[WSBAPT] Conditional gift?
Andrekita Silva
ak at seattle-silvalaw.com
Fri Mar 15 14:55:20 PDT 2019
Adrienne,
It is our job to help prepare documents that reflect our client’s
wishes. So, if your client insists on this type of a conditional
devise, I agree that it is better to tie a devise to positive activity
such as Eric proposed- if for no other reason than that it’s a little
easier to get the evidence in order for a beneficiary to claim their
inheritance.
If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage a more extensive
conversation with the client. If client were to die tomorrow, does
she know which nieces / nephews would receive a gift/devise? Does she
like those nieces/ nephews better as a result of their political
philosophy or activities? She has a right to gift her money to anyone
she wants for any reason she wants. So, if right now she
favors/disfavors certain ncs/nephs due to their political beliefs, she
can identify those she favors and give them a straightforward
unconditional devise. This would make the PR’s job easier.
If client wants to make sure that everyone knows WHY she favored/chose
those ncs/nephs, I don’t know why she can’t put a short statement
about that in her will. However, if she has 10 nieces/ nephews and all
but the 2 republicans receive a gift, it won’t take a rocket scientist
to discern the basis for her gifting.
It’s not our job to try to change a client’s mind. But, I think it
might be helpful to explore client’s ultimate goal with her.
Is client’s goal to convert ncs/nephs to her political point of view?
If that is the case, simply rewarding those who share her political
point of view after her death doesn’t really do anything to accomplish
that goal. She might need to take more active steps in her lifetime to
try to persuade her Republican ncs/nephs to have a different point of
view.
Maybe client needs to be upfront with ncs/nephs that she would like to
persuade them to have different political outlook. (without saying
“you’ll be rewarded upon my death”). If ncs/nephs live locally, maybe
she can encourage them to attend a March, a rally, etc. with her in
exchange for her attending a political activity of their choice. Or,
I’ll watch one hour of xxx news if you watch one hour of xxx news and
then we can discuss. She can keep track of which of those ncs/nephs
did or didn’t show a willingness to be exposed to her point of view.
She can keep a tally sheet and leave it for her PR to help with her
determine who will receive the conditional gift.
If her goal is to be remembered as a generous democrat, does her plan
for a conditional gift accomplish that goal? When parents leave a
gift to two children and not a third, they often ensure that they
leave behind hard feelings. Even adult siblings who love each other
can’t help but to relive the pain they experienced growing up or
during their adult life due to feeling that they were unloved by a
parent or treated unfairly. These devises can leave a lot of chaos in
their wake and cause long term problems in the relationship between
the adult siblings.
Clearly, the relationship between ncs/nephs and their aunt isn’t as
impactful as a child’s relationship to a parent. But, I think it is
worth exploring client’s goal(s) with her, and helping her to consider
whether her devise accomplishes her goal(s), and whether some of the
costs and/ or practical problems that might arise in trying to
implementing her proposed devise outweigh the benefit.
If client wants to proceed, then you can continue to brainstorm (as
has been done on this list serve) with her and share the pros and cons
of the various possible plans to effectuate her wishes and then pick
the best.
andrekita
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, Washington 98101
206-224-8288
www.seattle-silvalaw.com
Quoting Rick Hoss <rhoss at hctc.com>:
> Of the possible answers to this client, Eric’s positive shift to
> volunteer hours or causes is the best.
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> FROM: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
> [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] ON BEHALF OF Eric Nelsen
> SENT: Thursday, March 14, 2019 4:40 PM
> TO: 'WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv'
> SUBJECT: Re: [WSBAPT] Conditional gift?
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> Not that you OR your client is asking to have their mind changed,
> but I have sometimes talked to client about changing their negative
> wishes into positive ones. What about conditioning the gift on, say,
> documented minimum X hours volunteer work for a particular
> organization that has a purpose the client sees as countering the
> aspect of Greek life s/he dislikes so much? And re the political
> party, if it's just anti-Republican, how about work to make
> redistricting a non-partisan process nationwide, or to allow some
> type of ranked voting to diffuse the two-party system, or some kind
> of non-profit that has a mission explicitly counter to some part of
> the Republican platform?
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> Sincerely,
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> Eric
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> Eric C. Nelsen
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> SAYRE LAW OFFICES, PLLC
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> 1417 31st Ave South
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> Seattle WA 98144-3909
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> phone 206-625-0092
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> fax 206-625-9040
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> FROM: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
> [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] ON BEHALF OF Eric Nelsen
> SENT: Thursday, March 14, 2019 4:11 PM
> TO: 'WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv'
> SUBJECT: Re: [WSBAPT] Conditional gift?
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> I dunno about legality, but my first thought is how would the
> Trustee even be able to verify whether or not the conditions were
> met? The fact of voting is not secret, but the vote itself is. Even
> the "never been a Greek" is pretty difficult to really verify (and
> do the secret society groups like Skull and Bones at Yale count, or
> is it just the American Greek system?). An affidavit from the
> beneficiary doesn't seem too reliable.
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> Sincerely,
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> Eric
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> Eric C. Nelsen
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> SAYRE LAW OFFICES, PLLC
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> 1417 31st Ave South
>
>
>
> Seattle WA 98144-3909
>
>
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> phone 206-625-0092
>
>
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> fax 206-625-9040
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> FROM: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
> [mailto:wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] ON BEHALF OF Adrienne
> Keith Wills
> SENT: Thursday, March 14, 2019 3:40 PM
> TO: wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com
> SUBJECT: [WSBAPT] Conditional gift?
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> Hi Listmates:
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> I have a client who has some strongly-held beliefs and has
> expressed a preliminary desire to make testamentary gifts to some
> nieces/nephews if they’ve turned 25 and if all of the following are
> also true: Recipient is not a registered member of the Republican
> party, has never voted for a Republican candidate, and has never
> been a member of a college fraternity/sorority.
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> The conditions aren’t to induce illegal behavior but I’m curious
> to get a read on “rewarding” someone’s voting choices. The
> condition wouldn’t prevent someone from voting, and it would apply
> to votes that had occurred at the time of the testator’s death.
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> Thanks in advance, Adrienne
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> --
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> Adrienne Keith Wills, Attorney/Mediator
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> Helping family law and estate planning clients create their legacy
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> 1700 Seventh Ave, Suite 2100 | Seattle, WA 98101
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> Web: www.AdrienneKeith.com[1] | Tel. (206) 523-3047[2] | Fax
> _(206) 219-6714_
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Links:
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[1] http://www.adriennekeith.com/
[2] tel:%28206%29%20523-3047
andrekita
Law Office of F. Andrekita Silva
1325 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, Washington 98101
206-224-8288
www.seattle-silvalaw.com
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