Neyens Law, PLLC

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Client Spotlight

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Let’s be honest, estate planning can be a rather dry subject. Our clients are the spice for us at Neyens Law.

During the planning process we dig deep and really get to know our clients, the decisions they’ve made, what brought them to this point and how future decisions can affect and protect them down the road.

We hope our client spotlights give a little insight into the people we serve.

Meet Glen & Peg

We recently worked with Glen and Peg. They are a happily married couple from Oakdale, Minnesota who wanted something in place so their final wishes were clear.

Check out our Q&A with them below!

Why did you choose to work with Neyens Law?

We attended her estate planning seminar and liked her approach to this complex issue.

Why was designing an estate plan so important to you?

Since we have no children, we wanted to make sure our final wishes and intentions were followed.

What’s something that surprised you about your experience with Neyens Law?

It was a painless experience and Elizabeth communicated in words we could understand.

What is your favorite family tradition and how did it become a tradition?

We love nature and walleye fishing. Both of us were raised fishing and camping.

What are you most looking forward to once social distancing is no longer in place?

More time up north at the lake, lunches with friends and extended family, and winning at the casinos.

How are you staying connected to people you care about during the pandemic?

By phone, email and text.

What is your favorite restaurant in the Twin Cities?

Tavern on Grand Avenue. Great fresh walleye!

B2B – Crossroads Properties

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Helping business owners in our community is something we enjoy doing at Neyens Law. We recently worked with Mark Young from Crossroads Properties. Crossroads Properties has been engaged in the business of developing, owning, leasing and managing commercial real estate. Their holdings include over 500,000 sq. ft. of office, office/showroom, office/warehouse and service space.

Crossroads Properties helped our firm find the perfect space. Mark and his associates took the time to understand our current and future needs, which resulted in the move to our current location.

Mark is all about family and one of the most important parts of having an estate plan in place was giving him the piece of mind that his family was taken care of.

Here’s a little Q & A client spotlight with Mark Young of Crossroads Properties.

Q: Why was designing an estate plan so important to you?

A: I want to know my family is protected.

Q: Why did you chose to work with Neyens Law?

A: I trust Elizabeth and felt she was looking after my best interests.

Q: What’s something most people don’t know about you that you are willing to share?

A: My wife is way smarter than I am (now that I think about it, most of my friends that know my wife are already aware of that fact).

Q: What is your favorite family tradition and how did it become a tradition?

A: Annual family trip in July (with extended family and friends) to Lakewoods Resort in Cable, WI.

Q: What sets your business apart?

A: Relationships with my clients and knowledge of the east metro market I focus on.

Q: What’s your favorite part of owning your own business?

A: The opportunity to work with local businesses, many who have become close personal friends.

Q: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?

A: If you provide value and look after your clients best interests, business opportunities will present themselves

Q: How did you decide to start your business?

A: My mentor and good friend (Jim Edberg) provided the opportunity to get involved with him in the commercial real estate business

Q: Where do you find inspiration?

A: By surrounding myself with successful people (listening and learning from their experiences).

How to Leave Your Home to Your Children

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Homes are one of the greatest and most expensive assets many people have. As a parent, you may want your children to have your home after you die, but to ensure that your children are left with your home, there are some important steps that you must take.

Your children will only be left with your home if you have implemented one of these three options. Take some time to consider these options, talk to your family about them, and take the necessary pre-planning steps to ensure that your greatest asset remains in the family.

We strongly encourage you to discuss your options with an experienced estate planning attorney to determine what works best for your unique situation.

#1: Include Your Home in Your Will

In your will, you specify who your beneficiaries are that will inherit your assets after you pass away. By including your home in your will, during the probate process the court will ensure that your home is transferred to your children since they are listed as your beneficiaries. If you have more than one child, each child will inherit an undivided interest and must decide together whether to keep the house or sell it. Additional hassle and expense may be incurred if your children can’t agree on what to do with the home.

#2: Have a Living Trust

Set up a living trust so that when you die, your assets are transferred to your children. A benefit of setting up a living trust rather than just including your home on your will is that it saves time. Your children will not have to go through probate and will avoid expenses and delays that come with that process. The transfer of your home to your children will be a quick process with a living trust and will prevent them from spending excess money and time on the probate process. In addition, the Trustee you’ve selected to manage the trust can make a final decision on what should be done with the house if your children cannot agree. You must also transfer your house to the living trust before you die, otherwise the house will be forced to go through probate before being transferred to your children. A living trust is a seamless way to transfer assets to your children and may reduce conflict.

#3: Use a Transfer on Death Deed to Transfer Your Home

You can use transfer on death deed to ensure your home is given to your children without having to wait through probate or setting up a trust. With a transfer on death deed you own your home while you are alive and you can do whatever you’d like with it, for example, get a reverse mortgage. After you pass away, your home is immediately transferred to your children who you listed as beneficiaries in the deed.

However, there are a lot of issues that can arise with if you choose to pass your property to your children using this option. For example, if any of your children are minors when they inherit the property or your children don’t agree on what should be done with the home, a court proceeding will still be necessary. This results in additional delays and expenses. Another issue is that Minnesota law would require your children and their spouses to sign documents to sell the home even though the spouses are not owners. If you have three children who are married, your children and their spouses need to sign documents to sell the home. How often do you find six people that agree on anything?

If you have any further questions about how to ensure that your children are left with your home, give us a call – we can help you get things started.

Give us a call at 651-478-8999.

Avoiding Family Chaos in the Coronavirus Age

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The novel “coronavirus” (also called “SARS-CoV-2”) causes the disease “COVID-19.” It first appeared in late 2019 and was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019. Here’s a link to the WHO’s site for the latest global information. COVID-19 has impacted the lives of millions of people and countless events around the world.

The coronavirus has infected over four million people around the world, including over a million in the United States. It has killed over 80,000 people in the United States and disrupted countless lives as the unemployment rate in the United States has soared to levels not seen since the Great Depression.

People can shelter-in-place to reduce their chances of catching the coronavirus. Coronavirus is far from the only risk out there. People still have heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and other diseases. In fact, life is a terminal illness. We are all mortal. So, it’s best to prepare for the inevitable.

Unfortunately, things can happen unexpectedly. Here’s a story based on many true cases:

Mary and Jake had been together for decades and had several children together, Amy, Betty, and Charlie.

The problems started when both Mary and Jake became incapacitated. Their children couldn’t agree on what to do for their care. All three children loved their parents, but they had differing views on what should be done. Since Jake and Mary hadn’t selected someone to act as their agent to make decisions for them, the children were left to squabble amongst themselves.

As their conditions deteriorated, the problems continued. Amy lived in the house owned by Mary and Jake and refused to move out. Betty had been on a checking account with Mary and Jake and continued writing checks on their account, including checks for her benefit. Mary and Jake owned a car, which Charlie would drive, including home from the bar.

Amy, Betty, and Charlie knew what the other two were doing and didn’t approve. They stopped speaking with each other.

Mary and Jake died within days of each other. They had not done planning, including for the funeral. Amy, Betty, and Charlie had a very difficult time coping with Mary and Jake’s deaths and the ensuing funerals. The three of them were not there for each other. The surviving children had their relationships disrupted. Mary and Jake’s affairs wound up in probate court to resolve who got the assets. But the relationships among the siblings took years to heal.

It takes little time to plan, but it can save years of family fighting.

Planning ahead has many benefits, including possibly saving money in probate fees or taxes, but perhaps the most important benefit is the family harmony it can promote.

Now, perhaps more than ever, it is important to do your planning.

This pandemic is difficult, but we can get through this…together!

Call Gaughan & Connealy at (913) 262-2000 to schedule your phone consultation.

B2B

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It’s always a bonus to help a client that just happens to be a local business owner in your community. Business to business is something we really love doing at Neyens Law. We recently worked with the owners of Image360 in Woodbury, MN and got to get to know them better with a little Q & A!


Q: Why was designing an estate plan so important to you?

A: It’s been on our list of things to do for a long time — no question, it’s important to have these things buttoned up, but it’s hard to wrap your head around all that needs to be done. We wanted to make it easy for our kids and make sure that our asset value was not lost on lawyers and probate.

Image360

Q: What’s something that surprised you about your experience with Neyens Law?

A: So Simple — far easier than we could have imagined! The process went fast!

Q: What’s something most people don’t know about you that you are willing to share?

A: When I was a kid, I used to build and race Soap Box Derby Racers — and my last car is still hanging in my garage. I wish Portillo’s would take it and hang it on their ceiling instead of the one that’s there!

Q: What is your favorite family tradition and how did it become a tradition?

A: We do the things that most families do for holidays, etc. Certain family recipes are a must for holidays. If we are somewhere that doesn’t have them, we have to fix them when we get home.

Image360

Q: What sets your business apart?

A: As a signage,graphics, and display company, everything we make is custom-designed. On the display side (think lobbies of businesses, schools, churches, etc.) we do a lot of very complicated pieces with multiple materials and components — designing them is one thing, building them and installing them is another thing altogether. It takes a lot of detailed planning and project management to make those things happen and to have a really beautiful outcome when they’re all finished — essentially, we take a wall and make it a showpiece about a business or organization. All eyes are on that wall. Meticulous attention to detail is our silver bullet. It’s hard for small companies to do the volume of business that we do and still have an eye toward all those details, but it’s our mantra.

Q: What’s your favorite part of owning your own business?

A: Being an active part of the community and the people we get to work with is number one. Seeing the result of our creative work is also pretty cool — it’s really gratifying to see our work all over the place.

Image360

Q: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs?

A: It’s harder than you think so be ready for the long hall. You have to give it everything you have to succeed – unless you are just plain lucky. You need more working capital than you think!

Q: How did you decide to start your business?

A: From scratch — no clients, no business — just an idea and a lot of blood, sweat and tears! We liked the idea of primarily B2B along with the creative and production components.

Q: Where do you find inspiration?

A: Absolutely everywhere. I’ll see something interesting — a shape, art, an application, a color (or the way the sun hits something), a design — we get a lot of ideas from modifications to things that we see in every day life. The creative opportunities in this business are really unlimited when you have an open mind.

Image360
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