 Welcome back folks. Dow. Dow Industries finished down 10. Nasdaq up 57. S&Ps up 12.5. We've got a special guest out here today folks, Karen Nolan. Karen is an attorney with Weatherington Hamilton and Tampa, Florida. Now Karen specializes folks in wills, trust, asset protection, making sure that of all the work that you and your family have done that it gets protected. Karen, welcome to TFNN. Hi. Hi, Tom. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you so much for being with us. I really appreciate it. You know, of course, we're in the financial business. You are an attorney in the law business, trust, wills, asset protection, right? So if you can talk to us a bit, what do you see inside of your practice that all of us should have immediately? Where do we start? Well, I think first and foremost, one of the things that people should do is consider state planning documents that protect you during your lifetime. State planning, oftentimes we think about what happens to our assets after we pass and who we want them to go to. But, you know, if we become incapacitated or disabled, then we need someone that's going to be able to step in and take care of us and take care of our assets and make sure that they are utilizing our assets to take care of us. Yes, I got it. Okay, cool. So we're starting when we're alive. I like that. Okay. So seriously. So in that aspect, do we start off with a trust? Let's say that we, whether it, you know, we have real estate and, you know, you may have sticks, stocks and bonds. I mean, if they're in your IRA that most time is taken care of, but would we start off with making trust? Where would we start with this? Yes. So a trust is one way to plan for incapacity and also provide a direction on how you want your assets distributed after you pass. Another document is called the Durable Power of Attorney. That document can allow someone to handle your assets for you and step in if you're not able to. Okay. Now, this is really cool. How do, okay, a durable power of attorney? So when you sign off on a durable power of attorney, what is the good part about that and what would be the bad part about that? Well, a good part about it is that you're nominating someone to step in. So if you become incapacitated, then it avoids a guardianship. So it's a court process that is very expensive. So that's a good part. The downside could be is that you want to make sure the person that you nominate is someone you trust because they are going to be handling your assets. And the same thing, if you nominate somebody for a trustee, for your trust, you want somebody that's going to have, that you have a lot of confidence and that they're going to use your assets to take care of you. Right. Now, when the courts say that you're incapacitated, so let's say that, you know, we turn around and get a trustee, or, you know, basically the durable power of attorney, how does it work that, let's say a picture, I say, hey, I'm still all right. And then my trustee say, well, I don't think you are all right. How does that work? Well, if somebody were to file a guardianship on you, there are three individuals that would look at you and examine you and determine whether or not you're incapacitated or not. So if you're not, then you would not be found incapacitated. Right. I bet that comes up, though, right? Does that come up? Yeah. I mean, if there's an issue, potentially, where there's fighting in between the family, that can occur and that happens and sometimes when a guardianship has been filed. So, yes, I've seen that. And I do guardianships as well. So I have seen that. Yeah, you must see a lot of it. No, listen, growing up, I remember that we grew up and a lot of people had triple-deckers in South Boston. And you've never seen so many fights about a triple-decker. I mean, it was sad, you know, just inside families to get along and then all of a sudden one person dies and they're killing each other about a triple-decker. So it's sad. Yeah, no, that happens. When money comes into play, it's, you know, not good. Yes. Okay, so that would be the first part that you'd start getting set up. And the state planning aspect of it. So when you're talking with someone about a state planning, what else do you talk about, Karen? So we'll look at what their goals are. So if they have, you know, maybe a concern about protecting their assets after they pass and maybe trying to, let's say they have minor children and they wanna make sure that their children are going to have funds to go to college and they wanna make sure their kids can go to college or do go to college, the trust can provide that their child, you know, will get certain funds to be able to pay for college. And, you know, they may not get a distribution until they actually graduate so it can encourage their children to finish. So the trust actually gives you a lot of flexibility in putting extra little triggers in there to make sure that, you know, that the proceeds are going to the kids the way that they would want them if they were still around. Now, when we talk asset protection, I'm gonna mix and match something here because I know, I've seen in the past, right? That, you know, folks, you know, bottom line, let's picture that, you know, you're all lucky and then all of a sudden one of your child gets either sick, has something that you know that you're gonna pass before the child's gonna pass and that they need money for a long period of time and that's when a trust for the child is really good, right? Cause you can, my understanding is that you can separate that so that the asset base of the parents will end up going to the child but it won't get depleted before that. Would that be correct? If, you know, let's say the parents pass and the child is incapacitated but, you know, of course it needs money to start going forward. How does that, am I correct in that aspect? Yeah, absolutely. The parents can set up a revocable trust during their life and then they can have a trust going to the benefit of their child. So immediately upon their passing, their assets are gonna be funding that child's trust and then the success of trustee is gonna step in and then begin taking care of that child. So it allows one of the benefits, another benefit of a trust is it allows for a smooth transition from the passing of the parents to when the success of trustee steps in to distribute the assets. So there's a, you know, no delay like there can be sometimes with a probate. Sure, sure. That's a pretty neat part of the law that you're practicing. So how did you decide to practice as part of the law? Yes. Well, when I went to law school, I had a professor that was practicing as well as teaching and so I became interested through a lot of the real world experience he brought to the classroom and then I started interning while I was in school too. So, and I really enjoy this area. I met a lot of really great people and it's a really great area of the law. So I also do special needs planning. So I also assist people who are disabled and special needs trust to help retain their benefits and make sure that they have money to help them. Which is so crucial, I know. Yeah, you know, it's because you help people every day, man. That's a good way to go to sleep. I like that. Yes, yes, yes. Well, you know, it's wild is that, you know, I've talked about it a lot. None of us ever get taught anything about finance in high school and even in college. I mean, that's the reality. I mean, you know, college would give you some but the reality is, is that, you know, everyone works hard and then all of a sudden what? You can lose it overnight, right? Yes, exactly. So it's so important to, you know, not only look at your financial planning but to consider doing your estate planning too, to preserve those assets and make sure they go to who you want and they're going how you want. You gotta love it. Listen folks, Karen's number, she's in Tampa, eight, one, three, two, two, five, 19, 18. The website is whhlaw.com. Karen's number again, eight, one, three, two, two, five, 19, 18. Karen, thank you so much. Look forward to having you again. Great education, really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Stay right there, folks. Come right back.