Sunday, June 29, 2008

Important Tasks/ Important Papers



All advice about 72 Hour Kits include having copies your important documents (either hard copy or on some digital device)in them.

For the month of July, we will learn about Living Trusts, Wills and Advanced Directives.

Since, at this point in time, my husband and I do not have a living trust or a will, etc., I will be learning along with you. Some of you may have financial advisors and have set these things up already. Some of you may be just taking your first "baby steps" into this field, like we are.

This first post is a really great article from Boomer Advisor magazine
February 2008. I found it online and have cut and paste it here.




5 Key Steps to Creating a Living Trust



Money.Advisor.com
Considering a living trust? What about a will? Do you need both?
By Kristine C. Kyllander


There are many benefits to having a living trust but, as with any legal document, it requires careful planning. In this article, you'll learn exactly what a living trust is, and explore five basic steps you should consider when establishing your own living trust.

The basics

A living trust is a legal entity that can own property and direct distribution of that property after a person's death, or if they become incapacitated. One of the primary benefits of a living trust is that it isn't subject to probate, or its associated costs and delays.

If you establish a trust, you (known as the grantor) appoint yourself as the initial trustee and primary beneficiary of the trust. You retain full and complete control over the property during your lifetime. In the living trust document, you appoint the individual(s) and/or entities that will take on the role as successor trustee when you can no longer act as the initial trustee.

The trustee manages and distributes the trust assets according to the terms of the trust.

TERM: Probate
When a person dies, the property from his estate can be transferred to the intended beneficiaries via a will. Probate is the process of properly transferring the estate to the rightful beneficiaries. This process is also used to collect any taxes due on the transfer of the property.

Does a living trust take the place of a will?

A living trust is sometimes referred to as a "will substitute." Although, in some respects, it does take the place of a will, a will is still usually necessary to distribute assets outside the trust, and to nominate guardians for minor children.

So why should you consider a living trust if you probably need a will, anyway? Because it only becomes effective at your death, a will does not avoid probate and does not protect you or the management of your assets in the event of your incapacity.
STEP 1: Identify your overall estate planning goals

Before you can determine if you need a living trust, you must first consider your overall estate planning goals. Your goals are unique and any trust you create should accurately reflect them.

I find there are four reasons to consider a living trust: finances, probate avoidance, incapacity planning, and the ability to control assets after death.

Finances

As I mentioned earlier, a living trust lets your loved ones avoid the legal costs associated with probate. It can also reduce, or even eliminate, any estate tax liability by properly using your estate tax exemption amount to the fullest extent. The current federal estate tax rate in 2007/2008 is 45 percent and is assessed against the estate (as opposed to your designated beneficiaries) based upon the net value of the property transferred at your death, less the applicable estate tax exemption amount (currently US$2 million).

Because we have an estate tax system (not an inheritance tax system) at the federal and state levels, the beneficiary doesn't pay taxes on the assets. Taxes may ultimately reduce the total amount the beneficiary receives, but the taxes don't come out of the beneficiary's pocket directly -- they are paid out of the estate before the beneficiary receives the property.

Probate avoidance

Avoiding probate is in many ways linked with the financial motivations I just discussed. However, aside from wanting to avoid the hefty legal fees that can come with probate administration, many people prefer to avoid probate so they can keep the distribution of their assets private. All information regarding your assets transferred through probate will become a matter of public record. Almost anyone, for almost any purpose, will be able to access this information.
Furthermore, the average length of probate in California is a year or more. So, if you want your beneficiaries to have access to your assets sooner, and without the need for court involvement or approval, a living trust might be a good option. Again, this is a good time to remind you that a will does not avoid probate.

Incapacity planning

As the average life expectancy continues to rise, so does the likelihood that at some point you'll become incapacitated. A will only comes into effect after your death. In contrast, the trustee of your living trust can take control of your assets during your lifetime. A well-drafted living trust will include disability/incapacity planning provisions and is designed to work in conjunction with a Durable Power of Attorney. (For more information on Durable Power of Attorney, you can read Lois Kelly's article online at www.advisor.com/node/12505.)

Retained control after death
This benefit tends to be the most specific to the individual or family. A living trust lets you include further planning for minor children and for special assets and situations. You can also provide creditor and predator protection for surviving beneficiaries, which is difficult to accomplish through a standard will. Some examples include:

* Provisions establishing an inheritance protection trust, which can last for the lifetime of the beneficiary and prevent those assets intended for the beneficiary from being included in lawsuits against the beneficiary. An inheritance protection trust can also protect the assets from the beneficiary's spouse in the event of a divorce.
* Provisions to protect the beneficiary from himself. As an example, these provisions might allow trustee discretion when the beneficiary has a drug or alcohol problem.
* Provisions to create a special needs trust for any beneficiary who becomes disabled after the living trust has been executed, but before the trust assets are distributed. This would make certain that distributions to the special needs beneficiary would not make them ineligible for government assistance such as Social Security Death Index (SSDI) payments.
* Provisions providing for your loved ones with fur, fins, or feathers (the appropriately termed pet trust or companion animal trust).
* Provisions that protect the trust assets should the surviving spouse remarry.

STEP 2: Identify the parties involved

Perhaps the most important decisions to make when it comes to creating a living trust is the choice of your successor trustee(s) and beneficiaries. Usually, when someone is looking to establish a living trust, they have a general idea who they want to leave their assets to. However, when it comes to selecting the person (or entity) who will be responsible for distributing the assets, there isn't always an obvious choice.

Before executing a living trust, you should have a clear understanding of the powers and responsibilities you'll be granting the trustee. Administering a trust can be complicated and time-consuming for the trustee. You'll do yourself and your beneficiaries a disservice by selecting someone who isn't up to the challenge. A successor trustee doesn't have to be a relative, but they must be someone you can trust completely.

Family dynamics play an important role in the selection process, and you are the expert when it comes to your own family. Blended families (e.g., second marriages, children from a previous relationship — think the Brady Bunch scenario), same-sex couples, or families with no children often have more difficulty in this stage of planning and are encouraged to seek legal counsel for guidance.

In many cases, a corporate trustee such as a trust company or a private fiduciary is the appropriate choice. Many financial firms and banks offer trust companies (for a fee, of course). Your attorney can discuss the options with you, depending on what your personal situation is -- who you have available to act and if you have enough assets to warrant using a trust company.
STEP 3: Determine how to draft the document

There is a plethora of "do-it-yourself" trust-drafting software and online fill-in-the-blank solutions available for a fraction of the cost you'd pay for professional assistance. The drawback to these tools is that you're creating a binding legal document without obtaining any legal advice specific to your situation. In some instances, where there is a small estate and only one or two beneficiaries (who are not minor children), the do-it-yourself option may be worth considering.

TIP: I find many clients create do-it-yourself trusts only to visit an attorney later with the expectation that the attorney will correct any deficiencies in the document with a simple amendment. This usually doesn't work because most attorneys won't take on the liability of having their name attached to the original trust. Instead, the attorney will most likely require a complete restatement of the trust, which often costs the same as if you'd had the attorney draft the trust in the first place.

A Good Start for Estate Planning

Your estate plan shouldn't end with the living trust, but rather begin there. At a minimum, your plan should include the following documents:

Pour-Over Will: This will directs that any assets you did not transfer to your living trust during your lifetime should be transferred to the trust and distributed according to the terms of your trust at your death. In addition, it should contain your nominations for guardians of any minor children in your care.

Durable Power of Attorney for financial purposes: This document authorizes your agent to transfer property to your trust and manage your financial affairs should you become unable to manage them yourself.

Power of Attorney for health care: Also referred to as a "Health Care Directive," this document authorizes your designated agent to make medical decisions on your behalf when you are not able to. This document should contain your directions regarding prolonging life by artificial means in the event you become diagnosed with a terminal condition.

HIPAA waiver: Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers must take certain measures to protect patient information. A HIPAA waiver gives them permission to release your health information and medical records to those individuals you designate.

Assignment to Trust of your personal property: This document funds your trust with your personal belongings such as your household furnishings, artwork, jewelry, etc. It establishes your clear intention that you want to have your personal belongings distributed according to the terms of your trust at death.

Certificate of Trust: This is a document you can give to financial institutions and others when they request a copy of your trust. It keeps the personal and financial information in your trust private.

TIP: Your living trust should include a provision authorizing the Certificate of Trust on the first page of the trust document. This way, when a financial institution requests the "authorizing language" of the trust, you only need to produce the first and last pages of the trust.

Although it is beyond the scope of this article to go through these items in detail, it is important to know that these documents complement a living trust.

Kristine Kyllander is a California licensed attorney who devotes her practice to estate planning, probate, and trust administration. www.kyllanderlaw.com


An alternative to the do-it-yourself method is to pay a few hundred dollars and use what is commonly called a "trust mill." Sometimes these trusts are prepared by paralegals, and sometimes they're prepared by what's referred to as certified document specialists. In any event, these individuals have not been qualified to interpret the laws relevant to property rights, taxes, wills, probate, and trusts in their state unless they've obtained a license from the State Bar. Using this type of service typically results in a do-it-yourself-quality document you paid someone else to do.

Many estate planning attorneys offer a low-cost or free initial consultation, and it makes sense to take advantage of this consultation to determine your next steps. If you're looking to hire an attorney to draft your living trust, you should select someone who devotes a significant portion (ideally all) of their practice to estate planning (wills, trusts, probate, trust administration, elder law). Although your up-front costs may be significantly higher by retaining a qualified attorney, the overall value they can bring will almost always save your estate money in the long run.

STEP 4: Funding the trust
A living trust only avoids probate to the extent that it is properly funded, i.e., that your trust includes as many of your assets as possible. If one of your motivations for creating a living trust is probate avoidance, you should make sure that the trust is funded with all your assets that would otherwise pass through probate. Typically, the critical asset to transfer into the living trust is any real estate you own. But you should also transfer your personal property, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, business interests, etc.
TIP: Transferring your primary residence into a living trust doesn't create a Proposition 13 tax reassessment, but you must file a preliminary change of ownership and the appropriate deed registering the transfer with the applicable county recorder. If you aren't sure about which type of deed you need to have recorded, consult legal counsel because the county recorder cannot offer you legal advice on this issue.
You can do most of the additional trust funding without professional help, but it often makes sense to have an attorney advise you regarding which assets should or should not be transferred and why. It is also a good idea to attach a Schedule A to your trust to identify all the property you intend to have transferred to the living trust.

STEP 5: Maintenance of the trust
Over time, there are going to be items you'll want to update or change with respect to your trust. Common events that should prompt you to review and revise your trust document include (but are not limited to): marriage, divorce, birth in the family, death in the family, purchase of new real estate, refinance of existing real estate, change in the tax laws relevant to your trust, and significant increases in your assets. In addition to these events, you should routinely review your document every three to five years.

TIP: If you already have a trust and you haven't reviewed it since before 2001, its time for a review!
A gift to your family

Discussing death is never a pleasant aspect of financial planning, but it's certainly one of the most important. While no one likes to discuss their mortality, acknowledging its inevitability and properly planning for it will make a big difference for your family after you're gone. A living trust is just one of many important tools you should consider.

RESOURCES
The California Bar Association publishes an excellent consumer pamphlet on living trusts. Information is available for free at www.calbar.org. For the specific laws governing trusts in California, see Division 9 of the California Probate Code §15000-19403. For further information on gift and estate Federal taxes, visit www.irs.gov.

Going on a Trip?



Nice plug in hybrid car here. No matter what your car looks like, what matters is that you have placed things in your car in anticipation of possible emergencies:
~Duct tape for a broken water hose
~Water for thirsty humans and for the car
~Some trash bags
~a container for a sick child to throw up into
~Towels (small hand towels for laps during mealtime, large towels can be used for
padding...use as a blanket, as a pillow
~Snacks
~flashlight
~first aid kit
~extra clothing

etc.
etc.
etc....

Please see some of the new links I have placed in this blog under the title of Car Kits/Car Tips.These sites are great! Lists/Products for every situation in your car.

Happy traveling! (And you will be happy knowing you are in a prepared car!)
~Joan

Saturday, June 21, 2008

I C E



Hello! I have a question for you.

Do you know what I C E means? It means In Case of Emergency !

here is an article (found at http://www.advisor.com/boomer/story/help-emergency-services-help-you )about it:

Help Emergency Services Help You

ICE campaign aims to help paramedics know who to contact in case of emergency.

Many of us carry a mobile phone with the phone numbers of our loved ones stored in a list of contacts, so if we were to get in an accident, the paramedics would have that information at their fingertips, right?

Well, yes and no. The numbers are there, but the paramedics don't know who you'd want them to contact in the case of an emergency.

Hence the "ICE" campaign: Store your emergency contacts in your mobile phone's address book under the entry "ICE" (an acronym for In Case of Emergency) and emergency personnel will know who to contact. If you have more than one emergency contact, store them in your contact list as ICE1, ICE2, etc.

The ICE campaign was launched in April 2005 by Bob Brotchie, a paramedic in Cambridge, U.K. After many experiences struggling to get contact details from shocked or injured patients, Brotchie teamed up with European cell phone company Vodaphone to do a survey that revealed 75 percent of people do not carry details about who they would like telephoned following a serious accident. The campaign gained wide acceptance after the London subway bombings in July 2005.

E-mail hoaxer tries to sabotage ICE

Awareness of the ICE campaign was also helped along by a widely forwarded e-mail that originated from the East Anglian Ambulance Service where Bob Brotchie is stationed. Unfortunately, a separate e-mail, circulated by malicious hoaxers suggests that ICE is a type of mobile phone virus that accesses your address book and drains pay-as-you-go phones of their credits. Matt Ware, spokesman for the East Anglian Ambulance Service, is asking people to ignore the hoax email.

"I have been inundated with hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from people worried that, having put ICE into their mobiles, they are now going to be charged for the privilege," he says. "We would like to assure people that that's not the case. We have checked with mobile phone companies; this alleged scam is a technological impossibility. Whoever began this second e-mail chain is obviously a malicious person with way too much time on their hands. It's probably reached almost as many people as the original e-mail. The sad thing is that there have doubtless been many people who have removed ICE from their phonebooks."


I am going to put several I C E entries into my cell phone tonight. I encourage you to do this also! ~ Fearlessly yours, Joan Hulihan

Monday, June 16, 2008

Dry Drowning




Hello, everyone.

This month I have declared that I will focus on having your car equiped for emergencies...a 72 hour kit for your car.
Today I am not going to write about 72 hour kits.

Today I will write about "Dry Drowning".

I often find very important articles that I just have to post-they may help save lives! This article from LA Times newspaper today was shocking to me. Dry drowning is when someone dies later...maybe an hour after an incident while swimming.
Please please read this article...

Dry drowning

Though water has always been a hazard to be wary of, the idea that someone could drown hours after visiting a swimming pool may seem new to many. On June 1, 10-year-old Johnny Jackson of Charleston, S.C., died while napping more than an hour after returning home from the pool with his mother. The incident has drawn new attention to the phenomenon of dry drowning, a danger long recognized by other names by emergency department physicians.

Medical examiners have found that as many as 15% of drowning fatalities are dry drowning victims -- those whose respiratory distress comes after an incident in the water. But it comes in different forms, and from different causes.

In one form, a muscle spasm of the larynx causes the victim to suffocate. Such spasms are most often associated with cold water forcefully hitting the epiglottis -- the flap at the base of the tongue that helps keep food and drink from entering the lungs. Hitting the water after a long, fast slide or from a high diving board appear to be the most common swimming-related causes of such a spasm, which can happen minutes or hours after the impact.

Jackson's dry drowning, however, appeared to have been caused by a delayed reaction to aspirating a large amount of water while swimming -- the other main form of dry drowning. In cases where a near-drowning has occurred during swimming, the lungs can be damaged, allowing them to fill with fluid. Because this can take time, the victim may become progressively more oxygen-deprived over time, causing him to have breathing difficulties, become sluggish or tired and to behave oddly.

The appropriate responses to signs of trouble -- sputtering, choking, bluish tinge -- may differ depending on what has caused the interrupted flow of oxygen to the body. A laryngeal spasm may resolve itself when the victim is removed from the water and his muscles relax somewhat. If not, a few quick rescue breaths are in order to get the flow of air past the blockage.

But experts warn that if a person has aspirated a large amount of water, it is unwise to consider the emergency over. If the incident was minor, a victim should be monitored closely and brought to an emergency department promptly if he becomes extremely sleepy, behaves unusually or appears to have continuing difficulty breathing. Any of those things could be a sign that the victim is not getting enough oxygen to the brain, possibly because his lungs -- damaged from the aspiration of water -- are filling with fluid.

In such cases, called "post-immersion syndrome," the reduced airflow can cause organs to begin to fail in the hours or days after a near-drowning.

"If somebody has been involved in a drowning situation or a near-drowning situation, they should be evaluated by a physician," says Dr. William H. Shoff, an emergency department physician and associate professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "All kinds of things can happen. . . . They may feel OK, but as a clinician, I've certainly seen people who said they were fine and they were not. They decompensated, right in front me."

Add to that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest warning of other dangers of recreational swimming -- including cryptosporidium, a virus impervious to the effects of chlorine that can cause stomach upset, diarrhea and worse.

To read about recent cases, go to www.cdc.gov/healthy swimming/cryptofacts.htm.



melissa.healy@latimes.com

For more on summer hazards, go to latimes.com/danger.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-danger16-2008jun16,0,5644216.story

Friday, June 13, 2008

High Winds




I was saddened about the death of 4 boy scouts during a recent tornado 1 hour north of Omaha, Nebraska this week. Nebraska is tornado country. I was surprised that although they had a facility for campers that included a mess hall with a big rock chimeny, they had no basement. This is tornado country! And there had been a rash of tornadoes in the midwest for weeks before this camp-out. One scout was interviewed and he said"...we didn't have a chance. I wish they had had some kind of storm shelter."
He was one of the scouts who was uninjured because he jumped into a ditch and layed flat and the tornado passed over him. He didn't have time to run to the mess hall.

Yes, a basement would have been the safe place for these scouts.

Here in the high desert, I don't know of anyone who has a basement. Where I am from, practically everyone has a basement (Wisconsin).

I did a bit of research and found out some interesting things on this topic:

Mobile homes are "very vulnerable to any tornado," said Paul Hebert, head of the National Weather Service forecast office in Miami. "They destroy them. They lift them up and throw them through the air."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has two words of advice for mobile home dwellers facing a tornado: Get out. You're safer in a ditch with your hands over your head than in a mobile home.

The weather service urges evacuations in case of 75 mph winds. The weakest tornadoes can have top winds of 72 mph.

Federal law, passed after Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida in 1992, requires that mobile homes now must be constructed with 2" X 6" lumber, have "tie-downs" and be able to withstand winds of 110 miles per hour on the coast and 100 mph inland. However, 90% of those 800,000 Florida mobile homes were built before that law was enacted. If they were built after 1976, the specs call for them to withstand 90 mph winds. If they were built before 1976, there were no rules at all!
Some mobile home parks have shelters for residents in case of hurricane or tornado, but many don't. At least one state has attempted to pass legislation that requires mobile home parks to have a communal shelter available to residents, but the legislation has been blocked by those within the mobile home industry there.


http://www.tornadoproject.com/past/pastts98.htm

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Tomato Problem Now






Have you heard? It is all over news today. Here is the best explanation I found:

(From La Times)

Salmonella a reminder to follow food safety tips

By MEGAN K. SCOTT
Associated Press Writer

3:38 PM PDT, June 9, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/ats-ap_health11jun09,1,4087759,print.story

A salmonella outbreak linked to raw tomatoes serves as a reminder to take extra care with summer fruits and vegetables. More than 20 people have been hospitalized as the government investigates the source of the tomatoes responsible for the illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Salmonella can be transmitted to humans when fecal material from animals or humans contaminates food. Symptoms are similar to the flu, but the poisoning can be fatal to young children, pregnant women and other people with weakened immune systems.

Properly cooking meat, poultry and eggs, and washing produce are generally the best methods to prevent illness.

While there is no way for consumers to detect salmonella (you can't smell, taste or see it), there are some things you can do reduce the risk:

CHECK YOUR TOMATOES

The Food and Drug Administration is advising people to eat only tomatoes not associated with the outbreak: cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and tomatoes grown at home.

Preliminary data suggest that raw red plum, Roma, or round red tomatoes are the cause, according to the FDA.

"The best thing to do if you have those certain types of tomatoes, throw them away or take them back the grocery store," says Karen Blakeslee, an extension associate in the food science program at Kansas State.

For other tomatoes, wash thoroughly and cut away the part that is attached to the plant and the button on the other side, says Julie Miller Jones, a professor of nutrition and food science at The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. That part can carry a foodborne illness because it's a hard area and organisms can attach themselves to it, she says.

Cooking tomatoes at 145 degrees will kill salmonella.

INQUIRE AT RESTAURANTS

Ketchup and cooked sauces are not affected by the outbreak. And several restaurants are not serving tomatoes -- on Monday, McDonald's said it had stopped serving sliced tomatoes in its U.S. restaurants.

Blakeslee advises finding out what the restaurant has done in response to the outbreak.

If you are really concerned, tell the restaurant to leave the tomatoes off the sandwiches and salads, says Jones. She says even if you remove them once your order comes, the food could still be contaminated.

REPORT THE ILLNESS

Many people misdiagnose salmonella poisoning as the flu, says Jones. Salmonella poisoning generally occurs hours after ingestion, she says, and involves symptoms such as abdominal cramps, headache, fever, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

The CDC says symptoms generally appear 12 to 72 hours after infection. People should report a suspected foodborne illness to the local health department.

WASH PRODUCE

Wash all produce, whether organic or not, with cold running water, says Jones. Scrub them gently with your hands or with a vegetable brush. Remove outer layers of cabbage and lettuce.

Fruits should be washed, regardless of whether you are eating the peel, says Al Baroudi, president of Food Safety Institute (FSI) International. He says even if someone is peeling an orange, that person is touching part of the orange he is going to eat. (Bananas are an exception.)

Don't bother with a special vegetable wash, says Jones. She says studies show that it's not much better than water.

WASH HANDS, SURFACES

Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly before handling food, says Blakeslee. Wash your hands if you come in contact with pet feces, use the bathroom or change a baby's diaper.

Also wash cutting boards, counters and utensils to avoid cross-contamination. Avoid any kind of contact with raw meat when preparing fresh vegetables. Refrigerate sliced up fruits and vegetables.

___

On the Net:

FDA: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.htmlCDC: http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/salmonellosis_gi.html

Sunday, June 1, 2008

A Few Simple Skills



Read all about how to survive any disaster in the latest Time magazine. Click on link at the top in the right hand column of this page. It is entitled "How to Survive A Disaster".

It was quite interesting and made me wonder how I would react if caught in the middle of something quite unexpected and really dangerous. Would I freeze up or would I act quickly and wisely? This article will help each of us be better prepared! ~Joan