End-Of-Year Checklist
For Getting Your Legal Affairs In Order 
1) If your spouse died this year or you got divorced, you should update your estate planning documents in order to remove your former spouse's name as a beneficiary, agent, executor, and trustee.
2) December is the most popular month to get engaged. We encourage all of our clients who are getting married or re-married to consult with an estate planning attorney and make an informed decision about getting a Premarital Agreement (Prenup). The motivation for obtaining a Prenup is not because the marriage may not last. Without a Prenup, the inheritance that you intended to leave to your heirs could instead go to your new spouse upon your death. You probably don't want to disinherit your children.
3) If anyone who is listed in your Health Care Power of Attorney or Living Will has moved or changed phone numbers, you should update these forms with current information so that your health care providers can connect with your contacts in case of an emergency. (We have complimentary blank forms in our office that we will give you for this purpose, but remember that you will need to get them witnessed and notarized.)
4) Review your will and trust to make sure that they still reflect your current wishes about whom will serve as your executor or trustee and how your assets will be distributed after your death. Because people die, babies are born, and relationships change, you should annually review your documents.
As always, if any of your estate planning documents are more than ten years old or you have moved to a different state, you should have your documents reviewed and updated to ensure that your estate plan still reflects your wishes and the current laws where you reside.
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If this is the first time that you have seen this picture, then you must not be our fan on Facebook!
Although our newsletter goes out only once a quarter, we make posts to our Facebook page once a week. That means liking our page gives you weekly access to what is going on at our firm.
We post everything from pictures of staff members to articles about the latest topics in our area of law.
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If you call our office for an appointment you will quickly learn how busy we are. We have known for awhile that we needed extra help, but wanted to find the perfect fit. We took our time searching and after prayerful consideration, we chose Attorney Will Jennings to be part of our team. Will is a former solo practitioner whose firm was based in Toledo.
Read Will's biography
here to learn a little more about the newest addition to our team!
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Our mission is to provide excellent, compassionate legal services to help people plan for the unexpected and prepare for the inevitable.
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News You Can Use
In This Issue:
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Annual Roberson Law Christmas Letter
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Every year we mail a holiday letter to stay connected with our past and current clients and advisors. This is a twenty-five-year tradition. The letter is mailed through the United States Postal Service to every active client from the past 30 years we have been in business for whom we have a current mailing address. This
is the only correspondence that some of our clients receive from us all year.
Although this email newsletter is sent to over 3,500 people, we do not have everyone's snail mail address in order to send our holiday letter. For that reason, we have included a copy of our holiday letter in this email newsletter for anyone to read who may not have received our holiday letter through the United States Postal Service. Read a copy of the letter
here
and enjoy!
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Character Counts
 Why would a law firm give two hoots about character? Unfortunately, some lawyers have character defects, but Roberson Law strives to dispel the negative image of lawyers. For that reason we choose to monthly focus on a character quality with a monthly subscription to
Character Core Magazine published by Strata Leadership, LLC, a leadership company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
One of the character qualities highlighted this fall was Resilience. According to the September 2017 issue of
Character Core Magazine, "Resilience is recovering from adversity. Rather than remaining a victim, we make a decision to give it another try, even if it is difficult." At times, we all experience roadblocks, and our lives do not go the way that we would have liked. When this happens we need to get back up, dust ourselves off, and make a different action plan, rather than wallowing in defeat.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." --Jeremiah 29:11
The action plan for practicing resilence is:
1) Acknowledge your situation.
2) Make a new plan.
3) Pick yourself up and try again.
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Is Your Will Valid If You Terminate Your Marriage? 
by Kayla Helm, Probate Paralegal
Are you getting divorced, obtaining a dissolution, or annulling your marriage? If so, then you should consider reevaluating your estate planning documents as soon as possible.
According to Section 2107.33(D) of the Ohio Revised Code, once a person has signed a will, if he or she is divorced, obtains dissolution, obtains an annulment, or separates from his or her spouse, any provisions in the will granting power or appointment of fiduciary to the former spouse will be revoked unless the will specifically states otherwise. For example, if Mary's will appoints her husband John as executor of her estate and then they get divorced, John's appointment of executor becomes null and void, and the next person in named in the will becomes executor.
Additionally, according to Section 2107.33(E) of the Ohio Revised Code, a former spouse will not receive any property owned solely by the decedent through a distribution in a will revoked based on termination of marriage. The property will be distributed as if the former spouse did not survive the decedent. For example, if Mary's will gives all of her property to her husband John and then to her sister Beth if John doesn't survive Mary, but then Mary and John get divorced, all of Mary's property would go to Beth as if John died before Mary. However, if the property is owned by both parties, the former spouse has the ability to attempt to obtain the deceased spouse's portion of the property.
If a couple remarries, the will's powers and distributions remain as if the couple never terminated the marriage. A different law applies to beneficiary designations of payable on death assets, so a re-marriage will require new beneficiary designations.
Further, if a former spouse marries a new spouse, the new spouse will have rights known as statutory marital rights defined in Section 2106 of the Ohio Revised Code that allow the new spouse to obtain certain property before any beneficiaries identified in the will obtain their distributions. (This is a compelling reason to get a Prenup!)
While Ohio law automatically enforces the revocations of power and distribution, it is much easier and efficient to update your estate plan documents to reflect your true intentions, whether or not your intentions include your former spouse.
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Quick Tip: Are your ICE numbers in your cell phone? 
Because we are a firm with a mission to help people prepare for the unexpected, we also feel obligated to inform our clients of ways to take the necessary precautions to plan for an emergency.
In case you didn't know, ICE is an acronym that stands for "In Case of Emergency." This is an acronym that medics look for in the address books of accident victims' cell phones to find the contact information for the person or persons who would make medical decisions for the victim. In addition to entering the contact information of these people under the acronym ICE, medics also suggest that you indicate any special medical conditions or allergies that you may have or medications that you use.
Taking a few minutes to enter your ICE numbers into your cell phone might save your life and ensure that no time is wasted when paramedics are trying to determine whom to contact if you are in an accident and are unconscious or unresponsive. Entering these numbers is easy and free, so why not do it right now? If you get into an accident, you never know how this simple action might impact your outcome, so please don't hesitate in taking this precautionary step today. |
Nancy Roberson Gets Re-Certified 
On December 4, 2017, we received word from the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) that Nancy Roberson was re-certified as a Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. This news was a big deal because of the stringent requirements that an attorney must meet in order to become an OSBA Certified Specialist. Being a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law is the highlight of Nancy's career because Nancy was one of the first approximately 100 attorneys in Ohio to become certified in her area of practice.
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The Matching Game: Does The Driver's License Match The POA? 
Financial institutions are becoming increasingly finicky about General Durable Power of Attorney (GDPOA) documents. The GDPOA documents that we write are 11 pages long in order to cover all of the bases, yet there are instances when we are still asked to provide additional substantiation that a GDPOA is valid.
One area over which we have no control is when the person who our client chooses to serve as his or her agent gives our client a different name to use in the GDPOA than the name that is on the agent's driver's license. This could be because of a marriage, a divorce, or because the person just misspelled the person's name. Regardless of the reason, instances are occurring where a bank is refusing to accept a GDPOA because the name of the agent in the document does not match the name in the agent's driver's license. This reinforces the point that simply confirming the legal names of the people who are in your documents is not good enough. You need to also ask for a copy of their driver's licenses so that the attorney who is drafting the GDPOA can confirm that the GDPOA and the driver's license names match.
As a reminder, the date that the GDPOA was signed is another factor in determining whether or not a financial institution will accept a GDPOA. For that reason, we suggest to all of our clients that they contact us every five years to have their GDPOA refreshed with a more current date to avoid having a bank reject the use of the document due to its age. You do not want your agent to be in a situation when your GDPOA needs to be used to assist you, but the bank won't accept the document because the GDPOA is outdated.
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| All material in this newsletter is Copyright © 2017 by Nancy A. Roberson. All rights reserved. |
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