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72 | What No One Tells You About Estate Planning and Family Dynamics (with Wendi Lester Efflandt) · Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design

• 0:00
  Erin Gray: You're listening to generate a life Well-lived podcast.
• 0:02
  Erin Gray: I'm your friend and confidant, erin gray.
• 0:04
  Erin Gray: On this podcast, we will explore all things money, business and self-development, including human design.
• 0:10
  Erin Gray: I hope you enjoy the journey where I share everything that I know and am continuing to learn a long way as I honor my heart's desires while inspiring and encouraging you to do the same.
• 0:20
  Erin Gray: Hi, how are you?
• 0:21
  Erin Gray: So?
• 0:22
  Erin Gray: On today's podcast, I brought on Wendi Lester-Efflandt and she is an estate attorney and she actually helped my family administer my grandfather's estate.
• 0:33
  Erin Gray: So grateful for her and the time that she worked with his case and I had worked with my grandfather before to set up all of his estate planning, working with another attorney.
• 0:46
  Erin Gray: Just so grateful that Wendy was able to support our family during this process.
• 0:52
  Erin Gray: She has a practice in Texas and we are going to dive into so many things.
• 0:59
  Erin Gray: Before I do, I just want to say that, just like any other guest that I bring on that has expertise and years of knowledge in their craft, I always want to drive home to each of you that go, do your own research.
• 1:15
  Erin Gray: We are not giving you advice.
• 1:17
  Erin Gray: We're discussing topics that I have experienced clients telling me you know that they aren't aware of or you know, the common theme is I don't know what I don't know, so I always want to empower you, and that means you doing your own research, you hiring someone that is a good fit for you, and I bring on amazing guests so that they can share their knowledge and, at the end of the day, you making sure that you've done your research, you've vetted the people that you work with so that they can support you in the area that you need support in.
• 1:56
  Erin Gray: In this episode, we're going to dive into making sure that you work with an attorney that you have property in, and explaining and diving into you know, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, the difference between a will and a trust, updating your estate documents and what to do with the old ones, and so much more.
• 2:16
  Erin Gray: I'm so grateful for this conversation because I learned a lot while having this conversation with Wendy and I hope that you do as well.
• 2:24
  Erin Gray: So let's dive in.
• 2:25
  Erin Gray: Thanks, wendy, for coming on and sharing your time.
• 2:27
  Erin Gray: You're welcome, good to be here.
• 2:28
  Erin Gray: So tell us just a little bit about, like, what does an estate planning attorney do and, kind of, if you want, how did you get started, and things of that sort.
• 2:42
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So essentially, I think that the job of an estate planning attorney is really to meet with the client I mean, nowadays we have ways to phone and virtual and things like that but really to get to know their client so that they can understand A.
• 2:55
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: What are the family dynamics of that client?
• 2:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: What are the assets of that client?
• 3:02
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: What other issues maybe do they have in their backgrounds, that things that are important to them?
• 3:08
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: For some people, you know, charitable, you know contributions are important.
• 3:12
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: For some people, protecting a legacy for their children, you know, is important.
• 3:17
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I think the job of an estate planning attorney is to get to know their clients and then in doing that, figure out there's no one set of documents that is going to be a fix-all or the proper set of documents for any particular client.
• 3:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so some people and we'll talk about this more, I'm sure, later, but might be well-served by a will, somebody else might be well-served by a trust.
• 3:43
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Families that have only one child may be able to avail themselves of some different types of documents.
• 3:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That people that have six children, that might not be the best fit for them.
• 3:55
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: People that have young children obviously there may be needs to, you know, consider what kind of trust will take care of their assets until they're old enough to manage them themselves, Whereas if all of your children are over 40, then that might be, you know, a different type of document for you.
• 4:11
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I think overall, the job of the estate planning attorney is going to be to get to know the client, get to know the fact pattern and their background and then for them help to create a set of documents that is going to meet all of their goals in the future and protect the family, have those specific like permissions lips in place for people to be able to help them if they are incapacitated, unconscious things like that.
• 4:39
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I think that's the overall goal of the estate planning, you know, consultation relationship, you know, with the attorney.
• 4:47
  Erin Gray: Yeah, and it's really like it's like anything right.
• 4:49
  Erin Gray: It's like digging, finding about out about your client, understanding them and like helping them specific.
• 4:54
  Erin Gray: I think sometimes a lot of if we aren't aware of what you guys do.
• 5:00
  Erin Gray: Sometimes we look at either our friends or family members and we're like you know, we almost like draw from oh, this is what you did, this is what I need, versus what do I want specific for me and my family.
• 5:12
  Erin Gray: And then you know doing that.
• 5:15
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yeah, I can't tell you how many times someone will come in and they'll say you know, my, my friend, you know, got this transfer on death deed and this is a great idea for me and I need it.
• 5:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then I say to them you have four children.
• 5:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They're all under the age of 12.
• 5:28
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That would be the most horrible thing you could possibly think of doing.
• 5:32
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Or they've already gotten that document off of the Internet and they've completed it and they've filed it with the deed records.
• 5:40
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So those are the types of things.
• 5:43
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I think that we are able to research so many things on the internet and I think that's a great way to get started to think about what your decisions might be.
• 5:52
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But then to turn around and then go to a professional, it's just like maybe I don't feel well and I'm looking up what the symptoms could mean, but I don't use Google as a substitute for going for a consultation with my doctor, you know, or a therapist or whatever type of attention that I might need, my provider.
• 6:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I don't just use the internet, you know, yeah totally.
• 6:14
  Erin Gray: It's like it's good for knowledge, good for maybe pondering, thinking, but then, like you say, like, take those questions.
• 6:21
  Erin Gray: So do you have on your website or like what?
• 6:24
  Erin Gray: Where would you suggest for people to like?
• 6:26
  Erin Gray: Because I think a lot of times too, people come in and they're like I don't know what I don't know, and so it's almost like this and emotionally right, like it's an overwhelming thing of like where do we even begin and start?
• 6:37
  Erin Gray: And so what do you typically suggest for clients, if they are like at the beginning stages, um, as to like what you know, if they are like at the beginning stages, as to like what you know, where do you even go for information and things of that sort?
• 6:48
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we definitely on our website, which is the heritage law txcom.
• 6:52
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we are based in Texas and we do have just this like an overall kind of estate planning brochure which would just go over some of the general documents that a lot of people are going to need in Texas.
• 7:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, obviously in different states there's going to be different documents that are different names.
• 7:11
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Sometimes they are named a little bit different in different states.
• 7:14
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But also something that I find that people don't really necessarily do before they come in and that would be really helpful, is to have a list of what your assets are.
• 7:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, they come in and like well, we have that one account over there, do we still have that retirement account?
• 7:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then when we moved here, we quit going to that bank and so you know, really you know whether it's you're an individual and you're handling all your own finances or you're a couple really going over.
• 7:42
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know what assets do we have.
• 7:45
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Do we both even know what they are if we're two of us, because somebody might have an IRA over here and somebody might have a 401k over there, you know.
• 7:53
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that's a big thing to just do before you even get to the attorney and then also just having a complete listing of all of your children's you know, names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers if they're, you know, adults, that kind of thing.
• 8:06
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But then, like I said, on our website there'll be some general information to at least sort of say what are some options that we have.
• 8:13
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then, of course, as you come in to meet with an attorney, they should be going over with you all the different options of things that you can use during your lifetime.
• 8:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, powers of attorney, those are our permission slips.
• 8:28
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If I become unconscious and I need a medical decision made for me, most states are going to say no one's allowed to do that until you have that permission slip in place or that power of attorney in place appointing that person.
• 8:42
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If I'm older and I have an adult child, who's to say whether it's supposed to be my spouse, who may or may not be the parent of that adult child, or it's supposed to be my adult child, who's going to be in charge of making my medical decision?
• 8:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I want to make sure you know that there's no confusion.
• 9:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Here's person number one, here's potentially, you know, an alternate for that, um, and so there's, you know, powers of attorney that are for medical.
• 9:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: There's going to be, on almost every state, powers of attorney that are for more of our business or financial affairs.
• 9:16
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, again, if I either need assistance or I am completely incapacitated, somebody still has to file my tax returns, somebody still has to pay my utility bill that makes sure that my house, you know, is still got, you know, electric, air, all those kinds of things, water.
• 9:31
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I want to not have that be a guessing game and I definitely don't want to have that be dictated by a court, because without those permissions slips in place, then the people that care about you are going to have to go to court and file for a guardianship to be put in charge of you and spend thousands of dollars doing that in the states, post bonds, potentially appraise all your property, file yearly accountings for you.
• 10:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, as well as I mean, obviously we want to talk about what would happen to our assets in the event of death, but we also want to plan for incapacity or even brief incapacity during lifetime.
• 10:12
  Erin Gray: Yeah, so um and sometimes those people aren't the same people, right, like so you could have a medical power of attorney, right, and then you could have a financial power of attorney, um, because they, you know that person doesn't want to do the medical, or vice versa, or whatever, and so you know.
• 10:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yes, and that's even true for it, like if it is a couple, for example, doing the planning as well, each person is going to pick their own people.
• 10:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So most of the time with a spouse, I'm going to say my number one decision maker, if I can't do it for myself, might be my spouse, but then my alternate might be my sister is a nurse and I really trust her, you know, to make a medical decision for me.
• 10:49
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Well, my husband may say well, you know, his number two person is, again, possibly his nephew, who is an EMT, and he wants that person.
• 10:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then again you may have that you know one relative who you know they're the CPA or the financial planner, and so when it comes to your in Texas, the statutory durable power of attorney, then I may want to pick that person because I want that person to be in charge of my finances, my more business decisions, and they're more, you know, geared toward or suited toward being the power of attorney for financial.
• 11:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And I may want to pick somebody different, like you said, for medical, because everybody has different talents that we can, you know, hopefully, borrow when we need to.
• 11:34
  Erin Gray: Yeah, so, in terms of you said that you're in Texas and so as far as like hiring an attorney, obviously most of the time, would you say that you probably typically go to someone local or someone you know that someone has referred to you and they're they are local.
• 11:47
  Erin Gray: But is it like, um, you know CPAs don't have like they can be, or like financial planners are licensed in specific States?
• 11:57
  Erin Gray: Is that the same way that it is for attorneys as well?
• 12:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yes, and so you would definitely want to have an attorney in the state where you reside.
• 12:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Something to also, though, be aware of is, if you own property in multiple states, then that may be that I need to consult with an attorney where my potentially vacation property is located in a different state, because those state laws, you know, can be different state to state.
• 12:31
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I get people coming in all the time in Texas and they're like, oh my gosh, I just I have to have a living trust.
• 12:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I've heard about how horrible probate is and all these things, and they're reading an article from California, and so they've gotten all up in, you know, terrified about, you know what's going to happen to them, and you know I'm able to say well, the good news is you don't need to be that terrified.
• 12:55
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know Texas has a really easy probate system if we ask for that in your documents, and we can still talk about a living trust if that's still something that's important to you.
• 13:04
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But what you're reading is something out of New York or Florida or California, and so that is why it's important to not again.
• 13:12
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yes, you can do some research on the internet, but first of all make sure you're reading something from the state where you live or own property is a good start, and then also consulting with somebody licensed in that particular state where you live.
• 13:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I like to have my final meeting with my clients, potentially in my office, if at all possible, because one of the things that we also want to be really careful of.
• 13:38
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You can have great documents, but if you don't witness and notarize those documents correctly, I have had people and I hate it, but the person who's done the documents has already even passed and they bring them in.
• 13:51
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They're like this is their will, see, it's notarized, and I say, well, in Texas, it needs two witnesses, that's only one witness, a notary is one witness and a really good will in Texas is going to have two witnesses and a notary, and so they think that they're holding in their hand a will and they do not have a will.
• 14:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Wow, you know.
• 14:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that is again.
• 14:12
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And even when people get a legal Zoom document and they're like, well, it was a Texas, you know legal Zoom document, and then they had, you know, one of the beneficiaries be the witness and now the gift to that beneficiary is void, yeah, because that's not allowed, you know.
• 14:28
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So there are things that, even though you know you think you're doing the right thing.
• 14:35
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I always tell people you know what I wouldn't you know if I had some kind of criminal matter which I hope I never do, but I wouldn't trust my freedom.
• 14:44
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If I had some kind of criminal matter which I hope I never do, but I wouldn't trust my freedom, my you know potential, um, you know future, to something I read on the internet, I would go get a professional you know and have them to help me get through that situation, because that's not something, um, that you know I hope I ever have to do but that I have any experience in.
• 15:06
  Erin Gray: Yeah, totally it's.
• 15:06
  Erin Gray: Uh, it's, it comes from a genuine place, I think.
• 15:07
  Erin Gray: Right, like we want to know, we want to be informed, and also there's so much information and misinformation on the internet that you know you already come in with an idea of what you think you need to have or whatever, versus like just coming in with an open mind and being like this is our situation, like just kind of giving you the facts and then you get to be like okay, based on this, this is this and this and this is what I would recommend, and then this is how we do this, and and right.
• 15:30
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Exactly, yeah, yeah.
• 15:32
  Erin Gray: So can we dive into a little bit about wills and trust, cause you have made comments about that, like not everybody, because I do think you know it's.
• 15:39
  Erin Gray: It kind of gets I don't know if it's highlighted or you know peace, it's kind of like not keeping up with the Joneses, but it's like, oh well, so-and-so has a living trust, so I need one.
• 15:49
  Erin Gray: You know, versus like what actually are the two differences?
• 15:53
  Erin Gray: And then why would someone want a trust and why would someone maybe not want one, or maybe not at this moment in time, but you know, as they grow assets or evolve things of that sort.
• 16:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So in order to really understand the difference between sort of wills and trusts, we have to also talk about the different types of property that you would have upon passing.
• 16:14
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So when someone passes, we would sort of delineate their property as two different types.
• 16:20
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: One is what we're going to call non-probate assets, meaning we don't need a will, we don't need to talk to a court.
• 16:26
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: We don't need to talk to a court, we don't need a document that I wrote to deal with that asset, versus a probate asset, which means we're going to look to some writing of mine or some court or something to deal with that asset.
• 16:39
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So when I have a life insurance policy, if I pay $100 a month to MetLife for 20 years and I have a $100,000 life insurance policy, when I sign the form the beneficiary designation form for that policy, I have now made that policy a non-probate asset.
• 16:57
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They don't care whether I have a will, they don't care whether I have a trust.
• 17:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They are going to follow the contract that I made with that company in order to distribute that asset upon my passing.
• 17:08
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we have a lot of things in almost every state that you could make into a non-propaid asset.
• 17:14
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So if I go into the bank and I open a joint checking account with my husband and we sign the signature cards a certain way.
• 17:22
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It'll say this is a joint account with right of survivorship.
• 17:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So you'll see sometimes JWROS on your bank statement.
• 17:31
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that means if one of us passes, the other one just owns that account.
• 17:34
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They don't care if I have a will, they don't care if I have a trust, they don't care what I have.
• 17:38
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So what we are doing when we are writing a will is we are saying what happens to my non-probate asset, or, excuse me, my probate assets, upon my passing passage.
• 17:48
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So things that are probate assets uh, cars, um houses, household goods, bank accounts that don't have a beneficiary, an ira that doesn't have a beneficiary, an investment account that doesn't have a beneficiary those are the kinds of things that they're going to say hey, what?
• 18:04
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: What did wendy say happens to this when she passed?
• 18:07
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So when we write a will in Texas, that will is a piece of paper until it is approved by the court, and so that word probate is just really it's a scary word, but it really just means approved.
• 18:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It means the court has approved this piece of paper that I brought to them and has said to them to said to the world this is a will and you know it's, it's, it's valid Right.
• 18:34
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So when someone passes, the way you kind of get into probate is it's like okay, grandma passed, she has an account with bank of America, there's no beneficiary.
• 18:41
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And I bring to bank of America this will and I say this is grandma's will and it says I'm the beneficiary and bank of america.
• 18:48
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They're like we don't want to be responsible for knowing if that thing is, you know paper, you know whatever is uh, altered or you know, is it real?
• 18:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Is it?
• 18:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Does it meet the taxes requirements?
• 19:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Because bank of america is a national bank.
• 19:02
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You could live in one of 50 states and have you know bank of america.
• 19:06
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So the court says we file that will for probate for the court to approve it and probate it, and then we take it to Bank of America and then Bank of America will release that to the executor named in the will.
• 19:20
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So when I write a will I'm nominating my executor, but the court is going to appoint my executor and so that is what we do when we probate.
• 19:32
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It's a very simplified version, but we're basically having to go to court.
• 19:35
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Typically you're going to have to go to court.
• 19:37
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: In Texas we have a very easy probate system called an independent administration of the estate, if you ask for it in the will.
• 19:45
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So again, if I want to have a will, I want it to be written in a way to avail myself of the easiest process possible no bonds, no appraisals.
• 19:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, whatever the house is worth on the open market is what the house is worth on the open market.
• 19:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I don't need to go pay a bunch of people to appraise.
• 20:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That you know, and so that is just something that we, you know, want to make sure we're doing.
• 20:08
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: The will, so the trust, so the difference between having a will, which would be potentially needing to be probated, and having a trust.
• 20:16
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So when I create a trust, my analogy is that I sort of create a container that is holding my property.
• 20:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It's not being held in the name of Wendy Lester Affluent, it's being held in the name of the Affluent Family Trust or whatever I might want to name this trust.
• 20:33
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I use the analogy when I'm talking to people of having a wagon.
• 20:37
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I have created this wagon and so instead of carrying my property in Wendy's name, I'm going to create it, I'm going to carry it in the Affluent wagon, and so when I write a trust agreement, I am giving the rules of what I want to have happen in that wagon.
• 20:53
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But then what I have to do is I have to actually put all my property into the wagon, and so I have to transfer, like I have to deed.
• 21:03
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If I have a house, it needs to be deeded to that trust.
• 21:06
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If I have bank accounts, they either need to be titled in the name of that trust or again a beneficiary designation to that trust.
• 21:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If I have bank accounts, they either need to be titled in the name of that trust or, again, a beneficiary designation to that wagon.
• 21:15
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So then what happens is, as the trustee of my trust, I've appointed myself as the trustee.
• 21:20
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I am the wagon puller, right.
• 21:23
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I'm in charge of that wagon.
• 21:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I can put things in, take things out, usually with a revocable or living trust.
• 21:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That's a term, you'll see.
• 21:30
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It means I can change my mind, I can take things in, I can change the terms of my agreement during my lifetime.
• 21:37
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It's very flexible, but at the end of the day, when Wendy passes and she was the trustee it really doesn't make any difference, because everything's not in Wendy's name, it's in the name of the wagon and so then a new trustee, which I've appointed in my documents, steps up and they become, you know, the driver of that wagon and then they can disperse, you know, to my different beneficiaries that I've designated in advance in writing the property that was in that wagon and so there usually is not any kind of a probate um, because I've taken the property out of being probate assets by placing in a trust.
• 22:19
  Erin Gray: So that's kind of the difference.
• 22:21
  Erin Gray: Do you find that people want to have co-trustees of the trust, like and that, and when I say co-trustees, yes, not necessarily upon when they're living, but like, okay, when, when, the when I pass, then I want two people to to manage this.
• 22:43
  Erin Gray: Whatever's left, you know, disperse it and things of that sort, like you know well.
• 22:49
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I have people ask for that a lot and I tell people, no, okay, that's what I'm saying, like, um, and so they'll say, oh, my two kids, and I want them to do it because I have to.
• 23:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so what?
• 23:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I tell people when, in the world of executor and trustee, it's not an either, or it is typically a both, and so, um, if you appoint two people as executor, oh, two people as trustee, oh they, you know, first of all have to be unanimous, so you better make sure that they are always going to decide together, um, and not disagree, which you know could be a problem.
• 23:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Um, number two, in the attorney world, I typically have to make, almost, you know, two of.
• 23:30
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They both have to.
• 23:32
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They both have to hire the real estate agent.
• 23:34
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If there's a house, they both have to go to the closing.
• 23:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, one of them may live in Kansas and one of them may live in Oklahoma, you know, or wherever.
• 23:42
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So you know, you need to be practical about who you're picking, and I people are always telling me oh, I, just, I have to be fair and I have to speak whatever.
• 23:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And I'm like, choose your agents, uh, by their talents and, honestly, by the time that they're acting.
• 23:57
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You're probably not here anyway, so if they're mad about it, they can just be mad about it, um.
• 24:02
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But in an attorney situation it's also difficult because then they're both hiring me potentially.
• 24:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Because then they're both hiring me potentially, and if one of them is calling to ask a question, I really need to be conferencing in the other one even to have a simple conversation, because I don't want that executor calling the other one saying, well, what the attorney told me and I'm having this whole entire private conversation with one executor or trustee, whichever way you've done it, um, and not the other one.
• 24:34
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so for an attorney it can also be difficult, especially if those two clients somehow don't get along or disagree.
• 24:41
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yeah, I may even have to say I can't represent either one of you because there's a conflict, yeah.
• 24:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I recommend, of course, that now, with a husband and wife, they will typically be co-trustees of their living trust together.
• 24:53
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But you guys are already in it for the long haul and having to make decisions together if you're married anyway.
• 24:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that's different.
• 24:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But then, upon the death of the surviving spouse, then I would typically recommend just the most you know responsible and trusted and financially minded person to be number one, and then we can have alternates, and if that first person doesn't want to do it or isn't, life circumstances are such that they're not in a position to do it, they can certainly waive their right, you know, to do that.
• 25:22
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So those are some options that I do get all the a lot of people.
• 25:26
  Erin Gray: I want to have all three of my kids be co-trustees and I'm thinking this is a maybe it's a generational thing, but that's what I have found too, is like a lot of the, you know, my parents' generation is like well, I want to be fair, like that word of fair it's like fair doesn't really exist, it's just judgment.
• 25:45
  Erin Gray: You know, like somebody can think that's totally fair and someone else could think that that's not fair, you know.
• 25:49
  Erin Gray: And so that trying to be inclusive versus like, but what is the most like, simplest least you know time, most effective thing, and and like you say, like having one person, because, yeah, sometimes it, it.
• 26:06
  Erin Gray: It doesn't necessarily always, and, you know, sometimes we can't even agree on, like where to go eat.
• 26:10
  Erin Gray: Now, you're trying to decide all of these, although, would you say, though, yes, definitely only having one person, but when you decide what you want and how you want your assets to be distributed, where would the conflict come in if you did have a co-trustee or co-executor?
• 26:33
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I think sometimes the conflict does come in, just with what we call the administration of the assets.
• 26:39
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so, you know, typically there's going to be a house that someone owns and, like I said, one person wants to hire their buddy who's a realtor over here, and the other person wants to hire, you know, a different one, or we don't agree on the list price, or one of them says you know what, like let's do a quick sale, let's lower this price, and the other one saying, well, I don't want to lower the price because we could get more, you know.
• 27:02
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So just there can be.
• 27:03
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, like, when should the house be sold?
• 27:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Should the house be sold, you know?
• 27:07
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Or all kinds of other, what attorney should we hire?
• 27:11
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Like, if we need an administration?
• 27:13
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, even to that extent, you know it's just there's lots of different things that could potentially arise, you know, like should we replace the carpet before we put it on the market, or just sell it as is, you know?
• 27:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so those are the kinds of things where if you pick somebody that you trust to be, you know, honest and be responsible, then let them do that legwork and then let them just divide the proceeds.
• 27:45
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, when you get to that point and I tell people when they do hire me if they are the administrator, executor or trustee, I'm happy to copy your.
• 27:54
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know siblings on.
• 27:55
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know we want to provide information.
• 27:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It's not a big secret.
• 28:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So you know, the more information that they provide, you know, then that's helpful to the others to know.
• 28:06
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Oh, here's the process and this is where we are.
• 28:08
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And yep, we haven't.
• 28:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know whatever, we haven't gone to court yet, or you know that kind of thing.
• 28:13
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I always like to provide a lot of information, but it's not a three-way joint decision-making.
• 28:19
  Erin Gray: Yeah, as I, as I was saying, I was like, oh my goodness, like thinking even about, even just because, okay, distribute my assets, like you're saying, the house, but also like when to sell my stocks, and all of that, like it's just, it's not just like, okay, this is all that I have and, you know, divvy it up.
• 28:34
  Erin Gray: It's like when to sell, and all of that, versus like what you're saying is like just one person does the, does the deal, and then it makes it so much easier.
• 28:42
  Erin Gray: So, in terms of, because you are in Texas and we talked about different, um, you know, in different states, are there different when, when laws?
• 28:50
  Erin Gray: Because there is a, is there a federal estate planning tax?
• 28:54
  Erin Gray: And then, is it or is that?
• 28:56
  Erin Gray: Like, tell me a little bit more, you know about yeah.
• 29:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So currently and I do want to just give the you know the kind of disclosure that you know, obviously I'm not providing any specifically little advice to anyone that's watching this, because they need to have their own special session to figure out what disclosure that you know.
• 29:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Obviously I'm not providing any specifically will advice to anyone that's watching this, because they need to have their own special session to figure out what applies to them.
• 29:15
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But the federal estate tax exemption currently is about $13.6 million per person, and so most of us are not blessed enough at this point to have to be worried about federal estate taxes.
• 29:30
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Now, texas, we do not have a state inheritance tax, just like we do not have a state income tax.
• 29:40
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Now there are many states where there is a state income tax and also a state inheritance tax.
• 29:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So right now I'm working on a state you know in personal life that's out of Massachusetts, and it's my understanding that in that state every estate under $2 million is not taxable, but estates over $2 million have state inheritance tax not federal, you know, but state and so that's again why you would want to talk to a professional in your state, because where most people in Texas are not having to do very much, you know, estate tax planning because their states are not going to rise over $27 million.
• 30:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Then you know that's different from somebody who may be in Massachusetts and they already have a two point seven million dollar state.
• 30:31
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Then they may want to have some more, you know.
• 30:33
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Talk about where we think our state's going to be, you know, years from now, and I mean with the financial planning and that kind of thing.
• 30:41
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that's definitely something to talk about.
• 30:44
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They are talking about the estate tax exemption lowering Congress.
• 30:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know they passed different laws to sunset, I think is what they call it.
• 30:53
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: The estate tax exemption lowering Congress.
• 30:54
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know they've passed different laws to sunset, I think is what they call it.
• 30:57
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: The estate tax exemption.
• 30:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I believe it's supposed to go down to about $5 million per person.
• 30:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: In my experience over the last 25 years of practice, they always wait till the last minute and then change it and then it's gone up.
• 31:06
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know it's consistently gone up since 1998.
• 31:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So it was about $500,000 in 1998.
• 31:14
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So you can see I mean it keeps going up now that.
• 31:17
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But all that to say, you know definitely I mean talk to your, you know, cpa.
• 31:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Talk to an estate planning professional in your state because you want to make sure that you are doing the best that you can to avoid, you know, having estate taxes and sometimes the valuation of assets upon somebody's passing, you know all of that kind of stuff can help to reduce any potential, you know, for estate taxes, inheritance taxes.
• 31:45
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So yeah, yeah, it's.
• 31:47
  Erin Gray: I feel like a lot of times it comes from a fear-based place.
• 31:50
  Erin Gray: You know, like the like you're saying, you know it's like Congress is like changing it, it's like hurry up, it's like like Wendy says like go, go, reach out to somebody that's local for you, that knows the financial industry, but like it's such a like do this from a fear base versus like no, I want, I love myself, I love my family, I want to make sure that they are taken care of and that they don't have to figure this out when I pass away.
• 32:23
  Erin Gray: And this is what I want to do for them, you know.
• 32:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yeah, and that's another thing, too that I wanted to just mention so we were talking about state laws is there are people that are super surprised by what the actual intestate succession laws are in their state, and so I think that you know when we create, whether it's a will or whether it's a trust.
• 32:44
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But I just tell people you are picking your beneficiaries and you are making a plan, because if you don't make a plan, the state is going to make one for you, and that plan that the state makes it is not always what people expect, and they are super unhappy when they get to my office and someone has, unfortunately, you know, you're already in the midst of somebody unexpectedly potentially passing away, which is one of the reasons maybe they don't have already a plan in place.
• 33:12
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then, on top of that, they're getting news that they thought that they owned that partner's half of their house and they're now co -owner in their house with some adult children of that spouse that aren't theirs, and that's not making people really happy.
• 33:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that's again another reason why to just to talk to a professional and make a plan for either yourself or, if you have a partner or spouse, that you're making it with them so that you don't get an unexpected result.
• 33:40
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That is really, you know, a financial disaster potentially for certain people.
• 33:46
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Or it creates a family, you know division, or it creates chaos because they haven't they haven't planned for themselves.
• 33:54
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And now this law is different.
• 33:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And again, because even between our state, like I said just recently dealing with this state in Massachusetts, had no will and I was really surprised that some of their inter um interstate succession rules were different um than what I had seen.
• 34:11
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, here, um, a big thing to check in your state is, you know, in Texas people are super surprised when I say that just because a husband and wife both have their name on a deed to the house, if one or the other passes, the other one does not automatically own the house.
• 34:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And they are just shocked beyond belief that that is.
• 34:31
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: They literally are like I don't believe you.
• 34:33
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I'm going to go look it up, I'm going to go talk to the title company, you know, and and and.
• 34:38
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: There are things we can do to create that survivorship.
• 34:41
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But on a deed that just says, you know, john and Jane Doe, husband and wife, that is not what the result is going to be.
• 34:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we want, if that's what we want the result to be.
• 34:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Then we need to put some documents in place to make that happen.
• 34:54
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, even just that, like being uninformed, they're like I don't need a will because both of our names are on the house and it's not.
• 35:02
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That's not that you know, that's not what happens automatically.
• 35:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we do need some of those documents and we want to have those before we get into a surprise and, you know, not have that in place and then the result is not what we wanted.
• 35:15
  Erin Gray: Yeah, so I always say we have a plan, we have an estate plan, whether you've actually done it or you haven't done it, like it's like, either the outcome is because of of what you decided to do and take action on it or, like you said, within test date, which means you have no.
• 35:29
  Erin Gray: Will you have nothing set up, then you know the court will take care of that for you and, like you said, it's not necessarily in ways that you even know or that the end end result is what you actually wanted.
• 35:40
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So and it's just so much more costly that way too, I mean, yeah, so it's just adds insult to injury because there's no well, it's not going the way they want.
• 35:49
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then also this whole process has a thousands of dollar price tag to get you know something that they didn't want even to start with.
• 35:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so it's just that I hate when that happens, because by the time they get you know to our office, I mean we're, we're obviously going to do the best that we can to make a difficult situation, you know, as easy as possible.
• 36:10
  Erin Gray: Um, but I don't have a magic wand, you know and the emotional side of it right, Like the emotional toll of going through court, Like I know, like for in Texas, because I I don't, I don't know about it if I know anybody that's done probate.
• 36:31
  Erin Gray: So like in terms of and I know it's different in each state, but like, what typically is the timeframe?
• 36:34
  Erin Gray: Like is it?
• 36:34
  Erin Gray: Are we talking like, oh, a month, or we're talking like six months?
• 36:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: to.
• 36:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, probably, well, and it depends.
• 36:37
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It does depend, you know, county by county, because some of our courts are more backlogged but in in Williamson County, Texas, where I am, we're just a little north of Austin, we're not Travis, which is a little bit bigger, um, where, where Austin is located.
• 36:49
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But if you've written a will again to ask for this really easy administration of the estate and that type of thing, um, there's some probates that can last as short as 30 days.
• 36:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: There are some that can be 60 days, um and so, but then again, compared to those with no will, and there's a whole process and we've got to get witnesses as to that.
• 37:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know deceased person's marital and family history and sometimes we don't know all their marital and family history and we have to contact all of the heirs and guess what?
• 37:19
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Sometimes there's a child that they don't really talk to and they haven't talked to for 20 years, you know.
• 37:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that can take months and months and months, you know, without a will, whereas, just depending on the county, there's a few Texas counties that are a little bit, you know, backlogged, and so those would definitely be again where you live and what you're doing.
• 37:37
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You may like if you live in a certain county, we might say we really want to look at a trust because you know, probates in this county are taking eight months, you know, and that might not be something you know.
• 37:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, again, even where you live, having somebody who, and I would say, and there are lots of estate planners out there and they're great people but also potentially having an attorney that also practices in probate, because, again, I get wills from people that dabble, you know, in estate planning and they put the three children as co-executors and the three children are in my office doing the probate going, which one of us can waive our right because we just want the smart girl to do it, our sister, and then you know, whatever other two are saying, let her do it.
• 38:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so that to me wasn't written by a probate attorney because they probably would not have written that you know that's a really good also helpful.
• 38:30
  Erin Gray: That's a really good point, because you do see that sometimes there is specificity in in law and then practicing, and then you'll see some attorneys that do construction and they do real estate and they do family law, and it's like and if you don't, if you don't know the questions to ask, then you think right, you're getting, you know all your documents, all your ducks in a row, and then come to find out, like you said, like oh goodness, this is not what we signed up for.
• 38:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:57
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, and there are cool things that you can do in different types of documents that will help to streamline things for you know, but it also depends on, again, your family structure, how old your kids are, how many kids there are, or maybe you don't have kids and maybe charities are your goal, and you know so.
• 39:12
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: There's definitely different documents that you use to accomplish different goals, but what people do is read, you know, yeah, I really want to have this transfer on death deed.
• 39:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I heard it was so cool.
• 39:22
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I saw it on Instagram and I wrote it to.
• 39:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I kid you not, I had a couple come in.
• 39:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Does this actually happen?
• 39:30
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Yes, and they wrote a transfer on death deed to their two minor grandchildren and they were so proud because they were like our house, this house is going to this grandkid who's 12, and this house is going to this grandkid who were 13.
• 39:44
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And I said to myself that is the worst.
• 39:45
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, now you have a minor, you know owning property, who's going to need a guardianship, and so.
• 39:49
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But they read about it and they got a form online and they even had the really incorrect legal description of their house.
• 39:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But, man, they were about to take it down to the Harris County, you know tax assessor clerk, or you know to file it.
• 40:03
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So that's again where you just you know there are things that could make it so much easier.
• 40:07
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You just want to make sure that you're, you know, having someone to help you that is experienced and making the right choice, instead of just going well, I heard this was cool, I'm going to go try it, you know.
• 40:20
  Erin Gray: Yeah totally Like Wendy said already.
• 40:23
  Erin Gray: I mean, I didn't put that as a disclaimer, but I typically like each of you listening, like I, part of the podcast is like to empower you to like ask yourself your own questions and to you know, like rely on your own self and not like, oh, I heard it on Aaron's podcast and so let me go do the X, y, z, like do your own research.
• 40:39
  Erin Gray: But the the idea that we just we hear things and then we don't even question and we just you know we're off.
• 40:49
  Erin Gray: We're off on this.
• 40:50
  Erin Gray: Um, I want to get into just briefly, if you're okay with it, like digital assets, because the way that, um, yeah, times have changed so much.
• 40:59
  Erin Gray: What are your, I guess, thoughts or recommendations, and not recommendations from like this is what Wendy says, but like, what have you seen with clients that do a lot of because online businesses and things of that sort?
• 41:11
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: now, yes, so for sure, in all of the and this is again that whole attorneys that are practicing probate have seen like this issue where somebody can't get their 4,000 iTunes songs or they can't access their Bitcoin or you know whatever.
• 41:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So in all the documents that we draft, we're going to have a specific authority for the executor or the trustee whatever kind of document that you have, and even your power of attorney to deal with and access digital assets, passwords.
• 41:41
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know things like that, because we have just had that influx of everybody's doing something you know digitally.
• 41:44
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Like that, because we have just had that influx of everybody's doing something you know digitally, and that kind of thing.
• 41:49
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: The other thing that we will give to clients, because we're writing all the legal documents, but then we're also trying to empower you in a practical sense of like here's how to also like make sure that bad things don't happen and everybody has information, and so we have, I mean, and I know it's as simple as like saying, oh, like writing down your passwords, and I know that we, you know, change our passwords every two weeks because they make us on the Sprint account or the T-Mobile or you know whatever.
• 42:16
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But I mean, some of the biggest things are the password that opens your cell phone, the password that opens your laptop, because if they can't even get into those two things, they the password that opens your laptop, because if they can't even get into those two things they're really not going to get anywhere.
• 42:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know things like the security code to our front door If we have all of our documents that are somewhere.
• 42:33
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we give our clients like a little location of important documents worksheet and in that it has not only like hey, where do I keep important things Like my birth certificate?
• 42:43
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Where do I keep, you know, the, the D to our house if we own a home?
• 42:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then here's the institution where I have funds or you know cause, 20 years ago someone passed away and we're like, oh, we'll just wait to get the mail.
• 42:57
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Well, I mean, if we don't even know what companies that your things are at, we don't know to contact that company because we have everything so online and email and all that kind of stuff.
• 43:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So I tell people you know the phone, um, the laptop and even just the email password, because a lot of times we will change all the internet passwords using our email, but we don't change the email password all that often and again, you don't have to give it to them right now.
• 43:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: On the location of important documents, you can say you know whatever.
• 43:28
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: In my top dress drawer on the left I've got written down.
• 43:30
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know these passwords or whatever.
• 43:33
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Or look for a password list, or you know that kind of thing.
• 43:35
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And I know there's all kinds of apps now with them that you can give a rescue person or an emergency contact if they can prove that you're either incapacitated or you've passed.
• 43:46
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But, um, we give worksheets too and we were talking earlier about kind of co-executors and different things but we give you some personal worksheets like, hey, burial and funeral instructions.
• 43:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, do I or do you want to be so?
• 44:02
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Do I not want or do I want to go to X charity?
• 44:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And and I know it's like a little bit younger, like we're not, you know, and again, you could change this in the future, but we just give you that as a starting point of, hey, here's I want to convey, you know this information.
• 44:17
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then also like, hey, who's my financial planner?
• 44:20
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Who's my CPA?
• 44:22
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Um, you know, what are some goals that I consider important for my kids or my family, or what are some goals that I consider important for my kids or my family, or what are some special instructions I want my spouse to know about, or people write things about their pets.
• 44:31
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: The neighbor really likes Fluffy and so if anything happens, ask her first if she wants Fluffy.
• 44:35
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, I mean, but it's it's.
• 44:36
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It sounds kind of silly and trivial stuff, but the more that you can convey that information you know, every few years, five years, years or every 10 years, you kind of update it because you have a different pet or you know the kids are grown, they're in, you know different stages, college is over, or you know things like that.
• 44:54
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Um, so we do give to our clients those kinds of things, but there's no magic, there's no magical formula to that worksheet.
• 45:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean you could make up your own.
• 45:03
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know to keep the legal documents are certainly the legal documents, but then with that you want that personal.
• 45:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know information and personal.
• 45:13
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know instructions and and that kind of preferences that you let those important people who will be handling this one day know.
• 45:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know what it is that you are wanting them to do and what was important to you.
• 45:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know what were is that you are wanting them to do and what was important to you.
• 45:27
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know what were your goals and your priorities.
• 45:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: That they know.
• 45:30
  Erin Gray: I wrote down treasure hunt, right.
• 45:32
  Erin Gray: Like it's like that's what it could feel like to the people that you leave behind, because you're just literally like a detective trying to figure it out and you just think about, like you're already in an emotional state, right, the last thing you want to be trying to figure out is like how do I get into the past, like being on the phone calling people, doing those types of things, and it's like I think I don't know how you feel about this, wendy, but like I feel like an estate plan is for I mean, yes, there's the living part right Of our documents, like a power of attorney and things of that sort but like the afterlife stuff is for the people that you care about, it's not for you, right, and so making sure that your family can do it as easily as possible, as simple as possible, it's like.
• 46:16
  Erin Gray: It's like a loving thing that we can do for our family, you know.
• 46:20
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And that's what I tell people now too, and again, because we're so mobile and, um, you know, know we, you know we're more mobile than we've ever been, and then we're more internet based and different things.
• 46:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But as people are growing older and maturing in their life and kind of getting to that end stage, it's like, you know, paring down on like the number of accounts that you have and the number of I mean I have these people that come in to do a probate and they're like she had 782 dollars in this bank and then she had 50 dollars.
• 46:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But those are all places that someone and it's just, it's to me, I mean it just it helps the mental, you know clearing up, um, but you just would be surprised, like, why keep, you know, 17 different accounts?
• 46:59
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean, yes, we may want a few, um, because there are different reasons one's a 401k or one's an investment or one's a checking and a savings but like 17 different accounts, I mean, yes, we may want a few because there are different reasons One's a 401k or one's an investment, or one's a checking and a savings but like don't have six checking accounts at six different banks if you don't need that.
• 47:14
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean that's just not nice to people that are going to be trying to help you.
• 47:19
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know, figure this stuff out at some point the other thing I will bring up, and this is probably going to be something later in life that people might want to think about but when you update your estate planning documents, please, please, please, please, please, throw the old ones away, because the treasure hunt that you just talked about you know, if I'm in mom's house and I'm digging around and I'm looking for a will, and I find a will and it's dated 2010,.
• 47:44
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I'm not going to go, you know.
• 47:46
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Let's just keep looking and see if I find one for 2018, you know.
• 47:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so they get this will and they're like I have a will, I have a will and mom wrote a new will in 2018.
• 47:55
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Now I want to finance with a CPA and it'd be a better option to do the executor or whatever, and they didn't throw those away, and so I'll even find one for probate.
• 48:06
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And then, three weeks later, they're like hey, uh, we another will when we were cleaning up this and it's newer and and that's really then I have to go back and fix, you know, and do that.
• 48:16
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so people are like oh, I just kept all these cups.
• 48:18
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: No, like, keep the one that is the current and just don't have older versions of things, don't have account statements laying around your house for accounts you don't have anymore, just throw it away, because then they're calling that place.
• 48:33
  Erin Gray: That's such good advice, like, because I know so many people that I think it comes back and I mean we don't, we don't have time or get into the whole like.
• 48:42
  Erin Gray: But my grandfather's generation came from the great depression and I do see a lot of that hoarding mentality, hoarding of like physical things and hoarding like what you're exactly talking about, like financial statements and just keeping years and years and years of statements, and so that's such a brilliant like, of course that's what you do and you see this.
• 49:05
  Erin Gray: But it's like I wouldn't have even thought to think about that because, yeah, we, we make changes and we keep old things because a lot of us think like, well, just in case, right, like this idea that like somebody, we might need it at some future point, right, right.
• 49:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so they found that that old one, and it's not the one we want.
• 49:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And yet somebody is now using something that we have, you know, completely revoked um with this new one, because they, they stop looking once they find what they're looking for.
• 49:34
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I'm not inclined to go keep looking for five more of the same thing, so I just when people want to people, I literally ask to bring the old ones and I shred them for them and I'm like this is the good one.
• 49:48
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: We mark everything.
• 49:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But you know, that's just something as life goes on, because you know, when your kids grow older then you may want to make them executor.
• 49:56
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And now you found this old will that had Uncle Tommy, and you know we don't need him to do it anymore because our kids are 30, you know.
• 50:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So those are just the kind of things that we see.
• 50:05
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And again, as a probate attorney, I'm like, even though I'm doing your estate plan, I'm going to tell you to do that because I don't want it to come up later as a problem in the probate.
• 50:15
  Erin Gray: Yeah, so it makes perfect sense.
• 50:16
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Anything else that you want to add, that maybe I haven't thought about to ask, or no, I mean I, I, I again, I just I think I would just stress I know a lot of people are like oh, I'm right away with ai and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that, um, and you know whatever, and I just see um even when I look at something people using ai for estate planning right now too but trying to trying to write their power of attorney with it, or trying to, and, and then I'll, I'll even just sometimes I'm googling something and now, you know, you get that first little bit up there, it's some AI.
• 50:48
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And I am like, well, that's not actually the law.
• 50:51
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Like I'm looking up an attorney and you know whatever, which is all false.
• 50:55
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But I'm getting some other information about whatever subject it is, and I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no, you know.
• 51:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so I think that it's like I said, just like I wouldn't use AI as a substitute for a medical examination, for a medical problem.
• 51:09
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I have Like, just you know again, and it now the unintended results or the cost that they pay somebody to try to fix it, if it can be fixed, is in a thousand.
• 51:32
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So it's like you know, sometimes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
• 51:38
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: And so you know, just being prepared, I mean again, making your own plan.
• 51:41
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I think that that's just it's so empowering to say making your own plan.
• 51:45
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I think that that's just it's so empowering to say I'm going to decide.
• 51:47
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know what is going to go on and who are going to be my trusted people in the future.
• 52:01
  Erin Gray: Yeah, you know totally, I'm speechless Cause I'm like I don't I believe you and I'm like I don't believe that this happens, cause it's like, yeah, there's just things that AI cannot replace, and that I believe it's like, yeah, there's just things that AI cannot replace, and that I believe it's like our knowledge and our wealth of experience right Years and years and years of experience, and like use AI for how to make I don't know cornbread or something how to write a cover letter, yeah, yeah, exactly how to write a cover letter for blah blah blah.
• 52:21
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: Or how to send a text to your friend that you really don't know what to say tactfully, Like that's what I feel, like that's what those kind of things are for.
• 52:28
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: But I hear more and more of it.
• 52:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: You know people saying like, oh, I use this for that and I use it to, like, try to write a deed or like something, and I'm like, oh no, don't do that.
• 52:38
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I mean because, like I said, when I look at it just in the AI suggestions so many times, at it just in the AI suggestions so many times, it's so incorrect Because it's, you know, a smattering of all kinds of different information.
• 52:50
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So, yeah, totally.
• 52:52
  Erin Gray: Yeah, thank you, wendy, for your time.
• 52:56
  Erin Gray: Where can people find?
• 52:58
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: more about you, learn more about you, contact you.
• 53:00
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: If they're in Texas, sure, yeah, so best place would be.
• 53:01
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: All of our information is listed on our website.
• 53:03
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: So we are heritage law and we do as well as estate planning and probate.
• 53:07
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I do handle adoptions, so we have done that for many years.
• 53:10
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: We do some real estate transaction deeds, transfer and death deeds, things like that but our website is just the Heritage Law TX Got to remember the TXcom and that will have all of our contact information information about the rest of our team.
• 53:24
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: I'm not the only one there.
• 53:25
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: There's a lot of other talented people at our office which we love to serve people.
• 53:29
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: As a team, we feel like we're stronger as a team to help people.
• 53:35
  Erin Gray: Perfect, I'll put all of Wendy's information in the show notes.
• 53:39
  Erin Gray: So thank you, wendy, for coming on and sharing your knowledge with us.
• 53:41
  Erin Gray: Thank you for inviting me.
• 53:42
  Wendi Lester Efflandt: It was great to get to share and love what you're doing and for each of.