Highlighting Highlighters
I normally do not make a practice of working from home, but with safe distancing and travel limitations sparked by the pandemic, staying home was something many were following.
After setting up my home office and starting some projects, I reached for my yellow highlighter, then laughed because I didn’t have one at home, then resorted to using Post-it Notes.
I realized just how often I used my yellow highlighter at work and decided to pick one up the next time I went to the office. I find it handy to use a highlighter, which has become part of my work process. I’m sure many of you feel similarly.
With that being said, I do want to issue a warning about highlighters, be they yellow, pink, or blue: Never use them on your original estate-planning documents. The same goes for using Post-it Notes or worse yet, crossing out text and handwriting changes in the margins. These attempts at changes could possibly create unforeseen issues.
Florida law is quite clear on how to make changes to estate-planning documents such as your will or trust. For example, in order for a codicil to a will or an amendment to a trust to be considered valid, it must be signed by you (the testator/grantor) and witnessed by two people in the presence of all parties (the testator/grantor and the witnesses).
This is why we encourage our clients to talk out the changes with us and seek your estate planning attorney’s help to finalize them. In this case, you could use your highlighter or marker to create a “working document” that you can take to your attorney and discuss, then create a new, unblemished document and shred the old one with your notes.
Why? Here is an example of what could happen: If these handwritten changes were discovered and never formally executed, the parties in your trust document could hire attorneys to determine whether these changes impact the original document, therefore costing your estate financially.
Play it safe. If you are interested in making changes, contact your trust officer for a review and set up an appointment to meet with your attorney and obtain the necessary codicil or amendment. Your successor trustee will thank you and your new wishes will happen as you intended.
These suggestions are something for you to consider, and if you have a yellow highlighter, remember it’s great for notes, but not for wills and trusts.
Investments are not a deposit or other obligation of, or guaranteed by, the bank, are not FDIC insured, not insured by any federal government agency, and are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of principal.
Learn More
Investment Market Update, Q2 2020
The S&P 500 Index showed great resilience to the negative news flow and achieved the best quarterly performance since 1998. Despite media reports about the virus infection rate increases, potential new tariffs on European and Chinese goods, and early Presidential election polls, the market rebounded from the first quarter decline. The S&P 500 Index is still down by 4% year-to-date, but the Nasdaq is up 12.1%. This disparity is the real news for the markets as investors crowd into the digital age/new economy companies while remaining indifferent to the deep value and cyclically-oriented sectors. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook were the dominant market leaders while Boeing, Caterpillar, General Electric and General Motors all declined. The information technology sector rose 31% in the first half of the year, basic materials declined 4%, industrials fell 10%, financials dropped 17%, and energy cratered 40%. Small cap and mid-cap indexes underperformed, with declines of 13% each, which indicates investors are wary of the heavy-weightings in deeply cyclical bank, retail and REIT stocks.
Learn More
Be safe and prepared this summer
The arrival of hurricane season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic requires us all to be doubly vigilant. You’ll be hearing a lot about hurricane preparedness when it comes to protecting yourself and your loved ones in terms of shelter, safety and supplies. Researchers are predicting 19 named storms this year, and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has posted some important operational guidelines on its website (fema.gov).
Learn More
Get valuable insight and helpful advice from financial experts.
Read the Blog
Created by the Florida Department of Financial Services, the My Money Program is a comprehensive and inclusive financial literacy program and resource clearinghouse for individuals with developmental disabilities, their family members, and caregivers.
