Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Catholic Conversations #194: Leaving a Legacy: Wills, Trusts, and Peace of Mind

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Catholic Conversations #194: Leaving a Legacy: Wills, Trusts, and Peace of Mind · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Hello and welcome, friends. I'm Stan Ketzik.
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You know, some of the best conversations happen when we simply sit down together,
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maybe with a cup of coffee or tea in hand and talk about what matters most.
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The joys, the questions, the everyday moments where we find our faith.
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That's the spirit of this show. Welcome to Catholic Conversations.
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This is your place to listen in, to reflect, and to feel connected. it.
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Whether you're commuting, working at home, or actually sitting with a cup of
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coffee, we're so glad you joined us.
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Each week, we'll explore the beauty, the depth, and the lived experience of the Catholic faith.
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We'll chat with interesting guests. We'll dive into timeless teachings and discuss
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how our faith illuminates our modern lives. So, get comfortable.
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Let's start a conversation that matters. This is Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Today, we're discussing a topic that should be of interest to everyone listening
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today, but it's something we don't necessarily like to talk about.
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We're all going to one day, hopefully, get called home to heaven.
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And when we go, what happens to the assets and the material valuables that we
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leave on this earth? Where will they go?
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How can we prepare for that? What can we do to make all those questions easy on our loved ones?
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There are so many questions that need to be answered, and that is why we have
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an expert, An incredible expert.
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Attorney Robert Porter is with us of Costigan and Woolrab.
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Our topic today is legal terms associated with wills and last testaments.
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Robert, welcome to the show. Thank you very much, Stan. It's a pleasure to be here.
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I'm telling you, I was excited when I heard about this subject that Ann had
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set up for us because, you know, it's very important to have a plan.
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Do you find in your line of work as an attorney, are there a lot of people that
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are unprepared for when our time comes?
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Or do they kind of get a hold of you and say, hey, Robert, can you help us out?
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Well, not enough people get a hold of us. Many people are unprepared.
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It's a topic that a lot of people don't like to think about either because they
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don't want to think too much about their passing or they find maybe family dynamics to be stressful.
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Hey, if I start talking about what my assets with my children or grandchildren,
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is that going to cause acrimony in the family?
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So better to just put my head in the sand and not think about it.
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And that's not a good idea.
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It's best to address these topics because left unplanned for,
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it can actually create a lot of work for your children and grandchildren if
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someone passes away and they don't have their affairs in order.
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Mm-hmm. I just want to say, speaking of getting your affairs in order,
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this month and throughout the year, we have done something here at Catholic Spirit Radio.
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We are letting our listeners get a free will, and they can go to mycatholicwill.com
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slash catholicspiritradio,
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and we can save them $75 for sure, because I went to the website to see what
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it would cost if I did this without our radio station.
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So they can get a free will by going to that site, and we'll have more information,
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all you have to do is go to our website, catholicspiritradio.com, and find out about that.
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But if they don't go that route and they want to get an attorney,
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let's start with the basics.
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What exactly is a will? What happens legally if someone dies without one?
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Is that where we can start this off? Sure. So if someone passes away without
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a will, the state of Illinois has a set of laws that say what happened to your property.
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It's called passing away intestate,
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So there are so-called intestacy provisions in the Illinois probate code that
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specify exactly what's going to happen to your property if you don't otherwise plan for it.
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Can I ask you a question as we start here? Sure. What happens like when you die?
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How does someone from the state get a hold of you? Do they find out about this
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through the death certificate or do you have to contact someone?
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The state wouldn't actually be involved. What it is, is when someone passes
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away without a plan, typically what you would expect is maybe an heir,
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most oftentimes a child or surviving spouse might find themselves...
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Wondering, how can I get access to my loved one's bank account?
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For instance, to pay for their funeral or pay for final medical bills and expenses.
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And when there's a will in place, of course, the terms of the will are going to control.
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But if not, then oftentimes there's confusion.
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People end up going to an attorney and the attorney has to say,
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well, here's a section of the state statutes that say what's going to take place,
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who's going to get this property.
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And that's all fine and well, except for if you're an individual who doesn't
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want the state of Illinois to be telling you who's going to get your property and how much.
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In which case, it makes sense to make a plan, which is what a will essentially
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is. It's a plan for who or what, because a person doesn't have to leave things to a person.
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They can leave things to an organization like a charity or a church.
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Or a radio station. Or a radio station.
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Can't they spare a radio? But a will is a plan for what happens with my property.
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Who gets my property when I pass? Okay.
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Now, let's take it, let's say I have no will and I come to your office.
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And if you just tuned in, we're talking to Robert Porter, a phenomenal attorney
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who is an expert on the subject that we're going through today,
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which is wills and testaments.
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If I'm sitting down in your office, Robert, what...
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What's the first thing we talk about? The first thing we talk about is your
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family. Are you married? Do you have children?
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What are those, who are those individuals? Are they here locally?
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We talk about your employment, what kind of assets you have.
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We'd also probably touch on things like, is there someone in your family,
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a child or a grandchild, who has special needs that we might need to account for?
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So really what we'd be doing is getting to know you, your family makeup,
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your assets, and then what desires or priorities you have in what you want your
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affairs, how you want your affairs to be managed when you are gone.
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Now, some people come in and they have very specific things in mind.
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They sort of know what they want to do.
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Other people, they come to me and it's really more of an open-ended conversation.
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And we brainstorm and collaborate together as to what a good estate plan will
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look like for you, one that achieves your financial goals and also comports with your values and.
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That are applicable to you. I've heard there's different types of wills,
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like a will and a trust or something like that.
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Could you give us some of the basics on the differences of those?
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Sure. And that's an important distinction because trusts are becoming more and more popular.
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You talk to financial advisors and they preach the benefits of trusts.
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Very simplistically, a will is
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typically designed to facilitate a single transfer of wealth or property.
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So I leave my estate to X or I leave my estate to these people.
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A trust is more elaborate in nature.
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So a trust might be for someone who wants to structure payments.
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So, you might think of a situation where you, in essence, want your wealth at
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death to be paid out to a beneficiary or beneficiaries almost like an annuity over time.
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You would need a trust to achieve that.
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Another thing I mentioned earlier is some individuals have children or other
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family who are disabled in some fashion.
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Maybe it's a physical disability.
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Maybe it's a developmental disability. Yeah.
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Those are, and it could be an individual who simply could not manage an inheritance
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on their own. And so that can be placed in trust for them in what's called a special needs trust.
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And that also has some added benefits of, it might keep them eligible for a
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certain public benefits that they rely on. Gotcha.
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Are there ways to protect your assets better by having a will or a trust?
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I know it all comes down to an individual's wealth. Well, it does. That's a good question.
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So what oftentimes people are worried about are estate taxes, right?
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People refer to that sometimes as a death tax. What is that percentage, basically?
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Do you know? Well, so, there are two...
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There's the federal estate tax, which has a very high exemption in excess of
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$15 to $16 million for an individual.
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What do you mean by exemption? You're cleared from not paying anything?
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Correct. Up to that level. Okay. And twice as much for a couple.
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So you can imagine that the people in this community, people in your audience,
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few and far between have to worry about a federal estate tax at this point.
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Yeah. Now, for the state of Illinois, depending on your perspective,
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we are unique enough, shall we say, to live in one of just 12 states that has a state estate tax.
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And the Illinois estate tax is only $4 million.
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And it's been $4 million for the last 13 years counting. There's been some conversation
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that that someday will reach $6 million, but it's never materialized.
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So there are an increasing number of people who, after working a lifetime,
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find themselves grappling with, do I have a taxable estate at the state level?
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And there are certain types of trusts that can be developed to help at least
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minimize that state estate tax consequence.
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And that's a conversation that I have with more and more people. Okay.
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If I'm understanding this correctly, if you have less than $4 million, there's no tax?
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No estate tax. Okay, that's good. Where does the state get its money?
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Because you know they're always going to get their money.
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There must be some way they try to, I don't want to say confiscate,
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but they want their fair share.
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Is there something we have to pay when we die to the state?
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Well, there are.
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That gets a little more complicated. There are income tax returns that estates oftentimes will file.
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However, usually that tax flows through to the actual beneficiaries of the estate.
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So if they get an inheritance, they might, depending on the circumstances,
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have to pay income tax on that.
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But again, that gets very, I don't want listeners to think that that's going
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to happen because that's very specific and context-specific.
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Gotcha. A lot of times people are afraid when they think of their money.
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They don't want it to go to the state or to the government.
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They've worked hard for it. They've already been taxed on it. Right, right, right.
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And so that's kind of a scary situation. That's why this is kind of a scary subject for people.
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They all worry. Sure. Not everybody, but some people worry about this.
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And that's why it's important, and I don't want to toot my own horn. I'll toot it.
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I'm glad you're here today. You can talk to any attorney. Maybe you have an
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attorney that you've worked with in the past or that you know an attorney or
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you're friends with an attorney, somebody that you feel comfortable going to.
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But that's why it's really important, in my opinion, to actually sit down with
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counsel and have those conversations and really be prepared to...
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Lay out, like I say, not only your family information,
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but everything about your assets and your values so that you can structure a
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plan that you're going to feel confident in that works for you and your family.
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I love it. If you are just tuning in, we're talking to a phenomenal individual,
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Attorney Robert Porter, a partner with Costigan and Woolrab.
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Where are you located at?
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Are you here in Bloomington? Sure. We are in downtown Bloomington.
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We are right next to, excuse me, we're right next to the copy shop.
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People tend to know the copy shop. We're the building right next door. Fantastic.
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And now we have 16 radio stations all over Illinois and Wisconsin.
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If someone calls you, let's say they're from Wisconsin, can you handle their wills and estates?
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Or are you pretty much just from Illinois? Sure.
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So I'm only licensed to practice law in Illinois. If there are,
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you know, sometimes people have property, if someone is a Wisconsin resident,
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owns property or has assets here, there may be a way that I can help them with
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those specific topics. Okay.
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But there are variations from state to state in terms of their probate acts.
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Okay. So what is the law here in Illinois?
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I'm sure is different than in Wisconsin. Gotcha. The differences may not be
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great, but there are differences.
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And so people really ought to go speak to an attorney in the state they live in.
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Okay. So if you're from Illinois, and you know what? I've got more questions.
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I'll tell you what, we're about to get to a break right now.
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You are fascinating. Thank you for coming in.
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Are you billing us today or is this all volunteer work?
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This is a pleasure to be here, okay? You will not get a bill in the mail.
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God bless you. I'm going to toot your horn then.
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You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
15:01
Robert Porter of Costigan and Woolrabby is a partner in town,
15:06
and he is here to answer all of our questions about wills and testaments.
15:11
And don't forget, we are—
15:13
helping you through the radio station. You can get a free will through mycatholicwill.com
15:19
slash catholicspiritradio.
15:22
Now, that's the easy one. It's free through us.
15:26
But if you want to get specific, you've got to get a great attorney,
15:30
and we've got one with us.
15:31
And we'll be talking more with Robert Porter of Costigan and Woolrab as soon
15:36
as we come back from the break. And again, And thank you so much for tuning
15:39
in to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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More information is available at iCatholicMobile.com. iCatholic Mobile underwrites
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for the Catholic Spirit Radio Network. The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
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in Hantsville, Alabama, is an official Jubilee Year of Hope site.
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It's an ideal place to receive a plenary indulgence and for adoration with poor Claire nuns.
16:44
Details at O-L-A-M-Shrine.com.
16:49
Even though we're healthy, the wife's been after me to sit with her and create
16:52
our will. Mike, I just don't know where to begin.
16:55
Marty, preparing a will is a loving and responsible thing to do.
16:59
It's not as big of a task as you might think. Why do you say that?
17:02
We finalized our will last month online using My Catholic Will.
17:06
It was easy using the free gift found on Catholic Spirit Radio website.
17:11
In about 30 minutes, My Catholic Will guided us in establishing guardians for
17:16
our kids, ensuring a proper Catholic funeral, and making sure that our assets
17:21
are directed at the people and organizations we care about. That sounds like a great idea.
17:26
Did you say My Catholic Will is free? Yep, free. Plus, you complete it right
17:31
at home. My wife's going to love that.
17:33
Don't delay. Go to mycatholicwill.com right slash catholicspiritradio. Thanks, Mike.
17:40
Mycatholicwill.com right slash catholicspiritradio.
17:53
Welcome back to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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I'm Stan Ketzig. Before the break, we were talking to a fascinating individual.
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He's an attorney, Robert Porter, with Costigan and Woolrab in Bloomington,
18:06
but he can work all throughout Illinois.
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He's helping us with our subject today.
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This is a subject that not a lot of people like to talk about,
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but, you know, we all have to.
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It's wills. It's testaments. It's what do we do when we're planning our estates?
18:23
Do you find, Robert, and again, thank you for being with us today. Of course.
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Do you find, when do people start planning? When should they start planning?
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Could you tell us it? Sure. So the answer to the first question is there is no typical.
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People tend to come in and see me at all stages of life. Okay.
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If someone asks my opinion, hey, when should I put something together?
18:47
I would tell someone, when you're married and have children,
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when you're married and have children, it's time to, at the very least,
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have a will prepared. And the reason is, is because for.
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For married couples with children who are minors, the will is an opportunity
19:09
for you to designate or nominate who would be a guardian for your children in the event,
19:17
in the unlikely event, that both you and your spouse were to pass away before
19:21
the children became adults.
19:24
You can also set up within that will basically trust language that determines
19:30
who's going to manage the money you leave behind the young children until they're
19:36
old enough and become adults to have the money on their own.
19:39
Because we're not going to, you know, I mean, let's say you've got a million
19:44
dollar estate. You're not going to
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cut, you know, two $500,000 checks to five-year-old twins, for instance.
19:51
Right. That would make a lot of sense not to do.
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That's when I tell people, hey, you really ought to start thinking about this,
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which is when you're married and have children.
20:03
That was a great example you just gave. What happens if something like that
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occurs and there is a lot of money left to a couple of kids?
20:13
Is there a way to protect the kid's future, even if the person you leave the
20:17
money to is now in charge of the estate?
20:21
Well, typically what you would be doing is you would be creating,
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as a parent with young children who are not yet adults,
20:31
you would be creating within your will something that's oftentimes referred
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to as a children's trust.
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So you would be designating another adult, whether that be.
20:44
Sibling, an adult sibling, maybe one of your parents, a friend,
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somebody who's involved in the child's life, you would designate that person
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as the trustee and they would have a fiduciary obligation to hold the funds
20:59
you left behind and manage them, steward them,
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use them to benefit your children to pay for their health and education and welfare and so on.
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And then when the children reach a certain age, an age of your choosing,
21:17
they could then get the money out right.
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Okay. But the kids would be protected. They couldn't just spend the money just
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because they know that they are the person that is in charge of the trust or whatever. Okay.
21:30
Yeah. I mean, if they did that, there would be significant legal consequences
21:35
to them, potentially even criminal consequences.
21:39
So, no, that would be a very bad idea for a trustee to take the money and spend
21:46
it on themselves. Gotcha.
21:47
Can you give an example, without giving the name of maybe someone that you've
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dealt with, just to show us how people benefit from having a will or a trust?
21:58
Can you give an example of how you saved somebody a lot of grief and a lot of
22:04
cost when someone passed away?
22:08
Sure. I'll give you a couple examples. Okay. I'll give you a toog,
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I'll give you two extreme examples of what happens when you don't have a will.
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Oh, okay. That's a good, that's a very good point. Yeah.
22:24
So I was involved or became aware of two individuals, older adults,
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who had a significant amount of property.
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They never, they had no children.
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They had no siblings. they had no spouse and their parents pre-deceased them.
22:47
They both had significant amounts of wealth and neither of them put anything in writing.
22:54
They never had wills, they never had trusts, anything.
22:58
So in both cases, when they passed away.
23:03
There was some initial family identified, and those individuals had to work
23:11
with me in figuring out who this estate should go to.
23:18
And so we went to the intestacy laws I referenced at the beginning of our interview.
23:25
We essentially recreated a family tree.
23:29
And in both cases, you had second, third cousins, people who really never knew the deceased. Oh, my.
23:39
Inheriting their entire estates. Oh.
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Some of these folks had no idea this person had passed away.
23:45
Some of the folks thought, well, this person must have passed away a long time ago.
23:50
Oh, Robert. And so both of those examples are ones I give to say you ought to have a plan.
23:56
Now, I will say it's unusual for someone to pass with no spouse,
24:03
no children, no siblings, you know. Yeah.
24:06
I mean, that's unusual, but it's an extreme example to prove a point,
24:09
which is that you may not want the intestacy laws in the state of Illinois to
24:15
govern who gets your things when you pass away.
24:18
Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. In terms of, you know, things that...
24:24
Planning to help folks. There's lots of things we can do now to avoid what's
24:30
referred to as the probate process.
24:33
And by that, what I mean is the process by which someone actually formally files
24:38
a petition with the court to open an estate that must stay open for six months,
24:46
notice being published in the paper for claims, etc.
24:50
A lot of people view probate now as an added and unnecessary expense and period of time.
24:57
And good planning can avoid that. Can I ask you, is that something that automatically happens?
25:02
I know when my uncle passed away, he lived in Wisconsin, there was probate that got involved.
25:07
Is that kind of a lock on everything? Does that automatically happen or will a will and testament?
25:13
Will that sidestep that? Yeah, what the state of Illinois says is if someone
25:18
passes away and they have property valued in excess of $150,000 just in that
25:26
deceased person's name,
25:28
so no joint property,
25:31
no accounts with beneficiaries designated, et cetera.
25:36
If you have that level of wealth only in your name, that requires a probate estate to be open. Okay.
25:45
There's a lot of time, there's many ways to get around that.
25:48
A lot of times people think, well, I have to have a trust to avoid probate.
25:54
While that is true, that's not always true. So if we think about our, if we think about,
26:00
you know, most of our wealth for most listeners and most people,
26:03
that's tied up in our real property, our homes, but it's also in our investment
26:10
accounts, our retirement accounts, et cetera. That's where we build our wealth.
26:15
And those types of accounts allow you to designate beneficiaries on them.
26:20
And when you do that, it has the effect of bypassing the estate altogether. Okay.
26:27
So usually people can avoid probate or in many cases, people can avoid probate
26:33
by making sure their accounts have designated beneficiaries,
26:39
I've got a great expert next to me right here. Well, as long as I'm giving you
26:44
guys something usable, I'm okay.
26:46
It really is. We'll be talking more with Robert Porter of Costigan and Woolrab
26:52
as soon as we come back from the break.
26:54
And again, thank you so much for tuning in to Catholic Conversations on the
26:58
Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
27:00
You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
27:06
Even though we're healthy, the wife's been after me to sit with her and create
27:09
our will. Mike, I just don't know where to begin.
27:11
Marty, preparing a will is a loving and responsible thing to do.
27:15
It's not as big of a task as you might think.
27:18
Why do you say that? We finalized our will last month online using My Catholic Will.
27:23
It was easy using the free gift found on Catholic Spirit Radio website.
27:27
In about 30 minutes, My Catholic Will guided us in establishing guardians for
27:33
our kids, ensuring a proper Catholic funeral, and making sure that our assets
27:38
are directed at the people and organizations we care about. That sounds like a great idea.
27:43
Did you say My Catholic Will is free? Yep, free. Plus, you complete it right at home.
27:48
My wife's going to love that. Don't delay. Go to mycatholicwill.com right slash
27:53
catholicspiritradio. Thanks, Mike.
27:57
Mycatholicwill.com right slash catholicspiritradio.
28:03
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hantsville, Alabama is an official
28:08
Jubilee Year of Hope site.
28:10
It's an ideal place to receive a plenary indulgence and for adoration with poor Claire nuns.
28:15
Details at olamshrine.com iCatholic Mobile is a 5G mobile phone company dedicated
28:22
to supporting your faith and values, offering unlimited talk and text,
28:27
reliable data, and plans that support Catholic causes.
28:31
A portion of every dollar helps sustain the mission of the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
28:36
With nationwide coverage, iCatholic Mobile connects you to what matters most.
28:41
More information is available at iCatholicMobile.com.
28:45
ICatholic Mobile underwrites for the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
28:49
Did you know there's an app for Catholic Spirit Radio?
28:51
Listeners with phones, tablets, and other devices can tune into our programs and podcasts anytime.
28:56
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Welcome back to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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I'm Stan Ketzig. Before the break, we were discussing planning with Robert Porter,
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who is an attorney in Bloomington, a phenomenal guy.
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He is not billing us any for this hour, and that's nice.
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We really thank you, and we appreciate you coming in today.
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It's a pleasure to be here. And I'd just like to say there are some legal terms
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that, are there, can you give us some legal terms and what they mean?
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Like we were discussing with Ann, who is running the board today,
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you know, power of attorney, power of health.
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Are there other things people need to know when they're coming in to see you
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that, you know, because to be honest with you, you're a great guy,
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but sometimes it's intimidating when you just sit across from a lawyer and, or an attorney.
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Do you prefer lawyer, attorney? Is there?
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I have no, I have no preference. Okay. All right. Well, whatever's the least
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intimidating. How about that?
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Well, you just seem like a great guy. So I'm just looking for really our goal today.
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We always like to have fun conversations, remind people it's great to be Catholic.
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But I want people to plan for, you know, when they go to heaven,
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wouldn't it be nice to when you're.
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When your time comes to know that your family is taken care of.
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You don't have to worry about anything.
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You gave a great example earlier of a brother and sister that left the earth
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and didn't leave any will and testament, and there was a lot of work that had to be done.
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But I just want to motivate people today as they listen to plan,
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because we're all going to have an expiration date.
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We hate to talk about it, but, you know, and wouldn't it be great when you got
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to heaven, you knew everything was all taken care of.
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And the first thing you said to Jesus when you saw him as you're coming into
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earth and you give him a high five and you go, hey, Jesus, I donated to Catholic
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Spirit Radio. I left some of my estate.
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I was talking to this great attorney, Robert Porter. He got it all lined up.
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Can people do that? Can they give to their church? Can they give to a non-profit
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and they give to a radio station sure,
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I'm rambling a little bit but I'm not excited I get to talk to an attorney and
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I'm not having to pay for it yeah no many people do leave to charities okay
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you know their church is a popular one but.
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You know sometimes people will leave to the humane society they're an animal
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lover they do that or maybe it's a civic organization here in town internationally,
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like League of Women Voters.
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I mean, I'm just, you know, coming up with examples, not endorsing any one particular
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organization over the other.
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But no, you certainly can do that. Sometimes,
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You see that more when maybe people don't have children.
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Okay. So most of the times, most people will plan their estates such that their
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wealth passes to the next generation. So their children or their grandchildren.
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And so you oftentimes see people picking not-for-profits, maybe if they don't
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have children or a person to leave things to, but not always.
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You know, when we were talking, what is a power of attorney?
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Is there one person that gets designated to take care of? Sure.
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So a power of attorney is an important tool, and it's different than a will or trust.
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A will or trust controls what happens to a person's assets here on earth when
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they are gone, when they passed away.
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A power of attorney is who is able to make financial decisions or health care
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decisions for a person while they're still living, but they're disabled.
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Okay. They're cognitively impaired.
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They're either because they're unconscious due to an accident or an injury,
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or they have some sort of progressive cognitive impairment disease like dementia or Alzheimer's.
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Oh, that's good to know. Such that they really legally can't make decisions anymore.
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So there are two types of powers of attorney. Excuse me. The first is a power
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of attorney for health care.
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The second is a power of attorney for property.
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The power of attorney for health care allows an individual to designate another
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adult to be their agent to make health care decisions for them if that person's
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unable to because of a cognitive impairment.
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And that can include decisions surrounding end-of-life care.
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Power of attorney for property, a similar concept, except this time the agent
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is making financial decisions or engaging in financial transactions for you.
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So you could think of an example, and I think this routinely occurs,
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where maybe you've got a parent in a nursing home and a son or daughter is paying their bills for them.
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Most of the time, they're doing that by virtue of a power of attorney for property
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that their parent had previously executed.
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So, those are really important tools to have, especially when you're a surviving
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spouse and have children.
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So, when you're married and your spouse, both spouses are living.
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Oftentimes we own our property jointly with our spouse.
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So, if one spouse can't write a check, the other one can. And similarly,
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medical providers often will defer to spouses if decisions need to be made.
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But when you've got a surviving spouse and maybe adult children or a number of children,
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those tools become more important, especially if questions arise as to who can
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make these decisions for mom or dad, who can help them.
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Gotcha. Do laws, if we set up our, let's say I was setting up a will today and
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my will is all prepared by you and we are, I feel like everything is good.
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I know where my home is going. I know where my money is going.
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When laws change, how does that affect a will that's already set up? Sure.
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Typically, when the laws change, and they do here and there.
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For instance, in 2020, there was a major overhaul to the laws in Illinois concerning trusts.
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There was an adoption of a new trust code.
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But typically when laws change, existing documents tend to be grandfathered in.
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Oh, okay. So they're covered. Yeah. So the legislature will say,
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you know, we understand we're making these changes, you But if you've got an
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existing document today or yesterday, we're not going to just make that null
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and void because certain laws regarding trusts and wills have changed.
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And with the example I gave with the former Trust and Trustees Act becoming
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the Illinois Trust Code, those trusts predating 2020 were grandfathered in.
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Gotcha. But your question raises a good topic in that people will oftentimes
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ask, well, I've done this will or I've done this trust.
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How often should I change it?
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Should I ever change it? And sometimes people come with ideas that,
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oh, you know, I heard I should change this every two years or every five years.
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I've had that said to me before. Okay. My reaction is usually similar to the reaction you just had.
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Why exactly yeah,
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That's not necessarily the case. But what I tell people is you ought to take
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a look at these documents when you have a major life change.
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So anything that a normal person would have happened to them and say,
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boy, my life is really different than it once was.
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Maybe it's the birth of children. Maybe it's children all growing up and leaving the house.
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Maybe it's the death of a spouse.
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Maybe it's a divorce. Maybe it's a job change or a significant change in your
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assets, hopefully for the better.
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When things like that happen, I tell people, you ought to look at these documents
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and think, is what I have in place still serving my needs?
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Because although I don't endorse, you know, changing estates every other year,
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for instance, just as a matter of habit, I also don't think people should have
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the view that I've done this once.
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I never need to look at it again. Gotcha. You know, you were just talking about
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the fact that when laws change, you update them and you can get the benefits.
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But how about if you've put your will together or your trust together,
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and then the laws change?
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How do I say this? Let's say a law changes that all of a sudden would have benefited you had you not...
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Put your will together five years ago. Do you have to update that or does it
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automatically, does the law automatically help the person who has the will put
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together? I don't know if that question makes sense, but.
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Yeah. I mean, I think that it's a, I think that a change in the law,
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a dramatic change in the law, I think could be a basis for looking at your existing
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documents and thinking, does this still make sense?
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Okay. So an example that might come to mind would be, I referenced earlier that
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in the state of Illinois, there's a $4 million exemption for estate taxes. Yes.
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If that were to ever increase, for instance, that may be a basis to undo some
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or change maybe some elaborate planning you've done because,
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you know, maybe you've got a $5 million estate.
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And you've done some kind of real sophisticated
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trust planning or gifting strategies to avoid the estate tax.
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But then, for instance, if it became $6 million,
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Well, I would say, hey, let's consider what we put in place.
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Yes. And maybe we don't need to do all that anymore.
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That would be an obvious example of what I think would maybe be a change in
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the law that would necessitate looking at this again.
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Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, so far, it's fascinating.
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We are talking to attorney Robert Porter with Costigan and Woolrab here in Bloomington.
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And we are trying to get you to prepare your will.
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We want you to be prepared for when you go to heaven. I mean,
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that's really the goal of this program today is to get everybody to even think about it.
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You know, we've got to plan for our future and for our relatives.
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And I just want to remind everybody listening, we're trying to give you a little
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bit of a nudge in that way because we're saving you some money.
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We're giving you something for free, actually.
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If you go to mycatholicwill.com right slash catholicspiritradio,
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you can prepare your will for free.
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Won't cost you a dime. I'm not kidding you.
40:43
Mycatholicwill.com right slash catholicspiritradio. You can prepare a will for free.
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And don't forget, if you're looking for some place to leave a little money,
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Wouldn't it be nice to high-five Jesus as you go into heaven and go,
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Hey, I left a boatload to Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I'm going to promote you, Jesus. What's he going to say to you?
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He's going to say, Get in here. Give me a hug.
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And that's really what we're trying to do. But no, I'm making light of it.
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But we want people to prepare. We want them to be prepared.
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And also, you know, if you want an attorney, I'm just blessed today because
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I have an expert sitting here, Robert Porter.
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He's not charging us anything. And I'm sure if someone has an estate,
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it's worth the money to get an attorney to make sure everything works.
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Is covered you want to be prepared you don't want
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any surprises if you've got a lot of money that you want to well i i i would
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agree with that and i think that what i would say is you know there there are
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there are good resources out there that you can look at and you're promoting
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one here on the show today.
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But I would also encourage folks to don't be shy to at least reach out to an
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estate planning attorney and ask.
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Ask about if cost is an impediment, ask about cost because you never know.
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And I think it's well worth it to have an expert on your side when you're working
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through something this important.
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And it is important. You want somebody, like you said, on your side,
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somebody working for you.
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When you come down to preparing, how long does it take to prepare?
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Well, I mean, does it take a long time? What do people have to bring with them
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if they come in to see you?
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Well, that's a good question. People come in with varying degrees of preparedness.
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You know, I have a questionnaire I've developed that I give a lot of people
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on the front end if they would like it.
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I always tell people it's helpful. It'll be helpful to you and me.
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And the questionnaire asks about some of the big topics I highlighted earlier.
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You know, what does your family makeup look like? What is your employment status? What are your assets?
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You know, what are your values? What are your goals?
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And so sometimes people come right in and they have all that stuff at the ready
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and they say, this is what I want.
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What do you think? I got you. Other times I'll meet with people and I'll say,
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you know, I ask them questions like, well, who would you want?
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The executor of your will to be. And they'll say, I have no idea.
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I've never thought about it. Right.
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Which is okay. Sure. But, you know, that's going to take a little longer because
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those are the things that we need to know before we can put anything down and prepare anything.
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Do you tie in things like life insurance? Do you give people advice to,
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hey, look, you've got some assets here. We want to protect this.
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Is that the type of advice you
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give too, or do you just pretty much gather up? I mean, yeah, yes and no.
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I mean, certainly as a practical matter, if people come in, I think life insurance,
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life insurance can be a very important tool.
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Especially for folks who are younger in life, who are in the workforce,
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who have younger families, because life insurance can be a form of income replacement.
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I see. If you leave your, if you pass on and leave behind your family before
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you otherwise think you would.
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And certainly I've had conversations with people about, you know,
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hey, have you ever considered life insurance? You know, do you have life insurance?
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Is that the right amount for you?
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Have you ever thought about disability insurance?
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I'm not at a, you know, I'm not an expert in insurance. I don't sell insurance,
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anything of that nature.
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I don't even tell people, oh, I think you should go here. Yeah.
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Those are good conversations to have. You know, on the other end of the spectrum,
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if you're a high asset individual and you've got some large,
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usually whole life insurance policies, there are trusts that we can put insurance
45:07
policies into to help mitigate estate taxes if that's a concern.
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And so, you know, I have those conversations with folks as well.
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Gotcha. We are talking to Robert Porter today. He is an attorney and he is an
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expert on wills and testaments.
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And, you know, Robert, one of the questions I wanted to ask you is today,
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there are a lot of blended families, you know, unique challenges.
45:29
Some people have second marriages. Does that create an issue when you're putting together a will?
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It can. It certainly can. You know, one thing that we didn't,
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that I haven't talked about yet is that by default, when you do a trust or a will,
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they're what we refer to as revocable documents, meaning you can change them
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or you can get rid of them.
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The alternative of that is an irrevocable document.
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And sometimes you see irrevocable documents drawn up in blended family situations.
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So the idea there is, well, we've got, you know, a couple that each,
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brought their own children to the marriage, but they both say to each other,
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hey, when we pass, we want our assets to go to all of the children equally,
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both my biological children and step children.
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And sometimes people use the irrevocable will as almost an insurance policy
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that the surviving spouse won't,
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in essence, redo estate planning and only leave property to his or her children,
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cut the stepchildren out.
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So you do see irrevocable documents sometimes used in blended family situations. Oh, my.
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Do you ever see bad fights between people and families?
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I mean, I can just imagine that, you know, when it comes to death of a family
47:00
member and there's, you know, some people wanting one thing,
47:04
some people the other thing.
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Does this cut that out or do you see that happening when?
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Yes, I've seen plenty of fights between family.
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Usually that is a aspect of the family dynamic itself.
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I see. And has nothing to do with the estate documents. Okay.
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What I tell people is when people come to me, sometimes people say,
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well, gee, should I even show these documents to my children?
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Ultimately, that's up to the client. But if you're asking my advice,
47:40
being as open and as honest and as candid and as instructive to your children
47:46
about what you're doing in terms of your estate helps to mitigate conflict after you're gone.
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Gotcha. Are there any mistakes you see people trying to do, they make when they're
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trying to prepare a will that, you know, are common to avoid?
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Or maybe you help them avoid those mistakes so you don't see them.
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Well, I think sometimes people come in and they feel...
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They feel maybe a little, they're more focused on kind of what they perceive
48:19
as fairness to the children as opposed to what makes the most sense.
48:26
So maybe they think, well, you know, we've got to name our oldest child the
48:32
executor because they're the oldest. I gotcha.
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But the oldest child lives in Florida and the youngest child lives here in town with them.
48:40
I gotcha. Okay. Sort of like, well, let's think about that. I understand they're
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the oldest, but does that really make sense to have somebody that far away do
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this? I see. So you guide them.
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Sometimes people think, oh, I can't choose, so I'm going to have co-executors.
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Or one time, someone asked about having three executors serving simultaneously
48:59
because they didn't want to have to pick.
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Oh, my. And it's like, I understand the sentiment, but what happens if all three
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of those people don't get along? Yeah. Or they have a disagreement.
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Right. So sometimes I think helping people.
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See the ramifications of otherwise good intentions is an important thing for
49:19
an attorney to do. Gotcha.
49:21
You know, making a will is a loving gift for your family.
49:25
To refresh our listeners who are just tuning in, you now have access to an online
49:30
version of a document that will assist you with your last will and testament.
49:35
It's mycatholicwill.com slash catholicspiritradio. Again, I want to remind everybody
49:43
out there that if you go to that website, it will ask you just a few different
49:48
questions to get you started.
49:50
You'll create an online account and then it'll be free.
49:54
You don't have to spend anything to create a will online through our radio station.
50:00
But as we come to a close here, are there any last pieces of advice you'd like
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to give anyone out there that are thinking about creating a will?
50:09
And don't, don't be afraid to do it. Don't be afraid to do it.
50:14
Just because you draft and sign a will doesn't mean that you're going to pass away the next day.
50:20
Sometimes people, you know, people have that, that kind of goofy notion,
50:25
you know, if I don't talk about it, if I don't think about it,
50:28
that means it won't happen. We don't want to talk about it. Exactly.
50:31
So I would say, You know, don't be afraid to do it and to know that,
50:37
you know, in most cases, in many cases.
50:40
Planning of this nature is an act of love for your family because it helps your family know that.
50:50
What you wanted, which makes them inevitably feel good, that your wishes are being fulfilled.
50:57
And it also just helps reduce a lot of stress and a lot of chaos in managing
51:03
and putting the pieces of your affairs together after you pass.
51:06
That really is a big stress reducer for families.
51:10
You know, I think you said it perfectly because that is the most stressful thing.
51:13
When somebody passes away, it's like, what do we do?
51:16
And first of all, you've lost somebody, you're grieving, And then the stress
51:20
and the cortisol go up in your body and you're just, you don't have a clue.
51:25
So this is a good way of helping out.
51:28
I just want to thank you again. We have talked today with Robert Porter,
51:31
an attorney who has been fascinating.
51:34
Tell us a little bit about your, about everybody else in the practices, in your practice.
51:39
Sure. So my firm is Costigan and Woolrab.
51:43
It was established in 1916 here in Bloomington, Illinois.
51:49
By Bill, by Will Costigan and Fred Wohlrab.
51:54
Historically, we've been a full service law firm.
51:57
So we do just about everything. We don't do bankruptcies. We don't do criminal defense.
52:04
We don't really do any intellectual property type work.
52:08
But beyond that, you know, we, we cover, we practice in most areas. Okay.
52:13
I just want to thank you. Robert Porter has been fascinating today.
52:17
And, you know, it's my hope. First of all, I want to thank you.
52:19
You've been great and hope you've enjoyed it. I have.
52:23
It's been great. It's been great to be here in your studio, your lovely studio,
52:26
and I've enjoyed your company.
52:27
Well, you're a great guy. And, you know, it's my hope that our discussion today
52:31
is offered not just food for thought,
52:33
but spark some encouragement for our listeners to get out and get a will.
52:38
And, you know, think about what you can do for your family. Remember,
52:41
it's all about family here at Catholic Spirit Radio.
52:45
Our faith is a living conversation with God, with the church, and with each other.
52:49
And if you missed any part of today's show or you want to revisit our conversation,
52:52
you can find it on our podcast at catholicspiritradio.com.
52:57
Thank you for spending some time with us on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
53:00
I'm Stan Ketsick, and we will see you in the future. But in the meantime,
53:05
get out and get that will and testament.
53:07
Remember, you can go to our website. There will be a little add-on there on
53:11
how you can put that together.
53:13
But Robert Porter, thank you for your help today. Thank you very much.
53:16
God bless you, my friend. Thank you.
53:18
Thank you for listening. I'll see you next week. You've been listening to Catholic
53:22
Conversations. Download our podcasts at catholicspiritradio.com.