Swifties are being misled about probate!

It's probably not Taylor Swift's or Clint Eastwood's fault, but their works are both perpetuating a myth about Wills. I do know about you, but I'm feeling like telling the truth. So I will go ahead and make your day by dispelling this method. I still love them both, but Dirty Harry and the Anti-hero must be set straight!

June 06, 2023

Transcript

The Plan-it for June. Wow. What date is it? June 6th, 2023. Man, we are just flying into the days this year, aren't we? All right, so this is the day where I'm gonna make maybe a few people angry. It might be the Taylor Swift fans, it might be Clint Eastwood fans. It might be both. So a couple of things you should really know about me, and those of you who know me and have ever been in the car with me probably already know this, but two things.

One is I am. A singer, like in the sense that if there's a song coming on in the car, I am singing it. I am belting it out loud. And the more alone I feel, the more out loud that song's gonna be.  I'm also the kind of person who likes to watch the same movies over and over again. Maybe there's a predictability element to it.

Maybe there's like a certain security element to it. I don't know. I, I like being able to turn it off. There's like a lack of commitment. You know? I don't need to watch the whole movie if I don't want to. So two things came up and. They both believe it or not, had to do with Wills and Taylor Swift and Clint Eastwood are kind of lying to us.

So what do we mean by that? Well, couple of things. So I was belting my tunes. Now I will also tell you that. Out of the folks in the, house where I am one of four people in the home and there's myself, my wife, and my two kids,  you know, soon to be 19 and 17. I am still the biggest Taylor Swift fan in the house, and I think they would all agree with that too.

And actually, I kind of really, really, really like this anti-hero song. Yeah, but there is one line in the song, and I'm belting it out loud. I've heard the song a bunch of times, and I finally kind of picked up on the lyrics where she says, I have this dream. My daughter-in-law kills me for the money. Right?

So some of you might know that and know, that's not my best singing, by the way. I'll give you a private performance if you want a better singing, thing, but not that I'm rocking it like Taylor anyway, but that next line is they find out that, they were not left in the will, and they say she's laughing.

Thing at us from hell. And I think as she refers to the reading of the will. So that happens and I'm like, okay, fine, Hollywood, whatever. But I'm also watching Grand Torino, which if you guys haven't seen Grand Torino, this is a little bit of a spoiler alert. So maybe you want to fast forward this part or don't watch it.

But by the way, awesome movie Uhlin Eastwood did a fantastic job in it acting wise too. Okay, so here's where the spoiler is. All right, give you a chance to hit pause. All right, so at the end of the movie, there is. Is a scene where a will is being read and a, bequest is given to somebody in that will, that was unexpected by the family.

Let's just leave it at that. Okay, so this happens and it's the second time and I'm like, okay, I need to address this because there are folks, so I did actually ask a few friends and they actually believe this actually happens. It's like when somebody passes away, there is a reading of the will, and no, there's really not a reading of the will.

I mean, it makes for good Hollywood. Right. So there's not this like lawyer's conference room where the guy, the attorney, unwraps or opens up a will and then reads it off from line to line at the beginning, to end. So that just doesn't happen. It again makes for good Hollywood, but what actually happens is there are a lot of beneficiaries who are entitled to notice of the will and when there's a probate, which is what happens, that's how a will gets its power.

During the probate process, that's how people will get known that there's actually a will and what the will contents actually provide and who should be getting what. But it's just a document that's delivered. There's no like reading of it, right? But people think that's the case. So there will be some folks who will say, well, if there's no reading of the will, then what's the big deal?

I'm not gonna tick some people off. Right? Like the daughter-in-law in Taylor Swift's song the other folks in Grand Torino, like maybe there's not an opportunity for them to get upset. So what's the big deal? Well, although there's not a quote unquote reading of the will, there are still probate actions that are taken.

And probate actions involve, like I said, giving everybody who's an interested party next of kin a copy of the will. And that is sometimes where dispute. Arise. If the daughter-in-law killed Taylor Swift for the money and thought she was entitled to something, could the daughter-in-law or somebody on her behalf bring a lawsuit?

They probably could bring a lawsuit. And that's how a lot of estate litigators make their money. It's off of lawsuits. So probate does mean that in Grand Torino, or I'm just gonna say it. So the car goes to Dow, who's this really sweet kid? Really great story again, watching story. But, if you, if the car made its way to somebody outside the family and they thought that was undue influence, or Clint Eastwood didn't know what he was doing during that time, that might be disputed as well.

So, although there's not a reading of the will, that probate process is generally when disputes happen, where if you treated a kid unequally or if you gave them something to somebody else and, and, or, you know, appointed the wrong people as beneficiaries or even trustees. So what some people will say is, Hey, maybe I'd like to avoid that probate process.

So if Taylor Swift is really. Worried about that daughter-in-law or if Clint Eastwood wanted to make sure that there was no issues with respect to this car that he gives to Dow? Well, maybe there is a different method where you actually create this bucket today, and this bucket is now going to have a sort of, oops, this bucket is now going to have basically all of my assets and these assets are going to, essentially be dispersed after I pass away.

But there's not gonna be a, even a, not a public reading, but not even a public document that discloses who gets what. And that decreases the likelihood of a dispute. That's a trust. Now there's other vehicles that you might want to accomplish that can accomplish that sort of thing too. You could certainly give lifetime transfers.

You can use beneficiary designations if appropriate. You can use, title transfers like, transfer on death or payable on death. But, you know, I'm sorry, Taylor. I mean I love you and it's still a love story. When I hear a love story and he whips out his ring and he goes down to his knees and. Tells her to pick out a white dress.

I'll still be the one belting along with you. So I, I love you no less, Taylor. And I definitely don't love Clint Eastwood any less because quite frankly, he scares me. But no, I love Clint Eastwood. So with all that being said, okay, so, Hollywood, great reading of the wills fantastic for Hollywood stories.

There are no readings of the wills when it comes to the actual will part of it too, but, If you are worried about things like daughters-in-law killing you for the money and seeing the probate, or if you're worried about, you know, families disputing your wills or something much more innocuous than that, maybe just,  kids or, or other folks kind of who may not like what your testamentary intentions are.

Explore some of these other vehicles like trusts, titling, transfer on death, and all that sort of stuff, that might be a better solution than, than having it in your will. All right, hope this was helpful. Hope it was a little fun, and don't you worry. I promise I was driving safe. You can see my eyes.

Are on the road just looking at you intermittently when I check my mirrors. All right? Be safe, be well. Enjoy these beautiful days and the start to summer and I will see you next week. The planet for June. Wow. What date is it? June 6th, 2023. Man, we are just flying into the days this year, aren't we? All right, so this is the day where I'm gonna make maybe a few people angry. It might be the Taylor Swift fans, it might be Clint Eastwood fans. It might be both. So a couple of things you should really know about me, and those of you who know me and have ever been in the car with me probably already know this, but two things.

One is I am. A singer, like in the sense that if there's a song coming on in the car, I am singing it. I am belting it out loud. And the more alone I feel, the more out loud that song's gonna be.  I'm also the kind of person who likes to watch the same movies over and over again. Maybe there's a predictability element to it.

Maybe there's like a certain security element to it. I don't know. I, I like being able to turn it off. There's like a lack of commitment. You know? I don't need to watch the whole movie if I don't want to. So two things came up and. They both believe it or not, had to do with Wills and Taylor Swift and Clint Eastwood are kind of lying to us.

So what do we mean by that? Well, couple of things. So I was belting my tunes. Now I will also tell you that. Out of the folks in the, house where I am one of four people in the home and there's myself, my wife, and my two kids,  you know, soon to be 19 and 17. I am still the biggest Taylor Swift fan in the house, and I think they would all agree with that too.

And actually, I kind of really, really, really like this anti-hero song. Yeah, but there is one line in the song, and I'm belting it out loud. I've heard the song a bunch of times, and I finally kind of picked up on the lyrics where she says, I have this dream. My daughter-in-law kills me for the money. Right?

So some of you might know that and know, that's not my best singing, by the way. I'll give you a private performance if you want a better singing, thing, but not that I'm rocking it like Taylor anyway, but that next line is they find out that, they were not left in the will, and they say she's laughing.

Thing at us from hell. And I think as she refers to the reading of the will. So that happens and I'm like, okay, fine, Hollywood, whatever. But I'm also watching Grand Torino, which if you guys haven't seen Grand Torino, this is a little bit of a spoiler alert. So maybe you want to fast forward this part or don't watch it.

But by the way, awesome movie Uhlin Eastwood did a fantastic job in it acting wise too. Okay, so here's where the spoiler is. All right, give you a chance to hit pause. All right, so at the end of the movie, there is. Is a scene where a will is being read and a, bequest is given to somebody in that will, that was unexpected by the family.

Let's just leave it at that. Okay, so this happens and it's the second time and I'm like, okay, I need to address this because there are folks, so I did actually ask a few friends and they actually believe this actually happens. It's like when somebody passes away, there is a reading of the will, and no, there's really not a reading of the will.

I mean, it makes for good Hollywood. Right. So there's not this like lawyer's conference room where the guy, the attorney, unwraps or opens up a will and then reads it off from line to line at the beginning, to end. So that just doesn't happen. It again makes for good Hollywood, but what actually happens is there are a lot of beneficiaries who are entitled to notice of the will and when there's a probate, which is what happens, that's how a will gets its power.

During the probate process, that's how people will get known that there's actually a will and what the will contents actually provide and who should be getting what. But it's just a document that's delivered. There's no like reading of it, right? But people think that's the case. So there will be some folks who will say, well, if there's no reading of the will, then what's the big deal?

I'm not gonna tick some people off. Right? Like the daughter-in-law in Taylor Swift's song the other folks in Grand Torino, like maybe there's not an opportunity for them to get upset. So what's the big deal? Well, although there's not a quote unquote reading of the will, there are still probate actions that are taken.

And probate actions involve, like I said, giving everybody who's an interested party next of kin a copy of the will. And that is sometimes where dispute. Arise. If the daughter-in-law killed Taylor Swift for the money and thought she was entitled to something, could the daughter-in-law or somebody on her behalf bring a lawsuit?

They probably could bring a lawsuit. And that's how a lot of estate litigators make their money. It's off of lawsuits. So probate does mean that in Grand Torino, or I'm just gonna say it. So the car goes to Dow, who's this really sweet kid? Really great story again, watching story. But, if you, if the car made its way to somebody outside the family and they thought that was undue influence, or Clint Eastwood didn't know what he was doing during that time, that might be disputed as well.

So, although there's not a reading of the will, that probate process is generally when disputes happen, where if you treated a kid unequally or if you gave them something to somebody else and, and, or, you know, appointed the wrong people as beneficiaries or even trustees. So what some people will say is, Hey, maybe I'd like to avoid that probate process.

So if Taylor Swift is really. Worried about that daughter-in-law or if Clint Eastwood wanted to make sure that there was no issues with respect to this car that he gives to Dow? Well, maybe there is a different method where you actually create this bucket today, and this bucket is now going to have a sort of, oops, this bucket is now going to have basically all of my assets and these assets are going to, essentially be dispersed after I pass away.

But there's not gonna be a, even a, not a public reading, but not even a public document that discloses who gets what. And that decreases the likelihood of a dispute. That's a trust. Now there's other vehicles that you might want to accomplish that can accomplish that sort of thing too. You could certainly give lifetime transfers.

You can use beneficiary designations if appropriate. You can use, title transfers like, transfer on death or payable on death. But, you know, I'm sorry, Taylor. I mean I love you and it's still a love story. When I hear a love story and he whips out his ring and he goes down to his knees and. Tells her to pick out a white dress.

I'll still be the one belting along with you. So I, I love you no less, Taylor. And I definitely don't love Clint Eastwood any less because quite frankly, he scares me. But no, I love Clint Eastwood. So with all that being said, okay, so, Hollywood, great reading of the wills fantastic for Hollywood stories.

There are no readings of the wills when it comes to the actual will part of it too, but, If you are worried about things like daughters-in-law killing you for the money and seeing the probate, or if you're worried about, you know, families disputing your wills or something much more innocuous than that, maybe just,  kids or, or other folks kind of who may not like what your testamentary intentions are.

Explore some of these other vehicles like trusts, titling, transfer on death, and all that sort of stuff, that might be a better solution than, than having it in your will. All right, hope this was helpful. Hope it was a little fun, and don't you worry. I promise I was driving safe. You can see my eyes.

Are on the road just looking at you intermittently when I check my mirrors. All right? Be safe, be well. Enjoy these beautiful days and the start to summer and I will see you next week.