Who handles your trust and what happens if the person you appointed leaves or dies? And Has Amazon thrust our country into a depression?

Episode Transcript

Intro:
Welcome to the Practical Tax podcast, with tax attorney Steve Moskowitz. The Practical Tax podcast is brought to you by Moskowitz, LLP, a tax law firm.

Disclaimer:
The information contained in this podcast is based upon information available as of date of recording and will not be updated for changes in law regulation. Any information is not to be considered tax advice or legal advice and does not form an attorney/client relationship. Further, this podcast may be construed as attorney advertising. You should see professional consultation for your individual tax and legal situation.

Chip Franklin:
Welcome to another addition of Practical Tax with tax attorney, Steve Moskowitz. Let's start with a guest that's in your backyard. That would be Michael Davidson, not only a really smart investor, but he has a lot of ideas, and he's nice enough to join us here. Can we talk about wills and trusts for just a second here, because this confuses a lot of people. Steve, how many people do you think, watching this right now, don't have a will or a trust?

Steve Moskowitz:
A lot of them don't have anything. And another thing is, there's a lot of people that have something that's woefully out of date, and if they don't change it, they're leaving everything they have to someone that they now hate, and they will turn over in their graves if they understand that, so this is something... should always be constantly reviewed. What I tell income tax clients is, "Look, we think about your income taxes all year long, we plan all year long, we file a return once a year, and your estate planning, which involves everything you've worked for in a lifetime, everything that you have, whether you got it yourself or if somebody left it for you, why don't you give that the time and respect it deserves?"

Chip Franklin:
Michael, what's your experience? I mean, have you found that, when you try to sell somebody on getting a trust or a will together, it depends on their age, or are they stubborn, or do they usually go right along with your suggestion?

Michael Davidson:
I think one of the questions that isn't expressed out loud or asked out loud is, is the next steward prepared? And I think for a lot of us and for a lot of our clients, there's some uncertainty around that, and that's even a conversation that couples haven't really processed together. And so, as a result, there is this inaction that takes place as it relates to getting a will done, getting a trust done.
All of us have stuff in our families, and kids, and grandkids, and daughter-in-laws, and son-in-laws, and just that whole dynamic adds this element of uncertainty for the future, and I just think that it's tough for couples to come together and be decisive with that. And so, I really think that the good question to ask is, is the next steward prepared? If they're not, then what needs to happen to get there? And I think walking through that series of questioning, I think can help get an estate plan done.

Chip Franklin:
Obviously, there are going to be different stages of life. I know both of you guys can address this. I mean, people start thinking about some of these things when they get to be 50, and it's too late, in some cases, for financial planning. But a trust and a will, those have to be constantly reviewed, but why? And Steve, let me ask you real quick, what is it about a will that would change, or a trust that would change from when the kid is 25 to when the kid is 35, if it's still just my money that I'm passing along?

Steve Moskowitz:
Laws change, taxes change, wants change, relationships change. For example, what if you have a situation where your son marries or divorces, has a child, has six kids, one of them has special needs, somebody's developing differently than somebody else,