Coming up on this edition of Judica County Radio with Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, your hosts and managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, the power behind the program and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. It's legal questions. My will says my son gets the house, but he's already on the deed. That's one question. And I left $100,000 to my daughter, but I already gave her $100K.
We'll get into that. And can I leave one child? One dollar. Wow. Talk about that next.
Right. Whitaker and Hamer presents. Judica County. with Joshua Whitaker and Joseph Hayner. Welcome into Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina.
Offices placed almost everywhere for your convenience. We've got it right here in the Cap City, Raleigh. We've got Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquay Verena, down near Charlotte and Gastonia, and over at the coast, Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. It's a pleasure to jump on with the attorneys, and we're going to hit some legal questions from all over the spectrum.
That's coming up here shortly. We also want to remind you, too, complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer. If you've thought about estate planning, haven't made a move there, you can jump on that. And also, if you're involved with a personal injury case, we've got complimentary consults for that as well. And you can call at any time, 919-772-7000.
That's 919-7727000, or visit their website, WHO. And as we always do before we dive in on topic number one, we ask how the week went. and what you're looking forward to.
So Josh, you're up first. The um You know, we're gearing up. We got a bunch of kids in our house that play football, so we're in full. Football mode, you know, we're uh high school football starting up and and so that's kind of That's kinda where we've been at in the in the house, you know, and and then I've been thinking real hard 'cause I'm about to turn. I'm getting close to turn.
I'm going to turn 50 this year. Wow. I know. No one would know, man. Looking at you.
Rub it in. You'd be a day older than.
So this seven. I was gonna say, so Josh, this beard thing, are you going for Santa over the holidays? You doing a side gig? What's going on? Because there's some white in that beard.
There's been white in the beard for a long time. It's not new. It's not new gray. My middle child told me he was at football practice this week and like a guy just walked by. and he had like a big long like hobo beard.
And one of the kids was like, hey, is that your dad? And he's like, no, it's not my dad. The guy cleared, like, I have a lot of beard, but it's like a trimmed beard. I know we're on the radio, you can't tell. But I don't have like a long hobo beards and your voice.
I think we can hear how good your beard is. Yeah, the uh so I thought I thought that was funny. Made me I like immediately went upstairs and trimmed my beard up a little bit, you know, but um So I heard this guy on. I heard this guy, I wish I could remember who it was, a stand-up comedian. He just came through on like a reel or something.
But he was talking about. Because I've been thinking about 50. 40. I know our friend Joseph here is getting close to 40. Yeah, today, actually.
Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow. Yep.
So, are you serious? It is your birthday? This week, it's literally today.
Well, when we're recording on the air. Yeah, I think I was just born 40 years ago. If we had back in time, thanks, man. I can't think of anything better. Happy birthday.
No better way to celebrate it than this. Happy birthday. This is the best one.
So you Joe Hamer. I'm Terrible at remembering people's birthdays. Can't do it. Hey, Josh, Josh, Josh, today is Joe's birthday. I know, I know.
And I'll forget this time next year. I've remembered the week, man, and I give you 10 points for that idea. But. Uh 40 didn't bother me. I didn't have like any crisis at 40.
I just. It just happens like Joseph. Got a lot of kids, got to help run the firm. Life's busy. Yeah, got stuff to do.
And so 40 didn't bother me, but 50 has made me really like because I'm sore a lot. You know, I was putting something together the other day on the floor. And like, I had to, like, I couldn't bend one knee the right way, so I had to roll off the floor like I was, you know, 950 pounds, you know. But. So I'm thinking about 50, but I saw this comedian and he said, 50, when you're 50.
That's like you're you're like the youngest old person. Right, that's like freshman year of being old is the 50s. Because he was saying you should really enjoy your 50s because you're about to get. way older and way worse. You know, okay.
But I thought that was fun to think about, you know, like, oh, yeah, I'm just like a freshman. A young old person.
Well, I'm older than you, dude, so you're making me feel great. I was walking. You don't make Morgan feel bad, John. You're a sophomore old person. I am.
I was walking into a big box store up in Boone this past weekend, and this youngster who's in college saw me coming and went back to open the door for me. He says, Sir, after you. After you, old timer. And I was like, what?
Okay. It sneaks up on you, man. It sneaks up. I don't have any wild... You know, I don't have any misgivings that I'm some young whipper snapper.
You know, like, I know I'm getting up there and I don't take care of myself like we're supposed to, right? You know, like. Yeah, we can mean it to talk to you about that. Have an on-air interview. If it helps, Josh, you don't look like a young whipper snapper.
You don't look good, but you don't look that bad, is what we're getting at. You could be way worse. Yeah, it could be, man. But it catches up with you, man. You can't, you know.
I was never a big, big drinker, you know, but you can't drink like you used to drink. You can't. You can. Yeah, you pay for it. Yeah, just not a good choice.
Yeah, you do, you're labeled as a problem. Come on. It's like it's a law that you can't. How did Josh die? He had four beers during the Panthers game.
Couldn't go on. Liquid diet. Liquid diet. But so I've been thinking about that a lot. I don't know why.
I don't think I'm about to have a midlife crisis, but it is at least like I'm at least thinking about it, you know, like 50. We talked about this before because we had that conversation one time where I was listening to that guy, and he was talking about how many summers you have left. Like, you only have a certain amount of summers, and so you got to value them, you know.
So, I'm having that kind of. Kind of weak again.
Well, I will say this: your lovely wife is very active on social media, and she has been posting a ton of stuff on the kids and just how they're getting older, and she's posting the younger photos.
So, I think that might be seeping into your overall Josh. And so, it's starting to hit you too. Because it is, I mean, when you start looking at your kids, especially your oldest, who's. I mean, he's a football player. What's his size now?
How big is he? Mikey's like 6'2 ⁇ , 290, 295. He's a big boy. Yeah. Yeah, I mean the days of running around in a diaper, I mean, that's gonna hit you.
Like, this guy's grown into a man. Yeah. Well, Joe, you don't have you don't have a senior yet. You're getting a little bit of a nice one. I don't.
And uh It's common though. It's common. Yeah. Comes for everyone, right?
Well this uh speaking of getting older. Speaking of getting older, someone told me this morning it's National Make a Will Month. That's August. I didn't know that was a thing until today. Um I never know things are like that.
Someone tells me it's whatever day, I have no idea.
Well, I mean if you listen to any uh locally produced uh radio show, morning show, every single day there's like four or five official days. And so, yeah. How do you make it? I mean, there wasn't like a presidential proclamation that this was make-a-will month, right?
Somebody fix it up. Yeah, we could make our own. Probably an attorney on his radio show. We could have a national Whitaker and Hamer Day. I mean, if we just make it, it's official.
That's going to be a month. We might as well stretch that to two months. Mm. It's probably worth if that was a day, we'd probably just have to work really hard that day. Yeah.
Probably wouldn't be a day off. Just have to put in like eight hours of overtime that day. All right, Joshy Josh, as we wrap up our first segment, can you tell us more about these complimentary consults? Yeah, give us a call. We do free consults for estate planning, right?
So you want to get your estate plan done, you want to get it revised, you want to ask questions about a revocable living trust. Give us a call. We'll sit down with you for free and we'll talk about it. Right, we'll talk about it. Give you some advice, let you know what everything would cost if you wanted to go forward.
No obligation. free console right we also do the same thing if you've been in a car accident If you've been in a car accident, you want to know your rights, you want to get a value of your claim. That's what insurance companies are going to do. They're going to look at the facts and value your claim. Um They're not your friends, right?
Insurance company is never your friend. Even if it's your own insurance company, they're not your friend. And so we have we have PI attorneys, personal injury attorneys across the state, and they're happy to talk to you for free and then let you know what continued representation would call.
So again, it's no obligation. You meet with one of our experienced attorneys, car accident estate planning.
So, when we come to you on the radio show, we do a lot. We talk about that a lot. All right, there you go. Here's the phone number to call: 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000.
You can also visit wh.lawyer. Complimentary consult, estate planning, maybe a personal injury case you're facing. 919-7727000 or visit wh.lawyer. And coming up next, in honor of August, as widely recognized as National Make a Will Month, here's the first question the attorneys will handle. And it's the category: My will says my son gets the house, but he's already on the deed.
We'll talk about that when we return. Yeah. We are back. It's Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, the power behind the program. They're also practicing attorneys here in North Carolina in offices all over our great state, Moorhead City, down at the coast, over near Charlotte and Gastonia.
We've got Fuquay Verena, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Cleveland, and the Cap City, Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to be on with the attorneys. We'll hit some categories and some questions here. Coming up, want to remind you: complimentary consult, estate planning, personal injury case you're facing.
Just give us a call, 919-7727000. That's 919-7727000, or visit wh.lawyer. As we mentioned, August widely recognized, we're not sure by who, but widely recognized as National Make-a-Will Month.
So we're focused. In question number one, category is: my will says my son gets the house, but he's already on the deed.
So here's the question: My wife died several years ago, and I own a home worth around $650K. Last year, I added my oldest son to the deed because he was helping me manage things. My will says the house is divided equally among my three children. If I die tomorrow, do all three kids probably get a third? You know, we get A ton of variations of this question, you know.
Um. Where you're adding someone to a deed and And our question here Maybe on purpose. Joseph omits a pretty important detail that we we need to know about that this deed. Yeah, so the the uh we call it vesting, right? Like that's what we'll that's what we'll call it here.
And and How is this deed vested? Meaning What is the type of ownership? Yeah. the the mom and the kid, 'cause that That changes things and I'm going to make an assumption and I'm going to assume that They own this property as joint tenants with Wright of Survivorship, which means this property is essentially a non-probate asset. It's not something that.
Is going to pass to the estate and it's just going to automatically go to the son that's on title. And so in that case, that's definitely not. Three kids ain't getting nothing. One kid's getting everything. And uh You know, that's.
That's the way that it goes. Unfortunately or unfortunately, this person wanted it to go. Yeah, you know, we talk about this a lot, you know, at here at the firm we do a lot of estate planning. We help people plan for their death. That's what we're doing, right?
We're helping you plan for when you're gone. What will happen. And then we also, on the other side, we help people with the state administration, right?
So the heirs will come into us when someone passes away and be like, hey, we need to. execute this estate plan, assuming they have one. I I just saw it this week. But people who don't put a lot of thought into their estate plan. Accidentally disinheriting a kid, all their kids.
You know, um You know, it happens. And so, here, I'm sure.
So, this was a, see, my wife died several years ago.
So, this was a. This was a a husband and um You know, his oldest son is is helping him out. You know, usually there is, you know, you have three, four, five kids. Usually there's one. You know, that's still local or, you know, has the time and it helps out the parents, and they wanted to reward this kid by adding him to.
title. And so Joe's right. If there were survivorship rights on that deed, then it's just going to that son. The will's not going to control it, right? We talk about.
You know, drafting a will. A will is only going to control. What's actually in your estate, what is actually in probate. And for a lot of your assets, don't go through probate. Right.
If they're set up properly. Anyway, the house here, if there's survivorship right that's going to the oldest son. If there's no survivorship rights, right? Then it would just be 50-50, the dad and the son, and so the dad's interest would go through. His estate, so the other kids would inherit that 50%.
That sounds a little more fair. Um Yeah, that would be a little I mean again Who's to say what's fair, right? It's the It's what's fair to the owners of the property, you know, and people change their minds. That's. That's the way it goes, you know, and it's all about.
We want to make sure that the the the data in this case What they want to have happen is what happens. And we want their wishes to be carried out.
So maybe that's what they wanted. You know, who knows? Yeah, yeah, well, you got to make your whatever you want to happen, you have to change your estate plan. And here he didn't, because his will said his house is divided equally among three children. Um But But here too, the other kids can't really do much.
I don't think there's a lot of action to take here unless. you know, the father was You know, you do see those, you see those cases where here I'm assuming the father's in good health, it doesn't say he's not in good health. But you do see those cases where You've got an elderly parent who's not in good health, and then the question comes up: you know, was the son push the elderly father into signing this deed? You know, you can look at that kind of thing. And that's that's a super, I would say that's one of the more common situations you see when you got elder folks is, you know, one kid steps up.
does more than the other kids, whether they do it altruistically, I mean, i it's not uncommon to see like family strife come up in those situations because even if they're doing it completely altruistically, uh I've seen siblings get upset about it and say they're doing this just to Get a bigger piece of the pie. It's just a tricky situation all around. I think the most important thing is, again, just making sure that whatever you want to happen... happens. Yeah, this In theory, this person had a potential.
Potentially well-crafted estate plan, but He blew it. They blew it, yeah. What he wanted isn't gonna take place. My state plan is to spend every penny I have before I die. Die with zero.
Zero dollars. Whatever. No assets. That's the responsible way to do it, man. And then no one argues about it.
Your kids don't argue about who gets what because there's nothing for them. My 95-year-old uh dad just wants booze and strippers until he dies with zero dollars. That's the that's what you put in there. You've got a living trust. It's the Joshua Whitaker Booz and Strippers Trust.
That's what it is. I made it during my upcoming midlife crisis. Yeah, that's when you turn 50, man. National Make-A-Will Month. It's National Make-A-Will Month, and Booz and Stripper is apparently going to.
And support local businesses. Josh is. Uh, final will and testament. All right, guys, uh, let's just start this one. We'll answer it coming up.
Um, we'll answer part of it coming back in our next segment. But here's here's the category: I left a hundred thousand to my daughter, a hundred thousand dollars, but I already gave her a hundred thousand.
So, here's the question. My will gives each of my three children $100,000. Last year, I gave one daughter $100,000 to help her buy a house. I told everybody about it. That's her inheritance early, but I never changed my will.
So when I pass, Does she probably get another 100,000 unless we change it, obviously? I mean, without anything else happening, yes. I mean, that's the simple answer. Like, if no one complains and/or one knows about the $100,000. I guess here they were.
And even if they do complain, you know, it's it. I would say this is a quite possibly yes in the absence of some other facts, but uh. You know, and this If you've got a specific device, right, like if you're specifically leaving something. like a tangible piece of personal property to someone. And you give it to them ahead of time and it's not there, or you give it to someone else ahead of time and it's not there, that's a different scenario.
Um But i in the case of like a a dollar amount, it's a little bit fuzzier. And I think that there's a chance that this this kid's gonna get another hundred thousand. All right, well, there you go. It was short, it was sweet, and it was to the point. And we are going to come back on the other side and talk more about some of these legal situations, these hypotheticals, these scenarios, and see what the attorney's going to say.
Now, we do have complimentary consults in and around estate planning and personal injuries.
So, if you're in a personal injury case and you got questions, estate planning haven't started, got questions, or maybe you're in the middle of something, need a second opinion, grab one of our consults. Call 919-772-7000. There's no cost, no obligation with Moodicare Namer. You can also visit the website, w.lawyer, great resource for you, wh.lawyer. But that number again, 919-772-7000, call it now.
We got more Judica County coming up. Back on Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, Managing Partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, and practicing attorneys here. In North Carolina. And they placed offices all over our great state: Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquay Verena, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick.
Pleasure. To jump on with the attorneys, hit these different categories, these different topics, these different scenarios, these legal questions and how to handle them. But we also give you an opportunity, if you've got questions in and around estate planning or a personal injury case, there are complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer. Simply call 919-7727000 and grab one. That's 919-7727000.
You're leaving the checkbook at home. And again, no obligation to become a client. You can also visit wh. Lawyer.
Alright, so here's a category. Can I leave one of my children a dollar?
So here's the question. I have three adult children. I haven't spoken to one of them in fifteen years. I want everything divided between the other two. A friend told me I have to leave the estranged child a dollar so they can't contest the will.
Is that true? I mean, not really. You know, you hear this I've I hear this from folks who've come in and someone has told them that or it worked somewhere else. And what you what you do if you want to disinherit someone if you want to disinherit a natural heir. Right, you can't disinherit your spouse.
Just you can't do that in North Carolina. There's got to be something else. You can't just have a will and leave nothing to your wife or your husband or your spouse. They can contest that very easily. With a kid, you can disinherit a child.
And what you need to do in your will is you have to put a statement of disinheritance. You have to make sure they know it's not. an accident right i'm purposely omitting This child from my will, and you don't have to give a reason. You just have to state that it's not an accident. I have not accidentally omitted I am disinheriting this child.
So the $1 thing, I'm not a fan of that. I think that opens up to some liability where just saying, like, hey, my youngest, I'm not leaving them anything. And that's all you have to do.
So you can disinherit a child. You don't have to do it in the child. I'm just giving them a buck. Yeah, you don't have to do it. you know, th this way.
You just you just state that. But uh but hopefully they hopefully they they they're not estranged by the time this guy passes away. Hopefully, hopefully, yeah, we're a fan of families working it out and getting it together. And uh That dad's going to need someone to care. carry out his you know Strippers and booze will when he gets.
Old enough. That's a special estate plan we'll put together for folks. That's a special type of executor. For you specifically, John. Yeah.
But anyway, but yeah, that's the big thing there. I would say, you can never disinherit a spouse. Like, if you have a spouse that you're estranged from and you haven't been divorced or, you know, that's a big, you just, it isn't going to work. You're just leaving a lot of problems for your kids when you're gone. If you try to do something like that, that's a guaranteed will contest, will caveat.
All right, so let me go ahead and just tell you, you know, this radio show is compiled into a podcast forum, and it's going to be the highest-rated podcast in the history of the show because I'm going to label it strippers and booze. Yeah, yeah.
So with a certain demographic, we'll get a lot of hit on that one. In all seriousness, you know, these legal questions do come up. You've got your own set of questions. You can certainly get in touch with Whitaker and Hamer, wh.lawyer, and send us a question, and we will ask it, and we'll handle it on the program. And again, we'll get to some more legal questions here in just a little bit.
So complimentary consults, in-and around estate planning available to you. Also, a personal injury case. You've got some questions. You can grab one of these at any time. Again, call the number, 919-7727000, 919-7727000, or visit the website, wh.lawyer.
Back after this. Back on Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. And again, the firm is the power behind the program, Your Law Firm for Life, and our attorneys practice law right here. In North Carolina, offices in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuqua Verina, Gastonia, and down at the coast in Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick.
Pleasure to be on. And just hit these different categories, these different questions. They're hypotheticals, but they happen every single day. We'll see what the attorneys are going to do with them. We want to remind you, too, that if you are questioning some things about estate planning, maybe start one up, or you need a second opinion on what you're doing, or you're in a personal injury case and you don't know how to proceed and you've got questions there, you can grab one of our complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer, and you can do this at any time during the show.
919-77270000. That's 919-77270000. You can always visit the website, WHO. All right, gentlemen.
Next category: we printed a will off the internet.
So here's the question. My husband downloaded a will online. He signed it at the kitchen table, and then two neighbors signed it later that afternoon after he left for work. He passed away unexpectedly six months later. Is that probably a valid North Carolina will?
Well uh Mm.
So, one of the things that happens when you go meet with an attorney to discuss your estate plan. That attorney should help you. Not all attorneys do this. I know sometimes it's hard for some smaller offices, but here at the law firm, part of that. Part of what you're paying us for is for an execution.
Ceremony, right?
So you're going to meet with us. Yeah, the way you phrase that sounds dark, man. An excellent ceremony. Yeah, that's not a service we offer typically. Why are the windows blacked out?
So, when we get done, right, we're going to meet, we're going to talk about it, we're going to draft some documents, we're going to take a look at them, we're going to. Answer some questions. Once we get our final documents set, we're going to schedule a time in one of our offices to meet with you. And we're going to sign the document.
So you're going to have a signing appointment with an attorney. And that attorney is going to kind of go through the docs, like, here's this, here's this. Um You can sign in front of me here. This only needs to be notarized, or I need to bring my witnesses in. A will, which is the part of our question here that matters, a will requires.
Uh you know Two two witnesses. Um Here, the question is setting up to talk about to talk about how a will execution is supposed to go, you know, and here it's basically telling us. The witnesses did not witness. Our husband here, the husband signing, right? The husband signed later.
He left for work, and then later the neighbors came on over and just signed his witnesses, right? He probably signed it, right? I don't think he didn't sign it, but the law says the witnesses are supposed to actually see you. Sign it. That's why they're witnessing.
That's that's literally Could not be more clear. They're not a day right witness. And they did. Right? This is probably more than this question is trying to ask us.
But when you come to our office and sign, we have a little statement that we notarize, right? We have a notary, so it's notarized, but it basically the witnesses it's self-proving, meaning the witnesses sign it. And then the notary sign saying, hey, these witnesses witnessed, they were over 18, we were all in the same room, and it's called self-proving, right? Because when you take that will downtown to probate it. If it's a self-proving will, the clerks don't care about the witnesses anymore.
The witnesses are done. Right when they they sign it, right?
So, in this situation, they printed a will off the internet. We won't get into that. I mean. Is the will good? Is it not good?
Who the heck knows? It came off the internet. I don't think that's what that question is getting at. Here, this will is not self-proving. There was no notary involved.
And so these witnesses, you know, when the wife takes this will down to the clerk's office, the clerk is going to want. Sworn statements from the witnesses that they did in fact witness this signing. And if one of these witnesses says, oh, no, no, I signed it later in the day, he had already signed it.
Well, that will's no good. Mm-hmm. Um So, if you do a wheel like this, that is not self-proving. The witnesses are required. The clerk wants to find the witnesses.
The witnesses usually have to sign a statement saying, hey, I was over 18 at the time. I saw him sign it, and then maybe the neighbor doesn't feel comfortable signing that. Because he didn't or she didn't witness the the signing and so that will be defective and that willn't wouldn't do anything.
So, you know, attorneys take the signing of the will, the execution process very seriously because we don't want any questions after the fact. We want to just be able to hand that to the clerk one day. And the clerk just accepts it on its face. We don't want to track down a witness. We don't want a witness to die in the interim.
So. This question, I think, is designed to get us to talk about how that. That the execution of the will, the witnesses, the notary, the self-proving nature of a will, how that's important so you don't have any problems. later on down the line. We are in the middle of a number of different scenarios because, you know, August is widely recognized as National Make a Will Month.
So we are hitting a lot of these categories. You've got some questions about a situation you're in with estate planning or personal injury, give us a call, 919-772-7000. Complimentary consult awaits you. You can also visit wh.lawyer. Again, the number: 919-772-7000.
All right, so another will question, and here's the category: My will says, Who gets my IRA?
So here's the question. My will says everything goes equally to my three children, but my nine hundred thousand dollar IRA still names only my oldest child as beneficiary. I assume the will fixes that. When I pass away, who probably gets the IRA? I know the answer to this one.
We've trained you well, Morgan. Yes. Thank you, Obi-Wan. Yeah, we do our best, man. Yeah, so that's.
When you come when you come in... to talk to us. We're going to talk to you about probate assets. And non-probate assets. We're going to talk about assets that would have to go through your estate.
And we're going to talk about assets that pass other ways. And so, when we have this conversation, the IRA, your investment accounts, that's always a big topic because. Those are governed by contracts. You have a contract with Whoever, you know, Edward Jones, Fidelity, whoever, whoever's managing your. your retirement account, whoever is holding that money.
You name who you want your beneficiaries to be when you set that up. And you can change it whenever you want. And so here When he set this up, he probably only had his oldest child, and he had a couple more childs, and he never revised it. The question is: who's going to get the IRA? The named beneficiary is going to get the IRA.
Yeah, so I mean, this is straightforward and easy, man. Yeah, this is open and shut. They're gonna, the Edward Jones or whoever it is, they're gonna cut a $900,000 check to the oldest son.
Now, the oldest son can do whatever he wants to with that money, but it's not going through the estate. The will only controls Probate assets. We have a lot of people come in and they'll be like, Well, here's my will, and then we'll talk about assets. I'm like, Well, there's not going to be anything, you know, they'll have nothing for you. Yeah, there's nothing there, right?
We'll talk about like people come in with a will, and they're very, you know, concerned because they want to, you know, they want $10,000 to go to their church and they want $10,000 to go to the Boy Scouts of America or whatever it is. And so they'll have these charitable bequests. And those come out first, right? Specific bequest in your will, they come out first. You know, like if we sat down with this $900,000 IRA guy.
That $900,000 in his house might be his two big assets, and he's doing pretty good for himself. But those don't go through. Probate usually, right?
So they're not. Where's the money coming from to make these charitable bequests? There's nothing in your estate. And that's not a bad thing, right? As estate planning attorneys, we don't want you to have to go through probate, right?
Yeah, and a lot of times that's the recommendation, right? It's as few probate assets as humanly possible so that there's less for your executor to have to actually do. But. At the same time, the the more important than that is Let's get the let's get The money to who you want it to go to. And that's why that's important to, if nothing else, review that, right?
Yeah, absolutely. And again, go back and review those beneficiaries. And you don't just set it and forget it. Things do change. Life does happen.
Opportunity to get on the calendar with Whitaker and Hamer. Consult complimentary. Estate planning or personal injury case that you're facing. Call us 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000.
And you can visit wh.lawyer. Sign up there as well. They are complimentary. We've got more at Judica County coming up in honor of widely recognized National Make a Will Month. We're in August.
We're talking about it next. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucquave Arena, Gastonia, and down at the Coast Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on with the attorneys.
And we're in the category of wills because August is recognized widely as National Make a Will Month.
So we're talking a lot of will scenarios. Complimentary consults available through our radio program. You can, if you've got questions about estate planning, maybe a personal injury case, grab one of the consults. Leave the checkbook at home: 919-772-7000. Just leave your contact information and which consult you want: estate planning or personal injury.
And they'll sign you up for that 919-7727000. You can also visit the website, WHO. Dot lawyer. All right, so next category, guys. My executor passes away before me.
Here's the question: My will names my brother as executor. And my wife as the backup. My brother. died five years ago and my wife now has dementia. I haven't changed the will.
Does that make my will invalid? Nah. There you go. Yeah. Done.
Check. Make sure you're going to be able to do it. Simple, clean, and easy, man.
So in your will you're going to name An executor, right? The person who's going to be charged by the clerk. To gather your assets, distribute your assets, you know, it's your fiduciary. And you name an executor, you usually name a backup.
Sometimes you name a backup backup, you know. But here, the clerk's going to want proof, right? The clerk's going to want a death certificate for the brother. I'm not sure what the clerk would require. With the wife having dementia, but there's you know a doctor's letter or her POA chiming in or power of attorney or something like that.
Uh but yeah, the w the the worst case scenario the clerk can just appoint You know, an executor. You know, if a kid wants to step up and do it, or an attorney, but yeah, your will's not going to fail. Because your executors are not, your named executors are not available.
So that's not a big problem. That's sad, but it's not a big problem. It's a big cab from a will perspective. And that goes back to when we draft, you know, one of the things we always encourage folks to do is. Make sure that you've got a sufficient number of backups, if at all possible.
You would rather have more. potential backups. than less.
So Put a Put a young person in there. Yeah, put a young person in there. Get a young person in there. Get you a young buck. Find a nice spry 18-year-old and throw them in there as your backup, backup, backup executor.
Yeah. Opportunity to get a complimentary consult with Whitaker and Hamer in and around estate planning or maybe a personal injury case you're facing. Ongoing during the course of this show, you can call at any time, 919-772-7000. That'll grab you one. Again, just leave your contact information in which consult you would like, and they'll set you up with that: estate planning or personal injury case.
You can also visit the website wh.lawyer. Again, the phone number: 919-772-7000. 7,000. All right, here's the next category. My will says my daughter gets my business.
So here's the question: I own 50% of a successful LLC with my business partner. My will leaves my ownership interest to my daughter. Our operating agreement says that when either owner passes, the company has the right to purchase the deceased owner's interest. Does my daughter probably become my new 50-50 partner? This is a really This is a really big question, right?
This this is something that happens a lot I meet with a lot of people. You know, I handle here at the firm, I handle a lot of business law, and I meet with a lot of people who are starting an LLC. And and have Partners or starting a corporation, anyway, starting a business, a business entity, and they have. multiple uh with this question says partner, so we'll keep that language partners. And one of my Jobs as an attorney is to ask: well, what do you want to happen if this happens, right?
If this partner declares bankruptcy, if this partner gets a divorce, if this partner dies. What do you want to happen? Does the L does the the L L C The business has a right to purchase the 50%. How are you going to value the 50%? Does the business have a right of first refusal?
Um you know is it is it an involuntary trans like what what what do you want to happen? Do you want this if somebody inherits it? Are they going to be a full-fledged member? Or are they just going to have a right to profit and loss but not actually participate in the business? Can they participate in the business, right?
It's a law firm. If I die tomorrow and my wife inherits my 50%, well, my wife's not an attorney. She's not becoming an attorney anytime soon.
So she can't just step, she doesn't just step into my place, right? And so when you create an LLC, you should, it doesn't always happen like this, and a lot of lawsuits are born out of this problem. Your operating agreement, if it's an LLC, which it is here, your operating agreement is going to give instructions. We've all agreed ahead of time, this is what's going to happen when someone dies and whoever inherits it, you know. Um But you can definitely will.
Right? You can definitely will. Your ownership of a business to an heir, to a wife, to a daughter. You can do that. You can put an ownership interest in an LLC into trust for the benefit of everybody.
But usually, they're not going to be an automatic member, an automatic partner. They inherit. your interests, but but they don't participate the same way most of the time. Most of the time. It depends on the good operating agreement.
And that's that's you know, we talk a lot about estate planning, but business planning is is equally important. And um This is this is the exact scenario that It's so much better to contemplate it and prepare for it ahead of time. than it is to get surprised by it and and be stuck in a in an awkward situation with a business partner that that that you don't want. And a lot of businesses, you know, and we've talked about this, but a lot of businesses start kind of on a whim, right? We got we've got this idea, we want to do this thing.
Don't have a lot of budget for attorneys, it kind of takes off, and once it, you know, if it's successful. Then you're trying to backtrack and figure things out. it doesn't it doesn't always really it doesn't always really work out so i mean business planning Here, he had estate planning, right? He successfully left 50% of the business to his, was it his daughter? Yeah, his daughter.
And that's what he wanted to do.
So his estate plan worked. Here.
So he did some estate planning, it worked. But now, did he do his business planning? Right? Does the operating what's the operating agreement for the LLC allow for? And I know we on the radio here, I know we get a lot of folks who are self-employed, you know, built businesses and I Smart people who have figured something out, made a life for themselves, but I see a lot of those folks who.
aren't necessarily good at the the side of the business that requires The business planning, right? The good of the business. Um But not not at the planning and and and uh But here, hopefully, he's talked to his partner. Hopefully, they have an operating agreement. Maybe this daughter's been learning the business, working in the business.
She's ready to step in and do exactly what the. what her dad was doing and uh and that's what I'm gonna hope as has happened here.
Well, let me ask you this. I mean, you guys are in business together. You have family. You have youngsters that are growing up. I mean, if this is something that.
Is in your agreement. I mean, you guys obviously are on the same page. I would think a business partner. That is going to hand off his 50% to the daughter, or he's going to be in partnership with his daughter. I mean, that's going to be something you guys would discuss, correct?
Yeah, yeah, I think that hasn't happened to us specifically yet. But you would do. Yeah, we thought about it for sure. And we've decided Josh's kids have to fist fight me for admission to it for their 50% of Whitaker and Hamer. And with us, it's different because we meet that criteria, like Josh said.
Where w you know we're the the type of profession where you've You can't just come in. And be an attorney without being an attorney.
Now, Morgan, you're close. Like, I think you're in the argument. They might just go listen to you on the radio and how good you are at it. That's okay. We're going to let you do it.
That's one of the funniest parts of the movie Step Brothers when Riley's character, John C. Riley's character, his dad's a doctor. And he just assumes he's going to take over the family business, but he's never been to medical school. He's just decides he's going to be a doctor. All right.
Well, listen, we need to take a short break. We got one more segment coming up on the other side. We'll get to a couple more scenarios. Want to remind you: complimentary consult with Whitaker and Hamer. You do not have to wrestle Joe if you come in.
Estate planning, personal injury case you're facing. Got questions, leave the checkbook at home: 919-7727000. It's 919-7727000. You can also visit wh.lawya. We'll wrap up.
Judica County coming up on the other side. Um Welcome back in. It's Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer. They're the managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, and they practice law here in North Carolina. Offices placed all over our fantastic state: Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquave Verena, down near Charlotte and Gastonia, and over on the coast, Moorhead City.
I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to get on with the attorneys and just hit these different categories, questions that come in from around the country. And these are legal questions you may face at some point, or maybe some form of it.
So take everything with a grain of salt. These are scenarios. We do have complimentary consults in and around estate planning a personal injury with Whitaker and Hamer. And again, no cost, no obligation. You can grab one at any time.
919-772-7000. That'll get you in touch with. The firm, just leave your contact information and which consult you'd like, estate planning or personal injury, and they will set it up, put it on the calendar for you. You can also visit wh.lawyer. And once again, just a reminder: August is recognized as National Make a Will Month, so we're having some categories in that area.
And here's one that might get us a chuckle or two: Can my dog inherit $200,000? Here's the question: My children are financially comfortable, but I'm worried about my nine-year-old golden retriever. I want my will to leave $200,000 directly to the dog, so whoever takes care of him has money for that care. Can I do this? I mean, no.
You know, pets are very important to people, and this comes up from time to time. But no, you can't leave anything directly to a non-human a pet. An animal. There's a Simpsons. I don't know.
There's a classic Simpsons episode that I'm sure you guys are familiar with. Wait a minute. I am just thankful that we were able to get a Simpsons reference in. We're towards the end of the show, and here it is. Go ahead.
The one where Marge becomes a real estate agent and she's showing the Flanders houses. No, wait, maybe she's showing Mo. Anyway, she's showing houses. She's showing somebody. Yeah.
Yeah. And she goes to this one house and there's like a million cats in it. And she'd show them the house, and they were like, Well, we like the house. What's with the cats? And they were like, Oh, the cats technically own the cats technically own the house.
You'd be leasing the house from them, you know. But, um Um anyway, yeah, you can't you can't do that. But people do set up trust. You know, the dog is personal property, right? That's the way the law sees a pet.
The lot you know. Dog, cat, fish, monkey, snake, whatever it is, that's personal property, it's the same as a chair. or a table or a car, right? Personal property. And so you have to leave that personal property.
To someone, right?
So if there's a specific person you want to leave the dog to, that's what you leave the dog to that person. I mean you set up a trust. Uh and you fund that trust here, it's 200 grand and you say hey, this is for the care of uh do we get a name for the golden retriever? McCollum. Bye, Bill.
Got a berg. Hi! With the golden retriever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you leave you leave the golden retriever. To whoever you want to in your will, specific device, specific bequest. And then you leave uh money in trust. Uh the owner. Makes sense to me, the owner of the animal would be the trustee of the trust, and it's for the benefit and the care of this animal.
So the answer to the question is: no, you cannot leave $200,000 directly to your dog. What would your dog do with that? Yeah, I mean, roll around on it, shoot it. The dog has no idea. You know, just scratch its head, rub its back, and it's cool.
Um But but but yeah, so and there's a lot of spoiled dogs and pets running around here that probably need to be taken care of. Can't we have a lot of people? I thought we said they'd be taken down a notch. There's a lot of spoiled dogs that need to be taken down a notch. I make a joke with my kids.
My kids, you know, they they like the the Pokemon. Pokemon still very the cards and stuff, very popular right now. It seems like every day on the news, one of those shops gets broken into and all the Pokemon's cleared out. But anyway, so I compared. We have this whole Chihuahua, and I compare her Chihuahua to like the worst Pokemon alive, right?
If she breaks free from the house, she's gonna lose to the first animal she encounters, you know? What's the weakest Pokemon? Do we know that? What's the weakest, worst Pokemon? I think that's subjective, man.
And I'll be honest with you, I don't have enough Pokemon knowledge to intelligently discuss this. I think if Google, I think if you were to Google what's the weakest Pokemon, there's probably like a universal Yeah, there's an answer out there for sure. Anyway, she would lose.
So she needs someone. The Chihuahua would need someone to take care of her because she ain't making it on her.
So is this how you tell us you're leaving 300 grand to your Chihuahua? Is that what this is? Yeah, I'm going to leave it in trust for the care of, you know, but you give me a hundred grand. I'll take care of that dog. I'll take darn good care of that chihuahua.
That chihuahua will be well cared for, brother. Good stuff. All right.
So, final category: I don't need a will because my wife gets everything anyway.
So, here's the question: My husband says he doesn't need a will because North Carolina law will automatically give me everything. We have two children, a house in his name, investment accounts, and about $300,000 in other assets. Is he correct? No, he's not. And a lot of people make that mistake.
The law is not going to leave. If you die without a will and you have kids, your spouse is only getting a fraction of your estate. She'll she'll hear what's uh his wife. Yeah, he's talking about his wife. His wife would only inherit 50% of the estate, and the other 50% will be split between the two minor children.
Which is a nightmare. Because if you want to sell a house, underage children inheriting, they can't own a house. They can't deal with a house. You have to get a guardian appointed down at the clerk's office, and it ain't. It ain't always you, yeah.
Right, you have to go through a process, you have to show the clerk's office what you want, they want to make sure the kids don't get taken advantage of. And and so this actually I've seen this happen More times than I can remember because it's always so sad when you got a father in their 30s or their 40s who dies unexpectedly. And without a will, that's the biggest problem: underage kids can inherit part of your house. If you want to refinance your house or sell your house, now you got a big problem. uh 'cause the spouse doesn't own it.
you know, fully. Um And so, a will, when you, and that triggers a lot of people, right? A lot of people don't have a will. Like, we just did a bunch of wills for college kids just so they have a will with all these kids going back to school. But a lot of people won't have a will.
They'll get married. They won't have a will. And then having that first kid usually triggers a lot of people. Like, hey, now I got to get it done. You know, I got a little kid.
We need to name a guardian, you know, what have you. But yeah, if you have kids, you definitely need a will. Will things get to the next generation without a will? Yeah, the laws of North Carolina will leave everything to your natural heirs, but not in an easy way that's easy to deal with, in a very hard, complicated I need to hire an attorney. Way.
So, no no estate plan is still a bad idea at at any age, but definitely for this guy. All right, real quickly, let's hit this last one, guys. 35. Why do we need, age 35, why do we need wills?
So here's the question: My wife and I are 35 years old. We have two children, ages three and six, $450,000 in the house with a mortgage, retirement accounts, and a million of life insurance each. We don't think ourselves as having an estate. What's the biggest reason we need Wills right now? You've got 60 seconds.
Go. Ha! Because you have young kids. Like, be backing on the old. That's good enough for me.
Yeah, I think back in the old days, like back in the old, old days, people would make a will and they'd leave their family heirlooms to certain people, and you'd have all these specific bequests. And now you don't really. Do that as much. We're not really concerned where your personal property goes to, although we can talk about that. That definitely can be part of your estate plan.
But we're concerned about who's going to take care of the kids. You know, where is the money going to go into a trust? How is this trust going to be administered? Who's going to be the trustee? Are they getting a big chunk of money right when they turn 18?
Or are you gonna make it dispersable over 10-year periods? You know, is the trustee gonna It's going to be relaxed where the trustee can kind of do what they want to do. Is it going to be more rigid where the trustee has to obey very specific rules? And who's going to be that trustee? Yeah.
Questions there. Yeah, you know, that's the thing. You know, who's gonna. Who's going to be that trustee if something happens to you?
So, yeah, the kids are the, I mean, they got to be the number one. Everybody needs an estate plan. Yeah. But once you have the kids, you got to, you know, you got to plan for that. Yeah, you need to have a plan.
We have complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer about estate planning. Also, if you've been involved with a personal injury case and you've got questions, grab one of the consults 919-772-7000, 919-7727000, or visit the website wh.lawyer. Another edition of Judica County Radio is eating the books for Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer. I'm Morgan Patrick. We'll see you on the radio next week.
Judica County is hosted by attorneys licensed to practice law in North Carolina.
Some of the guests appearing on this podcast may be licensed North Carolina attorneys. Discussion on this podcast is meant to be general in nature, and in no way should the discussion be interpreted as legal advice. Legal advice can only be rendered once an attorney, licensed in the state in which you live, has the opportunity to discuss the facts of your case with you. The attorneys appearing on this podcast are speaking in generalities about the law in North Carolina and how these laws affect the average North Carolinian. If you have any questions about the content of this show, you can direct such inquiry to Joshua Whitaker at jmw at mwhlaw.lawyer.
