Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Who Will Raise Hope?

There is a corny television show named Raising Hope. It is about a twenty- something young man named Jimmy who is raising his daughter Hope because her mother was executed for a crime she committed. I am embarrassed to say that I watch it on occasion because it follows Glee. That is a whole other story. Anyway, Jimmy lives with his mother, Virginia, father, Bert, grandmother and daughter Hope. They are a wacky family that marches to the beat of a different drummer. Jimmy works at a grocery store where he has a friend named Sabrina, who is a cashier. The subject comes up of who is going to raise Hope if he dies suddenly. His mind explores the various people in his life and what attributes they have to serve as surrogate parent for Hope. He quickly eliminates everyone he knows including his Mom, who can’t even get out of bed for work and his Dad, who can’t keep track of his pairs of shoes, flip flops, and socks. In one funny scene, Bert’s missing sock is stuck on his back with static cling, just out of his view.

Virginia, Bert, Jimmy, and Hope travel to the attorney’s office who meets them on a Saturday. How odd. I don’t know any attorney who meets clients on Saturdays. I certainly don’t. On the attorney’s desk is a time meter box with a bell on it that the attorney hits for every ten dollars of fees he earns. So Hope’s family talks quickly. Jimmy settles on Sabrina Collins as the best candidate as guardian for Hope. Later, Jim asks Sabrina but she says she has no experience and doesn’t want the job. When they leave the attorney’s office, they pile into the truck and the attorney comes out, with baby Hope in his arms, and says, “Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

Jimmy announces that none of them are fit to raise Hope, including himself. He shares his revelation to Sabrina who tells him that his family needs to teach each other to be independent and become capable people. They proceed to do just that. At the end of the show, they experience a near death experience together. They realize if it goes bad, there will be no one to raise Hope, but then get out of the dangerous situation with a big sigh of relief.

Will the show win a Golden Globe? Hardly, but the writers tackle an excellent topic of selecting a guardian for your children, should you die before they grow up. My law firm handles this type of planning and encourages clients to name guardians for their minor children in their Last Will and Testament. I know a lot of people with minor children who will not do any estate planning because they can’t decide who to name as guardian. This makes no sense.

I can’t think of any more important task as a parent than naming a guardian for your minor children in your will.

Hallie Zobel
Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

March 27th, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

It (Still) Takes a Village for Special Needs Children

Back in 1996 Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book, “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us,” was published. No political figure can write anything without it stirring up partisan controversy, but this post isn’t being written for political purposes, so we’re going to set aside any conversation of her overt agenda in writing the book as well as any hidden agendas which might be imputed to her.

Suffice it to say for our purposes here that most people, when faced with a long-term, difficult task, would prefer not to face that task alone, but to do so with others, preferably well known and well trusted others. Call that a village or just call it a team, having others to rely upon can help make difficult tasks far less so.

Thinking of how special needs children will be taken care of after their parents are gone can be a frightening prospect. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where the old adage, “Failure to plan is planning to fail,” is very true. The problems faced by special needs individuals are very real and they won’t go away when ignored. A properly drafted and properly maintained special needs trust is a great vehicle to meet the needs of special needs individuals, but one of the key points of a March 14, 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal by Veronica Dagher is that you need a team, she calls it a network, including a guardian, a trustee, a financial planner, an attorney, an accountant, advocacy groups, friends and family in order to make sure the special needs individual is properly cared for and public benefits are preserved. Follow the link below to read this concise but very informative article.

David Pilcher

Probate, Wills, Trust, Planning

March 16th, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Grief Smells Like Orange Blossoms

Smell invokes memory unlike any other sense. The treacly-sweet aroma of Florida springtime clobbers me with grief every March. Enveloped in the cloying perfume of citrus in bloom, I flash to my senior year of high school when Megan McCabe died. Megan was thoughtful and smart and funny and pretty, and a member of the Crew team with me. A group of rowing friends went to the beach on a gorgeous Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day. One of the cars didn’t make it back. Megan died in the accident; others were badly injured.

It was the middle of Crew season. We practiced on Lake Howell, which (back then) was surrounded by orange groves. We rowed and ran for several miles every afternoon. I remember slogging through the blooming citrus trees, overwhelmed with heat and humidity, sand and sun, tears and loss.

Every high school class suffers a similar tragedy. Patricia Auwerda, another kind, adorable, brainy, and witty childhood friend of mine, died in a different accident weeks after Megan’s death.

Devastated families cry, “Will anyone remember my child?” To the McCabe and Auwerda families, know this. Still, after all of these years, I remember Megan and Patty often and fondly, and honor them every spring when I smell orange blossoms.

Merrell Bailey

Probate, Wills, Trusts, Planning

March 13th, 2011