South Florida Estate Planning Law : Florida Estate Planning Lawyer & Attorney : David Shulman Law Firm : South FL Wills & Trusts

I've written before about how 2010 is "The Year Without An Estate Tax". You can read my past posts, but to sum up, in 2009 the estate tax exemption, that is the amount one could die with before being subject to the tax was $3.5 million, and the rate of tax for everything over that was 45%. In 2011, as things now stand, the lifetime exemption will be $1 million and the rate of tax will be 55%.

However, for 2010 and 2010 only, there is no estate tax.

Everyone thought that Congress would "fix" the 2010 year problem before it happened. They knew it was coming for nine years. Then, some people thought, or still think, that Congress would in 2010, pass a law making the estate tax retroactive back to January 1. The constitutionality of doing this is questionable, but many think it's doable.

Of course, as time goes on, any attempt to make it retroactive back to January 1 becomes less and less likely. This is especially true if, before Congress made the estate tax retroactive, there was a death resulting in a sufficiently large estate that would have the motivation and the resources to challenge the estate tax, which could take a number of years.

Well, it happened.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in March, oil magnate Dan Duncan died, and at the time of his death his estate was estimated to be worth $9 billion. Now, it's likely that if he died last year or next year, he would have engaged in advanced estate planning techniques that would have decreased the amount of taxes that he owed. Still, I doubt that his taxes would have gone to zero.*

So today, April 15th is tax day. How much in taxes did you pay last year? How big is our deficit? And how much does it upset you that Congress's legislative malpractice cost the treasury a few billion dollars?

*On a side note, the WSJ Article and the blog that it links to, states that, "if his advisors were up to the job, the bulk of his remaining wealth was probably held in trust, so it probably wouldn't be subject to the estate tax either way." That's inaccurate and misleading. Putting your assets into a trust do not exempt it them the gift or estate tax.

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Miami criminal defense attorney Brian Tannebaum recently wrote a post on his blog entitled, "Do People Who Aren't Hungry Go to Restaurants?" In his post he states that clients are often shopping for the cheapest lawyer, and recently, people have been contacting him and telling him that they aren't even sure if they want to hire an attorney (even though of course by the time that they contact him, they almost always need a criminal defense attorney).

In the estate planning field, the code word that I often hear is "simple." Potential clients will call and before giving me any information, tell me that they just want a "simple" will and how much will a "simple" will cost them? When someone on the phone says that they are looking for estate planning and want something "simple" they almost always mean "cheap." They'll call around asking multiple attorneys how much each charges for a simple will, and then without asking whether or not that attorney focuses their practice on wills, trusts, and estates, or is someone who does wills, criminal law, personal injury, and a smattering of other areas, will then go with whoever gave them the lowest price on the phone.

Unfortunately, too many attorneys are more than happy, or at least willing to play that game.

First of all, I'm not Walmart.

I'm not interested in offering the absolute lowest price to the highest volume of clients, because it will not allow me to give each client the attention that they need. That's not to say that I overcharge because I don't, but like any professional I charge a fair price for my services.

But more importantly, I don't sell wills. I sell advice. My job isn't to have the client tell me that they need a simple will and then provide it to them. That's what Legal Zoom does with their fill in the blank forms. If the client knew what they needed, they wouldn't have to hire me. I see it like going to the doctor with a searing stomach ache, and telling the doctor "I only want you to give me an antacid. Do not check me for appendicitis."

My job is to examine each and every client's circumstances, including family, children, assets, age, health, citizenship, employment, etc. and after an examination of a multitude of variables, including intangible impressions that I get from a face to face meeting with the client, only then do I advise them what I think they need, and if they decide to follow my advice, begin drafting the documents.

So when someone calls me on the phone and the first thing they ask me is, "How much do you charge for a simple will?" I know that there is a 99% chance that they won't end up hiring me, which is fine. I much prefer the clients who call me and the first thing they say is, "I am interested in doing what I can to protect and provide for my family. How can you help me?"

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It's tough writing a blog about something that is in limbo. People are talking, others are complaining, but there's still no real developments.

As it still stands, there is no estate tax in 2010, and there is a modified carryover basis rule, as opposed to step up in basis. The estate tax is scheduled to come back in 2011, with a $1 million exemption and a 55% rate. The longer this goes on, the less likely it will be that there will be a retroactive fix (in fact, I'm almost sure that there won't be).

Good job there, Congress.

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I'd like to put something out there on the table.

I'm a tech nerd and an Apple fan.

I've been a fan of Apple computers since my dad bought an Apple ][+ when I was about 9 years old. Since then, I've owned many Macintosh computers and other Apple products, although I have occasionally strayed to the Dark Side and used Microsoft Windows. I currently run my law practice on Macs, with a Mac mini in my office, and an iMac at home, and a Macbook laptop for when I am traveling, and thus neither at the office or at home. I have an iPhone, an AppleTV, and have owned multiple iPods. While I do run Microsoft Windows in virtualization on my Mac for certain proprietary programs, I avoid it as much as possible.

I admit that I am an unabashed Apple Fanboy and am fully ensconced in Apple's reality distortion field.

To me, my Macs and my iPhone are not just "toys" but are an integral part of my practice of law. I use Apple's Mobile Me to keep my calendar and contacts instantly and wirelessly synced between all of my computers and my iPhone. If I make a change to a calendar or contact on one computer or on my iPhone, it instantly updates that contact or calendar item on all of my computers. While I could use Mobile Me for email, I use Google Apps for your Domain . With Google Apps, I still have my email domain of @davidshulmanlaw.com, but am able to use the Gmail interface in categorizing and storing client and other business emails.

Although I do keep files of certain original paper estate planning documents, for everything else, I run a paperless office. Every single document coming in or going out gets scanned with my Fujitsu Scansnap S1500, labeled, categorized, and put in the proper (computer) folder. Furthermore, I use a service called Dropbox. This is another syncing service, but I use it to sync all of my files and documents between all of my computers. It doesn't matter where I am or what computer I am using including my iPhone, but I can pull up any client document, at any time, anywhere. This has been very useful in answering client questions about their documents when I am away from the office. I do not have to wait until I get back to answer their questions; nor do I have someone "pull the file" to see what's in there. All of my files are available to me all of the time.

I do have various levels of encryption and password protection, and multiple redundant backups both online and off to protect the data.

This weekend I went out and bought an iPad. I stood in line at Best Buy, waiting for it to open so I could be one of the first ones to get one. After playing with it for a while, I realize that it's really nothing more than a giant iPhone (or to be more accurate, a giant iPod touch, because it doesn't make phone calls). And that's a good thing.

While of course I can play games on it and watch movies and read books, which I have already done, and will continue to do, I see, with the right applications, the iPad becoming an integral part of my practice. It's not a full computer or a laptop, and it will never replace them. All of my significant work and document creation will still be on my full desktops. But, I hope it is something that I can take to meetings instead of a notepad, and to have any notes taken on it synced to the proper client file. I think I'll be able to pull up documents, wills, trusts, contracts, deeds, and make changes when I am not able to do so at my computer. In meetings and court hearings in which a document is being discussed, I'll be able to pull it up and annotate it, without having to schlep the whole file to court.

But will it change the world and the practice of law?

Recently, Miami criminal defense attorney Brian Tannebaum wrote a post titled, "The Technology Curmudgeon Gives his Technology Secrets", in which he gently pokes fun at those of us who excitedly rushed out to buy the iPad as soon as it was released. He challenged us to show him how the iPad will significantly change how he practices law. He states that "there are several folks out there that want to convince you that technology is what makes you a better lawyer. It doesn't. It never will. It may make your life easier, but it will never make you a better lawyer. Sorry."

You know what?

I agree with him 100%.

I don't use and love technology to make me a better lawyer. I use it to make my life easier, and to simplify my daily non-lawyerly tasks. The more time I have everything around me "just working" and the less time and money I have to spend searching for a file or storing thousands and thousands of pages of documents (estate planning and administration can be a very document intensive practice), then the more time I have to dedicate to doing "real work." I use the extra time to serve my clients, market and expand my practice, and to become better educated on the latest developments in the law.

So is the iPad for everyone? Is it the future of the legal practice? Will it fundamentally change the way that everyone practices law?

Of course not.

But will it make my life easier? Yes, which is the whole point of technology, no?

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