Muse Meetings and Events on St. Thomas was almost filled, over 150 participants tuned in online, and many more attended at the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Croix to get informed on estate planning during the Economic Development Authority’s estate planning conference Tuesday.
“We’ve been doing this for fifteen or so years,” said Nadine Marchena Kean, the Enterprise Zone Commission’s managing director. She also highlighted that the last four years have been sponsored by a grant from the Department of the Interior.
Marchena Kean began the conference by spotlighting the pilot program for the EZC that assisted eight families with estate planning. According to the director, some participants experienced challenges that the commission used as a learning resource, and some were successful with the program.
“Some of them were really very simple issues. They needed to plan for their estate,” said Marchena Kean. “Others had major, deep, probate issues.”
Vivian Ebbesen-Flood, one of the participants, shared her experience with the audience. The property that she acquired through the assistance of the pilot program was displayed in the booklet that was distributed to the participants. Ebbesen-Flood said she was “proud” to display property that her family now owns due to assistance from the estate planning program.
“Dirt has value,” Ebbesen-Flood said was something her father used to tell her. For persons interested in estate planning, she shared that, “Just mapping it out on paper, as to what you have in front of you, the web that’s there, and then you go from there in figuring out what else you need to do,” is the advice she can give.
After sharing gratitude for persons and organizations who assisted with the conference, and a short break for refreshments, Marchena Keans split participants into two breakout sessions. One session was on estate planning and the other, probate.
The session on trusts, estate planning, and probate avoidance was led by attorney Karabo Molyneaux-Molloy. She shared that she directs her clients on how to avoid the probate process. She also shared that she finds it disheartening for people, particularly in times of disaster, to be unable to receive disaster relief due to improper estate planning. Though she said a trust won’t always keep you out of probate, she credited having a trust as a good part of estate planning.
“A trust is basically just a contract. It’s letting everybody know who has access to your trust after you die, which is normally your trustee,” said Molyneaux-Molloy.
A trust has four major elements, she said. A grantor or trustmaker, the successor trustees, beneficiaries, and a recorded deed. She added that wills are not a way to avoid probate. To keep a car out of probate, adding a beneficiary to car titles without car notes will do so. She said the beneficiary form can be found on the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ website.
However, “if you’re driving your day to day car, you don’t want that in your trust,” said Molyneaux-Molloy.
Gifting deeds and owning LLCs were also topics discussed.
“When you have an LLC it has to be structured properly,” highlighted Molyneaux-Molly.
During the session, the attorney importantly noted to participants that they should pay attention to assets.
“People are complicated, the way that people inherit property is complicated, family is complicated,” said Molyneaux-Molloy. “Just because you’ve been paying this mortgage, and your names are on the building permits, and you love each other, it doesn’t mean that both of you are true owners of the property. You can be on a mortgage but not on a deed. You can be responsible for a note but not have any ownership.”
When asked how often one should update their estate planning, Molyneaux-Molloy said estate plans are typically reviewed every two years, but marriages, deaths, and big events are good times to review them. She also mentioned that trusts do not have to be filed in court.
Ending the session, Marchena Kean directed participants on how to navigate the EDA’s estate planning website, and demonstrated how to use an artificial intelligence tool created to assist with providing resources for estate planning.
“It’s information. This is something that will be available to you to start,” said Marchena Kean of the estate planning webpage. “We’ve tried to use every penny of the grant that we received to help the people of the Virgin Islands.”
At the end of the conference, participants appeared to be more informed about estate planning, with some eager to learn more. For more information about the estate planning conference, contact the USVI Economic Development Authority at 340-714-1700 for the St. Thomas- St. John office or 340-773-6499 for the St. Croix office.
St. Croix Source
Local news
