September 2017

What If My Heirs Don’t Want My Heirlooms? The New York Times recently ran a feature that caught my eye, “Aging Parents with Lots of Stuff, and Children Who Don’t Want It” (vip.carolinafep.com/nyt0917). In the article, the author handles a question that might be a little uncomfortable for some families: what if your chil-dren or grandchildren don't want the heirlooms you've been holding onto for them?

Our baby boomer clients represent a generation of super collectors. During their lives, they have accumulated fan-cy dinnerware, furniture, and decorative pieces, both pur-chased personally and as gifts from weddings, birthdays, and milestone anniversaries. The number of “family treas-ures” some have collected is overwhelming. The trouble is, heirs may not want or need their parents' china, crystal, dining chairs, or nesting tables.

Part of the issue is a cultural difference between genera-tions. As someone who orders a lot of stuff online, a lot of what we buy nowadays, to be frank, is disposable junk. The article is apt in pointing this out: “Today's young adults tend to acquire household goods that they consider temporary or disposable, from online retailers or stores like Ikea and Target, instead of inheriting them from par-ents or grandparents.” With that in mind, consider that it can be hard for someone who spent less than $100 on a set of dishes to appropriately value Grandma's fine china. This might occur at the subconscious level, even if it's not realized consciously.

So what is a would-be benefactor to do?

As with so many family misunderstandings, often the best solution here is to communicate: Plan a family meeting. Prior to the meeting, put together a list of personal belong-ings you'd like to bequeath to heirs. For any items you think may have a significant monetary value, consider having the items professionally appraised. If the value of any individual items—or the sum total of your estate—far exceeds your original estimate of their worth, contact our office, and we can help evaluate the financial and tax con-sequences on your heirs.

Then, at the meeting, explain to your would-be heirs what you would like to give to them upon your death. Explain why it's important to you that they should have and keep it. Most importantly, be prepared to hear that they may not be able to accept what you'd like to give them. Although you may be disappointed, it is often liberating to get this out in the open, and it's a much better outcome than the alternative: your heir selling a family heirloom because they didn't know what it meant to you.

By the way, for our clients, once decisions are finalized, the list should be transferred to the Personal Property Memorandum in their binder. Also, our plans always con-tain a provision for what happens if the intended heirs cannot agree on what to do with personal effects.

If all else fails, liquidate.

The Times article presents several possible solutions for seniors selling or donating unwanted belongings. Howev-er, if you're trying to preserve your eligibility for Medi-caid or VA benefits, contact us first. While some personal effects are not countable, an influx of cash might penalize you when applying for benefits.

If you're facing a downsizing dilemma or have questions about how to talk to your family about bequeathing per-

sonal collections and treasured belong-ings, contact us. We're here to help.

Jackie Bedard Estate & Long-Term Care Planning Attorney

Get Your Ducks In a Row! Estate & Long-Term Care Planning News

from Carolina Family Estate Planning

Carolina Family Estate Planning

51 Kilmayne Dr., Suite 203, Cary, NC 27511

919-694-4437 | CarolinaFEP.com

Email: newsletter@CarolinaFEP.com

Facebook.com/CarolinaFEP

Practice Areas:

Wills • Living Trusts • Asset Protection Trusts Powers of Attorney • Health Care Directives • Living Wills

Long-Term Care Planning • Medicaid Planning Veteran’s Aid & Attendance Benefits

Special Needs Planning • Children’s Safeguard Planning Probate & Estate Administration • Trust Administration

This publication is for general education purposes. It is not intend-

ed to be legal advice. This newsletter may be freely copied and

distributed so long as it is copied in its entirety.

I know a lot of people associate goal-setting with the

beginning of the year and New Year’s resolutions, but we

all hopefully realize that you can start new goals at any

time. I’m a big fan of goal-setting, and while I work on

various goals year-round, I’ve always enjoyed kicking off

new goals around September. There’s something about the

wind-down of summer and back-to-school that leads to a

“it’s time to get serious again” mindset.

I recently read The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. While I

wasn’t altogether surprised by the information, itself, that

Olson presents, I am intrigued by his philosophy on

success and personal development. With the advance of

technology, we have come to expect immediate results and

instant gratification. The Slight Edge is a reminder that

there is no magic button in life; astounding results most

often stem from the cultivation of small, daily habits.

The book uses the analogy of compound interest to explain

how small changes can produce big results over time. For

example, assume you were to invest a small amount of

money in a bank account, and it earns a tiny percentage of

interest, compounded daily. If you look at the account

balance from one day to the next, the gain appears to be

insignificant. The gain might be so nominal that you find

yourself discouraged from continuing to add more to your

savings. However, if you consider the cumulative effect of

growth over time, the power of compound interest

Book Review: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson Jackie Bedard

prevails: over time, your bank balance grows significantly.

The author posits that you should think of every small

daily decision as yielding a future positive result that will

give you a slight edge—an edge will move you every so

slightly toward your goal (or, alternatively, a slight

negative result that moves you gradually away from your

goal). At any given time, that small decision may seem so

inconsequential that you could easily brush it off. But

small decisions cultivate into habits, which in turn either

lead to long-term success or long-term failure.

For example, if you’re on a quest to drop a few pounds,

skipping your workout one day, or opting for the

hamburger over the salad that one time, might not seem

like it will have huge consequences for your weight loss

goal. But those little decisions compound over time, and

hold you back from achieving your goal.

Mr. Olson then goes on to show how this principle can be

applied to all aspects of life including health, happiness,

relationships, personal development, finances, and career.

In our office, we’re launching the CFEP Personal

Development book club with our team. This is the book

we’re going to start with. If you’ve been contemplating

setting some new goals, pick up a copy of The Slight Edge

to get some perspective on how even modest action,

repeated regularly, can yield massive results.

It is an honor when clients, partners, and friends refer clients to us. When you tell someone about your

experience with Carolina Family Estate Planning, you are helping them Get Their Ducks in a Row!

We would like to thank the following people and organizations:

Thank You For Introducing Your Friends & Family to Our Office!

Hazel Dilts

Edenton Street United Methodist Church

Sam & Shelley Galphin

Erik & Nicolette Herrmann

Pastor Johnny Holloway, Cup of Salvation Church

Ted & Kris Kiegiel

Al & Tammy McNeill

James and Susan Oates

Louis Prosser, Eagle Strategies, LLC

Phil Sielatycki, Ameriprise

Maura Silverman, Triangle Aphasia Project

Ray Stancil, Brookdale Cary

Keely Stone

Dan Thomason, First Citizens Bank

Wes White, Patriot Wealth Management

Want to help your parents’ group, church group, or community organization “get their ducks in a row”?

Contact us at newsletter@CarolinaFEP.com to start planning a special CFEP presentation.

Free Seminars: RSVP required

September 28th: 6:30pm • October 4th: 3:00pm • October 19th: 6:30pm

Register by phone: 919-694-4437 or online: seminars.carolinafep.com

Planning for the 2nd Half of Life in these Political and Economic Times…

11 Threats to You, Your Family, and Your Assets

Can’t attend? Call us & we’ll update you about future presentations or other resources.

Just a Joke

An elderly man who had had hearing problems for years went to the doctor to be fitted for hearing aids. After fitting and adjusting the hearing aids, the doctor explained how they worked and told the man to come back in one month for a re-check. A month later, the old man went back. After the hearing test, the doctor said to the man, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.” The man replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to their conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”

Nala’s Nook Nalsworth Dogglethorp, III, Esq. here (a.k.a, Nala). My job

is to bring you something fun or interesting each issue:

Join Us September 27th at Brookdale Cary for

Exploring Long-Term Care Planning Options If you’ve ever wanted to know more about planning for long-term care, but didn’t know what to ask,

Attend this free presentation to learn more:

Wednesday, September 27th, 6:30pm - 8:00pm

RSVP at VIP.carolinafep.com/LTCDecisions Brookdale Cary 7870 Chapel Hill Rd. Cary, NC 27513

CAROLINA FAMILY ESTATE PLANNING

51 Kilmayne Dr., Suite 203

Cary, NC 27511

Phone: 919-694-4437

www.CarolinaFEP.com

inside this issue

For up-to-date information and recent

announcements, remember to

Page 1

What If My Heirs Don’t Want My

Heirlooms?

Page 2

Book Review: The Slight Edge

Thank You!

Page 3

Upcoming Seminars

Nala’s Nook: Just a Joke

Page 4

What’s New at CFEP

Happy Anniversary, Robyn!

Client Services Coordinator Robyn Keller joined Carolina Family Estate Planning one

year ago this September. WOW has it ever flown by! Happy Anniversary, Robyn. We

can’t wait to see what the next year will bring.

Eclipse Party

It’s not every day that the moon blocks out the sun. Last month, we decided to take an afternoon out of

the office to observe the eclipse.

What’s New at Carolina Family Estate Planning