Estate Administration

June 17, 2024

How You Can Avoid Probate – and Why You May Not Want To

Probate is often something that people wish that they could avoid.

The truth is that probate is not an inherently bad thing, nor something to be fearful of. In fact, it can be a very helpful process that offers an independent entity – the probate court – to oversee and ensure that a decedent’s wishes are met.

But it is also true that there are certain situations where you would want to do some advanced planning designed to avoid probate. To get a better picture of when and why someone would want to avoid probate, let’s first review what probate is and the function of the probate court.

October 31, 2023

Do You Have To Go Through Probate?

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

How do you know whether or not you’ll need to go through the Connecticut probate court?

To answer this question, first let’s understand what probate is and the purpose it serves.

What is Probate?

Probate is the process for settling an estate under court supervision. It’s designed to serve as a protection against fraud by freezing the estate’s assets until a judge can confirm that everything is in order with the Will, beneficiaries, and creditors. Continue reading

October 4, 2023

Navigating the First Year of Widowhood

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Few events in life are as difficult and overwhelming as the death of a spouse, especially in the first year after the loss.

Whether or not you consider yourself prepared – mentally, financially, and legally – the reality is that the loss of a spouse is a devastating event no matter how much advanced planning you have done.

In addition to the sorrow itself, the passing of your life partner can create a whirlwind of uncertainty that leaves you trying to figure out how to get through the first few days and weeks, then the first year, and ultimately, the path you want to take in the next chapter of your life.

August 21, 2023

Where Does Your Debt Go When You Die?

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

By Jeff Rivard

The saying “you can’t take it with you” is meant to remind people that no matter how much wealth you accumulate in your lifetime, you’ll have to leave it behind when you pass. Unfortunately, for your heirs, the same goes for your debts.

Turns out that dying is no excuse for defaulting on debt. So then the pertinent questions become

July 20, 2023

How to Succeed as Successor Trustee

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

You might get the news from an unexpected phone call. Maybe you knew it would come someday, but were surprised when the day finally arrived. Or perhaps no one told you, and you learned about it after stumbling upon your deceased parent’s trust.

No matter how it happens, the news is the same: You’ve been appointed a Successor Trustee.

How did you become trustee?

There are primarily two scenarios: Continue reading

April 20, 2023

How My Dad’s Planning Helped Us Cope When He Died

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

By Brendan Daly

I last saw my father on February 25th at his condo in Rhode Island. We had a wonderful day together—he showed off his new Subaru in a slightly harrowing ride, where he coasted through stop signs (aka the “Rhode Island slide”)—and I took my leave of him as he stood at the door waving while I drove away. When Dad didn’t make the 7:30 Monday morning Mass, his friends knew something was wrong, and I soon received a call at work that he had passed away at home.

I couldn’t process this news because I had just seen him. He looked healthy and was in good spirits. I inspected his bike to ensure it was safe for his planned rides with the “Old Spokes Club.” And he had just bought a new car. My father was the most frugal person I’ve ever known, and he would never have purchased a new car if he thought he might soon depart this world. He even left a plate of cooked spaghetti on the kitchen counter that he planned to eat for dinner–after attending to his last chore of taking out the trash. So none of us, including Dad, expected his sudden passing.

February 20, 2023

Green Burial: An Environmentally Friendly Funeral Option

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Death planning is a very personal topic, and one which most people find discomfiting. It’s hard enough to consider your own mortality as an abstract concept. It’s even harder to think in very specific—even graphic—terms about what will happen to your remains after you’ve shuffled off this mortal coil.

A growing number of people are seeking alternatives to the traditional burial, which typically involves embalming, concrete vaults, and other processes and products that are not friendly to the environment. An article in Scientific American put some astonishing numbers to the resource costs of this type of burial:

According to National Geographic, American funerals are responsible each year for the felling of 30 million board feet of casket wood (some of which comes from tropical hardwoods), 90,000 tons of steel, 1.6 million tons of concrete for burial vaults, and 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid. Even cremation is an environmental horror story, with the incineration process emitting many a noxious substance, including dioxin, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, and climate-changing carbon dioxide.

September 27, 2022

The Day the Music Died: What Happens When There is No Will?

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Prince, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley, Billie Holiday, Barry White, Sonny Bono, Tupac Shakur, Amy Winehouse, John Denver, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin.

Certainly, an impressive who’s who list of music royalty that sadly left this world far too soon. However, this wildly talented group also had another thing in common – they all died without a proper estate plan (specifically a Will) in place – or in some cases, no estate plan at all!

These are not isolated cases. According to a Gallup Poll, more than 1/3 of Americans with an annual household income of $100,000 or more do not have a Last Will and Testament, and a staggering 54% of all adults have no Will!

July 13, 2022

Death and Money Matters: 4 Key Things to do When a Loved One Dies

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Dealing with the aftermath of a loved one’s death is exhausting and complicated. Every day we work with grieving families who are wearily trying to untangle their newly acquired financial responsibilities.

We’d like to think that your loved one had estate planning documents that instructed you about their specific wishes and instructions for burial and funeral arrangements. And that they left you an organized system of important documents.

But we are not naïve. Statistics show that many Connecticut residents have not even prepared their Last Will and Testament. Our hope is that if you are reading this blog, you are one of the lucky ones and your loved one has left behind something you can work with.

March 24, 2021

How to Transfer a Car After a Death

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

When you die, someone is going to benefit from the use of your car. Wouldn’t it be nice to decide now exactly who that person should be?

You can do that today – it’s easy! When registering a vehicle, you can designate a transfer-on-death (TOD) beneficiary, not unlike what you can do with a bank account.

How to designate a beneficiary

Simply complete the area reserved for this purpose on the reverse side of your registration certificate. If you do not have a registration certificate, or if you are registering a new vehicle, complete the Official Registration, Form H-13, and designate the Owner in Box 1 as “John Doe, Transfer on Death to Jane Doe.”

When you die, the transfer-on-death beneficiary need only bring a certified copy of your death certificate to the nearest Department of Vehicles office to have the registration transferred. Continue reading