Reader,

April is a big month. As you know, Tax Day is in April. Usually it’s the 14th, but this year it was pushed to the 18th because of Emancipation Day in Washington D.C. Three major religions also have big holidays this month: Ramadan began on April 2nd, Passover began on April 15th, and Easter was last Sunday, April 17th.

Like many, I wasn’t able to spend Passover with my family in 2020 or 2021. We did celebrate, but we did it over Zoom and it just wasn’t the same. Fortunately, this year we were all able to celebrate in person.

Whether to celebrate religious or cultural holidays or just to play board games, I hope you and your family have found time and occasion to get together this month. Family truly is a very special gift.

Do You Know Where Your Asset Titles Are?

This month I want to talk about an aspect of estate planning that is often overlooked: The emotional and logistical burden of estate administration.

For anyone who hasn’t done it, estate administration requires a substantial amount of rigmarole. In fact, a 2018 survey found that the average time and effort required to settle an estate is 16 months and 570 hours of work. For estates above $5 million, though, the average time jumps to 42 months and 1,167 hours of work.

So, yes, it is true that an estate plan should provide for the cost-effective, tax-efficient, and expeditious administration of your estate, and attorney-drafted documents are important in this regard. However, I also think that a comprehensive estate plan should help reduce the emotional and logistical burden on your family.

This is where organization comes in. If it typically takes around 600 hours of work to settle an estate, imagine how much longer it will take—and how much more stressful it will be—if your personal representative has to go on a “National Treasure”–style quest to collect relevant documents, inventory your assets, and try to organize everything.

If you can’t imagine intentionally imposing more stress and more burdens on your grieving family, then you should give serious thought to how well-organized your estate is.

Let’s start with titles, that is the documents or instruments that prove your ownership of an asset. Your personal representative will need these titles to properly settle your estate. Do you know where the titles to your assets are? Are they accessible to your personal representative?

Introducing: Legal Lexicon!

Cryptic verbiage, archaic phrases, and "terms of art" render legalese nearly incomprehensible to many people. But making the best decisions about your financial legacy often requires a knowledge of certain legal terms and phrases.

To help you decipher these complex statutes, densely written laws, and vital estate planning documents, I’m introducing a new recurring segment called “Legal Lexicon” where I will introduce and explain some of the most common, confusing, and misunderstood words and “terms of art” in the estate planning arena.

Our first entry: Devise /de-‘vīz/

Devise is used 172 times across Florida’s estates, wills, and trusts statutes, so knowing what it means and how to use it will be valuable as you approach the estate planning process.

Reminder: Florida Annual Report Deadline Is May 1

I know we've only just passed Tax Day, but another important filing deadline is quickly approaching: The Florida Annual Report.

Per Florida law, any for-profit corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, or limited liability limited partnership (including professional organizations) must submit an annual report by midnight on Sunday, May 1, 2022. If you miss the deadline, a $400 late fee will be assessed and you will still have to file. If the report is not completed by Friday, September 16, your business entity may face administrative dissolution.

You can file online through Sunbiz.

Thank you again for reading. If you would like to set up a complimentary Financial Legacy Review or start building a new Financial Legacy Blueprint, please call me at (561)998-2362 or email me directly.

Until next month, be well.

Sincerely,