{"id":234852,"date":"2018-09-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/queen-of-soul-died-with-no-estate-documents-2\/"},"modified":"2018-09-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T07:00:00","slug":"queen-of-soul-died-with-no-estate-documents-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/queen-of-soul-died-with-no-estate-documents-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen of Soul died with no estate documents"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Steve Doster | Mission Valley Money<\/p>\n

It was such a sad day when Aretha Franklin died. Fans and critics alike knew of Aretha and her amazing talent. My big \u201cAretha moment\u201d occurred in 1998 while watching the Grammy Awards. Aretha performed early in the broadcast. Later in the show, the presenter said Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most famous opera singers in the world, was sick and could not perform that night. The producer had about 45 minutes to find someone to fill in for Pavarotti. Who could fill in for one of the world\u2019s greatest opera singers? Aretha could, and she did. It gave me goosebumps, watching her sing Italian opera with a full orchestra \u2014 knowing that none of this was rehearsed. Pure talent like that cannot be measured. The Queen of Soul could do it all!<\/p>\n

There is something else sad about Aretha\u2019s passing. She did not have estate documents, which means no one knows how she wanted her assets to be distributed. Did she want everything to go to her kids? Did she want to leave something for other family and friends? Did she have charities she was passionate about and want to gift money to those causes?<\/p>\n

\"Queen<\/a>
(Wikipedia)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With estate documents prepared beforehand, she could have divided her money, homes, and property among the people and charities she cared about most. Instead, the state of Michigan will decide for her.<\/p>\n

This is not a unique situation. Many people do not have a will, living trust, advanced health care directive, or power of attorney for finances. When you don\u2019t have the proper estate documents in place, the state you live in will choose where your assets go in the event of your death. Each state has their own order of who will receive your assets. For a married person with no kids, the surviving spouse gets everything in Michigan. But in California, the surviving spouse gets all community property and half of the separate property. The other half of separate property goes to the siblings of the deceased person.<\/p>\n

Estate documents clearly state who gets what. Don\u2019t let the state decide for you. That family member you haven\u2019t talked to in decades could end up with everything.<\/p>\n

In addition to your state making decisions for you, it is also very expensive not having estate documents. California charges a lot of money to transfer your assets to family members. California is one of the few states that have \u201cstatutory fees\u201d for attorneys. This means there is a defined fee schedule that attorneys can charge the estate to get it through probate.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say you have a $500,000 home with a $400,000 mortgage. For this example, we will keep this very simple and say you have no other assets. If you die unexpectedly with no estate documents, an attorney can charge your estate $13,000 based on the $500,000 value of your home. The mortgage is not netted from the value of the home to determine the fee. There are also probate filing fees that can add up to a few thousand dollars more.<\/p>\n

Compare such large probate fees to getting estate documents for around $2,000. It makes financial sense to have proper estate documents. Don\u2019t give away thousands of dollars to an attorney after you die. Pay them a few thousand while living and do this right. And, it\u2019s the only way to ensure that your assets pass according to your wishes.<\/p>\n

Aretha Franklin will always be the Queen of Soul. However, she will also be an example of the consequences of not properly planning for the future of your assets. Hopefully her family will not pay too much in legal and probate fees to get through this. For those reading this article, I hope you will take this as a reminder to get your estate documents in place.<\/p>\n

\u2014Steve Doster, CFP es el gerente de planificaci\u00f3n financiera de Rowling & Associates, una empresa de administraci\u00f3n de patrimonio de pago exclusivo en Mission Valley que ayuda a las personas a crear una vida financiera sin preocupaciones. Rowling & Associates ayuda a las personas con sus impuestos, inversiones y planes de jubilaci\u00f3n. Lea m\u00e1s art\u00edculos en rowling.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Steve Doster | Mission Valley Money It was such a sad day when Aretha Franklin died. Fans and critics alike knew of Aretha and her amazing talent. My big \u201cAretha moment\u201d occurred in 1998 while watching the Grammy Awards. Aretha performed early in the broadcast. Later in the show, the presenter said Luciano Pavarotti, one […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":915,"featured_media":234853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11557","_seopress_titles_title":"Queen of Soul died with no estate documents","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11557,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-valley-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}