We get a lot of questions about estate planning -- mainly because people don't understand what is involved or why they would need an estate plan. We hope to answer some of those questions here.

What is an estate plan?
Estate plans range from a simple will to complex trust arrangements that govern the transfer of various assets from multiple sources.

While estate-planning arrangements can accomplish nearly limitless things, they all have one thing in common: they all let you determine where your stuff goes without the court dividing it up for you.

Are estate plans for the wealthy?
Most people have this idea that estate plans are an elaborate system used by the super-wealthy to protect their money and assets and plan around tax liabilities.

Estate planning is used for these things, but it can also be important to people who don’t put themselves in that category.

What can estate plans help with – other than money?
Everyone can benefit from an estate plan because of the peace of mind that their property will be dealt with in the way that seems most appropriate to them, according to their needs and wishes. These might be for financial reasons, but it can also be for non-financial purposes, like making sure specific items of sentimental value go to certain loved ones.

Another common use of estate planning is to plan for the care of minor or dependent children. For example, parents might create a will with a testamentary trust to pay for the upbringing of your children; have durable powers of attorney for both parents; have durable powers of attorney for the care of the children; and a living will.

How can my estate plan help support a cause that’s important to me?
Some people want their money or property to go to loved ones, and others want to donate to a cause that means a lot to them. For example, you can leave large pieces of property (like a home or vehicle) to a nonprofit organization of your choice, and the organization can use the property or sell it.

Do estate plans include what kind of arrangements I want for the end of my life?
Your desires regarding funeral arrangements can be included in your estate-planning documents. When it comes to elder law planning – for the care you might receive toward the end of your life, like in-home care or a nursing facility – this is related to your estate planning and can be completed alongside your estate plans.

What happens when you die without having an estate plan in place?
If you die without a plan, the state has one for you. It’s called intestate succession, and – through the court system – the state gets to determine who gets your assets and how much each person gets. Your wishes would have no bearing on where your assets go.

There is another option. With an estate plan in effect, the intestate succession rules no longer apply. The assets you leave behind can go where you want them to go.

You’ve worked hard to get what you have, and you deserve to have control of what happens to it.

Harvest Legal serves clients with diverse legal needs, including business and estate-planning matters. To learn more – including how to get an estate plan – visit www.harvestemporia.com or call 620-263-0391.

A primary focus at Harvest Legal is helping our clients with planning for their current stage of life and their future. This is such a focus at Harvest Legal that it is distilled in our slogan: For Life’s Milestones. When done properly, a little time and planning now can save you lots of work and heartache in the future. We strive to help our clients with this, from personal planning to business planning.

WHY PLAN?
First and foremost, planning is valuable because it works to provide some semblance of control and security for your future. By making a plan, you have an idea about what might happen going forward. From a cost-benefit approach, planning often helps reduce risk and liability. When done properly, your plans are created to help make them clear to others, reducing the chance for misunderstanding. This is often beneficial when thinking of litigation and how to avoid it. Some time and effort on the outset can often help you avoid complicated and costly litigation down the road.

PERSONAL PLANNING
One common area of planning occurs in the personal realm. This is when we often see estate planning come up. This planning helps to set out what your final wishes for the disposition of your property may be, and also determines who gets what. After a lifetime of work to accumulate your assets, the last thing you likely want is to have no real control over the distribution of those assets. This is also important because it allows you to have a final say in any philanthropic measures that you might want to support after your passing.

A second area of personal planning that is getting popular as members of the baby boom generation age and retire is elder law planning. This is a multi-faceted planning approach that works to help make sure seniors’ wishes are met, while at the same time making plans to move forward into a future that is often filled with exceedingly high medical costs. By properly planning for this reality, an individual might avoid liquidating everything to fund their future care and still be able to transfer some possessions and wealth on to the next generation.

BUSINESS PLANNING
The other most common area of planning work Harvest Legal routinely works with is business planning. From startup to success or liquidation, careful planning is necessary to maximize the financial situation of your business. Harvest Legal works to come alongside business operators at all stages of the business life cycle and work to make sure the business is on the most solid footing planning-wise. We want to help make sure the desires of the company’s ownership are clear, to avoid conflict whenever possible.

While not always fun to deal with, proper planning in our personal and business lives is necessary to succeed. Harvest Legal is here to partner with you to help make the best plans possible in a way that respects your wishes and your budget.

Sometimes, when people think about estate plans, they often think about an elaborate system used by super-wealthy people to shelter their wealth and plan around tax liabilities.

While estate planning is beneficial for those purposes, it can also be important to people without substantial assets as well.

PEACE OF MIND
By far, the greatest benefit for most people is peace of mind that their property is dealt with in the way that seems most appropriate to them for their specific needs and desires.

This peace of mind can be financial – but it can also be for non-financial purposes, like specific items of sentimental value going to specific people.

With proper estate planning, you can control your assets through various means to not only control who gets what upon your death, but also the manner in which they get it (like when they receive it or how long they can have it).

WITHOUT A PLAN
Without an estate plan, you die intestate, which is a fancy way of saying that you die without a will. When that occurs, your assets are transferred in a manner that is established by the Kansas legislature – meaning your wishes have no bearing on where your assets go.

However, with an estate plan in effect, the intestate succession rules no longer apply, and your remaining assets can be transferred in a manner that you desire.

Check back for the next part in this series on estate planning definitions.

Harvest Legal serves clients with diverse legal needs, including business, agricultural and estate-planning matters. To learn more – including how to get an estate plan – visit www.harvestemporia.com or call 620-263-0391.

Earlier this month, President Obama released several executive orders and announced the finalization of several regulations in an attempt to curb gun violence in America. Regardless of your political or policy beliefs on the matter, these efforts could have wide-ranging effects on the gun enthusiasts and Second Amendment advocates in the United States.

Within the executive orders was notice that the ATF had finalized the 41P regulatory change with regards to items governed by the National Firearms Act. Let’s dig in to what items the NFA covers and what the change means for those who are looking to add NFA-regulated items to their gun collection.

USING A GUN TRUST
While guns in the United States generally are not registered at the federal level, there is a small subset of firearms and accessories that are required to be registered and taxed to possess. The NFA governs these items, which include machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and other items.

In the last several years, some people have used trust law to legally possess an NFA item through a trust. Put simply, the items in the trust were registered to the trust – not the individuals utilizing the trust – and the comprehensive registration system normally used for those items didn’t apply.

While all other federal firearm laws still applied to the use and possession of these items, the registration was quickly becoming nearly worthless. In this reality, the ATF developed regulation 41P. Under 41P, all “responsible individuals” in a trust are required to provide fingerprint cards and photographs (similar to passport photos) for the registration system, similar to the requirement for individuals who apply to possess items that are regulated under the NFA.

REQUIREMENTS FOR RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS
The definition for “responsible individual” includes “those who under the trust have the power and authority to direct the management and policies of the entity (trust) insofar as they pertain to firearms.”

For all practical purposes, those requirements mean that if you are a trustee and want to be able to have control over the NFA items held in the trust, then you are a “responsible individual,” and you must complete the fingerprint card and submit a photo each time an NFA item is transferred into the trust or the trust is granted permission to create its own NFA regulated firearm or accessory.

BETTER THAN WE EXPECTED
At first glance, 41P seems to cause substantial hindrances for trusts to be able to comply with the law, especially considering that the fingerprint card previously required a sign-off by the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) in your jurisdiction. This requirement often posed a problem if, because of the CLEO’s political persuasion or fear of liability, he or she might refuse to sign off, effectively preventing individuals from obtaining NFA items.

Fortunately, under 41P, this CLEO sign-off requirement has been eliminated for all NFA applications. This makes it possible for people nationally to own NFA items (if legal in their states) without the concerns of the individual CLEO in their jurisdiction.

There are still potential problems for getting the fingerprinting done due to law enforcement agencies either charging exorbitant processing fees or adding more steps to the fingerprinting process. However, these concerns can and will be litigated as the needs develop.

A MIDDLE-GROUND APPROACH
While 41P didn’t loosen the NFA application requirements like many Second Amendment advocates want, it seems to be a middle-ground approach. The current administration and the ATF can proclaim a win in ensuring that those with access to NFA items are registered, while gun enthusiasts can herald the elimination of the CLEO sign-off requirement, which makes the regulation more palatable for those affected.

Anyone wanting to avoid this rule still has time to avoid it, however, by applying for NFA items utilizing trusts before the effective date of the regulation, which is 180 days after it is published in the Federal Register. While Attorney General Loretta Lynch has signed the rule, it has yet to be published in the Federal Register.

Click here for a full PDF of 41P.

Harvest Legal serves clients with diverse legal needs, including business, agricultural and estate-planning matters. To learn more – including how to set up a gun trust – visit www.harvestemporia.com or call 620-263-0391.

Originally published in the April 2014 edition of the Emporia Gazette's Living 50Plus.

Those entering retirement age and considering their legal needs often think of estate planning.

However, estate planning is just one piece of the overall legal planning puzzle. Planners can take other steps to ensure a well-rounded plan exists for their future and their loved ones.

Elder law planning includes healthcare, guardianship, and long-term financial planning, including tax matters. In short, elder law is about setting out plans to help you have the life you want as you grow older.

With approximately 10,000 Americans turning 55 every day, many need additional planning to protect the interests of these people in their golden years. Elder law is considered a more holistic planning approach to cover various aspects of life.

Another part of elder law planning deals with organizing and planning for aid given to loved ones. For those who have a loved one with a developmental disability, this is likely of great importance.

Medical advances in technology and care have helped extend the lives of people with developmental disabilities and allow them to live at home with their families.

A 2008 study showed that 63 percent of care providers for people with developmental disabilities are aged 41 and older. This has greatly affected elder law, as care providers have considered special-needs planning to care for those affected loved ones.

The first significant part of special-needs planning involves preparing a special-needs guardianship. This document lays out desires for who should have the legal and financial decision-making power for a special-needs loved one once the care provider dies or is no longer able to provide care.

Final determinations of guardianship are made by a judge, but by preparing this in advance, care providers are able to provide insight to the judge regarding their wishes for guardianship.

The second major part of special needs planning deals with the preparation of a special-needs trust. This trust provides the assets and means necessary to help care for a loved one with special needs for the rest of his or her life.

Those with an aging spouse or parent with special medical needs might consider similar planning to provide for his or her needs.

Elder planning is about much more than issues dealing directly with estate and trust planning. A properly developed elder plan will help to direct the majority of life decisions that adults will face as they grow older.

Harvest Legal serves clients with diverse legal needs, including business, agricultural and personal matters. To learn more, visit www.harvestemporia.com or call 620-263-0391.