August 2020
Information on Tax and Estate Planning from the Masonic Charities of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Due to the COVID-19 crisis, all travel and events are suspended until further notice. As I write this latest edition of “The Blitz,” I am happy to report that I have returned to my office in Elizabethtown where I enjoy seeing the smiling faces of the staff I have missed for the past three months. I am forever grateful to the many caregivers and other staff that have helped to take care of our residents at our campuses throughout Pennsylvania since this pandemic started. I have heard numerous times from the residents how much they appreciate the incredible job staff is doing to feed, protect and care for them. To my readers throughout the country, please join me in giving a big “shout out” of support for these pandemic protectors. I would welcome any letters, emails or cards of support for our Masonic Villages staff. I wanted to share with you some frustrating estate administration experiences I had recently, in hopes you will learn from them and not to make the same mistakes. Let’s get started.
Executor Nightmares:
Lack of End-Of-Life Instructions And Lost Wills One of the most common challenges I encounter when handling an estate is how to respect the burial and memorial wishes of the deceased. In European culture, they prepare for their day of reckoning, while Americans consider preparations optional because they don’t want to think about their death. I have yet to see someone avoid their eventual demise, but it does impact how we think about preparing for the inevitable. As uncomfortable as it may be, please take the time to prepare a funeral instruction checklist to leave with someone you trust, or provide them with instructions on where to find the list.
Better yet, consider a prepaid funeral. When the decedent has prepared everything in advance, it eases my mind immensely – and I’m sure the family is thankful, as well. If there is to be a memorial service, let the executor know, so proper arrangements can be made. The more advance work you do now, the less stress you leave on grieving loved ones and the executor of the estate. Some key factors to consider when planning for the inevitable are: 1. Write your own obituary. (I mean it. I had to do some really sparse obits for decedents who didn’t leave instructions. People really do want to know what you did with your life.) 2. Choose a funeral home and whether you want cremation or a casket. 3. Choose a burial spot. 4. Decide whether you want a memorial service, and if so, plan for it. Continued inside
original Will was enclosed. This was a complex estate plan, and without the original Will, we would have been hard pressed to implement his wishes. Another fellow Mason for whom I serve as executor passed recently, and his administration was harrowing. John had no children and desired to leave his estate to the Masonic Villages. He died suddenly, without telling me where the Will was located, which made me extremely concerned. His notes said it was with the old law firm that wrote the Will, but they didn’t have it. We searched his home, to no avail. We found a safe deposit box key, went to the bank and thankfully, the original Will was there. You see, if we couldn’t find the original Will and were unable to probate, the entire estate could have gone to far-off heirs with whom he was not in contact with rather than the Masonic Villages, as was his wish. For a more detailed checklist, please search “funeral planning checklist” or visit caregiverslibrary.org. Your loved ones and executor will greatly appreciate your pre-planning. The other matter which has caused anxiety for me as executor is finding the original Will of the decedent. It is difficult when someone passes without a Will or fails to update his or her Will over time. Let me give you two real-life scenarios. I agreed to serve as executor for a fellow Mason who had a wife with dementia. He passed away suddenly from a heart attack. I worked with an attorney who prepared his Will, but the decendent insisted on keeping the original. The wife couldn’t remember what he did with it. I searched his home in Pennsylvania and drilled his safe deposit box at the local bank. No Will! I then flew to Naples, Florida, and searched his unoccupied condo there and had yet another safe deposit box drilled. No Will again! Ugh! I returned back to his condo and sat in the den, where I noticed there was a pile of papers over three feet high next to where he used to watch TV. I decided to go through the pile, page by page, and after two hours of searching, near the bottom of the pile was an envelope entitled “Wills.” Bingo! The
What are the lessons from these stories? First, draft a Will, and keep it up to date. If you don’t
own life income gifts. There is a donor story page that provides real life testimonials of our fellow Masons and friends of the fraternity who have benefited from making a planned gift. For those interested in including one of the Masonic Charities in their Will or Trust, there is a section on bequest language and our Franklin Legacy Society. Finally, the site will be updated regularly with the latest news in tax, estate and charitable planning. Please feel free to email me with your comments after you take your tour of the site. We are optimistic that you will find it a helpful tool in keeping up on your estate and financial planning needs.
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New Masonic Charities Special Alert The rates on charitable gift annuities have fallen Planned Giving since July 1, but we now offer charitable gift annuities for credit card purchase. If you want Website take advantage of getting more rewards on your I am happy to announce that Masonic Charities has a new website that is going live in the near future. The link to the site is www. masoniccharitieslegacy.org. The website has many great tools for estate and charitable planning, and I highly recommend you take a tour of it. Some of the highlights are a “Wills Planner” for doing your estate plan, as well as a list of attorneys from all over Pennsylvania, and even the country, we can recommend to prepare your estate plan. Also, there will be a charitable gift annuity and charitable remainder trust calculator for the venturesome who want to calculate their
credit card and receive the benefits of fixed income for life from a charitable gift annuity, contact our office for more information.
Neither Masonic Villages of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania nor Alvin H. Blitz, Esq. provide legal, financial, or tax advice. None of the information in The Blitz should be deemed legal, financial, or tax advice or acted upon by any person without prior consultation with appropriate professional advisors.
1-800-599-6454 | MasonicCharitiesPa.org
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have a Will, the state law will determine where your estate goes, and it may not go to your favorite relatives or charities. Second, keep your original Will in a safe place. Based on your circumstances, you should consider keeping it with the attorney who drafted it, in a fire safe or safe deposit box. Third, don’t rely on your executor to try to communicate post mortem to find out where your Will is. I haven’t had any luck getting through to someone in this situation yet. These steps will ensure that your wishes will be honored after your passing.
Masonic Charities One Masonic Drive Elizabethtown, PA 17022
August 2020
As Chief Gift Planning Officer for the Masonic Villages in Pennsylvania, Alvin H. Blitz, Esq., serves the Masonic Charities of the R.W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which consists of the Masonic Villages, the Masonic Children's Home, the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation, the Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania and the Masonic Charities Fund. Attorney Blitz holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Scranton, a Master of Arts degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a Juris Doctorate from Dickinson School of Law. He has given estate planning seminars throughout the country and is a member of Carlisle Lodge No. 260, Carlisle, Pa. Contact Alvin Blitz: 1-800-599-6454 or ABlitz@masonicvillages.org