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Estate Planning

Estate Planning Continues During a Pandemic

March 27, 2020/in Estate Planning

 

Familial tragedies often spur people to reach out to my office to begin the estate planning process.  A common situation that prompts a new client to seek my services is the death of a family member who had not properly planned for asset distribution. The surviving family is left sorting through the probate process without a roadmap for asset distribution. In those situations, the State now dictates how assets are distributed.  The surviving family members, in an effort not to leave behind the same mess, are now motivated into action to ensure their own families avoid the same hassles.

 

With the world now dealing with COVID-19, I believe many people find themselves with more time on their hands and time to think about what their future will hold after the pandemic. I also expect many Americans and South Carolinians will think more about their own mortality, especially those suffering from medical conditions that make them more susceptible to serious symptoms of the virus.

 

The news constantly bombards us with infection levels, death tolls, quarantines and the extremely negative effect this outbreak is having on our economy. The lack of food and supplies at stores compounds anxiety in those of us who did not keep several weeks’ worth of supplies in our homes. During these uncertain times, we realize that so much is beyond our control; however even now, there are still plenty of things we can control.

 

After everything settles down, my office will see an increase in people seeking estate planning services. They will not want the added anxiety of going through life without a plan for the next time a tragedy occurs. My question to you is why wait until after the crisis has passed to take the steps necessary to shore up your personal life? We all know the value of a Will and accompanying documents. We all know how important it is to appoint someone to make financial and medical decisions for us when we can no longer make them ourselves.

 

Do not wait until the COVID-19 pandemic is over to start your estate plan.  We are here to help and are offering creative solutions to get estate planning documents started, signed and in place. We can connect with new clients via phone or internet to ensure safety and social responsibility. Once we have completed a draft of your documents, we will e-mail those documents to you for review.  Completing your estate plan does not mean you are dwelling on your death.  It means that you can check this crucial task off your list, ensure your family is prepared for when that time comes so you can get back to living life. Getting your estate plan started will help you feel at ease, even when the world feels a bit chaotic.

 

Contact our office today to schedule your estate planning consultation, 864.982.5930.

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COVID-19 Closing Procedures Bulletin

March 24, 2020/in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Resources

COVID-19 Closing Procedures

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What Is an Estate Plan? What Does It Consist of?

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

Estate planning is not limited to people with a large amount of assets. It is not in any way, shape, or form exclusive to wealthy individuals or wealthy families. Estate planning is a means of creating a strategy to distribute your assets after your death to ensure that those assets go to the people that you want them to go to. It is more than just a will. Although it is possible to get only a will, there are a number of other documents that, together, help create a clear plan should a number of situations occur. A good estate plan prevents situations where your family does not know what you want during times of physical or mental incapacitation, or even after your death.

An estate plan also aims to answer questions about your children, such as who’s going to take care of those children and how are they going to be taken care of. Providing for children is the number one concern for parents and a good estate plan will help ensure the children are well cared for and provided for in the event of your passing.

What happens if someone dies without a will or an estate plan?

Unfortunately, it is very common for someone to die without a will or an estate plan. Almost half of people over age fifty are without an estate plan which leaves their family to make all the decisions. In South Carolina, assets of the deceased spouse are divided between the surviving spouse and any children of the spouses. Now, you have a situation where the spouse owns assets with her children, and they must come to an agreement before selling those assets. For families with minor children, an accident that leaves both parents incapacitated or dead can lead to contested Court hearings between other family members regarding the children. Without an estate plan that appoints a guardian for the children, the parents may not get to choose who cares for their children. Without the plan, the Court is left with the obligation of deciding for you, without the benefit of your desires, best wishes, or intentions.

How often should someone review their estate plan?

Typically, we suggest a person review their estate plan once a year to ensure they still agree with the provisions. However, we suggest an immediate review if some life changing event occurs. For instance, if the guardian you named in the Will is separating or going through a divorce with their spouse, you may want to consider another guardian to ensure the children go to a stable home. We at the De Bruin Law Firm will review your documents every three years or immediately if the law changes that may affect you. It’s no different than going to a doctor for a routine checkup. After 3 years, we would like to sit down for a conversation and see if anything significant has changed. We might want to relook at how your estate plan has been handled thus far.

We want you to contact us if you even suspect that a situation may impact your current estate plan. We have seen situations where a beneficiary that stood to receive a large inheritance is addicted to drugs. We can change the plan to ensure the inheritance would instead be used for drug treatment or withheld until the beneficiary is off drugs and clean for at least a year. Without that provision, the beneficiary would have received the inheritance and most likely would have used it quickly on their addiction.

Other changes are necessary when a beneficiary becomes disabled and in need of government assistance. In these situations, we would need to change the estate plan to prevent money or assets going directly to the disabled person since that distribution may disqualify the beneficiary from receiving government assistance such as Medicaid. Instead of going directly to the beneficiary, we can ensure the assets go into a trust and used for the beneficiary’s wellbeing and support. That change of control over the asset, will prevent the beneficiary from disqualification of needed government assistance.

What are the basic items entailed in an estate plan?

The most common of all items in an estate plan is the last will and testament. The will directs where your assets will go after your death, who will care for minor children if both parents are deceased, the deceased’s desired for funeral arrangements, and who is appointed to carry out the distribution of assets.

In situations where you can no longer make medical decisions for yourself, a Medical Power of Attorney executed prior to the incapacitation, directs an agent you appoint to make those medical decisions on your behalf. The Medical Power of Attorney is for permanent and temporary incapacitation.

The Advance Directive or Living Will makes known your desires regarding the end of your life. It may inform the doctors that you want to die naturally and prevent life sustaining measures if you are in a permanent vegetative state or terminally ill. Again, these two medical documents are only used when you cannot make medical decisions for yourself due to incapacitation.

Another common document in estate plans is a trust. The most common and basic type of trust is a revocable trust. This trust allows you to put assets in the name of the trust to be passed outside probate. We commonly refer to these trusts as Probate Avoidance Trusts. Instead of your assets going through the probate process and incurring probate fees, a revocable trust can distribute the assets in trust to the beneficiaries immediately or in accordance to your plan. There are many types of trusts that achieve different goals.

What qualities should someone look for when retaining an estate planning attorney?

In any professional relationship, the first thing you should look for is trust. You want to be able to know that they are going to handle your situation in a professional manner. Our firm is made up of three family members dedicated to helping our community and clients. That dedication is the keystone to everything we do and in every aspect of our daily functions. Our clients know that what we suggest is in their best interests and that we have a desire to see them succeed or protected.

When searching for an estate planning attorney, it is also important to select someone who is experienced in estate planning. When you go in for your consultation, it is important to ask if the attorney has handled cases or estates like yours before. At the De Bruin Law Firm, our estate planning attorneys are experienced and have handled estate planning issues for decades.

For more information on Estate Planning in South Carolina, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (864) 982-5930 today.

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What Does It Mean To Actually Fund A Trust?

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

Funding a trust simply means taking assets that are titled in your name, and transferring them to your trust. By way of an example, if you have a car, you have a title. The car is titled in your name. If you were to put that car into a trust, you would go to the DMV and have the car re-titled from your name to the name of your trust. Funding a trust can also mean that you take an asset that requires a beneficiary designation, and re-establish a beneficiary in the trust name. For example, if you have a life insurance policy, you have a designated beneficiary. You can change that beneficiary’s name to the trust, and that re-titles the proceeds from that life insurance policy to the trust.

Who is ultimately responsible for funding a trust?

The person making the trust is ultimately responsible for funding the trust and ensuring that the assets are transferred to the trust.

What happens if someone does not fund a trust? Does it cease to exist?

A trust does not come into being until it’s funded. A trustee, or the person that’s responsible for controlling the trust, can only control assets that have been titled in the name of the trust. If the assets are not transferred to the title of the trust, then the trust cannot pass control to the trustee, and the assets will be probated just like any other probate.

What are the assets that I can put into a trust?

Almost any type of asset can be put into a trust. However, the common assets that are placed in trusts under normal circumstances include real estate holdings, bank accounts, non-retirement accounts at a brokerage that would stock bonds, tangible personal property, business interests, life insurance policies, and debts that are owed to the trust maker from some other source.

Is there anything that can absolutely not go into a trust?

One asset that should not be placed in a trust name is a qualified retirement account. There are tax implications of titling your 401K or your IRA in the name of a trust. When you take that asset and put it in the name of the trust, the IRS and the government takes that as a sale, or as a distribution of that asset, and so it becomes a tax. For qualified retirement accounts, you want to make sure that you just re-establish a beneficiary designation as the trust. That way, you’re not actually making a distribution. A health savings account is another asset that you don’t want to put in a trust name. Additionally, anything under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act, or the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act should not be placed in a trust name because those accounts technically belong to the minor. Since they belong to the minor, they cannot be transferred into someone else’s trust.

As I stated earlier, you don’t want to put a life insurance policy in the name of the trust, but instead you would put the beneficiary designation as the trust.

You can put any vehicle with a title into a trust, such as cars, boats, motorcycles, and airplanes.  We think of cars as the easiest assets to transfer, but in order to transfer title of those types of assets into a trust, you have to go to the DMV and get a new title in the name of the trust. There are fees associated with this, so if it’s a valuable that has some kind of tax or transfer tax attached, you want to look at that and say, “Maybe I don’t want to put that in the trust because of the transfer tax.”

Do I always need to re-title assets to add them to the trust?

With the exception of beneficiary designations which we’ve discussed, the purpose of the trust is to acquire the title of the assets. That’s what makes the trust a viable entity. Because a trust exists as an entity, the death of the trust maker does not affect the trust. The trust survives, and that’s why there is no need to probate the assets in the trust. So, because of the purpose of the trust, you must re-title your assets in the name of the trust.

For more information on Funding A Trust In South Carolina, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (864) 982-5930 today.

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What Are The Components That Make Up An Effective Trust?

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

A Trust has three major components. The first is the detailed instruction about the administration of the Trust itself. This answers questions such as, what do you want to happen? Who do you want the beneficiaries to be? How do you want it to be serviced? These detailed instructions are the first component of the Trust.

An effective Trust is used as a long-term planning device and is made up of long-term, mid-term, and short-term plans and their contingencies.

What do you say to people who are hesitant about losing control of their assets in a trust?

A Trust can be named a revocable Trust, meaning that any time the person who made the Trust is living, they can revoke the Trust and move everything back to their individual name. In this type of Trust, you can always regain title and direct ownership of all your property. This is because in a revocable Trust, you can serve as the Trustee and as the beneficiary, giving you power to either leave the assets in a Trust or close the Trust and make it inactive.

How does a revocable living trust avoid probate?

A Trust continues the entity after the death of the person who made the Trust. Probate is where all the assets of the person who passes away are handled. At the death of the maker of a Trust, the Trust owns all the assets. Those assets pass to a beneficiary. Once the Trust is established by placing the assets in the name of a Trust, the Trust becomes a legal entity. When the maker of that Trust passes away, that legal entity does not end; it continues with the assets being allocated according to the Trust to the beneficiaries. The Trust avoids probate because it has a life after the maker’s death.

What is involved in trust administration?

The administration of a Trust really boils down to the Trustee managing the assets according to the terms of the Trust. When the maker passes away, the Trustee must notify the beneficiaries and the heirs if they are listed in that Trust. The Trustee takes care of all the Trust’s assets, strictly for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The administrator can be a person or an organization (such as a bank or law firm), or it could be multiple Trustees. Regardless, the administrator has a legal responsibility to act in good faith always and in the interest of the beneficiaries.

For more information on Components Of An Effective Trust, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (864) 982-5930 today.

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What Actually Is a Trust?

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

A Trust is a fiduciary relationship between parties, and it allows a Trustee to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary of those assets. Specifically, a Trust can be created to direct how your assets are utilized and how they pass to the beneficiary. Normally, Trusts are created to reduce an estate tax liability or to protect property in an estate to avoid probate and to direct the use of your assets.

What are the benefits and disadvantages associated with a trust in estate planning?

The most common Trust is a living Trust. Assets placed in a living Trust are for the benefit of a person during their lifetime, and then those assets are transferred to the Trustee’s designated beneficiaries at the time of your death. The largest benefit of having a living Trust is avoiding probate. A Will must be probated, and a Trust is an entity that survives the maker’s death so it doesn’t have to be probated. A living Trust can be more cost effective than the cost of probating a Will. The living Trust can be named as a beneficiary for things such as life insurance policies, 401(k)s, IRA assets, etc.

A Will is made public when it’s probated, but a Trust is not made public. The Trustee can take over Trust responsibilities immediately upon the death of the maker; however, in a Will, there are procedures that must be followed for the executor to take control of the assets. The assets must pass from the deceased’s name to the executor’s control. The living Trust is most popular because it is the most cost effective.

The only major disadvantage to a Trust is that a living Trust is limited in what application it can serve. In a Trust, you can’t arrange for the care of minor children, announce guardians for minor children, grant rights to an unmarried partner, or make funeral arrangements. These things are all handled by the Will.

Why would you recommend a trust as an effective method of estate planning?

When we recommend a Trust, it is often because it avoids probate and because it is private. Also, if you have minor children, or a child with disability, you can set aside the assets that can benefit the child in your Trust, giving you the ability to decide how that money is allocated.

If you have family members that are going to be the beneficiary of your Trust, and that family member is not adept at handling money, you can make provisions in your Trust to control how much money they will receive, how they will receive it, and what the money is for.

Trusts are also used for out of state real estate properties. If you own a property out of state, that property will have to go through probate. If that property is held by a Trust, because it doesn’t go to probate, it passes by the direction of the Trust and it doesn’t have to go through probate. For Trust purposes, it’s much easier for a Trustee to handle the finances of a Trust than it is for an executor of the estate from the Will to take control immediately upon the death of the maker. If you have complicated assets, or the distribution of your assets is very complicated, it’s much better to have outlined that in a Trust than to try and have it outlined in a Will after death.

By forming the Trust before your death, you can set up exactly how you want those procedures to be done.

For more information on Trusts In South Carolina, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (864) 982-5930 today.

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Do I Need To Have An Attorney Involved In Funding A Trust?

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

Yes, we believe it’s always advisable to seek legal assistance when funding a trust, especially when you’re dealing with the nuances of what type of trust you want, what type of assets you want placed in the trust, determining the list of assets, understanding the tax-related consequences of how items will be titled if they are transferred, long-term issues like Medicaid eligibility, five-year look back periods, the effect that the trust may have on long-term care situations, penalty clauses, spouse issues involving joint trusts, etc. All of these things have their own requirements and consequences, so it’s always advisable to seek legal counsel from someone who handles estate planning and can help you through this minefield.

For more information on Attorney’s Involvement In Funding A Trust, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (864) 982-5930 today.

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Can I Add An Asset To My Trust At Any Time?

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

Absolutely, you can add assets to a trust at any time. This can be done by titling the asset from your name into the trust name. The only consideration is to make sure that you’re not titling assets in a trust name that are better left to just changing a beneficiary designation.

Is there any look back period for putting assets into a trust?

Yes, the largest look back period for putting assets into a trust is with Medicaid. As people get older and are thinking about their retirement, they are thinking about Medicare, Medicaid and social security. One of the things that you have to remember is that Medicaid has a five-year look back period. In essence, that means that any asset that’s transferred into a trust in that preceding five-year period is subject to what they call a penalty. A penalty means that you cannot transfer that asset in and qualify for Medicaid until you have absorbed that amount that was transferred in the five years.

Now, if you’ve transferred any asset into your trust longer than five years before you applied for Medicaid, then this does not apply, but if you’re in that five-year window, every jurisdiction has what they call a penalty divisor. This means that they set a rate for that divisor and divide the assets that have been placed in the trust in the last five years. It is a calculation that will give you the number of months that you’re not eligible for Medicaid due to the look back period. When you are setting up a trust and considering applying for Medicaid, you want to make sure that you understand what the penalty is.

What is the process of actually funding a trust?

When you consult with an estate planning attorney, one of the things that they will do is create a comprehensive list of assets that the trust maker has. Once you’ve decided the type of trust that you want established and have the list of assets that are to be re-titled, then you use your list as a guide to begin the process of re-titling, whether that’s in the case of re-titling objects, changing a beneficiary designation on a life insurance policy, or going to the recorder of deeds and changing the ownership of real estate from your name to the trust name.

Is funding a trust a simple process or can it get complex?

The difficult part of funding a trust is identifying all of the assets, identifying what trust is best serving the client’s purposes, and deciding which assets are going to go to the trust. Once that’s done, the majority of the work is administrative.

Is real estate handled differently when funding a trust?

Yes, real estate is an asset that everybody initially thinks about when they are talking about a trust. The goal is to avoid probating the real estate. The trust is an entity that goes on after the trust-maker has passed or is deceased; therefore, by putting real estate into a trust, you are changing the owner of the real estate. Anything that you would normally have to do to change the ownership of your house would apply, because you would need to create a new deed and file it with the recorder of deeds.

There is usually a transfer tax or a stamp tax that applies. In this case, almost all states have an exemption because you’re transferring the real estate from an owner to a trust controlled by that owner.

For more information on Adding Assets To A Trust In South Carolina, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (864) 982-5930 today.

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Advantages of Avoiding Probate

October 31, 2019/in Estate Planning

There are several important advantages that come from avoiding the probate process. First, time. If you are the owner of a small business that you intend to pass along to a family member, this can be especially important. Probate puts everything in a state of limbo, sometimes leading to long delays before important business decisions can be made. Uncertainty and a lack of legal authority can make it difficult, if not impossible, to keep a business running, which is why many business owners take steps to ensure their business passes outside the probate system.

Another advantage to avoiding probate is saving money. Probate is a court process and court costs needs to be paid. Usually the amount of money is relatively small, but complicated cases can become quite costly, especially if experts or other third parties become involved.

A final advantage of avoiding probate is the lack of public disclosure. The probate process takes place in the court system and, as such, is open to the public. That means that the person’s will, the final property allocation, and anything else related to the administration of the estate will become matters of public record, available for anyone to read. These deeply personal and financial matters are obviously sensitive and many people would prefer to keep things private.

What is Probate?

Probate is technically the legal mechanism by which title to property of a recently deceased person is transferred to his or her heirs. The goal of probate is to ensure that every possible claim against the estate and those owing to the estate has been settled and that title has been given to the rightful heirs. This can be a lengthy process in some especially complicated cases, and the goal is to ensure that when all’s said and done, an estate can be wrapped up without lingering disputes.

Does everything go through probate?

The short answer is no, not everything a person owns goes through probate. These assets pass through other avenues, such as payable-on-death accounts or beneficiary designations. Examples of assets that do not pass through the probate system include property that has been transferred into a trust, life insurance proceeds, retirement funds, money in payable-on-death bank accounts, and property that is owned with someone else as a joint tenant.

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10 Steps to a Knockout Estate Plan

September 16, 2019/in Estate Planning, Resources

Nobody likes thinking about what will happen after they’re gone. Estate planning is essential, though, especially if you want to make sure your loved ones are adequately cared for after you’ve passed away.

Even though most people agree that estate planning is important, only about 40 percent of adults in the U.S. have some kind of will or living trust in place.

Are you part of this group? If not, what’s holding you back?

If you have no idea where to begin, why not start with some estate planning basics.

Read on to learn 10 estate planning tips that will help you create the perfect estate plan for yourself and your loved ones.

1. Start with a Will

If you haven’t done any kind of estate planning yet, a will is a great place to start.

As soon as you can, make arrangements to sit down with an estate planning attorney and work with them to put together a last will and testament.

If you die without a will, the state will distribute your assets according to their inheritance laws. This is known as dying intestate.

If you want to avoid this and have control over the distribution of your assets (as most people do), you need to write out exactly how you want your beneficiaries to receive them.

2. Provide for Minor Children

The next step is to ensure you provide for your minor children. Use your will to appoint a guardian for them if you and their other parent both pass away.

Remember that your minor children will also need someone appointed who can handle their inherited property or assets.

Appoint someone you trust to handle all their financial affairs and make sure their money is taken care of. It could be the same person appointed as their guardian or someone else entirely.

3. Create a Living Will

A living will is a document that provides information about the care you want to receive in the event that you become incapacitated and cannot communicate.

This document (sometimes referred to as an advanced directive) includes instructions on whether you want doctors to use life-sustaining measures like breathing tubes and feeding tubes.

4. Create a Power of Attorney

A power of attorney (POA) gives someone the authority to make decisions for you if you’re unable.

Some people give a power of attorney for their health care and another to handle their financial matters. Others use the same person to handle everything.

5. Consider a Living Trust

If you want your assets to avoid going through probate, a living trust might be a good option to consider.

Through a living trust, your assets go into a trust during your lifetime. At the time of your death, these assets are transferred to beneficiaries that you designate by a representative you choose, known as a successor trustee.

A living trust can help your loved ones save time and money and receive what’s been left for them sooner.

6. Purchase Life Insurance

If you don’t already have life insurance, now is a good time to purchase it. This is especially important if you have minor children and/or own your home.

Life insurance can also be helpful if you anticipate having to pay a lot of debt or estate taxes. It will ensure that your beneficiaries can still receive what’s theirs without having to use a portion of their inheritance to pay off any debts you leave behind.

7. Name a Beneficiary on Your Bank Accounts

When you’re making plans for the future, it’s a good idea to name a beneficiary on your bank and retirement accounts.

If you do this, your bank can transfer those funds to the beneficiary automatically after your death. They won’t have to go through probate, which helps to save your beneficiaries time and money.

8. Handle Estate Tax Obligations

The majority of estates will not owe any kind of federal estate tax. If your estate is worth more than $11,180,000, though, it will be subject to these taxes.

Make sure your bases are covered if your estate is worth an amount close to this number (or if you suspect it will be at the time of your death).

Learn about any state taxes that you might have to pay as well (these can differ from the federal regulations.

9. Gather Paperwork and Other Important Information

Make sure you have all the paperwork associated with your estate stored in one place. Keep it in a folder or binder, then store then binder in a locked safe or another safe place.

Let the executor of your estate, as well as your power of attorney, know where they can find these documents.

Remember to store your digital information in this folder or binder as well. Write down passwords to all your online accounts so that your descendants can access them and handle them according to your instructions.

10. Leave a Personal Letter

You may also want to write a more personal letter to your loved ones before you go. Often, people want to leave behind messages that don’t necessarily belong in a will or other legal document.

Leave behind a letter that details the type of funeral arrangements you’d like or to list sentimental items that you want to leave to certain family members or loved ones.

Give this letter to someone you trust, such as a relative, a friend, or your attorney, so they can pass it along to your loved ones when the time comes.

Move Beyond Estate Planning Basics

These 10 estate planning tips ought to be sufficient when it comes to setting up an estate plan that works for you and your loved ones.

What if you need to move beyond estate planning basics, though?

If you need additional help setting up your estate or handling other matters related to your will, we can help.

Contact us today at DeBruin Law Firm to learn more about our services or to schedule an appointment for a consultation.

We’ll get back to you within one business day so you can start planning for the future as soon as possible.

https://debruinlawfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/estate-planning-basics.jpeg 1025 1538 Bryan De Bruin https://debruinlawfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/logo.png Bryan De Bruin2019-09-16 09:02:432019-11-16 19:11:3310 Steps to a Knockout Estate Plan
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