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Top 5 Reasons Not to Have an Estate Plan

We often hear many reasons why people do not have an estate plan or why they are putting off creating their estate plan.

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Here are the top five reasons why people don’t have an estate plan (and why these reasons shouldn’t prevent you from doing your estate plan today):

  1. I don’t have enough money, property, etc. Estate planning is not just about assets. Estate planning is a way to protect your wishes, in the event of incapacity. If you have young children, estate planning allows you to choose their guardian, something should happen to you. Estate planning also allows you to direct medical and financial care, should you become incapacitated. Further, most people have more assets than they realize. Estate planning is for everyone, no matter the size of your estate.
  2. I’m too young, I’ll worry about it later. We hear this often. Unfortunately, life can change in an instant. No matter how old you are, you could be involved in an accident or have an unexpected health issue. It is essential to get documents in place to protect you. While your documents may change over time, having foundational documents in place will help you later on.
  3. I’m scared to talk about it. We understand. Talking about incapacity and death is not fun. However, once your estate planning is done, it will give you incredible peace of mind. It also allows you the ability to think about it and have documents in place before an emergency occurs. We help our clients have the difficult conversations and put their minds at ease with tailored solutions to their matters.
  4. I did it online. Online estate planning can lead to a lot of issues. Online documents may not be the correct documents for your state or situation. They might not be legal, if they are for a different state and may fail to have the appropriate language. They are also not likely tailored enough to help best protect your interests and your assets. Online estate planning can lead to lengthy and expensive probate battles.
  5. It’s too expensive. We know that estate planning comes with an upfront cost. However, this cost is much less than if your estate has to go through probate. It also allows you to make a plan for your assets, instead of letting the state decide where your assets go upon your death. Estate planning also provides you peace of mind by letting you decide who will get to make financial and healthcare decisions on your behalf. Good estate planning will help you protect your assets in regards to tax liability, future disputes and probate court costs. Upfront planning can save money in the long run.

None of the above reasons should keep you from completing your estate plan. It is always better to do an estate plan now, and update it in the future if need be.

We can help you determine what documents are best suited for your situation and help you get tailored language in place to protect you, your wishes, your family, and your assets.

If you need help deciding if you need an estate plan, contact us today!

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

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Contact us today with all your legal needs!

Why Shouldn’t I Use an Online Will?

Online will often do more harm than good. Many people look to the internet when preparing estate planning documents, like wills and trusts, but this can set you up for disaster.

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Online will often ‘one size fits all’ documents that don’t account for your particular situation. Sometimes, they don’t account for the current laws in your state.

These documents may not even be legitimate and can lead to issues and misunderstandings among family members, tax losses, expensive probate proceedings, and disputes that last years after death.

By their nature, wills have to go through the probate system. This is costly and does not guarantee that your wishes will be followed.

Meeting with expert estate planners is the only way to protect your interests and have the best documents tailored to your needs.

Online estate planning may not even offer the correct document or documents. A website may direct you to use the wrong documents, or may not offer an extensive package of the complete documents you need for your situation.

Online documents are also often limited in their scope. This means that you can’t adequately plan for your needs.

When your future is at stake, you need to have the correct documents in place to protect your wishes. Your powers of attorney need to be complete and accurate.

If you have children, it is essential that you have appointed their guardian and planned for their future.

Online estate planning can have a preset language that is in opposition to your wishes.

If you’ve utilized online estate planning, contact our office today so that we can revise your documents and make sure that your family, assets, and wishes are planned for and protected.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan.

We publish vital information every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mailbox,

Contact us today with your legal needs!

Elon Musk’s Twitter drops government-funded media labels – Business News

Twitter has removed labels describing global media organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated, a move that comes after the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification checkmarks from accounts that don’t pay a monthly fee.

Among those no longer labeled was National Public Radio in the US, which announced last week that it would stop using Twitter after its main account was designated state-affiliated media, a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, such as Russia and China.

Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media,” but NPR — which relies on the government for a tiny fraction of its funding — said it was still misleading.

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Swedish public radio made similar decisions to quit tweeting. CBC’s government-funded label vanished Friday, along with the state-affiliated tags on media accounts including Sputnik and RT in Russia and Xinhua in China.

Many of Twitter’s high-profile users on Thursday lost the blue checks that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors.

Twitter has about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system — many of them journalists, athletes and public figures. The checks used to mean the account was verified by Twitter to be who it says it is.

High-profile users who lost their blue checks Thursday included Beyoncé, Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey and former President Donald Trump.

The costs of keeping the marks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. Twitter does not verify the individual accounts, as was the case with the previous blue check done out during the platform’s pre-Musk administration.

Celebrity users, from basketball star LeBron James to author Stephen King and Star Trek’s William Shatner, have balked at joining — although on Thursday, all three had blue checks indicating that the account paid for verification.

King, for one, said he hadn’t paid.

“My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t,” King tweeted Thursday. “Just so you know.”

In a reply to King’s tweet, Musk said “You’re welcome namaste” and in another tweet he said he’s “paying for a few personally.” He later tweeted he was just paying for King, Shatner and James.

Singer Dionne Warwick tweeted earlier in the week that the site’s verification system “is an absolute mess.”

“The way Twitter is going anyone could be me now,” Warwick said. She had earlier vowed not to pay for Twitter Blue, saying the monthly fee “could (and will) be going toward my extra hot lattes.”

On Thursday, Warwick lost her blue check (which is actually a white check mark on a blue background).

For users who still had a blue check Thursday, a popup message indicated that the account “is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” Verifying a phone number simply means that the person has a phone number and they verified that they have access to it — it does not confirm the person’s identity.

It wasn’t just celebrities and journalists who lost their blue checks Thursday. Many government agencies, nonprofits and public-service accounts around the world found themselves no longer verified, raising concerns that Twitter could lose its status as a platform for getting accurate, up-to-date information from authentic sources, including in emergencies.

While Twitter offers gold checks for “verified organizations” and gray checks for government organizations and their affiliates, it’s not clear how the platform costs these out.

The official Twitter account of the New York City government, which earlier had a blue check, tweeted on Thursday that “This is an authentic Twitter account representing the New York City Government. This is the only account for @NYCGov run by New York City government” in an attempt to clear up confusion.

A newly created spoof account with 36 followers (also without a blue check), disagreed: “No, you’re not. THIS account is the only authentic Twitter account representing and running by the New York City Government.”

Soon, another spoof account — purporting to be Pope Francis — weighed in too: “By the authority vested in me, Pope Francis, I declare @NYC_GOVERNMENT the official New York City Government. Peace be with you.”

Fewer than 5% of legacy verified accounts appear to have paid to join Twitter Blue as of Thursday, according to an analysis by Travis Brown, a Berlin-based developer of software for tracking social media.

Musk’s move has riled up some high-profile users and pleased some right-wing figures and Musk fans who thought the marks were unfair. But it is not an obvious money-maker for the social media platform that has long relied on advertising for most of its revenue.

Digital intelligence platform Similarweb analyzed how many people signed up for Twitter Blue on their desktop computers and only detected 116,000 confirmed sign-ups last month, which at $8 or $11 per month does not represent a major revenue stream. The analysis did not count accounts bought via mobile apps.

After buying San Francisco-based Twitter for $44 billion in October, Musk has been trying to boost the struggling platform’s revenue by pushing more people to pay for a premium subscription. But his move also reflects his assertion that the blue verification marks have become an unserved or “corrupt” status symbol for elite personalities, news reporters and others granted verification for free by Twitter’s previous leadership.

Twitter began tagging profiles with a blue check mark starting about 14 years ago. Along with shielding celebrities from impersonators, one of the main reasons was to provide an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts of impersonating people. Most “legacy blue checks,” including the accounts of politicians, activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, are not household names.

One of Musk’s first product moves after taking over Twitter was to launch a service granting blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month. But it was quickly inundated by impostor accounts, including those impersonating Nintendo, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Musk’s businesses Tesla and SpaceX, so Twitter had to temporarily suspend the service days after its launch.

The relaunched service costs $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for users of its iPhone or Android apps. Subscribers are supposed to see fewer ads, be able to post longer videos and have their tweets featured more prominently.

Lyft gears up to make ‘significant’ layoffs under new CEO – Business News

Lyft is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees just days after new CEO David Risher began steering the ride-hailing service with an eye toward driving down costs to help bring its fares more in line with its biggest rival, Uber.

Risher, a former Amazon executive, informed Lyft’s workforce of more than 4,000 employees in an email posted online Friday that a “significant” number of them would lose their jobs. It came at the end of his first week as Lyft’s CEO.

The note didn’t specify how many people would be jettisoned, but The Wall Street Journal reported that at least 1,200 employees would be laid off. The report cited unidentified people familiar with the cost-cutting plans.

San Francisco-based Lyft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Risher, who had been a Lyft board member before being recruited to replace co-founder Logan Green, cited expense control as one of his top priorities during an interview with The Associated Press shortly after his hiring was announced. By ensuring Lyft is “super efficient,” Risher said the company would be in a better position to lower its fares to lure back passengers who had shifted to use Uber more frequently because that service was offering lower prices for the same trips.

It was a theme Risher emphasized again in his Friday email explaining why he decided to slash the payroll, which doesn’t include Lyft’s drivers — a group that is classified as independent contractors.

“We need to bring our costs down to deliver affordable rides, compelling earnings for drivers, and profitable growth,” wrote Risher.

Lyft intends to start notifying employees who will be laid off on Thursday when the company plans to close its offices.

It will mark the second round of recent job cuts for Lyft after shedding 700 workers last year.

Recurring waves of layoffs are emerging as a new phenomenon in the tech industry, reversing more than a decade of mostly unbridled growth.

Both Facebook owner Meta Platforms and e-commerce giant Amazon have gone through two rounds of major layoffs during the past year, in part because the pandemic fueled booming demand for digital services and products that resulted in hiring sprees that they and other tech companies began to regret as the COVID-19 threat waned and growth tapered off.

The pandemic initially walloped Lyft by drying up demand for ride-hailing services, a blow Uber was able to soften through an aggressive expansion in food delivery. That gave people a reason to continue using Uber’s app even when they were stuck at home while Lyft fell out of favour.

During the past year, it has become even clearer that consumers fell out of the Lyft habit as Uber’s ridership bounced back to pre-pandemic levels and Lyft’s losses mounted. Those struggles have caused Lyft’s stock price to plunge 69% during the past year, prompting the decision to bring in a new CEO to shake things up.

Lyft’s shares surged 6% after news of its cost-cutting plans came out to close Friday at $10.44.

Howard Kurtz Says It Has Been A Rough Week For Fox News In Dominion Case

Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz said Sunday it had been a “very rough week” for the conservative network in its defense against Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit, which is scheduled to go to trial on Tuesday.

“I can assure you that I will provide fair and down the middle coverage of this $1.6 billion suit about coverage of false election fraud claims in 2020, despite the fact that I work here,” Kurtz told “MediaBuzz” viewers. “And with that, it’s been a very rough week for Fox.”

Kurtz explained to viewers that the judge overseeing the case, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, had sanctioned Fox News last week and launched an investigation into potential legal misconduct. The dispute revolves around Rupert Murdoch’s role at Fox News and its parent corporation, which Fox lawyers were accused of misrepresenting to the court.

Kurtz also discussed leaked audio tapes of Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, telling Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo that he did not have evidence to back up his false claims about election rigging by Dominion in the 2020 election. Fox News was sanctioned by the judge on Wednesday for failing to hand those recordings over to Dominion’s lawyers during discovery.

“That’s not all,” Kurtz said. “In other pretrial rulings, Judge Davis undercut part of Fox’s defense. The judge said Fox News could not argue that it carried false allegations of election fraud by Trump allies because they would be newsworthy. Judge Davis said just because someone is newsworthy doesn’t mean you can defame someone.”

At the time of Kurtz’s remarks, the Dominion trial was expected to begin Monday. However, Davis announced late Sunday that the trial had been delayed until Tuesday. The judge did not give a reason; however, the Wall Street Journal reported that Fox News had made a late push to settle the dispute out of court.

In February, Kurtz said the network had prohibited him from reporting on the lawsuit, noting that he “strongly disagreed” with that decision.

Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox over allegations the network damaged the voting software company’s reputation by repeatedly amplifying claims that the company helped rig the 2020 election against Trump, despite knowing those claims to be false.

Do I Need an Emergency List?

We frequently have questions related to the practical and financial panic after a death in the family when accounts, passwords, and assets are unknown. Sometimes, a family knows an estate plan was done but they cannot find the plan and don’t even know the law firm that drafted the plan. An emergency list can help to avoid these issues.

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We often see people lose their spouse, and have no idea how to access bank accounts, pay their bills, or even know what retirement accounts exist.

Because of this, we often recommend that clients compile a list of important assets, passwords, locations of important documents, etc.

In the event of an emergency, incapacitation, or even death, this list can help.

So what should you have on this emergency list?

  • If you work with any professional, such as your lawyers, physicians, financial advisors, etc., put their contact information on the list so that your loved ones can reach out to them, if necessary.
  • A list of all of your assets and how you can access them. Don’t forget to include pension information, retirement accounts, bank accounts, etc.
  • Put information about the location of your estate firm and contact information from the lawyer that drafted it.
  • Put information as to where all of your important documents are kept, such as your vehicle titles, deeds, Social Security cards, etc.

In an emergency situation, people don’t want to be scrambling to find important documents.

Life is full of uncertainties, but careful planning can help lessen the burden when you are already going through a tough situation.

Having a complete list can be incredibly helpful to your loved ones. It also ensures that your estate plan will be placed and carried out as intended.

It is also important to remember to update the list as your assets change. Keep the list current to eliminate confusion.

If you need help with your estate plan or creating an emergency list, we can help.

Contact us today to help you get the right documents in place or to update your current estate plan. We will plan so that you don’t have to worry about your future.

We publish vital information every Wednesday and Friday. To get this important information delivered directly to your mailbox,

Contact us today with all your legal needs!

US Industrial Production Unexpectedly Unchanged In February

A report released by the Federal Reserve on Friday showed US industrial production was unexpectedly unchanged in the month of February.

The Fed said industrial production was unchanged in February following a revised 0.3 percent increase in January.

Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

Industrial production came unchanged as a 0.1 percent uptick in manufacturing output and a 0.5 percent advance in utilities output were offset by a 0.6 percent drop in mining output.

Oren Klachkin, Lead US Economist at Oxford Economics, predicted industrial production will lose momentum later this year as the economy suffers a mild recession.

“Industrial output will struggle amid the challenges of weakening domestic demand, frail overseas demand, rising interest rates, and a strong US dollar,” Klachkin said.

“Turmoil in the banking sector corroborates our view that the economy is starting to feel the effects of monetary policy tightening,” he added. “We think more Fed rate hikes in the pipeline, so the risks to the outlook are tilted to the downside.”

The report also said capacity utilization in the industrial sector came in at 78.0 percent in February, unchanged from the revised figure for January.

Economists had expected capacity utilization to inch up to 78.4 percent from the 78.3 percent originally reported for the previous month.

Capacity utilization in the utilities sector crept up to 68.9 percent, while capacity utilization in the manufacturing and mining sectors dipped to 77.6 percent and 87.3 percent, respectively.

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Business News

Canada’s transportation supply chains are near breaking point

Susannah Pierce and Murad Al-Katib: 100 days after the task force identified crisis, businesses are still waiting for action from Ottawa

Published January 29, 2023 • Last updated Jan 30, 2023 • 3 minute read

5 Comments

A highway in BC is washed out by flooding. From the global pandemic to the wildfires and flooding in British Columbia, to physical disruptions due to blockades and strikes, Canada's transportation system has suffered severe disruptions.
A highway in BC is washed out by flooding. From the global pandemic to the wildfires and flooding in British Columbia, to physical disruptions due to blockades and strikes, Canada’s transportation system has suffered severe disruptions. Photo by BC Transportation Ministry

Just over a hundred days have now passed since the Supply Chain Task Force’s independent report to the federal government indicated that “Canada’s transportation supply chain is nearing its breaking point.” And even though task forces are typically established to urgently address a problem in need of a solution, Canadian businesses are still waiting on concrete action to improve the transportation infrastructure and supply chains that serve as a cornerstone of our economy.

From the global pandemic to the wildfires and flooding in British Columbia, to physical disruptions due to blockades and strikes, our transportation system has suffered severe disruptions — some preventable and some unavoidable — that have stretched it beyond its limits.

Nearly a quarter of businesses continue to struggle to get the goods they need

The issue has only escalated, and we’ve run out of time. According to the latest Canadian Survey on Business Conditions Report, nearly a quarter of businesses continue to struggle to get the goods they need, putting operations and growth at risk. To position Canada as a strong competitor and reliable trading partner to our allies and grow our economy, the government must join forces with industry stakeholders to address the transportation supply chain crisis.

The path forward is clear.

First, while the government isn’t solely responsible for infrastructure investment, its leadership is critical. A federal commitment to major, strategic, long-term investments is key to building Canada’s trade infrastructure – a crucial consideration as the government deliberates its next budget.

Without serious investment, we risk hindering Canada’s economic growth, competitiveness and international reputation as a reliable partner for business. With the current geopolitical crisis, the world needs more Canada, from the agricultural goods we produce, to energy transported by rail and pipeline to products manufactured in Canada — we can’t accept trade infrastructure that doesn’t have capacity or can reliably transport goods on time.

The government needs to work with businesses to set clear priorities on infrastructure projects that will bring forward measurable economic returns as well as properly triaging projects that will put food on shelves, deliver the goods businesses need to operate and get Canadian products to global markets.

These projects should include safeguarding critical infrastructure that will ensure our supply chains can continue uninterrupted if a primary route is damaged or blocked. Others will expand rail in busy areas as well as increase bridge capacity to reduce congestion and speed up delivery.

Another critical step forward is developing a vision for Canada’s trade corridors.

Because Canada is a trading nation, our trade infrastructure matters. Two out of every three dollars that Canada makes rely on moving goods.

Trade corridors are key to this transportation of goods, and the government must look to work with businesses to develop new gateway strategies, including those for Western, St. Lawrence and Arctic Gateways.

Each corridor strategy would lay out how the government would work with provinces, the private sector, communities and Indigenous peoples to identify the capacity challenges facing our corridor transportation systems and develop a pipeline of actionable solutions.

Finally, the government must accelerate regulatory modernization.

Regulation continues to be a growing concern, with nearly 25 per cent of businesses that trade interprovincially citing red tape, such as different certifications and technical standards, as a major obstacle to doing business within Canada.

Regulatory effectiveness is integral to a competitive environment and requires regulating smarter to attract new economic opportunities to Canada.

Regulatory uncertainty and changing expectations in the regulatory process are a poison pill to those looking to invest billions of dollars developing new pipelines, new mines and other large-scale nation-building infrastructure projects. We need predictable timelines to encourage capital investment. It can’t take a decade to approve infrastructure projects. In this sense, streamlining the regulatory process and adopting strict timelines for approving major infrastructure projects is essential — and long overdue.

An efficient and reliable transportation network inclusive of trade corridors is key to Canada’s economic growth and partnerships with countries in desperate need of stable, reliable trading partners. Without it, we are jeopardizing the success and livelihood of Canadians and their businesses as well as the growth and prosperity of our country and our allies need. We can’t wait another 100 days for meaningful action.

Susannah Pierce is Shell Canada President and Country Chair and VP Emerging Energy Solutions. Murad Al-Katib is the President and Chief Executive Officer for AGT Food and Ingredients. Together they co-chair the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Western Executive Council.

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