
right because you're exemption fifteen or thirty.

267
00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:40.159
You're gonna pay with forty percent for the death taxes.

268
00:15:40.679 --> 00:15:44.320
So at that point, yeah, now we're looking at tools

269
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.559
to get money out of your estate.

270
00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:48.200
Now give it to.

271
00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:52.799
An irrevocable trust before these limits. If they do go

272
00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.759
down in your charge to hefty tax on that. So

273
00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.320
a lot of this is just based on the needs

274
00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:03.399
of the client. So are you are you doing this

275
00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.200
to avoid probe? Are you doing this for asset protection?

276
00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:12.799
Are you doing this for tax mitigation? These are all

277
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:18.120
very legitimate conution. Yeah, that may apply more or.

278
00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:20.039
Less to some some people or others.

279
00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.600
How how are you you know you've talked several times

280
00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:27.720
about a trustee? How do you choose that person? You know?

281
00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:29.600
What do you what do you what are you thinking about?

282
00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.480
What should they consider when they're choosing a trustee?

283
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:35.879
I have opinions.

284
00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:37.919
I think other people are going to have opinions too,

285
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:39.639
and everyone's entitled to their opinions.

286
00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:40.480
I don't know if.

287
00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:46.679
There's really wrong answers here. I like corporate trustees. So

288
00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:51.960
other people hate corporate trustees. Why do I like corporate trustees?

289
00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:58.759
I like corporate trustees because even if you have a

290
00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:04.480
family members trustee, they're going to hire or should And

291
00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:06.880
I'll say why. The should is they're going to hire

292
00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:12.440
a financial advisor to manage the assets of the trust.

293
00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.400
And here's the should. The should is, if you are

294
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.039
an individual and you are managing those assets yourself as

295
00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:23.720
the trustee, you have opened yourself up to massive liability.

296
00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:28.240
But you're allowed to hire professionals. And once you hire

297
00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:32.680
the professional, all your only duty is I picked a

298
00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:33.799
competent professional.

299
00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:35.319
They looked competent or whatever.

300
00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:39.400
If the professional screws up, the liabilities on them. So

301
00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:44.000
you're going to have a financial advisor anyway, So managing

302
00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:47.440
your assets, so why not why not just have it

303
00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:50.319
baked into the asset under management feed. Most of them

304
00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:52.920
do that, so then they provide the trustee services baked

305
00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:54.519
in with the fees you're already paying.

306
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:59.319
The institutions don't change, I mean, I mean, yeah, institutions

307
00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.599
can disappear. But theoretically there's more consistency there with an

308
00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.000
institution than there is with an individual.

309
00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.880
I also would like to believe and I think it's true,

310
00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:14.759
And especially with financial institutions are heavily regulated, so you know,

311
00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:19.119
the chances of them using the fund for personal expenses

312
00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:22.720
or running off with things much lower than an individual.

313
00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:23.799
You know, if you have.

314
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:28.599
An individual who knows what they'll do, people tell themselves

315
00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:30.880
stories in their head all the time. You know, that

316
00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.000
trustee might be a family member and they felt like

317
00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.680
they should have gotten more under this trust or.

318
00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:36.720
They got skits.

319
00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:38.799
Maybe maybe it went to their kids and they're like,

320
00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.960
you know, resenting this the whole time, and so then

321
00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:42.640
they start buying things for themselves.

322
00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:44.480
It happens all the time.

323
00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:50.799
So corbate trustees a little harder if the assets are complicated.

324
00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.400
So if you own a business, trustee is not going

325
00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:55.160
to operate a bility.

326
00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.160
You have to find a specialized trustee to do that.

327
00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:59.039
There are some out there they're going to charge more

328
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:03.319
appropriately in that case. I do like the person you

329
00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:06.319
can trust or the mentor or family member or things

330
00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:06.799
like that.

331
00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:09.400
So those are just my thoughts. On it.

332
00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:13.240
I guess if you had a smaller estate to deal with,

333
00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:16.920
then maybe the family best friend type thing would make

334
00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:19.400
more sense, I will say.

335
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.400
And I think this was more popular back in the day.

336
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.119
I don't see this as much now and I always

337
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:29.880
tell people not to do it. The attorney don't don't

338
00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:33.720
designate an attorney as a trustee is literally they are

339
00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.279
going to bill you for administrative functions, right, And that

340
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:42.000
is just my opinion, just highway robbery.

341
00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:48.200
Yeah, well, before we turn to digital assets, how often

342
00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:50.519
do you think somebody should update Let's say that our

343
00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:53.720
listeners are, you know, they've they've had their will for

344
00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:57.720
a while. How often should someone update their will or their.

345
00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:01.599
Trust anytime there's a life events? So I just know,

346
00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:05.240
I just noted that I had a divorced last year.

347
00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:08.519
I'm in the middle of updating all of mine, all

348
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:11.839
of my stuff and adding some other strategies I haven't

349
00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:15.440
even discussed. If you have a you know, maybe a child,

350
00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:20.160
that's a life event, things like that. Otherwise, even if

351
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:23.079
you feel like there's no life event change that's happened,

352
00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.640
I would say probably check in every.

353
00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:28.960
Like five years would be the worst thing in the world.

354
00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:29.960
Something like it's.

355
00:20:29.799 --> 00:20:32.039
Surprising how how things can change.

356
00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:34.759
Yeah.

357
00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:39.039
So okay, so there's there's been a lot that's happened

358
00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:44.759
lately in regards to digital assets. I think that as

359
00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:51.799
we came along with having social media accounts and passwords

360
00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.200
and all that, you know, it didn't used to be

361
00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:58.000
a thing. Well now it's a huge thing. And why

362
00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:02.680
is it important to plan for digital assets like email

363
00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:07.440
and social media and cloud storage and all those different

364
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.720
things that didn't used to be part of our world

365
00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:13.079
but they're a big part of our world now.

366
00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:17.480
Why.

367
00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:22.359
The biggest reason is you don't want everyone cursing you

368
00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.359
in the grave. I mean, look, getting into these accounts

369
00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.400
is a pain, right trying to deal with Facebook? If

370
00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:32.960
you want to get into that account, how do you

371
00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.079
even do that? Sending him a letter, sending the death certificate?

372
00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:38.400
You know, you get to remember. And I tell people

373
00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:41.359
that's about estate planning because they're always focused on the will,

374
00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:43.920
because they're always focused on the money. And I'm like,

375
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.519
it's more than that. There's powers of attorney. There's things

376
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.759
like that. There's the appointment of disposition of remains. I

377
00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:54.680
remember my grand grandmother kept pressing me to have my

378
00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:59.599
father moved up to their family plot in Georgetown, and

379
00:21:59.640 --> 00:21:59.920
I was.

380
00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:02.759
Like, man, you know, I was kind of on the fence.

381
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:04.680
And I literally went through all the papers and I

382
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:09.039
literally found a designation appointment or remains. And my dad

383
00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:10.920
essentially said, I don't care what you do with me

384
00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.160
as long as I'm not up at the family burial life.

385
00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:15.759
I swear I was in there, And so I just

386
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:18.920
sent that to my grandmother and she just let it go.

387
00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:22.200
So to me, that relieves stress intention I didn't have

388
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:24.440
to get into a family fight over it because he made.

389
00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:29.200
His wishes clear. So just like that, with all this

390
00:22:29.319 --> 00:22:30.799
money stuff, people are going to be trying to get

391
00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:32.920
into your account. So they're going to do all this work,

392
00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:35.759
and it's this isn't the most They're sad that they

393
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:36.400
lost to you.

394
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.480
They're stressed out, they're having a plan funerals, Like, really,

395
00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:42.799
you want to make these people their part time job

396
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.440
trying to find all these accounts and get into things.

397
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:50.960
So create I don't think this needs to be complicated either.

398
00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:54.359
It's one of these things that like it sounds scary

399
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:59.079
and it sounds complicated, It's really simple. It's like, you know,

400
00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:00.559
what did you do when you had a car.

401
00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.920
Okay, you probably put the title somewhere and maybe the

402
00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.519
title was in an obvious place. If it wasn't, then

403
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:12.039
you just kind of in your papers, you know, said

404
00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:14.640
you know it's here, or at least in a minimum

405
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:17.440
let people know all the important stuffs in my safety

406
00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:18.279
deposit box.

407
00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:20.559
It's no different than that.

408
00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:24.440
It's just we have, you know, we have things that

409
00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:28.599
aren't as tangible, you know, we have ah, might be

410
00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:32.119
a hard wallet. I think some of the problems with crypto,

411
00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:35.440
and I know you mentioned that one is it's there

412
00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:37.559
are people that don't know how to use the technology.

413
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.599
So it's not just like here's the title that you know,

414
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:43.759
everyone knows what to do. They sign them back, they

415
00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:46.759
do what they need to do. You know, they see

416
00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:49.720
a thumb drive in a in a safety deposit box.

417
00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.960
Maybe maybe there's even instructions, you know in the will,

418
00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.400
like you know, go to safety deposit box. You know

419
00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:59.359
present you know this you'll get in blah blah blah. Okay,

420
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:00.880
what do you do with it? How do you plug

421
00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:03.240
it in? What's the pin to get into it? What's

422
00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.599
the passphrase? If you put in the pin too many

423
00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:08.079
incorrect times and you have to repopulate the drive.

424
00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:12.079
So there almost needs to be I know this sucks,

425
00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:14.240
but that we live in a more complicated world.

426
00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:18.200
So like businesses talk about SOPs all the time, like

427
00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:22.240
standard operating procedures, I would say, you know, people need

428
00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:25.799
like SOPs. They need a spreadsheet. They need a document

429
00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:29.480
that almost like lays out every account that they own.

430
00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:32.440
If it's complicated to get in, how to get in,

431
00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:35.240
how to log into the bank account, all that stuff.

432
00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:39.480
And then there needs to be some way that people

433
00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:42.279
can't just open And this is I think the hardest part.

434
00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:46.079
You don't want them to open up an estate planning binder.

435
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.200
Don't do binders anymore, but I remember when we did,

436
00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.079
and I always thought it was nice and special. But

437
00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:52.680
all minds scanned electronically, and we do most of our

438
00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.039
skin clients now too. Thing is they don't well you

439
00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:58.960
have to keep the original still. But other than that,

440
00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.640
you know, floods don't destroy digitals. Know I flooded during

441
00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:06.400
Hurricane Harvey and lost a lot of things, so pretty

442
00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:10.359
much everything is digital. How do you have in the

443
00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:14.960
estate plan the instructions on the treasure hunt to get

444
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.920
to that spreadsheet? That really important thing I wouldn't put

445
00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.920
it in that estate planning binder, but I would note

446
00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:26.880
you know that go here for the key to this right,

447
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:29.839
and then go to this you know where to go

448
00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.200
that to really keep those estate planning papers and a

449
00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:38.119
really secure and sensitive location because I don't want people

450
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:41.000
opening them up and getting to the spreadsheet.

451
00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:44.920
You're right now, So Chris, I have a binder. I

452
00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:47.720
still have a binder. But maybe I'm old enough that

453
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:49.519
that's why I have a binder. But I have a

454
00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:54.200
letter of instruction at the front of the will, and

455
00:25:54.279 --> 00:25:58.039
with that is like passwords to get into some of

456
00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:03.319
the digital things. Also have all of that on you know,

457
00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:05.319
on on on the cloud.

458
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:10.599
So yeah, both is good. Both is good, you know,

459
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:14.599
and you have to have the original the will to So.

460
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:18.559
How do you what counts as as a digital asset?

461
00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:20.960
And what do you think often gets overlooked?

462
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:32.359
Lord, Well, I guess anything of value that you know

463
00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:37.279
that that isn't physical really is digital. What what gets overlooked?

464
00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:47.480
Beneficiary designations get overlooked. That should be simple, and so

465
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:50.880
what is a beneficiary designation? By the way, Okay, remember

466
00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:56.119
we talked about court and contract. Okay, Well, beneficiary designations

467
00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:58.440
contracts just kind of like that, so it doesn't go

468
00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:02.440
into appropriate interesting. So you there are different things where

469
00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:07.279
you can pass contractually, so your life insurance, the bank accounts,

470
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:10.720
the four oh one K, those kinds of things you can.

471
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:13.599
Literally if everything's set up correctly.

472
00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:18.880
Then they can pass over, pass passed down. You know,

473
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:22.240
really simply you need to make sure there's a right.

474
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:24.920
I don't know the rules in all the states. Some

475
00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:31.200
states automatically revoke a beneficiary that is your spouse once

476
00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:34.880
a divorce happens. I wouldn't assume that's true in every state.

477
00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:37.880
It would be interesting to find out. But but either way,

478
00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:41.359
if you know you got divorce, better damn make sure

479
00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:42.519
that you change that.

480
00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:46.319
You can even do in Texas to transfer on death deed.

481
00:27:46.759 --> 00:27:49.200
I do this for clients sometimes, you know, when they

482
00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:53.599
have a smaller estate is I will organize their estate

483
00:27:53.640 --> 00:27:55.839
in such a way where they essentially don't have to

484
00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:59.519
approbate anything, so they're not doing a revocable trust. We're

485
00:27:59.519 --> 00:28:03.000
just doing beneficiary designations, transfer on death deeed. All that

486
00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:06.480
stuff passes outside approbate. So that's number one on the

487
00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:09.640
digital assets. What gets overlooked.

488
00:28:09.079 --> 00:28:10.039
Other than that.

489
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:18.400
With digital assets. I mean, I don't think crypto gets

490
00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:20.640
overlooked as much, honestly.

491
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:24.440
But while talking about crypto, how did how does somebody

492
00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:27.920
you know, someone passes away? How does how does somebody

493
00:28:28.839 --> 00:28:30.559
access a crypto wallet?

494
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.400
That's what I was saying about the instructions that gets so.

495
00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:34.680
They need to have the instructions.

496
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:37.000
You got to have the instructions because because people don't

497
00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.440
necessarily know how to use it, and that's what I

498
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:41.799
was thinking. That's where I could see someone not thinking

499
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:43.319
through this, and that's where I have seen it.

500
00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:45.880
They just they figured it out.

501
00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.200
They know how to use the wallets, all this coin

502
00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:51.279
base and all these different hard wallets and online wallets

503
00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:55.359
and all that. But that's like Chinese to other people

504
00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:57.400
that have to go in and try to figure this out.

505
00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:02.440
So the instructions are super important. I do think people

506
00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:05.039
will take. People are very proud of their crypto. That's

507
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.799
why I think they're not overlooking overlooking it completely because.

508
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.680
They're very proud of their bitcoin stuff.

509
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:18.759
They want to make sure that it gets to them somehow.

510
00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:18.279
At least that they told people about it.

511
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:21.680
So, so what do you think are all the things

512
00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:24.920
that should be included in a digital asset probably, I

513
00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:29.200
mean probably the biggest thing would be, you know, first

514
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:30.920
and foremost, you should be able to get into that

515
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.000
person's email, and like me, I've got I've got several

516
00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:41.759
different email accounts for different purposes. So that's a lot

517
00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:45.200
of what I've done is like a spreadsheet. I know.

518
00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:48.640
So then and then what happens when the when they.

519
00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:52.359
Ask you to reset your password and you reset your password.

520
00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.920
It's pretty crazy. All this stuff that we have. The

521
00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:58.319
spreadsheet is good.

522
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:02.160
I would almost say this or she would identify all

523
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:05.519
the email accounts and then they just need to log

524
00:30:05.559 --> 00:30:08.400
into my computer and when they log in and use

525
00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:11.400
the password, then they have access to my key chain.

526
00:30:12.039 --> 00:30:13.359
Now the key chain.

527
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:17.680
Updates digitally all the time and as always current. I

528
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:21.440
could totally see a spreadsheet with passwords over a ten

529
00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:23.640
year period, none of those passwords are going to be

530
00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:24.799
correct anymore, right.

531
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:30.480
Right, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean I'm thinking I've got

532
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:33.240
probably at least one that I need to update on

533
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:36.640
that list that's with that stuff. So now you're making

534
00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:41.839
me have some tasks that I need to update. So

535
00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:45.960
are there any tools or platforms that you recommend for

536
00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:50.640
managing digital assets or digital legacy planning.

537
00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:53.519
I don't really know of any. I'd love to hear

538
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.359
from you if you know of any. I just try

539
00:30:56.359 --> 00:30:59.039
to keep things simple and whatever works with people. So

540
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.880
that's the key chain. If they want to excel spreadsheet,

541
00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:07.319
you know, if there's a word document or something like that. No,

542
00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:10.119
I don't really recommend that, is you know, people are

543
00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:14.000
you'd have to unless I don't know something. I mean,

544
00:31:14.039 --> 00:31:16.519
you would have to charge for that if you had

545
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.519
a product. None of our clients I don't know, would

546
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.279
want to pay ten to or something like that.

547
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:23.279
Yeah.

548
00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:28.319
Well, what I did for my stuff, I've taught cybersecurity

549
00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:33.400
classes in the past, and for my financial accounts, I

550
00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:40.160
created a special weird email address that is for just

551
00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:44.599
those financial things, and then regularly change the password. But

552
00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:47.000
you know what I found. You know what I was

553
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:51.200
just going to mention, there's at least two instances that

554
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:55.599
I can think of where somebody has died and then

555
00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.480
you know how you get the Facebook things that say

556
00:31:58.519 --> 00:32:02.640
wish so and so a happy yeah, and it's been

557
00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:04.880
like two years ago that they passed away, and so

558
00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:10.640
somebody is obviously not going in and yeah, yeah, that

559
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:12.440
deceased person's account.

560
00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:16.519
Yeah, or turning it into a memorial page, which is

561
00:32:16.920 --> 00:32:17.839
pretty nice.

562
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:22.640
Yeah, yeah, Well, do you have any idea how Facebook

563
00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:26.759
and Instagram? Do you know how they handle deceased person's accounts?

564
00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:27.319
Do they just?

565
00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:29.720
I need I need to find out more.

566
00:32:30.359 --> 00:32:36.279
Honestly, it's just not something that I think the clients

567
00:32:36.279 --> 00:32:37.759
are just typically doing themselves.

568
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:38.440
I'd ask one.

569
00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:40.559
I got to ask one of my appropriate attorneys. It's kind

570
00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:42.960
of a follow up thing. I just don't hundred percent know.

571
00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:46.279
My guess is, if there's a process where if you

572
00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:49.400
send them a death certificate there they'll you know, get you.

573
00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:51.000
In if you send them a cord order.

574
00:32:51.240 --> 00:32:53.839
That's pretty much how everything works, right, If you send

575
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:56.680
a cord order, people.

576
00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:01.680
Will follow it, right, right, that would be that would

577
00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:02.319
be so hard.

578
00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:08.880
A new client I signed up today and our husband

579
00:33:09.640 --> 00:33:15.680
of forty years got with someone else and he filed

580
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:21.119
a divorced paper himself, fraudulently, you know, just fake paper.

581
00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:25.680
So so then this the wife, the real wife, had

582
00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:30.599
to get it overturned. Now we're dealing with a situation

583
00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:33.559
where this guy just died, and so they're trying to

584
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:36.079
get his body. My client's trying to get the body

585
00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:37.839
and the funeral home doesn't want to.

586
00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:40.880
Deal with this at all. I don't know who this

587
00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:42.319
guy's married to.

588
00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:45.440
This lady says one thing, this lady says the other,

589
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:48.119
and he's like, I need a court order. That's pretty

590
00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:50.480
much what every institution is going to lean on when

591
00:33:50.519 --> 00:33:53.640
you have some kind of dispute because they don't want

592
00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:54.279
to get sued.

593
00:33:55.119 --> 00:33:59.359
Right. Yeah, I have a friend and I'll tell me

594
00:33:59.400 --> 00:34:02.279
if I'm on the right track with this. I'm just thinking, like,

595
00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:04.599
you know, like I told you, I've got my binder

596
00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:08.400
and all that that is, you know, physical, but I

597
00:34:08.440 --> 00:34:13.559
also have everything online, and so like if I'm like,

598
00:34:13.639 --> 00:34:16.719
if I'm just using, for instance, Google Drive, I'm thinking,

599
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:20.239
if all those important things are documents on Google Drive,

600
00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:24.920
then hopefully wouldn't you think that if they could just

601
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:28.119
get into my computer and just go to Google Drive,

602
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:31.639
then hopefully everything would open up and voila would be there.

603
00:34:33.079 --> 00:34:37.039
Yeah. I love that. That's great. I guess where my

604
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:40.239
mind went on that. And am I perfect on this? No,

605
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:41.760
I'm going to admit right now I'm not.

606
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:46.000
But but as I'm updating everything now, maybe I'll do this.

607
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:48.360
I would kind of create a little bit of a

608
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:49.119
rabbit trail.

609
00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:53.920
Like I would say in my state plan, maybe in instructions,

610
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:58.639
I would say, go to this document on my computer.

611
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:00.440
The password is this.

612
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:04.360
And then I would encrypt that file with the password.

613
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:08.079
So at least if someone from the outside like gets

614
00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:11.199
in or they hack your computer, now they don't have

615
00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:15.719
this file that literally has all your passwords and everything else, right.

616
00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:22.920
Hmm, yeah, No matter how you put it, there's a

617
00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:25.239
lot you know. So if somebody hasn't done anything, where

618
00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:26.639
do they start, Chris.

619
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:33.840
Contact an attorney like us, you know.

620
00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:40.000
Tex it's one of those online legal zoom Chris.

621
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:43.840
They can't. They absolutely can. They can do whatever they want.

622
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:46.360
They can. They can write on a piece of paper

623
00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:48.280
and maybe or maybe not a.

624
00:35:48.280 --> 00:35:50.559
Holographic will is valid in that state.

625
00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:55.159
It's relatively inexpensive to do an estate plan.

626
00:35:56.119 --> 00:35:57.639
It's not just the forms.

627
00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:00.639
So you know, you could pull forms, you use chat,

628
00:36:00.679 --> 00:36:03.400
GPT and all that, but it's like, are you using

629
00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:06.480
the correct forms and doing it in the correct way?

630
00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:07.920
You know.

631
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.679
I could also, you know, try to fix my AC

632
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:13.440
unit by watching YouTube videos.

633
00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:13.239
You know.

634
00:36:13.320 --> 00:36:15.480
But then it's the knowledge that kind of comes with

635
00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:18.159
it that makes a lot of the difference.

636
00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:20.239
Is it's there, and.

637
00:36:20.199 --> 00:36:24.119
That's why I believe everyone is entitled to they should

638
00:36:24.119 --> 00:36:27.719
be to have, you know, real attorney client relationship in

639
00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:29.840
the process of creating in a state plan.

640
00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:32.119
And I think it just feels good too, you know.

641
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:35.159
It feels good working with an actual professional and actual

642
00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:39.360
advisor guiding you through it, making sure things are okay,

643
00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:43.920
and maybe it'll kind of force some of this. I

644
00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:46.719
think the biggest thing is people just put this off

645
00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:48.480
and this is not fun.

646
00:36:48.920 --> 00:36:50.920
They don't want to they don't want to deal with it.

647
00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:53.559
No, we don't want to deal with our mortality.

648
00:36:53.639 --> 00:36:57.199
First of all, that's kind of morbid or planning or

649
00:36:57.239 --> 00:37:00.800
death essentially, or the things that happen afterwards. But then again,

650
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:04.719
it's just not fun compiling this and working on stuff.

651
00:37:05.559 --> 00:37:07.880
So sometimes you can just go out and hire someone. Well,

652
00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:09.960
at least you paid the money. You know, you better

653
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:11.840
do the work, just get it done, knock it out

654
00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:14.280
of the way. They'll kind of push you, coach you

655
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:17.000
up a little bit on getting it done and there

656
00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:20.039
you go. So yeah, I would say talk to a lawyer.

657
00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:24.199
You can also talk to your financial advisor is another

658
00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:27.480
you know, good resource, and they can they'll talk to

659
00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:29.800
you about all these things and kind of what they

660
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:32.679
what they think you should do, and they probably refer

661
00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:33.760
you to a lawyer at that point.

662
00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:39.280
Right. Yeah, I've done that several times, telling people, you know,

663
00:37:39.719 --> 00:37:42.159
and I've had people say, well, who should I go to?

664
00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:45.000
You know, you beating me over the head with getting

665
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:46.719
my will done? Who should I go to? And so

666
00:37:46.760 --> 00:37:49.159
then I'll give them three or four names and have

667
00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:53.719
them figure it out. And a lot of times I'll

668
00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:56.719
have to keep after them, have you done that? Oh,

669
00:37:57.039 --> 00:37:59.639
I haven't done that yet, And I'm like, you need

670
00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:04.440
to get it done. Especially and there's like there's a

671
00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:06.360
couple of families that I can think of that had

672
00:38:06.360 --> 00:38:08.800
to get a special needs trust because they had a

673
00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:11.039
child that was never going to leave the home.

674
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.119
Yeah.

675
00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:16.559
Then there's complexity that you know goes through the roof. Yeah.

676
00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:18.280
Yeah, yeah, those are harder.

677
00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:21.400
We have some Medicaid planning trusts, all that kind of stuff.

678
00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:24.840
There's some complicated things out there, but like I said,

679
00:38:25.400 --> 00:38:29.639
most people just need a basic estate plan. Yeah, and

680
00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:34.920
I think absolutely everyone should have a basic estate plan.

681
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:37.480
And that follow up. That's part of the reason that

682
00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:40.199
I created Texas to state and probate loads. It drove

683
00:38:40.280 --> 00:38:43.519
me crazy when I talked to a client and they

684
00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:45.960
were like, yeah, I'm ready, and then I'm like, okay,

685
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:49.840
fill out this a page form, which is the traditional

686
00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:52.559
way of doing it, and that lists everything that the

687
00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:56.840
attorney needs to create this effect. It's a very if

688
00:38:56.840 --> 00:38:59.639
you do it, it's a really good process. The problem

689
00:38:59.679 --> 00:39:01.679
is people don't want to fill out this long form.

690
00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:03.599
Yeah, so what I've.

691
00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:08.320
Done in Texas same I've literally it's like legal zoom

692
00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:10.599
in the sense that you have all the information in

693
00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:13.360
front of you, you have the options, you have the pricing.

694
00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:18.000
It's never more than the pricing, and the intake process

695
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:21.079
is streamlined. You fill out a short form, then you

696
00:39:21.159 --> 00:39:23.760
have a call, and then on the call you gather

697
00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:26.239
all the information you need and then they don't have

698
00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:28.880
to fill out this a page form which never gets done.

699
00:39:28.920 --> 00:39:31.880
I think that's the biggest roadblock. So I try to

700
00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:34.360
remove a lot of these roadblocks.

701
00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:37.159
So people will just get it done.

702
00:39:36.880 --> 00:39:39.519
Because a lot of times they won't. They won't really

703
00:39:39.639 --> 00:39:42.159
know where stuff is, and it's like, well that's a problem.

704
00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:45.559
If you don't know where it is, then that helps

705
00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:48.039
the person who's your executor.

706
00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:50.760
Right, could you imagine, Yeah, they'll definitely be cursing you

707
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:52.039
in the grave at that point.

708
00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:52.719
Yeah.

709
00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:55.760
Well, my brother was a good example. My brother was

710
00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:57.960
a Vietnam vet who had a lot of issues and

711
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:01.239
he had a heart attack and died st and I

712
00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:03.679
had been after him and after him and after him

713
00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:06.159
to get a will done. He never did it, so

714
00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:10.039
and it was on me to make all these in

715
00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:13.960
the moment decisions. And so I was warning my brother

716
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:16.800
at the same time I was cursing him because he

717
00:40:16.840 --> 00:40:20.639
hadn't done a thing, and so but I had to

718
00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:22.559
tell you that he was a marine, and so I

719
00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:25.840
have to tell you that the VA was wonderful to

720
00:40:25.880 --> 00:40:29.360
work with, that's all. They were very, very helpful. But

721
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:31.840
it would have really helped to at least have a will.

722
00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:34.920
And you know, because here I was having to make

723
00:40:34.960 --> 00:40:37.360
decisions for him, and I was like, I'm not sure

724
00:40:37.360 --> 00:40:39.199
what he, you know, wants with this or that.

725
00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:42.719
So well, especially if you you know, it sounds like

726
00:40:42.760 --> 00:40:45.760
you didn't have siblings that were fighting over stuff, especially

727
00:40:45.880 --> 00:40:52.000
yeah things. Oh gosh, then it gets really good. Executor

728
00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:54.599
is one of the worst jobs in the world. So

729
00:40:55.119 --> 00:40:58.960
you have to do all this stuff. You have potential liability,

730
00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:01.559
and you don't get paid for it. So it's not

731
00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:03.519
like it's a fun job. It's just a job that

732
00:41:03.719 --> 00:41:06.679
has to get done. It's a very important job. So yeah,

733
00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:09.119
if you can like have a will and have clear

734
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:11.840
instructions and make it easy for that person, it's great.

735
00:41:12.480 --> 00:41:17.039
Yeah. Yeah, well I am we are just about at

736
00:41:17.039 --> 00:41:22.239
a time. It's amazing how the time flies. And just

737
00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:24.360
to let you know, I have a thing on the

738
00:41:24.679 --> 00:41:29.280
podcast website that it's called ask Good Questions podcast dot com.

739
00:41:29.679 --> 00:41:33.000
There's a bonus downloads and so I always have like

740
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:37.159
an information sheet for guests. So I'll have an information

741
00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:41.079
sheet where people can find the information on you if

742
00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:42.960
we have anyone that wants to reach out to you.

743
00:41:43.280 --> 00:41:44.480
It's great, wonderful.

744
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:47.559
So any closing words, what do you think?

745
00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:52.079
I don't have any closing words. It's a love fifty.

746
00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:53.760
I said, let's get lunch. That's a close.

747
00:41:53.920 --> 00:42:00.320
Yeah.

748
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:03.880
Thank you so much for being here today, and I

749
00:42:04.039 --> 00:42:07.480
am really hoping that we have spurred some people along

750
00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:10.320
to get this done if they've been putting it off.

751
00:42:11.719 --> 00:42:14.039
You're very welcome. It's been a pleasure of being here

752
00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:14.599
today with you.

753
00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:18.280
Thank you, Anita, Thanks so much, Chris, and thank you

754
00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:21.519
so much. For joining us on the Ask Good Questions podcast.

755
00:42:25.079 --> 00:42:28.679
Today's episode is over, but we did Ask Good Questions again,

756
00:42:28.800 --> 00:42:33.000
didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday,

757
00:42:33.079 --> 00:42:36.800
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

758
00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:41.079
w fourcy dot com. Joined Banita Bell Anderson next week

759
00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:47.039
for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues,

760
00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:48.480
health and wellness.

761
00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:48.880
And more.

762
00:42:49.320 --> 00:42:53.239
Until then, remember to ask good questions.