To Our Friends and Clients

    As we approach the new year, the last year of this millenium, we would like to thank you for your support and inspiration during the year and to extend Season’s Greetings to you and your families. We would also like to announce some changes in our Estate and Trust Planning Administration and Litigation practice. In October, we were granted permission by the Virginia State Bar to operate as a separate professional law corporation: Joseph T. Buxton III, P.C. With the creation of our new entity, we have inaugurated this periodic newsletter designed to assist our clients in the more effective administration of their estate plans. This newsletter will also provide our friends with information on innovative, new ideas on effective and practical trust and estate planning. This newsletter is for you -- please let us know how we can improve it, what subjects you would like to see addressed, and most of all, how helpful this project is for you. This newsletter will be produced within our firm by all members of our team. I know you will find it interesting!

Joseph T. Buxton, III

Lynn M. Blowers

By: J.T. "Chip" Buxton

• If you are approaching age 70, be sure to review your options for your beneficiary designation elections and your minimum withdrawal requirements for your retirement plan. This is critical.
• If you have established a living trust, make sure that you have properly funded your trust. If you have not – you may have defeated your estate plan.
• If you have a traditional IRA, consider converting to a tax-free ROTH IRA. The right to spread your tax liability for conversion over 4 years expires on December 31, 1998.
• Have you reviewed your estate plan or your revocable trust recently? If not – do so! The tax law has changed and your situation may have changed. We offer the first annual review of your estate plan at no charge to you – call us today for an appointment.
• The Virginia General Assembly changed the law affecting Living Wills in 1992. If your living will was drafted prior to that date, you will need to update this document!

By: Chip Buxton

Since 1991, I have been a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). This organization was founded 10 years ago by attorneys concerned with the adequate protection of the legal rights of the elderly and how to aid older clients with proper estate planning and asset preservation. NAELA recently held its 10^th Anniversary Elder Law Institute in Arlington, Virginia. Over 750 estate planning and elder law attorneys from across the country were in attendance. The Institute focused on acquainting practitioners with better strategies for preserving clients’ assets, qualifying clients for Medicaid and other benefits and taking care of the special needs of disabled or incapacitated individuals. The "tug-of-war" between the government trying to use assets and individuals trying to preserve their assets continues. But with the help of many dedicated individuals like the attorneys who attended this Institute, there are now many options available to individuals to help protect themselves, their property and their families from the extingencies of old age and from the appetite of the government to consume your assets. These lawyers are addressing the need to have better systems in place to assist individuals in managing their affairs in the face of disability, incompetency, or death. # # #

Image for a moment, as unsettling as it may be, that suddenly you were physically and mentally incapacitated. Who would manage your affairs? If you’re married, your spouse could do most of it – but a spouse couldn’t do everything. For example, he/she could not sell your house, if that became necessary, or file a joint tax return. What if you’re not married? Can you turn to a son or daughter, nephew or niece, or a business partner? Unless you’ve prepared ahead of time by signing a Power of Attorney, they legally will not be able to manage your finances for you. The courts would have to appoint a guardian – an expensive, time-consuming process. If you or someone you know needs to update or prepare a new Power of Attorney, give us a call !

Lynn M. Blowers

Lynn M. Blowers has joined our staff as our associate attorney. She will be assisting clients in trust and estate administration, trust funding issues, probate matters and with the preparation of Last Will and Testaments and related documents. She will also be developing strategies for asset distribution from qualified plans (including IRA accounts). Mrs. Blowers took her undergraduate work at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and was admitted to the Virginia Bar in October 1998. She has also taken courses at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach and has a Bachelor of Arts in English which she received from North Texas State University. She and her husband, Tom, reside in Virginia Beach.

Q. I recently remarried and have children by my prior marriage. I have a large IRA account. I want to take care of my wife and also protect my children. How can I do that?

A. You might want to designate a Trust as the beneficiary of your IRA to guarantee distributions from your IRA during your wife’s lifetime while guaranteeing that the remainder will go to your children at your wife’s death. Beware, however, the IRS has special rules for naming a trust as the beneficiary and the Trust has to be carefully written. Sometimes it’s better planning to have the IRA paid over to the wife and provide for the children in other ways; i.e., through life insurance proceeds.

Q. A family member has passed away. What do I need to do right away? Steps to preserve the assets should be taken as soon as possible. 1) Locate the Will – the personal representative named in the Will has the authority and the duty to preserve the estate from waste; 2) If the decedent lived alone, remove perishable property, arrange for the care of pets, and secure the house; 3) Make sure all the jewelry, antiques, and valuables are secure and covered by casualty insurance; and 4) Cancel all credit cards and subscriptions.

Q. What is probate? Probate is the process of presenting the Will to the Clerk of the Court and proving that the Will is valid.

Q. Does someone have to qualify on the estate? According to the Virginia Small Estate Act, if the decedent had probate assets of less than $10,000, then no one will need to qualify on the estate.
 

By January 1, 1999, all Social Security benefits must be direct deposited. You may no longer receive a paper check. The Social Security Administration claims that not one deposit has been lost using the electronic transfer method. In addition, this will save the government millions of dollars in paper and postage. You will need to go to your bank now if you haven’t already made arrangements!

Need a speaker?

Reminder – if your professional, civic, religious, or special interest group would like Chip Buxton to present a seminar/workshop, give MeLissa a call at the Yorktown office @ 877-2248.

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Buxton Mailing, 914 Denbigh Blvd., Yorktown, VA 23692

Fax: (757) 890-1300 or (804) 758-0406

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For 1999, we are planning to continue our periodic seminars on estate planning. We are also planning periodic follow-up workshops for our existing clients which will focus on such subjects as trust funding, IRA distribution planning, and how to better coordinate your financial and estate planning activities. In addition, we are also putting together a training course for non-lawyer professionals in the financial planning field to better acquaint them with the legal aspects of estate and financial planning. This course will be open to certified financial planners, accountants, life underwriters, stockbrokers, and others involved in the financial planning area, as well as to our clients. Keep an eye out in our subsequent newsletters for the dates of these seminars & workshops.