Join Michael as he addresses popular myths in estate planning that can put loved ones at risk. Through an engaging discussion with a young listener, he emphasizes the necessity of planning beyond trust and marriage. With personal anecdotes and a listener call-in session, Michael shares how vital it is to equip family members with the information and legal tools they need. The episode closes with a reflection on his journey from personal life experiences to becoming an estate planner, underscoring the importance of preparedness in unpredictable circumstances.
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 04 :
Good afternoon and welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. So we can do something besides just leave you alone. You are listening to KLZ 560 AM, 100.7 FM, possibly on the KLZ 560 radio app. Or if you’re Luke, you’re lucky enough to be listening in the booth and sending it out to everybody else so that they can hear too, which is always an exciting time. Now, about 10 minutes ago, I got a text from Mr. Luke who was wondering if I was coming in today or if I was going to be out today. Perhaps on one of your calendars, you thought that I was going to be out, Mr. Luke. Is that correct?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I had it written down that you were gone one of these Wednesdays and I don’t remember which Wednesday I put it on.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. I get calls from clients all the time or emails from clients. I got one last night about 9.45 p.m. Hey, Michael, I put down that we had our appointment on Wednesday and on Friday. Can you tell me which one it is? And I said, well, I have it for Friday. And they’re like, okay, well, we can do that. But sometimes it’s a danger of you know, scheduling and everybody not remembering everything all the time. And, you know, I’ve, I’ve been, you know, my, my schedule I’m booked out through like, I think my next available appointment is like May 5th or something like that. So I’m booked about three months out. And, you know, some people will call and they’ll say, oh, well, you know, I’m like, well, you know, I’m booking the week of May 5th through the 9th. Does that work for your time frame? People are like, well, no, I really need to do it before then. I’m like, okay, well, unfortunately, I don’t have more availability than that. So, you know, sometimes I end up turning down people and sending them on to others who might have sooner availability than I do. And it’s never been a thing where I’m not trying to skip out on people. I’m not trying to not help people. But it’s a simple matter of when a schedule is busy. And my client this morning said to me, he’s like, oh, well, So when you write this, then you’re done and we can never talk to you again. I’m like, no, it just means I’m not committing to represent you for everything from now until the end of time. I’m not committing that when we get your trust written and we get your trust done, that if you ever have a question or you call me, that I’m going to be like, oh, right, because you’re still my client. So I need to hurry and answer that question. I’m like, I will answer questions. I’m happy to. I will return, you know, I’ll get to, I will call you back. It just may not be the moment that you call. And sometimes, I mean, on Monday, I had about eight people who called me between 3.30 and 5 p.m. Well, I was in client openings from 2 to 5 p.m., so I didn’t have the chance to call anybody back. So I called them back on Tuesday morning or, you know, this morning I spent some time calling a couple of people back who had called me between 445 and five o’clock last night. It’s just, you know, it’s how it is. And because I am a solo estate planning attorney, I and I do return my own phone calls, which other attorneys tell me is crazy. I’m like, yeah, but I kind of like being able to talk to people, kind of like being able to ask them what their questions are or figure out what their concerns are and then respond directly. It makes me feel like I’m connected to people, which is good because I’d like to be connected to people. And I do estate planning because I can be connected to people and I can help people. and but what it means is the longer that i am in business the more people i’ve helped and the more people there are who are vying for attention that’s that’s kind of how it goes now you know some of the bigger law firms they have or even some people who i know who you know started their practice at a similar time that i did or after i did they have other people who work for them And then they have more paralegals or more legal secretaries, just more people who answer the phones than what I have. And that’s how they’ve done their business, and I’m super excited and super happy for them. But where I have, for whatever reason, whether I, somebody asked me the other day if I don’t play well with others, meaning coworkers. I’m like I think I play well with I think I play pretty well with co-workers I mean you know Luke is over there getting things out there he’s not technically a co-worker but I think I get along okay with Luke unless I’m completely wrong and Luke is just like oh my gosh let’s get through this you know just kind of you know grits his teeth together he’s like let’s get through this half an hour and then we get rid of Michael and he won’t be here but I do think I play decently well with others I just uh I do have a paralegal who works for me, I have a notary who works for me, and I think I get along with them pretty well, and they seem to get along okay with me. So it’s not necessarily that I don’t play well with others, it’s just the way that I’ve structured my practice of mobile estate planning, where I go visit people where they are. So I’m not always in the office. This morning I was in my office to meet with somebody in Broomfield. And then now I’m down here and then I’ll be in Aurora to meet with somebody after this, after we’re done here. And so, you know, I’m out of the office a fair amount. And so if I were to take on somebody new to work for me, I haven’t figured out how I would train that person. If I’m not around, you know, if they’re like, oh, well, you know, we need to be here. We need to see what you’re doing when you see how you. So I’m like, OK, well, we’ll figure out how we can interact with clients. And I’m like, do you want to come in all my meetings with me? And we’ll drive there in separate cars because, you know, you may not want to. just drive with me in my car especially if they don’t live you know i live in thornton main office is in broomfield um you know if somebody if i hire somebody who lives in um say wheat ridge i’m like well yeah what are we gonna do hey we’ll meet up somewhere wheat ridge area and then we’ll drive around all day together and then i’ll drop you off at your back where your car is and we’ll go home like that may not i just i haven’t figured out how that would work particularly well yet And my particular mobile estate planning isn’t what everybody does. You know, I mean, whenever I’m not available, people are like, oh, well, can you recommend somebody else who can come visit us where we are? And I’m like, really? I don’t know a whole lot of attorneys that do that. It’s a somewhat unique thing that I do. And when I was first starting out, I could both come visit people where they are. And when I didn’t have a two or three month waiting list, I could go see them within a couple of days. And it was incredibly convenient for absolutely everybody all the time. Well, as I’ve grown and as I’ve helped more people, there are more demands upon the time and I still want to help everybody and I don’t want anybody to get shortchanged. So sometimes there’s a little bit of a delay in what we’re doing. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that just because there’s delay doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to help you. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to help a whole lot of people. And therefore, there might be delays from time to time. I had a potential client the other day asked me, he’s like, well, I’m sure that you set aside five to 10 hours a week to make sure that you can, you know, if any current client calls that you can get them taken care of. And I’m like, well, Actually, I don’t. And it’s not that I’m trying to avoid anybody. It’s not that I’m trying to do anything that wouldn’t be good for people. It’s simply that the time is there or maybe not available. And so because of that, we do the best I can to take care of people. And, you know, most, you know, when a client does call me and says, oh, you know, I need to get back to you. You know, I need to get back to you to, you know, talk to you about something or I’m like, OK, well, you know, I do have a full slate of things that I’m doing, but I’m in Broomfield from two to three. And then from three to four, I need to go over to Thornton and then I’m in Thornton at four. Well, that drive is only about 20 minutes. So that gives me an extra half an hour in there. Where I can call people and get their questions answered or respond to them. So, you know, I may not have dedicated time set up to being like, oh, you know, I hope somebody calls so that I’m, you know, I’m busy this time. I’m like, no, there’s, there’s always something else to do. But I do my best to make the time to help people when they need it. So you are listening to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey here on 560 KLZ AM or 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. and once again that’s 303-477-5600 and my direct line is 720-394-6887 once again that’s 720-394-6887 So I did have a guy who called me a few weeks ago, and he’s like, oh, you know, I want to set up a will. I’m like, okay, cool. And so we talked about what he needed. I’m like, all right, well, we can schedule an appointment to talk about it. He’s like, well, when are you available? I’m like, well, at that point I said, you know, the end of April. And he’s like, oh, my gosh, you’re busy. I’m like, I am. I said, I’m happy to help you. It’s just, you know, it may not be in the next week or two. He says, well, you know, you don’t need a piddly little, you know, $500. You don’t need a piddly little simple will like I’m doing. And I said, well, you know, see, here’s the thing is, that you are every bit as important as the person who needs a more expensive, more complex trust. So the person who calls and says, oh, well, I have 10 different real estate properties in 10 different states, and I’m on my third marriage, and I have kids from all three marriages, and I want to do all of these things. I’m like, okay, that might be a more complex, more expensive, more profitable trust. trust for me, I’m not going to put that person in front of all the other people who’ve called me. You know, if my day is filled with people who I know I’m going to go visit and they’ll need a simple, hesitate to call it basic, type of will where I say, okay, we’re going to leave everything to your spouse and then everything to your kids and that’s all you need? Okay, cool, good, we can do that. And I’m like, well, that’s going to be a lot less expensive than 10 real estate properties in 10 different states and third marriage and kids from all of them and things like that. You know, it’s just how it goes. Well, I’m not going… I mean, everybody is… Everybody is as important as the other person. So we’re not going to… I’m not going to just say, oh, hey, we need to, yeah, I need to put someone who’s going to make me more money in front of somebody else. I’m like, no, I prefer to, so we wanted it to, we wanted it to go to different places. We want to make sure that they’re taken care of and so that everybody’s okay and the way that it’s supposed to be. So as we go through, and I have people who call me, I’m like, somebody who calls me is every bit as important as somebody else. And I help as many people as I can, but I also understand that sometimes my timeframe and my availability or lack thereof doesn’t always match up with what other people need. A person who calls me and says, oh, well, you know, I’m going on vacation in three weeks. I need to get this done. I’m like, okay. I may not be the attorney for you. And it’s not that I don’t want to help them. I really do. But I also understand that if they’re trying to get something done within three weeks, that my schedule doesn’t necessarily allow them to do that. So that person is every bit as important as somebody else, and they need what they need, and they need it within the time that they need. But they can’t always, but I can’t always be the one to provide it. I help as many people as I can as quickly as I can. When you, when you come to me and you say, Hey, I need to do an estate plan. I’m like, cool. Let’s let’s work on getting that done. But it doesn’t always work out just because of timing things. I don’t think I’m the only industry that that happens in. I mean, sometimes if we’re talking about, I took my, on Saturday, this past Saturday, I took all of my Christmas decorations down. It’s the first warm Saturday we’ve had in several weeks, and without snow and ice, so I could get all of them down. And then I took my wife and we went out to dinner on Saturday night because we’d been I’d been on the roof working on the roof for a couple of hours and then out in the was out in the yard for four or five hours and my wife joined me for a couple of those as we were disassembling Christmas decorations and putting them away and everything like that and so as we did that we had As we did that, we kind of got hungry, so took her out to dinner. And the first place that we called, they’re like, well, there’s a 25 to 35 minute wait. And I said, okay, we’ll see if we can stop by and if that works. And then we called somewhere else and they had a five to 10 minute wait. And we were hungry enough that we went to the five to 10 minute wait. nothing against the people with the 25 to 35 minute wait, but we didn’t particularly and they were similar types of food and, you know, similar area. It wasn’t like we were driving across the We weren’t driving across the city to go to a different place to eat. But it meant that we were able to, you know, we picked where we wanted to eat based on what our priorities were. And I did have a client this morning who’s like, well, you know, we set up an appointment with her for May 2nd. And she’s like, oh, you know, it’s just one of those things when you get going, you really want to get it done and get it done as quickly as you can. I’m like, and I’m totally on board with you with that. we just want to get it just, you know, got to do what we need to do there to get it taken care of. And so, you know, we set things up with her. She says, well, you know, if you have a cancellation, please let me know. And I said, I absolutely will. And, you know, if I do have somebody who cancels in a time that I could help her out, then we would do that. But as I try to help people, you know, this is why I always talk about estate planning and how we need to plan ahead. It looks like we have a caller here. Mr. Mike, is it?
SPEAKER 02 :
yeah hi michael this is mike the millennial i i might be your youngest caller i’m 20 years old and i actually was just telling your screener that i heard your show for the first time this past weekend on uh klc and i was like really impressed like you were talking about harry potter and you know not yeah that’s not what you typically hear on conservative talk radio and i was like wow this guy’s different he’s interesting he’s um it’s like yes you know well thanks i try to be interesting you know sometimes i guess it’s in the eye of the beholder but i appreciate the compliment absolutely no i just wanted to tell you i really enjoy you and i enjoy your show and i i guess i did have a question prepared about estate planning it doesn’t really apply to me since i’m so young but um Yeah, so no, I just read this article. It was called for estate planning myths that put your loved ones at risk and You know, one of the main ones they were talking about, when my spouse and I trust each other completely. Ameriprise did a survey. It revealed 95% of couples trust each other with their finances completely. But when couples don’t plan because they trust each other to carry out their financial wishes after they die, That could run into some problems. For instance, if a spouse dies and they get remarried, those assets could be transferred to the new spouse, and the kids and the essential family members wouldn’t even get the assets that they’re entitled to, essentially. And I thought that was kind of an interesting thing to bring up. Obviously, it doesn’t apply to me, but I was wanting to get your take on that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, yeah, I mean, when you have, um, so if you have a plan and you, when you die and everything just goes to your spouse, then your spouse is in control of everything. And if that spouse were to remarry, then they could, um, then. give money to the new spouse or to the new spouse’s kids and things like that. So for people who are in that situation where they’ve had, or they’re concerned about that, I talk about millennial. Sometimes I quote people, the great philosopher, Mr. Kanye West, and his brilliant treatise on relationships, Gold Digger, where we ain’t saying she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messing with no broke. I cannot say the next word. It rhymes with digger, but I’m not going to say it out loud. And people are concerned, oh, well, if somebody dies, and then, oh, we remarry. When I’m talking to clients, I’m like, well, if she marries her second trophy husband, you, of course, being the first, or… you marry your second trophy wife, you of course being the first with the person I’m sitting there, so I’m complimenting the spouses I’m sitting there, then we don’t necessarily want the money to be going there. So if that’s a concern and that’s something we’re trying to be worried about, we can plan ahead and say, okay, well, we’re gonna leave this money, we’re going to leave it maybe not outright to a spouse because we think that that might not be the best idea, but instead we leave it in trust and then it’s available for us, the surviving spouse, to use. But that money would then go on to their kids and be prevented from going to somebody else. And so we do that and we can set that up if that’s a concern that somebody has and we just plan ahead. And, you know, I find that sometimes for even, you know, not necessarily divorce or remarriage, But when somebody passes away and leaves everything to their spouse and then the surviving spouse ends up with mental capacity issues like Alzheimer’s or dementia. And now suddenly we’re like, OK, are we you trust the person completely? But then that person, when they’re not fully of sound mind, they may or may not be giving. The money to the other proper places. I mean, I’ve had I’ve had many people call me and be like, oh, you know, my mom is, you know, she’s sending five thousand dollars a month to some televangelist that she sees on TV. And I’m like, well, maybe we need to see if we can get a little bit of. you know, guardrails and protections in place there. And, you know, you can’t prevent anything and everything. I mean, we all spend money unwisely from time to time, you know, whether it’s, you know, it’s unwisely because we’re and we believe the FanDuel commercials that You know, we’ll get our money back if the person scores a second touchdown instead of the first touchdown. And suddenly we’re, you know, you’re $3,000 into gambling. You’re like, oh, I lost $3,000 gambling. That wasn’t great. Or it’s, hey, I’m hungry. I need something nutritious. Maybe I’ll stop at Taco Bell and get a taco. I’m like, well, if you’re thinking that Taco Bell and nutritious are in the same sentence, you’re wrong. and you’re not saying they’re not, then we’re wrong. You eat Taco Bell for taste, not necessarily for nutrition. That’s just how it goes. And I understand that. So we can’t prevent anything and everything, but we put some guardrails in place so that hopefully we make the money last for a surviving spouse. And it’s not just, oh, hey, if they get remarried, it’s, well, what happens if life happens around that? So those are certainly important things to think about and consider for marriage. Even for someone like you. Not that I think you’re going to get Alzheimer’s or dementia anytime soon. Hopefully not. Right. But, you know, my personal history where I was severely injured and spent four days in a coma, I couldn’t make my own decisions for that time. So, hey, we’ve got to do something about it. What happened, if you don’t mind me asking? What? Oh, so I got hit by a light rail train when I was 21 years old.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my God.
SPEAKER 04 :
It struck me in my right thigh, so it compound fractured my right femur, threw me about 20 feet through the air, fractured my left scapula, hit my head, fractured my skull. And I spent four days in a coma. And I was age 21 when this happened. So as a 21-year-old, I got taught, hey, you’re not immortal. You might need to do something else. And so I find it somewhat ironic that I ended up as a estate planning attorney because that’s not what I went to law school to do.
SPEAKER 02 :
But still. You know, it’s so funny you mentioned that, Michael. Could I share a quick story before I hop off the air here? Sure. When I was 16, I was like 15 or 16, I was on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. And there was one of the light rail trains actually coming pretty much full speed. And I was just walking. I wasn’t paying attention. I had no idea it was coming until almost the last minute because it had no horn. It didn’t make any noise. Right. And telling you, if I didn’t move within four or five seconds, I would have been hit on by that train. And another story, real quick, this is when I was in middle school. I was just leaving middle school. I was looking for my mom in the parking lot, and I walked off the curb. And, you know, I was looking around, looking for her car. I was walking about 10. Five seconds later, a car was speeding through the school parking lot, almost hit me head on. If I did not stop to look for, you know, to find my mom, that car would have hit me head on. So I’ve had a couple of really close calls myself, Michael, but I got to tell you, you know, I’m serious. You have talent. I, you know, I’ve loved radio from a young age. I was telling your screener I’ve called into Coast to Coast AM many times, and that’s on 850 KOA. And I used to call into the Jim Bohannon show before he passed. And then I’ve called into John Rush two times, I think. And then I also call into a show on 670 KLTT called The Narrow Path and at your sister station, and that’s syndicated. But, you know, you… How did you first get into radio, if you don’t mind me asking?
SPEAKER 04 :
So I have a friend who is a civil litigation attorney. And he did a show with two separate attorneys. And then they split and did their own shows. So he had to go look for his own advertising. And he called me up and asked me if I would be an advertiser on his show and a sponsor of it. And I said, sure. And then they had a, one of their stations had a slot for a show. And so I’m like, well, sure, I’ll try that. And then this radio station, KLZ here, I mean, years ago, they had a whole panel of kind of ask the experts type of thing where we could, you know, I mean, I was here, there was a financial planner, there was a real estate person. And, you know, they’ve, some of those people have come and gone, but I’ve stuck around and I enjoy doing this and I enjoy, you know, listening to people like you and you talk about your stories and like, it’s amazing how many people have a story like mine or like yours where you’re like, Oh, Hey, this is kind of prompted us to do something different, but I’ve always enjoyed just interacting with people and, you know, being on the, being on the radio, I at least get to talk out to people and, you know, some people like my sense of humor. Some people don’t. That’s cool. I’m good with that, but it’s, it’s kind of a fun time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Did you used to have a show on KDMT, Denver’s Money Talk?
SPEAKER 04 :
I think I did, yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, because that station used to be Radio Disney, 1690 KDDZ, and then Salem bought that station, and then they flipped it to Money Talk, Business Talk, and I could have swore. I used to listen to Larry Elder on there, and I could have swore I heard you. I don’t know. I could be completely wrong. Yep, that was years ago. Yeah. And Jimmy Sangenberger used to be on there, too. He had a show on there. But I don’t want to take any more of your time because I don’t know if you’re paying for this time or not. But thank you so much for just taking my call and having a conversation with me. It means a lot. Thank you so much, really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, no, I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you calling in. Thank you so much. All right. So now that we’ve gone six minutes past, you’re listening to 560 KLZ AM or 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. This is Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. 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. And again, that’s 720-394-6887. Now, I did appreciate the caller being happy that I referenced Harry Potter. I’m like, well, I have lots of things that I can reference. I referenced Harry Potter. What was it? Six months ago, I referenced The Far Side and Gary Larson, and poor Luke didn’t know what I was talking about. So he had to go Google it and look up who Gary Larson and The Far Side was. In college, I double majored in American Studies and Economics. So I’ve studied lots of American history, so I have lots of references that I can give to people. I like to think that I can connect with people based on stuff. My grandfathers were World War II vets, so when I talk to older folks, I can have conversations about what was important to them. But realistically, everything I’ve done and everything I try to do is just so that I can help people get their estate plan done and be prepared. Music tells me my time is up. So thanks so much for listening to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. I’ll be back next week. But I guess for right now, you can stay tuned because John Rush and Russia Reason are coming up next. 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.
