In this heartfelt episode of Mobile Estate Planning, host Michael Bailey shares an intimate glimpse into his family life as his middle daughter reaches the significant milestone of turning 16. While exploring the excitement and anxiety accompanying a new driver in the family, Michael seamlessly transitions into discussing broader themes of independence, responsibilities, and how these personal developments reflect on estate planning needs. Listeners are given a unique perspective on the intersections of life events and legal considerations, particularly how they influence preparing for the future.
00:00:57 The Milestone of a Daughter’s 16th Birthday
00:12:16 Estate Planning and Family Considerations
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 and welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. So we can do something besides just leave your family alone. You’re listening to KLZ 560 AM or 100.7 FM, possibly on 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 once again, that’s 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. Once again, 720-394-6887. Of course, if you try to contact me… through on my personal direct line right now or any time in the next half an hour. I will probably not answer the phone because I’m in the midst of doing a radio show, so you have to call me to talk to me on the air. So, it’s been a big week at the Bailey household. My middle daughter turned 16 yesterday. So it was a good day. It was a wonderful day. I remember on my 16th birthday, I made sure that I was at the DMV so that I could get my license that day. But the way that things work here in Colorado. Now you have to have your permit for a minimum of 365 days. So last year, my daughter’s birthday was on a Sunday. So she could not go get her permit until the next day. So this morning, she was allowed to take her test. And she went to take her driving test, and she took her driving test on unfamiliar roads with an unfamiliar proctor and instructor. And when my 18-year-old was… When my 18-year-old was, when she took her driving test, she was gone for like a half an hour and, you know, all those things. Well, apparently the drive test today took 12 minutes or so my wife tells me. And, you know, my wife, of course, you know, came back. She’s like, well, Ali didn’t look very happy. And then, you know, the guy was, apparently my wife was concerned. that the guy wasn’t being super friendly or personable you know he’s like oh just needed the information and then you know she said that when she walked away she had her purse with her and the purse had the key to the car in it so it was beeping at them so she had to go back and give the key and the guy’s like so apparently my wife was getting all of the indications that all of these terrible horrible things were going to happen but apparently he got out of the car and said oh well she passed it’s all good it’s all great we’ll get it submitted so So I think my wife might have misread the signs of this individual who was maybe not the most friendly of individuals, but he apparently just observed my daughter driving and that she drove correctly and safely, and so she can go get her. license so apparently she has a 415 appointment at the dmv this afternoon she’s my wife will pick her up from school and bring her home because apparently my daughter has to and i quote fix her hair for the driver’s license photo because you know we’re really concerned about the driver’s license photo i mean i don’t think does anybody have a good driver’s license photo i don’t think it’s possible to have a good driver’s license i mean it might be but i’ve never met anybody who does you know there’s I hear they let you smile now. So apparently facial recognition software now recognizes that people have teeth. That’s exciting. Um, but it’s, uh, one of those. So she’s going to go do that and then she’ll have her license and she’s a parent. She has a scrimmage out at her, uh, club volleyball tonight. So she’s going to go drive herself out there. And my wife was like, Oh, it’s so weird. I’m like, no, this is what we’ve been working towards. This is what we’ve been hoping for. Because when our 18 year old went off to college, we lost our extra driver to get her sister, all the places they needed to go. So, um, Now the sister can be her own extra driver for herself, which is a good thing. And so… And so it looked, this is one of those things that, you know, we’re super excited about it. And, you know, we do have a car for her to drive. And, you know, apparently we have to send a copy or a picture of the new driver’s license to our insurance folks. So we’ll get a larger car insurance bill because that’s how that goes. But, you know, I’m like, yep, that’s part of the deal. That’s how it goes. You can’t, well, I suppose you can go out driving without insurance. I don’t think it’s a good idea. you know i mean uh yeah i hear commercials where they’re like oh you know something like 30 or 40 or 50 percent of the drivers on the roads are uninsured or whatever it is i’m like well we’re not going to be one of those we’ll have our car insurance because it’s good to have car insurance um and so it’s one of those things that um I remember going to get my license when I was 16 and being super excited about it. My daughter is definitely a… When I got my license, my daughter’s a much better driver than I was when I got my license. I kind of took the speed limit as a starting point and a challenge that I could go faster than it. Well, I’ve learned something different about that. And it’s not quite that way for me anymore. My wife tells me that when my… first daughter was born, that the drive to the hospital and the drive back from the hospital were definitely very different. But I remember being the kid who just got his license and was pretty excited about stuff and And so we had all sorts of good stuff going on. And, you know, when I was that age, I had all sorts of different things to do. And, you know, I thought at age 16, I knew pretty much everything and I could do all sorts of fun things. And so, you know, my daughter’s in that position now where she’s, you know, now she’s going to be able to go do all of the things and, you know, drive around and, you know, do all those type of things. And then we go and, you know, so it’s a different place in life than what I was when I was 16. And, you know, I enjoyed being 16 and I think she enjoys being 16. But it’s not going to be the same as, you know, now that I’m no longer 16. I’m a little bit older. I mean, we talked about that when we dropped my daughter off to college. And I’m like, I swear I was just here a couple of weeks ago. And I was the one who was, you know, but it wasn’t. It was 25 years ago. And so, you know, just with life things and, you know, major milestones, oh, hey, you’re driving. Okay, cool. Oh, hey, now we’re going to have, you know, go off to college. And you think you’re all grown up when you go to college. And now, you know, I don’t know that I’m, I mean, I think I’m a grown up and I have adult kids, but My clients routinely tell me that I’m young, and my kids tell me that I’m old. And I know full well I’m in the middle somewhere, because I don’t want to be a… yeah i’m not i’m i can tell i’m not young anymore i can tell i’m not old i’m kind of somewhere in the middle but you know when i’m go off to college my uh college-age daughter she uh just had uh she she was in the dorms this year and you know lived on campus and now she’s uh um Now she’s just going – she’s found an off-campus apartment that she’s going to live in. And so she’s living there. She just had to – she just signed a lease. And so apparently as a – As a parent, I get to be a guarantor of the lease. I don’t know if there have been too many kids who have not been able to finish their leases or too many kids who’ve skipped out on leases. I don’t know. But apparently I get to be a guarantor of a lease because I make more money than a college student, which is a good thing because I have to pay for life for the college student. I kind of pay for college too, but you know, still. And so it’s just a different spot of life to be in. So you are listening to Mobile Estate Planning here on 560 KLZ, also heard on 100.7 FM. Phone number to talk to Michael Bailey 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, 720-394-6887. And so it was interesting because she signed the lease, like, I think on Monday. Yesterday, she’s like, oh, well, you need to sign here. So there’s a part of the lease that I’m supposed to sign. And then I had to link a bank account so that we could make payments and stuff like that. And I ended up making the first payment for her because, you know, she’s a college student and, you know, kind of in the middle of a second semester when anybody who’s gone to college knows that Your funds start dwindling. There’s less money there. She worked all summer, and she’s got all these things. It was one of those weird things that I didn’t need to. I was like, okay, I don’t have any money as a college student. I’m running out of money. You work all summer, and then you just kind of spend it. I did have a job when I was in college. But now as an adult where I make a little bit more money than I did as a college student, I thought I was pretty rich making money. a couple thousand dollars a year as a TA back when I was in college. And I’m like, yes, I’m so rich, I can pay for school and all those type of things. Well, now as an adult, I realize that’s not quite the same. So, I mean, you know, I’m in the midst of, I’m kind of in the middle of my career. You know, I’d love to be rich enough that I could retire next year, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. So I’m kind of mid-career. And so my My things that I’m worried about as someone in a mid-career is, okay, how do I get the money to my kids and make sure that they make good decisions with that money? How do I make sure that my kids who, you know, 18, 16, and 12, almost 13, he’ll be 13 in June, 18 will be 19 in April. How do I make sure that they, if my wife and I die, how do I make sure that the assets get to them, that they’ll use them wisely? And for the 12 and 16-year-old, how do we get them all the way to being adults at age 18? And then once they hit age 18, how do we turn them from what I call baby adults or brand new adults to being fully functional members of society? So I would like to be around. My wife and I would like to be around to help with that. But if we’re gone, then the roughly $3 million in life insurance we have is what will be available to help them pay for life. And not always does… I don’t want to give my… 12-year-old a million dollars and say, hey, good luck, have fun. I don’t really want to give my 16-year-old a million dollars and say, good luck, have fun. My 18-year-old probably could handle it. But still, I want somebody who has slightly better adult type of judgment to be involved in that. And I have that in the form of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, my wife’s younger brother and his wife. So they would be the ones who would raise my kids. They would be the ones who would handle things. They would be the ones who would…
