Join Michael Bailey as he delves into the nuanced world of estate planning. In this episode, Michael discusses the crucial decision of choosing between a will and a trust. Drawing parallels with sound engineering, he emphasizes the importance of selecting the right tools and methods tailored to one’s individual needs, ensuring that your final wishes reflect your real-life circumstances.
00:27:05 Mobile Estate Planning Return Announcement
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with your host, Michael Bailey. Over a decade ago, attorney Michael Bailey turned his attention to estate law after he recognized the unacceptable number of adults without proper end of life planning. Michael recognizes that many of his clients have difficulty finding the time for making a proper estate plan. That’s why he became the Mobile Estate Planner. He will go to wherever you are to assist you with your estate planning, including writing wills, trusts, and giving you the information you need to avoid probate. Now, ATX, Ask the Experts, presents Mobile Estate Planning with your host, Michael Bailey.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, good afternoon. Welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. So we can do something besides just leave your family alone. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. And again, that’s 303-477-5600. And that is the phone number to the KLZ studios because you are listening to KLZ 560 AM, 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. If you want to talk to me directly, my direct phone number is 720-394-6887. And again, that’s 720-394-6887. And if you try to call me on that line in the next half an hour or so, I probably will not answer because I’m busy talking on the radio. And I’m just not that good to be able to have a conversation with… you about your important legal matters, and also have a, you know, be talking on the air. Sometimes, I mean, I think it’s a skill that many parents have, being able to have multiple conversations all at once. You know, when I’m sitting at a dinner table with my wife and my kids, and, you know, I may be having a conversation with my daughter, but then my wife is having with her son, and the son and the daughter having a conversation, and then I’m having with my wife, and they may not all be the same conversation. But over dinner and, hey, how was your day at school? And how did volleyball practice go? Or how was cross-country practice? Or how was your field trip? These are the kind of conversations that you can have where if you don’t pay attention quite to every single word that’s ever said because there’s multiple conversations going on, that seems okay. When we’re talking about your estate plan, it seems like a good idea to kind of focus in on that, at least for me. You know, I want to know what your life situation is. I want to know what you want to do because Your estate plan reflects your wishes and your desires, not necessarily what I want you to do or things like that. So as we’re paying attention there, even there sometimes as carefully as I can listen, sometimes I misunderstand things. And so I try to listen and I’ll ask clarifying questions and see if we can get to where we want to be so that… Your estate plan ends up looking like you want it to, and not just being a non, kind of a jumble. We don’t want it to be that. We want it to be clear and straightforward, not to be confusing. And I have lots of times where I’ll kind of present different options to people. You know, well, we can do a will or we can do a trust. They’re like, well, which one’s best? And that’s always an interesting question, best, because best isn’t the same for everybody. I have friends who they work for various estate planning firms, or I have some who are kind of like legal counsel for different companies. And sometimes I will see advertisements saying, For people who are like, oh, come to this seminar. We’ll teach you all about the 15 reasons why you have to have a trust and why it’s the greatest and best and most perfect thing ever. And we’ll tell you all about why you need to do that. So come to this free seminar. And I’m like, well, cool. That would be fun to go to. Except that I know that a lot of the reasons that they have are going to be more marketing-based than legal-based. And this will come as a complete shock to most people. The people who do those seminars, they make their money off doing trusts. It’s weird how that works out. Um, you know, I also have friends who they don’t think that anybody necessarily needs to trust because, you know, everything can happen through the will and the probate process. And that’s generally true. But they also, they make most of their money handling things on the probate side of things. So, you know, they set everything up and they’re like, oh, well, you know, you come to us for probate. Well, you know, so I don’t know what to do. Well, we’re going to need a $10,000 retainer to start and then we can start working on your probate. All right. Well, everybody’s got to make money. Everybody’s got to do what they want. I don’t do the probate or the trust administration side of things. So I don’t really care if you do will or a trust. I just want you to do what works for your situation and what you’re most comfortable with. So this morning I got the question, well, what’s best, will or trust? I said, that’s really something you’re going to have to decide. But we can talk a little bit about what it is you’re trying to accomplish. And then I think the answer will reveal itself. And so we talked for a couple of minutes about what their kid’s situation is and how old their kids were and where their kids are off at school and are they going to have grandkids anytime soon and those type of things. And that was, as we talked through everything, they’re like, oh, well, you know, okay, that makes sense. I can see. And finally, the wife just kind of looks at me and said, I think the trust is the way we want to go. And I said, okay. So not to tell you that I was right, but you answered your own question of which one’s best for you. And, you know, sometimes that’s just it. It’s nice to kind of walk people through and, you know, what the benefits and the drawbacks are. You know, I had another lady who I was explaining the differences and she’s like, I think maybe I want to do a will. I’m like, okay, sounds great. Let’s do that. Because will or a trust, all you’re, what you’re trying to do is make sure that your assets get where you want them to go and not where, um, uh, the state or other people may want them to go because, you know, there might be other parties who are, whether it’s a relative who wants to, um, get your assets or there’s a if you’re estranged from a child and the estranged child is like oh well I think I need these assets and you go okay well that may be what we want to do but it may also not be and so as we go through things like that we want to talk about where do you want them to go who do you want in charge and how do you want things to happen and then we spell that out as quick as clearly as we can in a will or a trust so that you’re so that your wishes can be carried out after you’re gone. And sometimes I will run into questions with people and they’re like, oh, well, you know, I wrote this and this is what this says. And I’m like, and I’ll read through it. I had one, somebody gave me something the other day. They’re like, oh, well, this is what we want to do. And I read it like five times and I’m like, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be a jerk here, but I don’t really understand what you’re asking here or what you’re trying to do here. And so we had a conversation about what it was they were wanting to do. It’s like, oh, okay, well, now that I understand that, I can work on trying to make that happen for you. And it wasn’t necessarily… that they were trying to do anything crazy or anything like that. It was just that they were, the way that they had written it made perfect sense to them. And it made perfect sense to them because they had all the knowledge of what their assets were, what their family was like, and who they wanted to and what they had in mind. It was all in their head. And so my brother who is, he’s an addiction recovery counselor, he talks about the curse of knowledge. And the curse of knowledge is that once you know something, you can’t unknow it. Well, and, you know, there might be, you know, in my profession where you might have Alzheimer’s or something, I’m like, yeah, you could forget things. But the idea is that once you know how to do something right and you know how to do something, you just don’t forget that and be like, oh, well, now I’m going to view this as a person who doesn’t know what I already know. So you are listening to Mobile Estate Planning here on 560 KLZ AM. Also heard on 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. This is Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. A phone number to talk to me on the air, 303-477-5600. And again, that’s 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. Once again, 720-394-6887. Growing up, basketball was my sport of choice. I played in high school, was not given the opportunity to play in college because I was Realistically, not good enough. I mean, I probably could have found somewhere to play, whether it was a Division II or Division III school, but that wasn’t where I wanted to go to college, so I went to college at BYU, which is a big-time Division I program, and given some of the recruits they have, they may be competing. They’re possibly a national title contender this year in basketball. They have the number one recruit. coming out of a prep school in Utah. And I’m like, well, hey, that’s kind of cool. But I wasn’t necessarily good enough to play at a competitive college level. But I did play through high school. And then you play some college intramurals. And then several years ago, we were out at a Our church will sponsor basketball leagues, so the various congregations will play each other. We’re like, okay, that’s fine. Well, I went to play, and it was one of those where it was kind of rec ball, kind of street ball, kind of, I don’t know, I think it was basketball because there was a ball involved and we were all on a court and there were hoops, but that’s where the similarities ended. And I found myself not enjoying it nearly as much as I enjoyed the competitive nature of basketball that was played at a, you know, that I played, you know, years ago. And, you know, so, you know, I learned how to do that. I learned how to play competitively. So, you know, when somebody is like, oh. You know, going for a layup and they give you a big bear hug. You’re like, ha, ha, ha, it’s so funny. I’m like, no, it’s really not. Or, you know, my, I know how to drive a car. I haven’t unlearned how to drive a car yet. And sometimes, you know, I mean, I’ll be driving and you see the people with the, you know, please be patient student driver. And I’m like, okay. Clearly, they’re learning. Other people probably ought to slap that sticker on there or that magnet on there more or less permanently because I’m like, okay, I promise you, you can turn right. I know that there’s a red light there, but you and I are the only cars on the road. I’m behind you. You’re right there. I promise you, you can turn right. And then I could pull up and look and see if there are any cars so that I could also safely turn right. Or sometimes we’ve been driving in the snow and you’re driving on a road that’s two lanes wide and somebody’s right in the middle of both lanes. And I’m like, it would be nice if you would pick a lane. That would be super awesome. I would really appreciate that. And do you know some people, I’m like, and I’m not going to be mad at them if that’s how they’re trying to be safe when they’re driving. Last night, my daughter was driving home from a volleyball game and She happened to be driving home during the really heavy part of the rainstorm right around 9.30 or 10 o’clock that we got up in Thornton. And so she was like, well, I was kind of driving in the middle of the road. I didn’t go any higher than 20. Now, granted, she’s on Holley, which has a speed limit of 40 or 45. But still, she was being very cautious to get home the two or three miles it is to drive home from the school. And she arrived alive, and then she braved and ran through the rain so she didn’t get too wet before she got inside. But she had to learn, really the only way to learn how to drive in the wind and the rain and the snow is to drive in the wind and the rain and the snow. And so she acquired some knowledge of how to drive last night. I think it, as it always does, it helped that she won her volleyball match. so the drive home was slightly more joyous than, or I’m all angry about everything. Yeah. There’s, you know, it’s always, so I was remarking to my wife last night. It’s always more fun when you win rather than when you lose. But, uh, You learn these things, and I have certain, when people will call me, they’re like, oh, well, you know, I need to talk about a living will. I’m like, okay, so let’s talk about that. And as I’m talking to them, I’m like, okay, they mean living trust. They said living will, but they mean living trust. And I’m not going to get upset at anybody for not knowing the technical legal definition of a legal will. Or, sorry, legal will. A living will. Living will being also what’s called an advanced directive. So, you know, that’s specifically, you know, do we pull the plug or not? And what do we do with… things, you know, the last few little, you know, just end of life things, you know, that’s what a living will is for. And, you know, I don’t expect everybody to know that. But, you know, when I’m like, okay, so it sounds like you’re talking about a living trust. And they’re like, oh, I thought it was a living will. I’m like, nah. So in the legal language that I use, I have to be very precise. So I’m going to call it a living trust. You I’m not going to be like mad at you about that. But when I say living trust, we’re talking about the same thing here so that we can get to what we want to know. Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And when you at least for me, when I do something and I’ve done it well or I do it right, I want to continue to do it well and do it right. And so when it comes to estate planning, that’s what I’m trying to do is do it well, do it right and do it the way that you want done well and right so that what you want gets properly implemented and assets go where they’re supposed to after you pass away. And there may or may not be one right best way to do that. Now, in certain instances, there are ways things have to be done. So my daughter is a volleyball player. She also performs with the marching band. This year she’s playing the piccolo. She plays the flute and the piccolo, but this year she’s got a piccolo part. So the first performance that we went to watch them, they were at a, it was halftime of a football game. And so they were supposed to perform, and so they were ready to go. And, you know, a minute passes, and then another minute passes. So like two and a half minutes, and we’re all kind of sitting there going, all right, what’s going on? And then you hear the hum of the, which is, you know, positive electronic feedback. So apparently the person who knew how to properly plug in and set up the sound system graduated last year and did not pass along the knowledge of how to properly plug in and set up the sound system to the people who would be left. And, you know, you’d think there’d be like a coach or a parent or a teacher or something who would know that. But they’d become, over the last four years, they’d become so reliant on this person that kind of the institutional knowledge of how to plug things in properly had fallen away. So, at this performance, they were trying really hard to get everything all plugged in, but they’d crossed a couple of, you know, they had an input plugged into an output and an output plugged into an input. And for some reason, the microphone going into the output did not connect properly so that the input going to the output of the speakers also did not conduct sound the way they were supposed to go. And you’d think, oh, hey, these are all standard wires. It’s just, you know, from point A to point B. But no, they’re not. I mean, I know that because I have, you know, my dad’s a sound, the head sound wizard. And, you know, there’s different, you know, there’s different voltages and amperage of wires. And the signal that goes from an amplifier out to the speakers is going to be a lot more powerful. So it needs a much bigger cable. Then the one that comes from my microphone to the soundboard, then to be powered up and sent out over the airwaves like here. So Luke, if I tried to take the microphone cord right here and plug it from your soundboard into the next stage to send it to the antenna to send, would it work? Probably not. Really? Yeah. Are you sure? Because all wires are the same, right? Sure. No, wait, they’re not. See? Just like all gasoline is the same, right? Put diesel in your regular engine. It’ll be fine. Right. You know, leaded, unleaded. It’s all the same. It’s all fuel, right? I mean, we learned that from the great documentary Back to the Future, where, you know, it runs off fusion. No, the Back to the Future 3, where the fuel line gets hit by an arrow and you’re like, no, the car actually has to run. And so then they have to use a train to go off a cliff, and now it’s Eastwood Ravine instead of Clayton Ravine, or if you remember that part of the movie. But still, despite the fact that we are referencing Back to the Future movies, this is Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey here on 560 AM KLZ, also heard on 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. And again, that’s 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. Once again, 720-394-6887. So eventually they got the sound system up and running and they performed about five minutes of what was supposed to be a 10 to 15 minute show. And then they had to stop because the football game was going to start again. You’re like, oh, okay. Well, when you’re plugging things in, you have to plug them in the right spots and you have to have the right chords and you have to have the right microphones to pick up the sound. You have to have the right sound equipment to then take those sounds and send them out to the speakers so the speakers will play the sounds so that everything sounds like it’s supposed to. But producing sound is not necessarily going to be a product of the sound system. I mean, my dad, we always talked about how it was sound reinforcement. It was not sound creation. So when we would have people performing, whether it was a song and dance group or a band or just whatever it was, a soloist, they had to produce the sound. And then we would reinforce it and make it loud enough that everybody could hear. And that kind of makes sense. I’ve been at the Rockies game, and the person who’s singing the national anthem is down there on the field. And from where I can afford tickets, it’s a person way far away down on the field, although sometimes I sit in the outfield and there’s a microphone near that field. I’m like, ha-ha, I can see them. um but the sound doesn’t exist if the sound doesn’t exist we can’t make it exist that was especially true sometimes when we do like shows for a performing arts academy and they bring out the little five and six year olds and they would sing their song twinkle twinkle little star And I’m like, yes, yes, sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. That is great. But you have to sit close enough to the microphone that we can even pick up the little tiny voices that you have. And so we’re trying to, but we would reinforce that sound. Sometimes we’d have to go adjust the microphone so they’re pointed towards them more so we could get a little bit more sound. But yes, everything has to be plugged in properly to work. And you need to have the right equipment to make it work. But the performance itself, Although it could be detracted from by poor sound equipment and poor sound reinforcement, you can’t have a performance without the sound reinforcement. So how does that relate to estate planning? Well, if you are the one producing the sound, you’re the one producing the content, you’re the one producing where are things supposed to go, then I get to take and put it in the proper legal format and the proper legal methodology and so that everything’s plugged in properly and so that people can hear your voice when you’re done now not your actual voice we’re not going to record you reading the will and say oh look now they can we can listen to them read it and we write it down but the actual writing it down is it important to have the right equipment yes is it important to have the right legal equipment yes is it important to put them all together in the correct order yes is it important to put them all together The correct way? Yes. Does that mean every will will always be the same? No. There are different types of microphones. There are different types of sound boards. There are different types of speakers. There are different types of what goes from where to where. And not all of them are the same. Even sitting in the studio right here, the microphone I’m speaking into is a slightly different microphone from some of the other ones that are available for guests. And when I’m a guest on John Rush’s show, I speak into a different microphone. It still picks up my voice when I talk into it. And it still gets broadcast over the airwaves. And that’s really cool. But does that mean that one microphone is superior to another? No, not necessarily. Does it mean that one microphone can do a different job than a different microphone? Yes. So we, as sound people when we were doing shows, we would have kind of solo mics where a person who was singing solo could pick it up and sing into it and be right next to it. We were trying to pick up a whole big group. We would have sometimes what we called shotgun mics because we They would, they were kind of longer and skinnier and they would pick up kind of a, kind of a bulbous pattern. And then more recently we’ve acquired some floor mics and the floor mics will pick up pretty much everything. So we’re like, so we tell people like, Hey, when you’re walking out, try not to stamp your feet and clump too much. You know, the floor mics were not the main thing to use when someone was doing a tap dancing routine. That just wasn’t what we needed unless you’re trying to pick up the tapping. And that makes sense. But you use the proper microphone. You use the proper thing of a will or a trust or a power of attorney to accomplish what you want to do. But you’re the one producing the sound. You’re the one telling me what to do. You’re the one that’s, you know, I mean, I can pick up the sound of Mariah Carey singing the national anthem. And I can make it sound good. But if you’re no Mariah Carey, but you’re more of a… Michael Bailey, then your sound probably won’t be quite as rich and as full and as awesome as Mariah Carey, a professional singer. Having said that, last year at a volleyball game, the girl who was supposed to sing it forgot, didn’t show up. So I was kind of looking around and the poor person with the announcer with the microphone was panicking and trying to find a version of it on his phone. And I said, hey, hand me the microphone. And so I just went ahead and sang it because although I’m not a professional singer, I am capable enough to sing the national anthem. And so we did that. It worked out great. Earlier this year, one of the players tried to sing the National Anthem, and she got two-thirds of the way and forgot the words. And she’s like, oh no! And eventually her whole team came over and the whole team sang it. I’m like, yep, that’s a good way to start. That’s a good way to support your team. But you can’t make up the words to the National Anthem. It doesn’t work particularly well. So the words that go into your estate plan… I got to know what they are. I got to know who you want it to. I got to know that content from you. And then I can reinforce and amplify that and put it in the right format of a will or a trust and having the will or the trust work the way that you want it to so that everybody can hear what you have to say. Everybody can understand what you have to say and everything can work for you and it will be the best possible outcome for you. So thanks so much for listening to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. I hear the music. Music tells me I’m out of time. So once again, my phone number is 720-394-6887. And again, 720-394-6887. Stay tuned for John Rush and Rush to Reason, and I’ll talk to you next week. Thanks and bye.
SPEAKER 01 :
Mobile estate planning with Michael Bailey will return to ATX next Wednesday at 2.30 here on KLZ 560, AM 560, FM 100.7, and online at klzradio.com.
