It has been said that if you do not have a will or plan for your estate, then the government has one for you.
Many people put off estate planning until it is too late to make one’s wishes known, but according to Camilla Saint and Liz Pass (a second and third generation mother-daughter legal team in Estes Park specializing in estate law) making a will and preparing important end-of-life documents does not need to be a difficult or an expensive process.
With a large population of retired people—40 percent of the residents of Estes Park are 65 and older—one might think that everyone who needs a will has already taken care of this, but Saint and Pass say that is not necessarily the case.
Many people have put off making a will or updating their will when their circumstances change. A death of a spouse or life partner, or a significant change in one’s health are good reasons to revisit one’s will and end-of-life plans, says Pass.
“We recommend that clients review their estate plan every two to three years, even on their own, take a look at it and after any major life event,” said Saint. The life events can involve the death or illness of a spouse, family member, a change in a beneficiary or somebody named as an agent, a divorce, or a birth in the family.
“We want our clients to have a complete estate plan and that includes a power of attorney,” said Pass. A power of attorney document allows someone you name to act on your behalf to make legal, financial, and medical decisions for you.
“A medical power of attorney is effective upon incapacity. The financial or property power of attorney is typically effective when you sign it,” said Saint.
“You only want to name somebody that you trust implicitly. There are state laws and civil and criminal penalties for people that abuse their authorities under the power of attorney, said Saint.
“Liz and I always put an instruction list on all of our financial powers of attorney that advise the agents when they can act, how they can act, what their duties and authorities are. Their main duty is to always protect the principal who is the person who signed the power of attorney,” said Saint.
The potential drawback of being effective only upon incapacity is the determination of incapacity. Courts are reluctant to deny an individual their civil rights by declaring them incapacitated and waiting for a physician to make the determination can also cause a delay in getting a person the care they need. “And you might have someone that has great moments of clarity. And then, you know, depending on the time of day or their medicine, the next day they might not be,” said Saint.
When drawing up estate planning documents for someone who may be having some problems with confusion or shows signs of dementia, attorneys have to be very cautious, said Saint. “If we have concerns about capacity, we have the extra duty to protect them to make sure there is no coercion or undue influence from family members, or neighbors.”
Many people move to Estes Park during their retirement years. “We have a lot of clients that have existing estate plans, either from other states or even just other cities or towns. They’ve moved here and maybe they want to make a change, or they have had a major life event, and they just want us to look it over. Is this still good? Do I still like it? Or can you explain this to me?” said Pass.
A will validly executed in another state is good in Colorado, said Pass, but it is good to review everything every few years.
The main purpose of a will is to determine the distribution of property after a person’s death. Colorado law provides for a separate will memorandum form that allows a person to designate the distribution of tangible personal property, such as pieces of jewelry, art, antiques, furniture, household items or specific collectables, however it cannot be used to bequeath money, bank accounts, stocks, bonds, or intellectual property rights.
Pass explains that the will memorandum form is intended to be informal but is nonetheless legally binding, “After the execution of their will, the client can take it home with them and fill it out, and they can change it as often as they want.”
The form allows people to be as detailed as they want. Some will take photos of specific items they want to go to specific people, and other people more broadly indicate that all their household items are to go to one individual.
There are estate sale businesses that individuals can hire to help them sort through their possessions in order to downsize before a move, or that can come in after a death to help survivors to sell or donate personal property.
While many people think wills are for older people, Saint says that young adults who are parents need to have a will that will protect their assets for their children, “As part of your will, you can designate guardians for your children, so If something happens to both you and your spouse, then the two of you at least have some kind of say over who might raise your children, and when and how their money would be distributed to them, who would hold their money.”
Pass said that typically a will can be prepared in about three weeks, although there have been times the attorneys have had to put together a will in an emergency for someone. The cost of making a basic will with a power of attorney and end of life directives will typically be about $1,000 for an individual or $1,500 for a couple, but the final cost can depend on how detailed or complicated an estate plan is, said Saint.
And even though it is the end of August, it is not too late to make an appointment with an attorney and get the ball rolling.
Meyers, Saint and Pass was founded in 1983 by Saint and her father, Robert H. Meyer who died in 2007. Meyer was stationed at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941.During the war, Meyer and took part in the liberation of the Philippine Islands, the ship he was assigned to participated in the landing of the first wave of Marines at Iwo Jima, and he witnessed the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi. He served at the battle for Okinawa and was in Tokyo for the Japanese surrender and treaty signing aboard the USS Missouri. After the war, Meyer attended college on the G.I. Bill and earned his law degree at the University of Kansas in 1950. He practiced law in Kansas for 33 years before moving to Estes Park in 1983.
Camilla Saint graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1981. After two years of practicing law in Kansas, she joined her father in Estes Park and established the firm.
Elizabeth Pass was born and raised in Estes Park. In 2019, after graduating from Creighton University School of Law, she joined the firm.