Virtually every product we use has an interesting story behind its creation. Gore-Tex fabrics was principally invented by Wilbert L. Gore, Sr. The company he founded, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., is a family owned company that expects to have revenues of $2.7 billion dollars this year.

Mr. Gore and his wife created an estate plan with wills and trusts that attempted to treat all of their grandchildren equally. They had five children. Four of the children had four children of and one child had three children. By treating all of the grandchildren equally, one line of the family was going to have less total money.

Susan Gore was the child who had the three children. She was divorced from the father of her children in 1981 after being married to him since 1959. To deal with the “imbalance” In 2003 she adopted her ex-husband in Wyoming. She was 64 and her son was 65. Wyoming changed its law in 2009 no longer permitting such an adoption.

In retrospect, the original estate planning documents could have been drafted to deal with such a possibility, but who would have thought? As attorneys, we do sometimes ask some questions that appear to have no relevance.

It is important to think about all of the possibilities when designing a will or a trust. Otherwise, it can end up in court and cost the family a lot of money in legal fees and just as importantly destroy relationships.

I have read a lot of articles on people who have made it to 100 years of age and beyond. While I am sure that that researchers can find certain things in common in these people, I am amazed at how different many of them are in so many respects.

Today, I read about Octavio Orduno. He is 103 years old, lives in Long Beach and is known in his neighborhood for riding his tricycle through the downtown streets of his city.

He does seem to have a bit of a stubborn streak to him and he is able to pick himself up when things do not go entirely his way. What impressed me was his desire to be active and his perseverance.

I obviously deal with a lot of seniors in my practice as an estate planning attorney and while we talk about wills and living trusts, power of attorney, and advance health care directives, I also encourage my clients to stay active. Obviously our skill set and ability level diminishes as we age, but it is about doing the best we can at any point in time.

Mr. Orduno reminded me of that lesson. I thank him and Esmeralda Bermudez, the Los Angeles Times reporter, for sharing his story.

As those of you who read my blog know, I read the newspaper daily. I like to stay informed and I need to see a sports section every day. I do utilize ESPN.com on a daily basis to keep me informed so there are some days when I am traveling when I may not actually hold a sports section in my hand.

This week in the Los Angeles Times, there was a photograph of identical twins who turned 100 in January. Earlier this year, there had been an article about the same two women who were born in Pasadena in 1911.

Since elementary school I have been fascinated by twins. We had at least 4 sets that I can remember to this day. I loved the interaction between them. Some pairs did everything together while others tried to be a little bit separate.

We moved after my sixth grade year and at my new school I did not become as friendly with twins. It was not until my junior year of college that I became good friends with a set of twins who were two years behind me.

Debora Golshani, my associate attorney, is a twin. She and Betty are fraternal, but I have never seen a pair of twins who look more identical. I did not know them when they were growing up, but they continue to be best friends. I am hopeful that the two of them live as long as the ladies who were originally from Pasadena!

As an estate planning attorney, I am fortunate to hear all kinds of stories when I meet with clients to design their living trust, their will, and their other estate planning documents. While I am pretty certain that I have a client or two that is now 100, I have never had a first meeting with a client who is 100. I look forward to that day because it will make my week. If he or she was a twin and his or her twin is still living, all the better!

A significant percentage of the clients that come to our office to have an estate plan prepared have a timeshare. Some have more than one.

Recently there has been some discussion about the value of timeshares and the fact that at this time in history it is difficult to sell them in the secondary market. From what I have read, it is definitely a buyer’s market as there are not many people who are looking to purchase. Those that are looking to sell need to be careful if they choose to sell through a “middleman.” The advice given by most is not to pay a third party to sell the timeshare. Seller beware!

Ideally when a living trust is signed, timeshares shall be retitled in the name of the trust. While that is ideal, some timeshare companies charge a fair amount of money – especially based on the value of the timeshare – to allow for that to happen. While I recommend for my clients to fund their living trust, time shares are one asset that I am not a stickler about transferring title.

Health care costs are obviously a significant concern to many of us. Those of us who purchase our own medical insurance have seen the steep increases over the last few years. Medical costs are certainly rising faster than the cost of inflation.

I just learned that in California there is a significant difference in cost depending on where you live. The Los Angeles Times ran on article on March 6, 2011 that demonstrates that the cost of hospitalization is much more expensive in Northern California than it is in Southern California. The reasons attributed to the difference are the fact that there is less competition amongst hospitals and that in Northern California the “hospitals pay an average of 47% more in salaries and wages for each privately insured patient they treat compared with Southern hospitals”

This leads to higher insurer bills in Northern California than in Southern California. Blue Shield says it charges up to 40% more in Northern California and Aetna says it premiums are 30% more in Northern California than they are in Southern California.

Just another thing for everyone to consider when they are doing estate planning. The legal side of things – preparing a living trust, a will, a power of attorney, and an advance health care directive – is easy compared to all of the other issues that must be dealt with by almost everyone!

As a holiday present last year, Congress passed and the President signed into law a bill that provided a substantial increase in what people could both leave to their children and to others without incurring tax as well as what people could gift to their children and others without incurring tax.

Essentially the law says that an individual can either give away during life or at death a total of $5,000,000 in addition to annual gifts of $13,000 per year to as many people as you want without their being any estate or gift tax.

A husband and wife can double that amount - $10,000,000 total and $26,000 per year to as many people as they want. That allows the vast majority of people to move their net worth without any cost as least as it relates to Uncle Sam. Some states have their own estate taxes. California is not one of them.

For the majority of family business owners, it does allow for the gifting of a large percentage of the business, if not all, to the next generation without incurring any tax. The advantage to giving the business away is that future growth is outside of the estate and therefore not subject to tax.

However, just because it is easy to do from a tax standpoint does not mean that there are not other issues that have to be dealt with including who will ultimately run the business; how to make sure there is enough money for your own security; and how to equalize the distribution to the other family members.

This is where an estate planning attorney with experience in business succession planning can be of assistance. While taxes may or may not be the issue, there are certainly other issues and solutions including the utilization of intentionally defective trusts, life insurance, and salary continuation plans that need to be discussed and possibly implemented.

Charlie Sheen has been in the news a lot recently. Most of the news has not been favorable. There is a saying that “there is no such thing as bad publicity”, but I am not sure that I believe that to always be true.

His being in the news got me thinking about his children. I just read that he has five of them. I am not a family law attorney and I do not have much knowledge of child custody. However, as I prepare a lot of wills and living trusts, I do know something about guardianships.

Many of our clients have children under the age of 18 and for some a motivating factor to meet with an estate planning attorney is to nominate a guardian for their minor child or children. This is especially important for single parents. I would imagine that the mothers of Mr. Sheen’s children have prepared will wherein they have indicated who they would want to raise their minor child or children in the event they were either incapacitated to deceased.

Normally, I would indicate to the client that the father would be allowed to solely raise the child, but in the case of Mr. Sheen, I do not believe that to be true at this point in time. Therefore, it is important that people with children under age 18 – and even more important for those with children under age 10, to nominate a guardian for their child or children. I do my very best to make my clients list 3 choices. It never hurts to have a back-up guardian and even a back-up to the back-up listed in the will.

When I meet with clients planning the distribution of their estate through their will or living trust (family trust), one of the most important areas we discuss is the identity of the executor or successor trustee.

Recently there have been articles in the press about management of trusts set up by Walt Disney’s youngest daughter. She died in 1993 and left her 3 children a lot of money in trust. The trusts were to be managed by their father, Bill Lund and 3 others. (Bill Lund was the man who scouted the land for Disney World in Orlando)

The trust provided that the children were to receive yearly payments and that at ages 35, 40 and 45 they were to receive payments approximating $20 million.

On Labor Day 2009 one of the children, Michelle, had an aneurysm and was hospitalized. That hospitalization set off a chain of events that led to Mr. Lund being removed as a co-trustee of his children’s trust. That played itself out in California courts.

In Arizona courts, an action has been filed on behalf of Michelle’s twin brother, Brad, by family members seeking an independent guardian for Brad in place of his father, Bill Lund. Brad did not receive either of the $20 million disbursements at age 35 or age 40 as the trustees voted against doing so.

Brad is siding with his father and stepmother against his other family members. He has indicated that he has asked his stepmother to adopt him. It will be interesting to watch this drama to continue to unfold.

As a teaching tool, the lesson to take away is to really think about the future. How will your plan actually be implemented? Is your trustee completely (100%) trustworthy? Can you foresee any event where you would not want him/her/it acting?

Many times clients come to me and have not thought this issue through. This is where an experienced estate planning attorney can be of great assistance and create a plan that minimizes the chance for litigation years later.

Estate planning attorneys – those that prepare living trusts, wills, other types of trusts – for the last two years have been focused on what is going to happen to estate taxes. Last week we got an answer for the next two years. I expect that a year from now we will be wondering again, but for now we are focused on the present.

By now, most of those reading this will know that for 2011 and 2012, the new level is $5 million per taxpayer. Thus, a married couple can have a $10 million dollar estate before there are any estate taxes. Also, spouses have a portable exemption of $5 million. I will write about portability in a subsequent blog. For now it is worth stating that for any individual dying in 2011 or 2012, his/her applicable exclusion amount is equal to the sum of his/her basic applicable exclusion amount and the amount of any deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount.

For the last few years, the gift tax and estate tax have not been unified. For both 2011 and 2012, the gift tax exemption will be five million dollars. Obviously, getting appreciating assets out of the estate becomes easier to do over the next two years!

Finally, anyone reading this and thinking about making a large gift to grandchildren, think seriously about doing it between now and December 31, 2010. Talk to your financial planner; CPA; or estate planning attorney. This is a unique opportunity that is only rarely available.

This blog post has nothing to do with estate planning, living trusts, or probate and everything to do with a great man. Regardless of how one feels about the war in Afghanistan, one should be very thankful to people like Army Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller who literally gave his life to his country.

Sergeant Miller was on his second tour of Afghanistan after having earned two Army Commendation Medals during his first tour. He received the Medal of Honor for the following quoting the Thursday, October 7, 2010 Los Angeles Times:

“During his second tour in Afghanistan, Miller, 24, volunteered to lead a small nighttime patrol to a remote area near the border with Pakistan. The patrol was assigned to gather information about a compound that insurgents had destroyed.”

“Just before dawn on Jan. 25, 2008, 150 Taliban insurgents ambushed the patrol, overwhelming the soldiers with gunfire and rocket propelled grenades. [President] Obama said Miller ordered his team to fall back, then charged toward the insurgents, directing gunfire away from his comrades and allowing them to get to safety. Patrol members could hear Miller’s voice over the radio as he relayed enemy locations.”

“And then, over the radio, they heard his voice,” Obama said. “He had been hit.”

“Despite being shot in the chest, Miller continue to radio enemy locations while hurling grenades at the insurgents, killing 10 and wounding dozens, Obama said. Five men from his patrol were wounded, but everyone except Miller survived.”

When I am having a “rough” day, I try to think about some of what I am grateful for which is quite a lot. One person I will remember next time is Sergeant Miller. I owe a man like him a lot.