Transcript:
Ron Stark: In today’s economy, planning for your future is more important than ever. Do you know what estate planning and estate planning administration is and means? I didn’t, so we’ve invited attorney Larry Brock to join us.
Larry, welcome to the show.
Larry Brock: Thank you.
Ron Stark: Larry, I think most people kind of sort of kind of know what estate planning is but probably think they know more than they do. What exactly is estate planning, and why is it important?
Larry Brock: The importance is you need to decide who’s going to receive your assets after you pass away. You can do it in a much better way than the government will do it for you.
Ron Stark: That pretty much applies to everything.
Larry Brock: That’s true. Everybody is going to have an estate. If you don’t plan, the government has a plan for you and I can guarantee you it’s probably not what you want.
Ron Stark: That’s tougher for the family, too, because then it goes into probate and it’s all kind of hoops and problems. I know I dealt with that when my Mom passed away a number of years ago. Estate planning is important.
What’s the administration part of that?
Larry Brock: Administration – Every estate, every time somebody passes away, the assets have to be transferred orderly to the next generation. That’s the administration.
Ron Stark: Oh, got it. Give me an example of where estate planning has come in handy, has been important?
Larry Brock: In my personal life, my wife and I, Joyce, we’ve been married for 26 years. Back in 1986, she came home and she says, “Honey, I’ve got good news. I’m pregnant.” He comes home the next day, and he says “Honey, I’ve got bad news. I have liver cancer. It’s terminal.” About 10 months later he passed away, but before he passed away he did an estate plan.
Two years later, she and I got married. Because there was an estate plan, there was financial protection for her and their 3 children, and there was emotional protection for us in our new marriage because as you start a new marriage there’s some emotional challenges that fit in there. This plan that they did created a foundation that helped us in our 26 years of marriage.
Ron Stark: That makes so much sense. You really do the estate planning for – it’s your legacy. It’s what you’re leaving to those who are still around.
Larry Brock: Absolutely.
Ron Stark: What about an example of the administration part.
Larry Brock: Typically you think of administration as a probate, and they sell estate planning to do a revocable trust and avoid probate. I think I saw this was different dramatically April 13, 2005 in the early evening. I got a call and my oldest son was killed. He left a wife who was pregnant.
We had to take care of his little estate. Some money in the bank. Some money to collect. Some bills to be paid. I discovered and I realized that no matter how big your estate, $110 billion of George Steinbrener, or the small estate of my son, Ryan, there’s 9 phases that have to be followed through. You have to do them all, and as a result then Renee, his widow, had everything put together for him.
On the death of someone, it’s like you’ve fallen into a big black lake. You struggle to get out. You pull yourself out. What I do in administration is help people out of that black lake and into a point where they find their new normal. The part I’m doing is primarily the financial and the assets and the creditors, and sometimes it’s just you need to know. Because there’s so much detail and you can’t keep up with it.
Most attorneys that don’t do administration don’t understand it. You’re talking not only the probate, when there’s no plan or a widow, but the administration of a trust. Frankly, if you have no plan, and you’re at the mercy of the government system, you’re better off than having a do-it-yourself plan or an old, delayed, dead plan.
That’s what I do. I help people plan and get out of it.
Ron Stark: That makes so much sense. If someone wants to learn more about estate planning for themselves and their families, how do they get ahold of you?
Larry Brock: Give us a call. We’re in Chino. Phone number (909) 590-9545. We have a free consultation. We’ll talk to you, answer your questions.
Ron Stark: Larry, thank you so much. If you missed that, visit our website at voiceoftheinlandempire.com and we’ll get you in touch with Larry.
Larry, thank you so much for joining us.
Larry Brock: You’re welcome.