Ep13 - Basic Estate Planning For All

Think estate planning is only for the wealthy? Think again. In this episode, Rich sits down with estate planning attorney Samara Halpern to break down what you actually need, whether you’re 18 or 80. From wills and healthcare proxies to power of attorney and trusts, this conversation covers the essentials most people overlook until it’s too late.

Episode Highlights:

• Why every adult over 18 needs a healthcare proxy
• The real difference between a will and a trust
• How to avoid costly mistakes that can leave your family stuck in probate

Want To Know More About Our Guest:  From the U.S. Attorney’s Office to the NYPD, Samara Halpern’s path to founding Halpern Law, P.C. reflects a lifelong commitment to making the law practical, protective, and personal.

Samara Halpern,Managing Partner
Halpern Law, P.C.
+1 (914) 810-3122
samara@halpernlawpc.com
www.halpernlawpc.com
Instagram | LinkedIn

Filmed and recorded at Studio on the Avenue/LMC Media
Mamaroneck, NY
https://lmcmedia.org/
Produced and Edited by Vekterly
https://www.vekterly.com/

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice, a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or financial decision, or legal advice. By engaging with this material, you acknowledge and agree with its intended purpose. Any examples provided are hypothetical and for illustration purposes only. Neither Rich Leimgruber, the EnRich Your Life Podcast, nor its representatives are advising or suggesting any specific action or decision. Before making any financial, legal, or tax decisions, individuals should consult their own financial advisor, accountant, legal professional, or other qualified professional before making financial decisions. All opinions expressed are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any affiliated financial institutions. The views shared may not be suitable for every individual or situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and all investments carry risk. Please note that any strategies discussed may not be suitable for all investors, and the appropriateness of any specific investment or strategy will depend on individual circumstances.

Transcript

EnRich Your Life Podcast – Ep13 – Basic Estate Planning for All

[00:00:26] Rich L: Hello and welcome to Enrich Your Life podcast. I'm your host, Rich Leimgruber, and today we are talking about something that should be a serious conversation at many points in our lives. We always talk about financial strategies. And we always talk about how to protect, whether it's your assets or your dreams, right?

[00:00:45] And today we're gonna be talking about basic estate planning. Estate planning comes in all different forms. There's a lot of different things that you can utilize to make sure that you're protecting your loved ones, protecting your income when it [00:01:00] comes to estate planning. And today we're gonna break it down for you and make it easy to understand.

[00:01:06] Today we'll be speaking with Samara Halpern. Who is an estate planning and real estate attorney with over 20 years of diverse legal background, while working as a paralegal for the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York's office. Samara attended law school at night and earned her law degree after a career serving in the New York City Police Department as an agency attorney.

[00:01:28] Following by working with a New York State education department in 2023, she started her own law firm, Halpern Law pc. Her goal is to leverage her experience to help clients understand how the law can protect them and their families, and help achieve their long-term goals. She strives to provide excellent customer service and aims to be her client's attorney for life.

[00:01:53] With no further ado, welcome Samara. Thanks so much for being here. 

[00:01:56] Samara H: Thank you for having me. 

[00:01:57] Rich L: Absolutely. I've been dying to get somebody. [00:02:00] To like yourself to come in and talk to my viewers and everybody out there about estate planning. And, you know, as a financial advisor, there's, there's a lot of conversation that I have to have and one of the hardest is always gonna be estate planning.

[00:02:14] And it's because we really don't need estate planning, but we need estate planning. And, and by that I mean. If you, if you don't have documents or if you don't have your estate plan and something happens to you, well the, your family's gonna have to deal with it, not you. So I think it's an extremely important conversation and we're gonna break it down today.

[00:02:33] Thank you for joining us. Uh, everyone has a story of why they do what they do, and I know you have some diverse background as of being a, a New York City police officer moving over to an estate planning attorney. So. I guess I'm, I'm curious, is what inspired you to get, get into law and do what you do today?

[00:02:51] Samara H: Okay. That's a, that's a a a lot thrown at me at once, but let's see how I can do. Long story short, a lot of people when they hear that I'm former NYPD, they [00:03:00] assume that I went to law school after NYPD, which is not the case. Mm-hmm. I actually was an attorney, as you mentioned, prior to NYPD.

[00:03:06] I started my career in litigation of all things, which is totally different than what I do now. So it's kind of funny how that worked out. But when I became a police officer, and I think everyone can agree that's one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, I did not have any of my estate planning lined up.

[00:03:20] And me as an attorney who now practices that realizes what a terrible mistake that was. And the end of 2020 when I was a police officer at the time, I got into a really bad car accident on my way home from work. Which changed everything in my life, literally my career, my personal life, everything.

[00:03:36] I got extremely injured. I, I laugh about it now 'cause I can thank God joke about it now. Yeah. But I live in pain still to this day. I got hit by an ambulance of all things too. Oh my. Which is funny. You have to laugh about it. Yeah. Yeah. But here I was perfectly healthy and in great shape.

[00:03:50] I was working out all the time, and I was, a police officer in New York City. Not an easy job, not a safe job. And I had nothing lined up. And then here I am in 2021 going into the [00:04:00] first of many of my surgeries and I had nothing lined up. Wow. So, the night before, I had a full shoulder repair to my shooting arm of all things.

[00:04:07] I had to sit down with my mom and have the conversation that no parent ever wants to hear. Right. Not a good time to do it.

[00:04:14] Rich L: Right before you going in for surgery. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:04:16] Samara H: But it's something that you have to think about because what if God forbid, something happens and I don't come out of it, or I don't come out of it, you know, I'm incapacitated for whatever reason.

[00:04:25] Yeah. So it's really like something that hit home on a personal level. That I didn't have anything lined up. Mm-hmm. And a lot of my friends and, you know, former colleagues, my own partner still does not have it lined up. So it's really something I'm very passionate about because it's a topic, like you said, nobody ever wants to talk about, but everybody needs.

[00:04:44] Rich L: Let's get into some storytelling. So initially when I'm working with clients, I often ask them, do you guys have a will? And oftentimes the answer is, oh, what?

[00:04:53] We've been meaning to get to that. And it's more common than I'm sure you know, as an estate planning attorney. . But one of the things that I can't do [00:05:00] as a financial advisor that's licensed to give financial advice is I cannot give legal advice. And that legal advice has to be given by somebody like yourself who's an attorney and able to give legal advice.

[00:05:11] So many people think estate planning is only for the wealthy. And I think I'd like to start off by asking you, can you explain why every single person, should have some sort of an estate plan in effect? 

[00:05:24] Samara H: So I think the biggest misconception, and I shouldn't say the biggest, but I should definitely say one of the biggest is that you only need it if you have a huge net worth.

[00:05:34] You have a lot of assets, you have this, that, or the other, and everybody's so focused on, like you said, the will. And let me tell you, if I had a dollar for every time somebody approached me and said, I've been meaning to do it. My financial planner would be very, very happy. Yes, 

[00:05:47] Rich L: yes.

[00:05:47] Samara H: But the thing is that everybody forgets that there's more aspects than just the will, right? Mm-hmm. And that's where a healthcare proxy comes into play, and that's where a power of attorney comes into play.

[00:05:56] So many more aspects to it. That when people just lose sight of it, they [00:06:00] think, well, I don't own a home, or I don't really own a, a very expensive home, or I don't have this, I don't have children.

[00:06:06] There's so many, like, I don't have this, I don't have that. But the fact of the matter, anybody over the age of 18 needs to have some type of estate planning set up. 

[00:06:14] Rich L: And so let's talk a little bit about those. You know, we mentioned the will and for anybody who doesn't know what a will is.

[00:06:20] Samara H: It's essentially a document that's gonna lay out where your assets are going, who they're being left to, things like that. 

[00:06:26] Rich L: If God forbid, something happens to you and you're no longer on this earth, right? Um, so regardless of age, regardless of marital status, you, you obviously think that a will is important.

[00:06:35] So do I. So tell us a little bit about why Wills do you think are, are so important. And maybe we can also touch base about, going through probate, right?

[00:06:45] Samara H: Well, probate is completely different from a will. Sure. As you know, obviously that's not gonna, a, will's not gonna avoid probate.

[00:06:50] That's more into the  aspect, but for a will, it's really gonna follow your wishes. That's the big thing, and I always advise everybody, regardless of whether or not you're [00:07:00] gonna do have a will, whether or not you're gonna do any type of legal action, you need to make sure you're having an open conversation with your family because you want all of your wishes to be followed through, and that's really why you're gonna draft a.

[00:07:09] The will. So let's say you wanna leave your Aunt Mary, your, your favorite China platter that she always ooze and s over at any every family function. Right. You can specifically leave that to Aunt Mary and she's gonna get it. Yeah. So that's really the number one thing, is you wanna make sure that your wishes are followed and that's why you're gonna draft the will.

[00:07:26] Rich L: And can you just explain why a will does not avoid probate? 

[00:07:30] Samara H: A will's not gonna avoid probate, and you're gonna have to, if you really wanna avoid probate and anything like that, you're gonna have to do draft to trust, which I don't recommend for everybody. 

[00:07:39] Rich L: Yes. Uh, can we explain what probate is? 

[00:07:43] Samara H: Probate is where you're gonna have to go through the whole process with the court system and go through every single item, every asset, everything like that, and make sure everything's done properly and followed according to the court rules.

[00:07:54] Right. That's, I guess, the best. 

[00:07:55] Rich L: Yeah. Way. So let's, let's put it in a concept of almost like a story. Aunt Mary passes away. 

[00:07:59] Samara H: [00:08:00] Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:00] Rich L: She has a will. She has a, a car in her will. She's given her little nephew, the car. She maybe has some assets that are liquid assets in a brokerage account somewhere, we'll say.

[00:08:11] And she also has her artwork and so maybe some jewelry. What can a will do and how can that help Aunt Mary make sure that those people get what they want?

[00:08:23] Samara H: Yeah. So they're, the family's gonna take that to the court. Mm-hmm. And they're gonna go through everything and everything will be divvied up.

[00:08:27] And it also allows anyone who wants to appeal it or put in, you know, and contest the will, then they have that opportunity, unfortunately. But it will, for the most part, go through with whatever Aunt Mary's wishes are. 

[00:08:39] Rich L: I have had situations where everything was going great. Aunt Mary passed away, I'm getting a bunch of money. And then all of a sudden, cousin Bob down in Florida says, no, aunt Mary promised me I can have her car. And now all of a sudden he's contesting the will. 

[00:08:55] Samara H: Yeah. 

[00:08:56] Rich L: Years it could take to get through that process, right?

[00:08:59] Samara H: Correct. And [00:09:00] it also depends the county. So every county has things differently, a little bit, and every county has, a timeframe differently. Like I know Brooklyn is extremely, extremely, extremely backed up. I know that the, one of my colleagues actually has a case that's been going on in Brooklyn for. Seven years now. And that's just wild. I mean it's, it's crazy and it's unfortunate, but it does happen. And I think a lot of people have a misconception that if I have a will, well it's gonna avoid all family drama and all family fights, and unfortunately that's not the case. You can't do that. Right. You can try to avoid it by having your will and having the open conversations with everybody.

[00:09:35] When my grandmother passed away, which I did not want, obviously, um, but everything was laid out. We all knew there was no fighting, there was no nothing. She laid out the jewelry and everything, so there was absolutely no.

[00:09:45] Disputes and it just worked out. But unfortunately, it's not always that way.

[00:09:49] Rich L: Okay, so let's, uh, switch, uh, switch to the flip, the switch, I should say. Talk a little bit about healthcare proxies, durable power of attorneys and most of the time those are two [00:10:00] documents that are.

[00:10:00] More overlooked even than Wills. Right. So can we talk a little bit about what those are and why you might wanna put those in place? 

[00:10:07] Samara H: Yeah. I mean, I think. Healthcare proxy. Obviously with my background and my history and my accident, all my surgeries, um, that's the number one thing that everybody should have over the age of 18.

[00:10:18] And Healthcare Proxy is gonna basically dictate who's gonna make medical decisions for you. If God forbid something happens and you are not, you're incapacitated and you can't speak on your own behalf. Right. And that's why, again, I'm, I'm gonna sound like a broken record 'cause I'm gonna keep saying. Open communication.

[00:10:32] Yeah. Let people know exactly what you want in your future. I know that a lot of people feel very strongly, they don't wanna be hooked up to a machine, so that's something you need to let people know. If you don't wanna be, uh, resuscitated, if God forbid, you know, that goes down that route, that's something that your family needs to know because they need to know so that they're properly caring for you and following your wishes.

[00:10:51] Rich L: And it could also be like a, a, a leg amputation if all you know you had a bad accident in your. Out and the doctors are saying, [00:11:00] in order to save this person's life, we need to take off the bottom part of the leg or something. That's a healthcare proxy. 

[00:11:05] Samara H: Absolutely right. Any, anything with regards to medical life, emergency, anything like that, and you need to have somebody who really knows what you want.

[00:11:13] That's the biggest thing, 

[00:11:15] Rich L: And so obviously you would recommend somebody who's near and dear to you and who knows what you want, and that's gonna be a parent or a a somebody near close to your, in your family, I guess. 

[00:11:23] Samara H: And it also has to be somebody who you trust to make a decision. Yes. Because it can't be somebody who's gonna let the emotions come in.

[00:11:29] And obviously, I mean, I'm gonna sound very cold hearted saying it. It has to be somebody that can put the emotions aside and make the decision. Right? Yeah. Because some people can't. I mean, I had a client recently who told me, I know my sister wants to do it for me, but I can't trust her too. 'cause I know her emotions and I know she's never gonna be able to make a decision.

[00:11:46] Rich L: Ah, durable power of attorneys is something that I often have to ask for if somebody's leaving the country.

[00:11:53] If, maybe somebody is, afraid that their health is getting worse, right? It, it could be, when my wife [00:12:00] and I went across out of the country, we had to make sure that we had a, a durable power of attorney set up in, in case that something happened to us, and now my son is home by himself.

[00:12:10] We need to make sure that somebody's gonna be able to obviously pay for things that he's gonna need, right? So. Can you explain a little bit about durable power of attorney? 

[00:12:18] Samara H: Yeah. We're gonna have to discuss the fact that you left the country without your son, but I don't know how old he is. But you trusted him.

[00:12:23] Well, we did. So the power of attorney is obviously gonna be definitely in your field, spot on. 'cause it's more with regards to financial decisions. Yes. Right. So recently I represented somebody who is unfortunately struggling with dementia. So she had a power of attorney for her nephew, and we were handling the sale of her co-op.

[00:12:40] So things like that, like he was able to handle all of her finances because he had that power of attorney on her behalf and, and he's able to help her out, which is fantastic, 

[00:12:48] Rich L: right? So there it comes to a legality of, of somebody's signature if you're incapacitated due to dementia. They actually can't sign for themselves anymore.

[00:12:56] If a doctor diagnosis, somebody with dementia, they're no longer able to [00:13:00] make, uh, financial decisions on their behalf. 

[00:13:02] Samara H: Correct. 

[00:13:03] Rich L: And it's the same thing with anybody who's lives like abroad in another country, if they want to call me and, and request a transaction by law.

[00:13:11] I'm not allowed to accept that transaction because they're not domestically here sitting physically in the United States. So most people don't realize that. So that's why we have to have power of attorneys set up.

[00:13:21] Samara H: I think a lot of people don't realize what they should do before they actually leave the country, which is very interesting that you said that, but it's spot on.

[00:13:28] Rich L: That leads us to the next thing, which is guardianships, right? So guardianships, we, we run into, when we're opening up like uniform transfer to minor accounts, as everybody knows, you cannot be an, uh, you can be an owner of an account, but you can't make actual, um, legal. Requests or transaction requests, unless you're age of majority, which is in New York State, I think it's 21, right?

[00:13:51] Samara H: Yeah. So I don't recommend any of my clients leaving anything to anybody under the age of 25. 

[00:13:56] Rich L: 25. Okay. 

[00:13:58] Samara H: Yes, they, they say that the [00:14:00] brain doesn't fully develop until they're 25. Oh, 

[00:14:01] Rich L: yeah. 

[00:14:02] Samara H: So I always, and like you said, money changes everything. Yeah. So if you're gonna give a 21-year-old kid a couple hundred thousand dollars, what are the chances that they're gonna put that in the bank?

[00:14:11] Rich L: Yeah. Well, or the chances they might go and get a car, right? Correct. Yeah. That's the 

[00:14:15] Samara H: number one thing that tends to happen. Yeah. 

[00:14:18] Rich L: But maybe it's a, a younger couple and they have a couple of little kids. Um, why do they want guardianships? 

[00:14:25] Samara H: So the big thing is you wanna have a say in who's gonna take care of the children, right?

[00:14:29] Mm-hmm. And you can put that in whatever document you want, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's gonna happen, unfortunately. Okay. 'cause it's really up to the judge. The judge is gonna decide in the best interest of the child. Right? So again, broken record over here, but I'm gonna say open communication with your family.

[00:14:46] Sure. You wanna write it down? Put it in whatever document you want. Maybe you wanna write a separate letter and state, you know, I do not want. Let's say you have Aunt Mary's, a closet alcoholic that nobody wants to talk about and she's the one that's gonna get end up getting the kids. 'cause [00:15:00] she's the one that lives local and she's the one that's in good health and she's the one that's financially in good, in good, you know, good financial health.

[00:15:05] Sure. But you know that she's a closet alcoholic and you don't want her to have your children. Sure. So that's where you have to put something in writing

[00:15:13] Rich L: So Samara, oftentimes I get questions from clients about whether they need, might need a trust or not, and whether they want an irrevocable versus a revocable trust. So what do you often tell most people that come in to talk to you about setting up trusts? Well, the first thing I always ask is, what's going on?

[00:15:29] Samara H: What are your goals? Because a lot of people think that they need a trust and they really don't. Mm-hmm. Um, so trusts are a more complex document. And I will preface this by saying it all depends and I'm not giving legal advice, so call me. Let's chat. The thing is with trust is it's more finite and it's more detail oriented, and that's the best way to say it.

[00:15:49] So with the trust, if it's irrevocable, that means once it's in there. It's not impossible to get out of the trust, but it's much harder to get out of the trust versus a revocable where you kind of have still more [00:16:00] control over it. Okay, and, and let's talk about ownership, right? So I know revocable trust is usually the grantor, whoever's setting it up, their social security number, right?

[00:16:11] Rich L: So it's really not leaving their estate, it's still in their estate, but versus an irrevocable trust, which has its own tax ID number. Correct. So, and that's why it's irrevocable because you're gifting it to a different entity and once you gift it to somebody, a trust cannot gift it back to you. Correct.

[00:16:28] So that's why that, and that's how I always try to explain it. So, um, and I think that's really important to, for clients to understand is that you can open up an irrevocable trust and you could put your assets in there. Now you can't use it, right? Because you're protecting it for other reasons and you can't get that money back because a trust can't give you the money back.

[00:16:46] Well, you can and you can't use it. I just wanna clarify that because a lot of people will put their homes into Right. Trust. That's true. Yes. Yes. And you can still live in your house. They're not gonna kick you out. Right. So it all depends on how you put things into the trust. Okay. Right. [00:17:00] So I, I think it's a, that's an important conversation to have with people.

[00:17:02] Right? And so that being said, why would somebody wanna have. Uh, a, a revocable trust or even a living trust as they call them, right? Yeah. So if God forbid something happens and you need to seek long-term care, something like that, and you need to put in for a Medicaid application, okay? They have a five year look back and they're gonna look at your assets.

[00:17:22] Samara H: But you wanna make sure that your home, if you have an asset, let's say we're, we're in Westchester, houses here are not cheap. Nope. You don't want anybody touching that house. You wanna live in that and you wanna leave it to your family. So if God forbid something happens, you need to seek care from Medicaid and you wanna put in an application, you don't want them to take your home, you wanna leave your home to your family.

[00:17:41] Rich L: Let's talk about blended families, right? So blended families is something, and, and either that or second marriages, there's always unique situations, right? So if somebody is coming out of a divorce and has kids with an ex-spouse and they get married and now they have children through a, a second marriage.[00:18:00] 

[00:18:00] Why is it important to sit down with an estate planning attorney and help them make sure that everything is in line? So again, you know, it's all gonna be dependent on what you have arranged with your ex-spouse and what the agreements is, but you wanna make sure that your kids are covered and if Godfrey forbid something happens to you, you wanna make sure all of your children are covered, right, not just your current marriage.

[00:18:22] Samara H: Or I shouldn't say current marriage, right? Yeah. Well that's the running joke these days. Yes, current, current marriage, your current spouse, but you wanna make sure that everyone's covered and if God forbid something happens, your family is covered, including everyone. But it is definitely a hot topic when you have blended families, right?

[00:18:39] Because there's a lot of different aspects, and again, you know the. Legal term. It all depends, but, well, what I would say is too, is, you know, I've had situations where, you know, we're talking where somebody got remarried 40 years ago, so they have very, they have older children, you know, maybe they're 50 years old children, they're in their, [00:19:00] their seventies, but now they have a whole new family, right?

[00:19:03] Rich L: Mm-hmm. And they wanna make sure that. Um, the, the, the families of their first marriage get something as well as making sure they leave something for their current family. Um, and so I, I think oftentimes I refer, you know, my clients to an estate planning attorney because complexity just breeds. Um, the need to have somebody as a professional help you out.

[00:19:26] Right. And I think ultimately that's why it's really important to have an estate planning attorney like you who's gonna come in and take a look at your situation and make sure that all those documents are set up. Um, yeah. Yeah. So that being said, is there anything else that you think is really important to tell our listeners that.

[00:19:43] You would wanna make sure that they know about from this conversation? Well, I just wanna chime in really quick on what you just said. Yes, go for it. So, uh, I'm laughing in my head because one of our first days in the police academy, they sit us down and they give us the whole lecture about how you have to make sure that your beneficiaries are always updated.

[00:19:58] Samara H: Yep. And then they [00:20:00] tell you the horror story about the guy that had his ex-wife still listed. Not the current wife. Yeah. And then got, you know what happened? He was killed in the line of duty and everything went to the ex-wife. Yes. Well that's, so you're, you're recommending, obviously reviewing beneficiaries as well.

[00:20:18] I mean, the big thing is, and I'm sure you advise your clients as well. Well, absolute. Yeah. Like you have to always constantly be reviewing and updating Yep. Anytime there's any type of life change. Yep. So whether it be a divorce, a marriage, a child, whatever. You always wanna make sure you're updating everything, reviewing everything.

[00:20:33] I mean, I had, this is a totally different topic, but I just had a client recently who told me she hasn't updated her homeowner's policy. Mm-hmm. Since she bought the house 12 years ago, Uhhuh. So 12 years ago she bought the house for $550,000. It's now worth over a million. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. That's why you gotta re review on a timely basis.

[00:20:54] Rich L: This is what we do, right, as professionals. And I think ultimately the fact is, is that [00:21:00] you want to have somebody, not a TikTok attorney. We love to talk about TikTok doctors, we love to talk about TikTok attorneys, but we also know they're probably not licensed and, and they might just be listening to, uh, a chat, GBT perhaps, and then giving people.

[00:21:16] Information that might be wrong, and I think everybody's situation is different, right? So like you had mentioned before, it's, it's important that you know what your brother and their family set up might not necessarily need be what you set up. And, and so everybody has a, a different situation in life and that's why it's important to do that, right?

[00:21:35] Samara H: Absolutely. I mean, I'm sure you get that all the time with your clients. Yeah. Well, my friend Joe told me that he has this and I need to do this. Yes. I mean, I, I'm sitting here, I'm not married, I don't have children, so what I'm planning for my future is completely different than somebody who is married and has three kids.

[00:21:50] Rich L: Yeah, absolutely. So, and as far as those life changes, you, you mentioned divorce, you mentioned remarrying, right? What, what other, [00:22:00] I guess, events in, in your life will require you to go update? Your documents. It's so many. There's so many. I mean, I told you earlier, like I'm obsessed with my niece. My niece is the greatest thing in the world.

[00:22:12] Samara H: Mm-hmm. She's my favorite person. Ah. Um, and so obviously when she came in. Everything has to be updated because sure. Forget about my brother. Forget about it. Right. So, but you know, so any type of change in your life, whatever it may be, whether it be, and also pets have to be included too. Don't forget our beloved pets.

[00:22:31] Absolutely. So let's say now you have, um, a dog that you love and adore and you wanna make sure that they're cared for. Yep. So that might be another update that you have to do, right? Absolutely. The other thing I always think about is, uh, you know, when you lose a loved one, your partner from life, right?

[00:22:47] Rich L: And now all of a sudden your, your, that person's primary durable power of attorney was, was the spouse that's no longer here. Yeah. You gotta go and you get the, get those updated, right? Um, and, and [00:23:00] then of course you can always add. A contingent, right? Mm-hmm. To most of those documents in case that happens.

[00:23:05] Anything else that you'd like to share, do you think is important to know? I think the biggest thing and the most important thing, and I, I've said it a million times, I'll say it again. Communication. Yeah. Just have that open dialogue so nobody is surprised when, God forbid, you know, your day comes.

[00:23:20] Samara H: Everybody knows everybody's on the same page and then there's no questions. I mean, there might still be fights. We've all have those horror stories that we've heard about. Mm-hmm. But if you have open conversations and you can avoid a lot of issues. Right. Absolutely. That's the biggest thing. And it all, it again, broken record, it all depends.

[00:23:38] Everybody's situation's different. Yeah. Yeah. And so if you don't have estate planning documents, it's gonna be up to the courts to determine what happens. So I would say to, to most people, I'm like, well, you know, there is a plan and if you don't have a plan, there's a plan. And that's why I was saying before, it's, it's, it's gonna be up to some stranger, some judge who's gonna determine what happens.

[00:23:58] Rich L: So if you want to [00:24:00] make sure that somebody's being taken care of after you're no longer part of this world. You wanna put it in writing, right? No, you, you said it perfectly. Yeah. Um, if you don't have a plan, there's a plan for you. Oftentimes, Samara, you know, clients might say, well, I, I don't really need an estate planning attorney.

[00:24:16] I'm gonna just go online and use one of those online tools. Obviously when I hear that, I cringe. So can, can you kind of give a comparison of somebody using an online tool versus what they would get going to see an estate planning attorney? So there's always gonna be obviously a difference between talking to a computer and talking to a human.

[00:24:35] Samara H: Yeah. I don't care what Chap g PT says. I think that there's always a difference between talking to a human and talking to a computer. Sure. Um, I think the biggest thing is there's a lot of different loopholes and little things that. They might not get online that you get from talking to an attorney. And which reminds me, I forgot to mention earlier, one of the biggest life changes, let's say you have a falling out with a family member.

[00:24:55] It's your brother and you're no longer speaking, you're no longer on terms, you want him [00:25:00] getting nothing. You have to specify that and the will because he's your brother. And if the will says it gets left to all brothers and you have three brothers, but you don't speak to one, guess what? Yeah. So that's a big thing.

[00:25:11] There's things that a computer might not pick up that a human, a lawyer will pick up as professionals. We're really good listeners. Um, and because we have to, we might not write it down that, oh, he's not getting along with one of his brothers, but that's certainly gonna be something that you're gonna bring back up later saying, yeah, I know you said before we're not getting along with your brother.

[00:25:30] Rich L: Is that something you want to adjust and, and that online thing is not gonna be able to ask you that, right? Absolutely. Yeah. And the same thing. I mean, I had a client a few weeks ago who wanted to have. Her brother as the main and then her alternate. 'cause I always recommend having an alternate. Yep. Um, being her nephew and I said, okay, how old's your nephew?

[00:25:48] Samara H: Yeah. 15. Yep. We're not listing him obviously. Yes. But is the computer gonna ask that follow up question? Yeah, no, that's, and those are great points. So, and again, that's why humans are [00:26:00] better than computers. Right. Agreed. Because we all, we encompass everything. So, so for any of our listeners who are listening, who are hearing this and their anxiety levels are raised.

[00:26:09] Rich L: Because they're dealing with something. What can you tell somebody what the first steps to do, uh, for, for starting this whole process? Okay, so first and foremost, I should say I'm only licensed in New York. Yeah, okay. I do have friends in other states, but if you are in New York, please feel free to gimme a call.

[00:26:25] Samara H: I'm happy to have a conversation. That's really the best place to start, right? Do not Google it. It's just like Googling WebMD, you know, with your symptoms. It's the same thing. If you Google it, please don't do diy. Um. Just gimme a call, let's have a conversation. And if I can't help you, I'm sure I know somebody who can.

[00:26:42] Rich L: This has been great. This is educational. How can listeners, if they're, if, if they're dealing or they have something that they want to talk about, how can they contact you? How can they get in touch with you so you can reach out to me at any point in time? Yeah. Um, at my office. The number is 9 1 4 8 1 0 3 1 2 2.

[00:26:58] Great. And that's [00:27:00] the best way. And I do free consultations. I'm always happy to have a conversation. Yeah, that's great. Well, thank you so much for your time today and uh, we look forward to having some follow-up conversations about complexity. I. Thank you for having me and for anybody who has any questions about this, please if you need to reach Samara, you can reach her at the number she gave you, or you can always email us at hello at Enrich Life podcast and we'll make sure that you get in touch with Samara as well.

[00:27:27] This has been a great series on Eldercare, uh, and we look forward to, uh, publishing and sharing all this great information with you. And we're also looking for a lot of different other topics. So if you have a topic that you're interested in, please feel free to reach out and, and let us know what that financial topic is, and we'd love to, um, talk about it.

[00:27:46] Thanks so much. Looking forward to speaking to you soon. Have a great day.