HOUSE OUR Protecting Your Assets: Understanding the Importance of Insurance and Wills

By Angela Swinson Lee WI Contributing Writer

Imagine that you’re having a conversation with your mother, and she tells you that when she dies, you’ll get her house.

Then, 10 years later, you have moved out, but your younger sibling is at home and has a conversation with your mother. She tells your sibling that when she dies, they will get her house.

There was nothing written down to legally record your mother’s wish- es, but you both know what you heard.

Oftentimes, purchasing a home is the biggest investment that many people make, so when there is trouble, either through death or destruction, protecting that investment should be the top priority.

“A will is a last testament that a person gives as to what their desires are after they pass away. I often like to think of a will as a love letter. It’s a last will of testament that a person has that they are basically saying to the person they have left behind how they want their assets distributed,” said George Henderson, a Prince George’s County based attorney, who assists people with end-oflife planning.

“When a person dies without a will, you have two people who may have heard the same story from the same person,” Henderson continued. “The person didn’t viciously do it, but they may have just forgotten. And so now you have an issue that has to go into probate which can be a very costly, expensive endeavor when it could have been very easily solved by having a simple will. In that will, a person expresses their desires after they die.”

With a will, someone is named as the executor of the will and has the responsibility of administering that will.

“A will that is well crafted will not only have the executor, but a person who will serve as the executor in the second seat in the event the first person named will pass away before the person doing the will passes away,” Henderson said.

When a will or other legal documents are not in place to specify what happens to property, it can be a lengthy process unless another per- son’s name is on the deed. In that case, when the first person dies, and another person is on the deed, that person takes full ownership.

But if only one person’s name is on the deed, the property goes into probate, the legal process that helps distribute assets and handle legal matters for a person who passes away.

Probate laws vary from state to state.

Henderson said it's best to have an attorney when preparing a will.

“You need to get a competent attorney who is familiar with estate trusts and those types of things. Some people will go online and they will find a boilerplate will, but what you don’t know is that each state has its own rules and if you get a boilerplate type of will outline, it may not apply to your state,” he said. If you don’t have an attorney to review it then you can have a will that does not serve your purpose,” he said.

Henderson also explained that certain groups and attorneys have what is known as a “will questionnaire” that has information needed for a will.

But before a person dies, there are various ways to protect property through homeowners insurance, which protects consumers' homes and personal property.

Insurance can provide a primary source of rebuilding funds. It also provides liability coverage for legal actions from injuries or damage from another person on their property. Additionally, most mortgage lenders require homeowners coverage, with the homeowner listed as the mortgagor, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

But even for homes that are paid in full, it’s important to protect the investment with insurance in case of loss. WI

In an evening that included an open bar, featured cocktails, small bies like chicken sliders, cheese, and mini lobster rolls, a dynamic live band, and decor with a Gatsby, Harlem Renaissance-esque theme, GWBCC hosted a party with a purpose: continuing to support local entrepreneurs.

“We're still quite a young chamber and so much of what we have been doing just includes making sure that we have the robust foundation to have the longevity that many of the chambers that we've seen in this area, have and succeed with,” Aisha Bond, president of GWBCC, told the Informer in a WIN-TV interview..

Bond said the chamber’s commitment to supporting the District’s creative business community spawned from filling a need.

“Artists as entrepreneurs really didn't have a home base to really lean into as a collective and as a community to make sure that they had sounding boards resources, insight, network support, some place to… get a little bit of relief, which is a big part of being a chamber– making sure that we're really thinking about the psyche of our entrepreneurs,” Bond explained.

The gala was one of a few ways GWBCC has been working to highlight and support D.C.’s artistic business community. Last week, the chamber hosted a roundtable with leaders from the arts community, which, Bond said, helped initiate a collective “economic enterprise committee for the arts.”

Then, there was the “Juneteenth Soiree,” which, not only, highlighted Black businesses and artists, but also featured the artist Rodney “Buck” Herring, whose piece– as the event’s artist in residence– was given to an action winner during the evening.

“It's really about progress, success… It's really about just not letting anything get in your way,” said Buck about his artwork and recent inspiration.

“We let other things get in our way and maybe a person, place, thing, whatever it is, comes in your path. It's really not your bad,” Buck continued. “You have people that can support you like the Black Chamber of Commerce, you might have friends that live in certain neighborhoods, certain people that have friends that own businesses, they can always help you. There's somebody here to help you.”

CELEBRATING THE HONOREES: AWARDS OFFER HOPE AND CALL TO ACTION

Helping others and continuing to support the work of D.C.’s creative community through resources and legislation, proved as major themes throughout the event.

“Whenever I’m given the opportunity to share a platform and to tell my story, and to further my business, I’m grateful, because I know when people support the Spice Suite, they’re supporting hundreds, if not thousands of other small businesses,” said entrepreneur Angel Gregorio, who was one of the recipients of the Innovator of the Year Award. “It’s never really about me, people always say ‘It’s lonely at the top.’ And I always say, ‘I won’t know because I’m not going by myself.’”

With her business The Spice Suite, a “spice shop and dream incubator,” Gregorio is very intentional about building up other entrepreneurs.

“We provide free space to Black business owners who want to pop up and sell their products and have hosted over 4,000 free pop ups in the seven-and-a-half years I’ve been in business,” Gregorio said.

Fellow Innovator of the Year Award winner Ian Callendar of Suite Nation emphasized the importance of preserving D.C.’s creative community and culture. WI

Read more on www.washingtoninformer.com

DC FUTURES is a new program that gives District residents up to $8,000 for college tuition. Students can choose from more than 50 in-demand fields.

Other benefits include:

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• $1,500 stipend for books, travel, and other extras.

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So, whether you want to finish the degree you started, or start the degree you’ve always dreamed of, the first step is just a click away.

Learn more at osse.dc.gov/dcfutures.

Latest Chesapeake Bay Report Gives Watershed a C

By Kayla Benjamin WI Climate & Environment Reporter

The health of the Chesapeake Bay has seen significant improvements over time, but parts of the region still face pollution issues and progress has somewhat plateaued in recent years, according to a report released last week. The University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science gave the Bay’s overall health a “C” grade in its annual report.

The grade has not changed much since 2019, when it received a C-. But the health of the Bay has seen significant improvements, and the score itself went up by 6% compared with last year. Despite this progress, experts generally expect the region to miss its 2025 goal for cleaning up nutrient pollution.

“While the trajectory of improvements, particularly concerning nutrients in the Bay, is in the right direction, we need to pick up the pace,” said Peter Goodwin, president of UMCES, in a statement.

The 2025 goal will become the third missed target for addressing nutrient pollution, which largely stems from urban and agricultural runoff. The first deadline was in

2000, the second in 2010.

In remarks at a June 6 press conference on Daingerfield Island in Alexandria, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., described efforts to restore the bay as similar to trying to walk up an escalator heading down.

“We have to establish new, am- bitious targets, and we need to hold ourselves accountable to get there,” Van Hollen said.

Taking Environmental Justice Into Account

For the first time, this year’s re- port included a measurement of environmental justice disparities between different areas within the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed. UMCES used a tool released by the CDC last year called the Environmental Justice Index to examine the inequities that persist in the region.

“The addition of the Environmental Justice Index provides a more holistic perspective of Chesapeake Bay and watershed health,” said Bill Dennison, vice president for science application at UMCES, in a statement. “This holistic approach will make sure the report card is relevant to all communities in the Chesapeake watershed.”

The index combines 36 factors across three categories—environmental, social, and health—to rank environmental justice impact on communities’ health.

Indicators include level of pre-existing health conditions, socioeconomic status, race, housing types and environmental burdens like air and water pollution. Within the Chesapeake Bay region, the report said, cities and rural areas tend to experience more environmental impacts on health than suburbs.

“We need to have healthy communities to ensure that we achieve a healthy Chesapeake Bay,” Dennison said. “Addressing environmental justice is critical to ensure that restoration enhances longterm sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay watershed in an equitable way.”

WI