Los Angeles Trust and Probate Litigation Attorney, SirkinLaw

Lessons from Britney

I was talking to a friend this morning about why some of the well-known celebrities fail to plan for incapacity.   Britney is a good example.   Here are the top reasons we talked about:

1.  Celebrities are overwhelmed with the fear of loss of control.   Just imagine, if you are a celebrity, your life is ran by your business manager, your agent, your lawyer and your accountant, not to mention your personal assistant!!!  If the business manager doesn't tell you to do incapacity planning, it goes by the way side. 

2.  Unless a celebrity has already been very ill and not working due to an illness, he/she may not be able to imagine being out of work for a long time and may simply not give the potential for incapacity any thought.

3.  If the celebrity has mental problems, or is addicted, the desire to keep that part of the celebrity's life out of the public eye can sometimes prevent the business manager from addressing the problem quickly and planning properly.   Business managers can get so involved in the day-to-day business of the celebrity and have the desire to preserve the celebrity's reputation, that they can forget the possibility of incapacity.   

4.  Not recognizing that a power of attorney cannot authorize the agent to administer psychotropic medications is another reason why even some existing incapacity plans go wrong.    If your client has been diagnosed with a mental illness, the task of keeping the client on the appropriate medication can be quite challenging.  Recognizing that the client has the tendency to be "medication non-compliant" requires constant monitoring of the client's BEHAVIOR and knowing what is considered normal for that particular client.

5.   If your client has been diagnosed with a mental disorder, you must be able to gather information as to what the actual symptoms of the disease are and how to avoid a time-lag between treatment and when the symptoms first appear.    In case of Britney, if those around her had simply recognized that the shaving of the head was a sign of "acting out" in a manic episode, and recommended early treatment, she may not have gotten to the state she was in last night.   

Mina N. Sirkin is a Certified Specialist attorney in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California.  Ms. Sirkin practices in Los Angeles County, California.  [email protected].  http://www.SirkinLaw.com

Estate Planning for Parents of Generation Y kids

As an estate planner, I commonly observe the behavior of parents of generation Y children who report on their children's spending patterns when planning their estates.   The statistics we have collected regarding this generation are fascinating:  25% live in a single-parent home and 75% have working mothers.   This generation believes they are entitled to it all.  This group is information savvy and is able to "comparison shop" more than its predecessor generation.  They are less influenced by television advertising in their spending habits but more influenced by internet advertising than anyone realizes.   Parents report that they are concerned about the debt this generation is incurring prior to college and during college as credit card companies are commonly issuing credit cards to this generation.   The problem with high credit card interest rates seems irrelevant to them and never having experienced inflation, they believe they can pay-off any debt they incur.