Wills, Trusts, and More

My Mom Had a Trust...Why Probate?

Your mom chose a revocable living trust instead of relying on a will or joint ownership in her estate plan. She liked the cost and time savings, plus the added control over assets that a living trust can provide. She wanted her family to avoid PROBATE. So, why is the family being told a probate is necessary?

The simple answer— Mom never titled the assets into the trust or set up her accounts so that they would be paid on death to the trust.

When properly prepared, and FUNDED a living trust avoids probate. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly think that if they have a “list of trust assets” attached to the trust that those assets will avoid the probate process upon death. This is wrong.

The assets most be actually retitled into the name of the trust or made payable upon death to the trust in order to avoid probate.

Trusts can be wonderful. They can let you provide for your spouse without disinheriting your children, which can be important in second marriages. Trusts can help save estate taxes. And they can protect inheritances for children and grandchildren from the courts, creditors, spouses, and irresponsible spending. However, many people make a major mistake in that they do not properly fund their trusts.

Funding your trust is the process of transferring your assets from you to your trust. To do this, you physically change the titles of your assets from your individual name (or joint

by Jeffery J. McKenna

names, if married) to the trustee of your trust. You also will change beneficiary (or contingent beneficiary) designations to your trustee. The trustee you name for your living trust controls the assets in your trust. Most likely, you have named yourself as trustee, so you will still have complete control. Remember, one of the great features of a revocable living trust is that you can continue to buy and sell assets just as you do now. You can also remove assets from your living trust should you ever decide to do so. If you have signed your living trust document but haven’t changed titles and beneficiary designations, your trust will likely not achieve the desired results. You may have a great trust, but until you fund it (transfer your assets to it), it doesn’t control anything. Your revocable trust can only control the assets you put into it. If the goal of your living trust is to avoid probate at death and court intervention at incapacity, then you must fund it now, while you are able to do so.

You are the one ultimately responsible for making sure all of your appropriate assets are transferred to your trust. Most attorneys will transfer real estate into the trust, and will provide forms and instructions for your other assets. Often, your attorney will include sample letters or blank forms for you to use. The funding process is not difficult. Because revocable living trusts are now so widely used, you should meet with little or no resistance when transferring your assets into your trust.

Even though the pro-

Children

For Sale

After a rough day spent corralling my rowdy kids, I’d had enough.

“I think I’m going to sell them,” I hissed to my sister.

“You’re crazy,” she said.

The Worst Part

My two daughters were discussing the less than desirable physical attributes they had inherited from their father.

The older one: "I hate my freckles from Dad."

Her unsympathetic younger sister: "At least you got his freckles. I got his eyebrow."

NOW WITH A PANGUITCH AND RICHFIELD OFFICE TO SERVE CLIENTS IN AND AROUND GARFIELD AND SEVIER COUNTIES.

Jeffery J. McKenna is a local attorney whose practice has been focused on Estate Planning for over 25 years. He is licensed and serves clients in Utah, Arizona and Nevada. He is a shareholder at the law firm of Barney, McKenna and Olmstead. If you have questions you would like addressed in these articles, please feel free to contact him at 435 628-1711 or jmckenna@barney-mckenna. com or visit the firm’s website at WWW.BARNEY-MCKENNA.COM, he would enjoy hearing from you. Additionally, you can RSVP to attend one of his FREE Estate Planning Seminars in Richfield, at 159 North Main Street, every Third Thursday.

cess is not difficult, it can be easy to get sidetracked or procrastinate. To prevent this from happening, make funding your revocable living trust a priority or pay an attorney to assist with all aspects of the funding. Remind yourself why you are doing this, and look forward to the peace of mind you’ll have when the funding of your trust is complete.

“For thinking of selling them?”

“For thinking someone would buy them.”

Frozen Account

My cousin always “borrows” money from her older brother's piggy bank, which drives him crazy.

One day, she found the piggy in, of all places, the freezer.

Inside was this note: “Dear sister, I hope you'll understand, but my capital has been frozen.”

Feared Meeting

I was on my way out of the house to meet with a cantankerous client, and I was dreading it. The look on my face must have given me away because my fouryear-old daughter asked what was wrong.

"I'm going to meet a woman who always yells at Daddy," I told her.

"Oh," she said. "Say hi to Mom."

THEME:

Shower Thoughts

Long ago everyone owned horses but you were rich if you owned a car, now everyone owns cars and you’re rich if you own a horse.

PUNishment

I can't take my dog to the pond anymore because the ducks keep attacking him. That's what I get for buying a pure bread dog.

Sudoku

To Play: Complete the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9

This week's answers on B4 greeting

21. *Robin Williams' "Good Morning, ____"

23. Family memb.

24. Blood fluids 25. R&R spot 28. Standout 30. All together (2 words)

35. Crafts' companion 37. Hyperbolic tangent 39. River in Paris

40. Traditions typically passed on by word of mouth 41. Home of Darfur 43. Opposite of base 44. Carthage's ancient neighbor 46. Have supper 47. Condoleezza of politics 48. Pleasantly warm 50. Type of mine passage 52. JFK's brother 53. Famous Allen Ginsberg poem

DOWN

1. Stars and Stripes country

2. *Unspoken greeting in France

3. Ned Stark's youngest daughter

4. Prevents one from seeing

5. Have as logical consequence

6. Mosque prayer leader

7. *Japanese greeting move

8. To crack, as in case

9. Out of shape

10. Kindred

11. *Hello in Spain or in Mexico

12. Overwhelm like bees

15. Hymns of praise

32. In accordance with law

33. In the cooler

34. Like surrendered land

36. 1/60th of min, pl.

38. *Shakeable appendage

42. Horse greeting?

45. Don't try this here? (2 words)

49. *Greetings to

51. "Toddlers & ____," reality TV

54. Amiss

56. Sunlight's interference

57. Hillary's hubby

58. Do as directed

59. Getting warm

60. Cup of joe

61. White ____ in retail

62. "Metamorphoses" poet

63. ____ Verde National Park

66. Contend

68. Cub's home

Weddings

Kalonji -Oyler

This last week was one of a lot of driving— three times to Cedar and three times to St. George.

On the way back from the temple on Friday, Highway 20 was closed because of a semi-truck wreck, and so we went back to Parowan and over Highway 143. It is always nice to go a different way because there is so much building going on everywhere, and it is fun to see the progress in our area. On Saturday morning, on the way back to Cedar, we saw the terrible remains from the wreck. Fortunately, there was a railing on the right side of the curve on the last downhill or it could have been much worse.

Jean Billy and Hélène Kalonji, with Rick and Melanie Oyler, are pleased to announce the marriage of Marie France Tshika Kalonji and Rebecca Mary Oyler

You are cordially invited to attend their wedding reception on Saturday, August 19, 2023 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at 1021 South 500 West Provo, Utah 84604

An Open House will follow on Saturday, September 2, 2023 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the Bicknell Community Center

The couple is registered on Amazon and The Knot.

It must have been a beer truck, with all of the Busch beer cans by the side of the road. These curves all have speed markers on them, so why anyone has trouble is hard to understand.

On Saturday, we picked up our granddaughter, Teah, in St. George, and we had a really nice visit; we really miss her.

The Garfield County Fair (GCF) has been going on all week. Hopefully, you got your exhibits in so that the town can see your many talents. Friday and Saturday are the two biggest days of events. Saturday has all of the contests and fun things going on, and the day will finish off with a Commissioner’s dinner and a dance—for those that can remember how. The GCF is just like the state fair, with animal judging and auctions, and the Fair building is stuffed full of exhibits of all kinds of fun

by Mack Oetting ~ mackoetting @gmail.com

things that always make for a fun time.

Tonight, Thursday, will be the girls volleyball team's first game of the season, which will be against North Sevier at Panguitch High School. The games start at 4:30 and the varsity game will be at 7:00. Come on out and cheer the team on. I still don’t have a schedule, so I don’t know what’s happening with the baseball team.

August is going by really fast, and in the next couple of weeks, it will be ATV time. They are filling up fast, so get over to the Panguitch City Hall and get signed up. The car show will be held earlier this year, on September 2nd, so get out your polish and shine up those beauties; there will be plenty of prizes. There will be a salvage spot for all of those who want to clean up their garage and make a little money doing it.

Worldwide temperatures are still heating up, with Phoenix, Arizona leading the way with 35 straight days of 110 degrees or higher. I saw a picture of a woman sunbathing in Argentina at 85 degrees, and it is midwinter there.

It has cooled off in our area because of six days of rain, which is nice.

Like I said last week, with the cost of living (COL) down to 3%, it won’t be long before big oil bumps up their price on gas; it is up 25 cents and rising. They own a lot of politicians, and it pays to have people in office that will cut their taxes even more. Well, you have to bite the bullet, and we are still at almost a dollar less than last year.

UPS has averted a strike with a deal with the union. A potential strike by their 325,000 workers would have also raised the COL big time and set back deliveries for who knows how long.

It took nearly eight years to sell the first 1 million battery powered cars, trucks, and vans in the U.S. It was a milestone hit in 2018; it took just ten months to go from three million to four million sales in June. Tesla still makes up 61% of those sales. (The Financial Times)

Ford Motors reduced the price tag of their electric trucks by $10,000, from

Obituaries

Leon R. Brown

1962 - 2023

LOA - Our beloved Dad, Grandpa, Son and Brother, Leon R. Brown, age 61, passed away August 2, 2023, at his home in Loa. He was born April 8, 1962, in Richfield, a son of Freeman Earl and Nadine Delia Rasmussen Brown. He grew up in Loa, where he enjoyed skateboarding on the highway, putting models together, riding horses and riding his motorbike. He graduated from Wayne High School, Class of 1980.

He lived in Loa his entire life. He grew up around the family business, Brown Brothers Construction, where he started working as a teenager, later became partial owner of the company and worked until he retired April 30, 2010.

$59,000 to $49,000. Ford is also sinking $5 billion dollars into their electric vehicle business. Utah, because Tesla doesn’t sell their cars through a dealership, won’t allow them to sell their cars here. However, since Utah is the only state that does this, it is not too far to go to buy one. Tesla uses shopping malls to display their vehicles, and this saves on dealers markup. There are now more NBA players that earn more than $30 million annual salaries than CEOs of S&P 500 companies. Anthony Davis from the Lakers just signed an extension to his contract for three years for $180 million. Stephen Curry is getting $215 million for the next four years. (Wall Street Journal) However, nine CEOs, out of nearly 4,000 at publicly traded companies, made over $100 million, which is down from 20 a year earlier. Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group tops all pay packages at $253 million. You haven’t lost until you give up.

Mack O.

Leon is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a past member of the Wayne Wonderland Lions Club and the Wayne County Search and Rescue.

Leon loved spending time with his boys and family, fishing and hunting, shooting firearms, riding motorcycles, gardening and doing anything that had to do with having fun.

Leon had a big heart and would help just about anyone in need, but he never hesitated to give you a hard time. He will be greatly missed.

Leon is survived by his two sons: Jesse (George) and Mandy Brown, James (Whitey) and Nichole Brown, all of Loa; Heather Dalton, a long-time friend of Torrey; his mother, Nadine Brown Taylor of Loa; 9 grandchildren: Kaydence Brown of Vernal; Nicholas Brown, Brylee Brown, Lacey Brown, Brakehl Brown, Kemrie Brown, Seth Brown, Trevor Brown and Madilyn Brown, all of Loa ; siblings: Joe and Lynda Brown, Deann and Tom Valk, all of Loa; stepbrother: Merlin and Joan Taylor.

He is preceded in death by his father, Earl Brown; his stepfather, Kit Taylor; cousins: Jeff Allen, Greg Larsen, and Michael Brown; and a brother-in-law: Chris Schaugaard.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, August 8, 2023, at 12 Noon in the Loa LDS Stake Center. Friends called for viewing at the Springer Turner Funeral Home in Richfield Monday evening from 6 to 8 P.M. and at the Stake Center in Loa, Tuesday from 9:30 to 11:30 prior to the services.

Live streaming of the services could be found at: www.springerturner.com under Leon’s obituary about 15 minutes prior to starting time.

Burial was in the Loa Cemetery under the care of the Springer Turner Funeral Home of Richfield and Salina, Utah.

Online guest book at: www.springerturner.com

Ohlson: Jake has been recognized for his collaborative leadership style and is already proving himself to be a great asset to our team. Jake brings experience with the challenges of managing immense public land areas coping with climate change, substantial water-based recreation, and land-based wilderness, cultural, and natural resources.

—Michelle Kerns, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Supt.

August 14 - 20

by John Mosley

Ohlson

Cont'd from A1 proving himself to be a great asset to our team.

Jake brings experience with the challenges of managing immense public land areas coping with climate change, substantial water-based recreation, and land-based wilderness, cultural, and natural resources.”

According to Deputy Superintendent Jake Ohlson, “I am excited for the opportunity to support the team at Glen Canyon and

Rainbow Bridge protecting important scenic, scientific, cultural, and natural resources, while providing amazing recreation opportunities for the public. I look forward to facing the unique challenges of these national park units together with park partners, Native American Tribes, and local communities. Family trips in this area left us in awe. To now be a part of park management here is such an honor.”

As Deputy Superintendent, he oversees park divisions that manage facilities (land and water-based infrastructure), visitor and resource protection (law enforcement and emergency services), interpretation (education and partnerships), science and resource management (natural, cultural and paleontological), and administration (budget and personnel).

Jake is recipient of multiple NPS servicewide awards, individually and for teams he has led, including the Director’s Safety and Health Achievement Award, the Director’s Award for Wellness, and an Environmental Achievement Award for Sustainability. He has served as a firefighter, emergency medical responder, and on numerous Incident Management Teams, including the top position as Incident Commander.

Outside of the NPS, Jake has served as an elected official, as Vice Mayor of the City of Gustavus, Alaska, and received a U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award for community volunteerism.

Jake and his wife and three kids enjoy traveling and have been to more than 70 national park sites nationwide. The family is often outdoors recreating and enjoys camping, boating and fishing.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area continues to be an economic engine for the region. A 2022 NPS report shows approximately 3.1 million visitors spent an estimated $332 million in local gateway communities. These expenditures supported a total of 3,840 jobs, $139 million in labor income, $234 million in value added, and $410 million in economic output in local gateway economies.

Encompassing over 1.25 million acres, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area offers unparalleled opportunities for water- and land-based recreation. The recreation area stretches for hundreds of miles from Lees Ferry in Arizona to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah, encompassing scenic vistas, geologic wonders, and a vast panorama of human history.

—National Park Service

The

Since Venus left us a month ago, Mars has been the sole planet in the west in the evening sky, and the 18th is probably your last chance to see it until next March. On that night, look for the very thin crescent moon, only 6% illuminated, and only 9° above the western horizon 30 minutes after sunset. Use binoculars. Once you find the moon, look two moondiameters (1°) below it to see Mars. Mars is on the far side of the sun and is only 2nd magnitude, so it will be a challenge to see it.

Mars leaves us as the earth, traveling faster on our inside orbit, moves so as to place the sun between us and Mars. Mars will be too close to the sun to see until it slowly reappears to the right of the sun in the east in the morning sky in March. I’ll remind you then.

So Mars is gone—but Saturn replaces it in the evening sky, and that’s a fair trade. Saturn rises in the east as the sun sets in the west (Saturn is exactly opposite the sun on the 27th).

Saturn is in Aquarius. The only star of compara- ble brightness in that section of the sky is Fomalhaut, in the Southern Fish (Piscis Austrinus) some 20° below Saturn and rising later.

Jupiter rises toward midnight, and then, it’s the brightest star-like object in the sky. Jupiter rises four minutes earlier each day, so it’ll be well-up in the evening sky along with Saturn in a month or so.

On the 20th, the star 5° to the left of the moon is Spica, in Virgo.

During these August evenings, the Milky Way stretches high overhead from the southern horizon to the northeast horizon. The part in the south—toward Sagittarius and Scorpius—lies in the direction of the center of the Milky Way, while the opposite part in the northeast—in Cassiopeia and Perseus— lie in the direction of the nearest exit. (If you need to leave the Milky Way, head toward Auriga, which rises the same time as Jupiter.) Given a dark sky, this month you can easily see how much brighter and wider is the southern portion.

The Milky Way contains about 400 billion stars, and also huge clouds of gas and especially dust that fill the space between the stars. This dust prevents us from seeing very far into the Milky Way and definitely not through it to the universe beyond.

So if we wish to look beyond our Milky Way to other Milky Ways, which we call galaxies, we must look away from the Milky Way, say toward Saturn. There, you’ll see few stars —but galaxies appear in huge numbers. You can’t see any of these galaxies with your eyes alone (other than the famous one in Andromeda, which is in the northeast in the late evening), but telescopes see them, and the largest telescopes see galaxies in unimaginable abundance.

John Mosley was Program Supervisor of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles for 27 years and is the author of “Stargazing for Beginners” and “Stargazing with Binoculars and Telescopes.” He and his wife live in St. George, where he continues to stargaze from his retirement home while serving on the advisory committee for Stellar Vista Observatory.

Garfield County School District Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Child Find Notification

In accordance with Part B requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 04 and with the Utah State Board of Education Special Education Rules, Garfield County School District offers free assessments and evaluation for children, aged birth through 21 whose parents, teachers, or others suspect of having an identifiable disability.

Garfield School District is committed to ensuring that those students are identified, located, and evaluated, regardless of the severity of the disability, to identify if the student is in need of special education and related services. This child find requirement and practice also applies to those students enrolled in private schools.

If you suspect that a child who is not currently receiving special education services is in need of an evaluation to determine if that need exists, please contact either Phoebe Wiseman, Garfield School District Special Education Director at 435676-8821 or the special education teacher at your neighborhood school.

Acta de Educación para Individuos con Discapacidades del Distrito Escolar del Condado de Garfield (IDEA 2004) LA BÚSQUEDA DE NIÑOS

De acuerdo con los requisitos de Parte B del Acta de Educación para Individuos con Discapacidades de 2004 y con las Reglas de Educación Especial de la Junta de Educación del Estado de Utah, el Distrito Escolar del Condado de Garfield ofrece valoraciones y evaluaciones gratuitas para niños, desde el nacimiento hasta los 21 años cuyos padres, maestros u otras personas sospechen que tengan una discapacidad identificable.

El Distrito Escolar de Garfield está comprometido a garantizar que esos estudiantes sean identificados, ubicados y evaluados, independientemente de la gravedad de la discapacidad, para identificar si el estudiante necesita educación especial y servicios relacionados. Este requisito y práctica de la búsqueda de niños también se aplica a aquellos estudiantes matriculados en escuelas privadas.

Si sospecha que un niño que actualmente no recibe servicios de educación especial y necesita una evaluación para determinar si existe esa necesidad, comuníquese con el maestro de educación especial en la escuela de su vecindario. O comuníquese con Phoebe Wiseman, Directora de Programas Federales y Educación Especial del Distrito Escolar de Garfield al 435-676-1313, phoebe.wiseman@garfk12.org .

Antimony Elementary School, 435-624-3221

Boulder Elementary School, 435-335-7322

Bryce Valley Elementary School, 435-679-8619

Escalante Elementary, 435-826-4247

Garfield Online K-6, 435-624-3221

Panguitch Elementary School, 435-676-8847

Bryce Valley High School, 435-679-8835

Escalante High School, 435-826-4205

Panguitch High School, 435-676-8805

Panguitch Middle School, 435-676-8225