Las Vegas Estate Planning Law Blog

Taking time to talk with family members about estate planning can be worthwhile for Nevada residents. Having this conversation can make it easier to plan for a range of issues such as where money will come from to pay for a parent's long-term care. It can also make it possible for family members to create a plan to transfer wealth while minimizing inheritance and other taxes.

Depending on a given family's dynamics, talking about how assets will be transferred can cause confusion or conflict. In some cases, adult children don't feel comfortable bringing up estate planning topics because they feel that they would be out of line. According to an Ameriprise study, only 21 percent of participants said that they told their children how much they were going to receive. To make the conversation less awkward, it may be best to focus on practical matters at first.

For anyone considering estate planning in Nevada, two of the main options are wills and trusts. While there are some individuals who believe it's better to opt for a trust than a will, the fact is that either one of these estate planning methods can work well. A will is a document that typically includes instructions about property and asset division among designated heirs. One can also use a will to name a personal representative to handle an individual's final affairs. Preferred guardians for children can be named as well.

While a will can be a useful document, it doesn't have any power until its creator passes away. At that time, it's presented to the court so the probate process can begin. A trust, on the other hand, is considered a separate and distinct legal entity that can be used to pass along certain assets to designated beneficiaries. There are many different kinds of trusts that can be set up. A revocable living trust, for example, allows the creator (settlor) to also serve as the beneficiary and trustee.

Many estate planners in Nevada want to take advantage of the higher level of flexibility and autonomy offered by trusts. However, they may have questions about how trust instruments work, especially where they differ from wills. For example, some may wonder if they can create a second trust and if it will affect the first trust they created. On the other hand, a new will usually explicitly revokes prior wills; it's only possible to have one valid will at a time.

However, trusts are different. While a will is meant to dispose of all of a person's remaining property, trusts must be funded with specific assets. Two trusts cannot control the same assets at the same time, in general. However, in some cases, an estate owner may want to create separate trusts for different types of property and serving different purposes. If one wants to change the way they are distributing property in a trust, they could revoke the original trust. However, they could also simply amend the trust while keeping it intact. The creator of a trust can even perform a restatement or complete amendment of the trust to entirely change the way that property will be handled.

Major life events should trigger a review of the estate plan for people in Nevada, and divorce is one of those events. The first step is to review the will. The executor, which is often the spouse, may need to be changed along with other elements of the will that include the ex-spouse's family.

People may also want to review and change beneficiary designations. These are sometimes forgotten even when other elements of the estate plan have been changed. Failing to change them can result in an ex-spouse getting retirement benefits, payment from a life insurance policy or other unintended assets.