Sadly, abuse, neglect, and fraud of the elderly is all too common in the United States. Even by conservative estimates, over two million incidents of elder abuse and neglect occur each year. Although most people associate abuse with physical or emotional abuse, financial abuse is also very common. The elderly are often dependant on caregivers to take care of many day to day financial transactions which can lead them to give the caregiver more control than they should over their finances. Abusers often use a common estate planning tool, the power of attorney, to gain unfettered access to an elderly individuals finances with often devastating results. Why are powers of attorney so easy to use as a tool to defraud?

A POA is relatively simple to create. Locating a generic POA form usually only requires a few keystrokes on a computer.

Most people have heard of a POA and consider it to be a common, legitimate, legal document. This familiarity with the form often makes an elderly victim less suspicious and therefore more willing to sign the document.

A POA can be created for a specific purpose, such as to give someone the legal authority to act on your behalf to complete the sale of your vehicle. A broad POA, on the other hand, can give someone access to all of your assets and financial accounts. Many victims sign a POA under the impression that the authority they are granting is narrow, when in fact it is very broad.

Once a perpetrator has a signed POA in hand, he or she can wipe out an account or transfer property into his or her name in record time, making it a very easy and quick way to commit fraud or theft.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

If you have made philanthropy an important aspect of your life, there is no reason not to make it an equally important part of your estate plan. A charity can be incorporated into your estate plan as a beneficiary just as a family member or loved one is, allowing you to continue to support a cause that is important to you long after death. Each estate plan is unique, and each charity has individual needs, making an in-depth consultation with your estate planning attorney an essential part of incorporating charitable giving into your estate plan. There are, however, some key point to charitable giving that apply universally.

A direct bequest in your Last Will and Testament to the charity of your choice is certainly an option; however, a trust frequently offers probate and tax advantages that a direct bequest does not and provides flexibility that cannot be offered through a direct gift.

A charitable trust can be either a living trust or a testamentary trust.

The most common charitable trusts fall into one of two main categories — remainder and lead trusts

A charitable remainder trust provides income to non-charitable beneficiaries, such as family members, for a specific period of time, or life, and then gives the remainder to a charity

A charitable lead trust provides income to a trust for a specific period of time and then gives the remainder to non-charitable beneficiaries, such as family members.

A portion of the value of assets used to fund the trust may qualify as a current deduction for income tax purposes.

The amount that passes to a charity may qualify for an estate tax deduction when you die, thereby decreasing the estate taxes due on your estate.

You may be able to avoid paying capital gains taxes on highly appreciable assets, such as real estate, that are used to fund a charitable trust.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

At some point in your life you will likely start to think about what it is that you will leave behind when you die. While money and assets may be part of what you leave behind, you likely also wish to leave behind your ideals and principals. These are the things that create your legacy. If the legacy that you leave behind is important to you, then the creation of a thorough legacy plan is essential.

Your legacy plan takes over where your basic estate plan leaves off. A basic estate plan can distribute your assets and money to the beneficiaries of your choice, but transferring assets directly to beneficiaries is not always the best way to ensure the continuation of your legacy. Simply leaving money or assets to beneficiaries who are ill prepared to handle them is often a recipe for disaster. By planning ahead and creating a legacy plan, you can ensure that your family members, loved ones philanthropic causes  will be provided for long after your death.

Your legacy plan should focus first on how to protect, and even increase, the assets you currently own. Next, it should take into consideration who you wish to provide for after your death. Often, a legacy plan includes one or more trusts. A trust can allow you to provide for future generations and to control how the trust assets are spent, effectively incorporating your ideals and principals into your legacy plan. Remember that your legacy is yours to create so take the time now to create the legacy you want to leave behind.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

An inter vivos, or living trust can be either revocable or irrevocable. Both types have advantages and disadvantages. A revocable living trust does not provide some of the estate tax or asset protection advantages that an irrevocable trust provides. An advantage of a revocable living trust is the ability to make changes, amend, or even terminate the trust at any time. A revocable living trust can also be an attractive estate planning tool for incapacity planning purposes.

In the event of your incapacity, your loved ones will likely need access to your assets in order to take care of you and/or your family. Absent pre-planning on your part, this will require lengthy, and costly, court proceedings. The creation of a revocable living trust, however, can solve this problem by creating a legal tool to transfer control of your assets without court intervention.

When you create a revocable living trust, you can name yourself as both the trustee and beneficiary of the trust, thereby retaining control over the trust assets while you are capable of managing them. You can also appoint one or more successor trustees when you create the trust allowing the successor trustee control in the event you become incapacitated.

The beauty of using a revocable trust for incapacity planning is that you get to decide what constitutes your incapacity. You can require physician signatures, the consensus of a panel of experts, or your spouse’s concurrence if you choose. Your own definition will determine when the successor trustee takes over.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

One of the reasons why a lot of people don’t take retirement planning as seriously as they should is because they are under the impression that Social Security will provide them with a very solid foundation of income. When you look into the matter however, the statistics tell a different tale.

The exact average is going to fluctuate constantly because of people passing away while others become eligible for Social Security, but according to the Associated Press right now the average monthly benefit is $1082. The possibility of cost-of-living adjustments exists, but no such increases have taken place over the last two years. Yet, over that same period of time out-of-pocket health care expenses for seniors rose by some 14%.

Recipients of Social Security got a bit of good news recently when it was announced that there will be a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment in 2012. Although any increase is better than no increase at all, considering the fact that the average benefit is about $13,000 a year this 3.6% COLA will result in a $39 per month increase for someone receiving the average benefit.

Though Social Security is certainly going to help, when you look at these figures you can see that it is not going to be sufficient to provide you with the type of retirement that Atlanta residents have probably been looking forward to. In addition, Medicare does not pay for everything and out-of-pocket expenses may well rise as adjustments to the program are made in an effort to reduce the federal debt. And as stated above, out-of-pocket expenses have already been increasing.

How can you respond to the limitations of entitlement programs for seniors? Simply rely on them less, and this can be achieved through the implementation of an intelligently conceived retirement plan. To get started, pick up the phone and arrange for a consultation with an experienced Atlanta retirement planning attorney.

Pyke & Associates, P.C. is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.