Welcome to a great conversation with Angela Ross, an attorney who has practiced probate law for 31 years and currently serves as the probate judge in Orleans County, Vermont.
You are invited to exclusive-to-you Office Hours because you are a Living Fully & Dying Prepared (LFDP) workshop series alumni or paid subscriber to the 'Graceful Transitions’ Substack publication. This is one of the benefits of belonging to the Graceful Transitions community. CHEERS
The purpose of the LFDP Office Hours is an intentional gathering to build a source of resiliency and grow this community's collective capacity for end-of-life care planning and death literacy.
Some highlights for me include:
After you die and if your estate is in probate, the will becomes public information with no right to privacy.
There is no estate or gift tax if your estate is worth less than $ 12 million.
The helpful and valuable tips Angela shared about how to avoid probate (the process can be lengthy because the courts are slow).
Irrevocable trusts vs. revocable trusts, wills, Medicaid Planning (including Enhanced Life Estate Deed), transfer tax, and what questions to ask prospective lawyers for your estate (!).
The paramount importance of Advance Directives (what to do with your body while you are alive and actively dying, and after death). If you don’t have an Advance Directive (find it on your state’s website and/or choose FiveWishes, which has more specific questions in a more straightforward format) completed, witnessed, and registered, the Court can keep you alive and comfortable even if you don’t want to be intubated, have limbs removed, etc. Without an Advance Directive, family members can sometimes keep their dying loved one alive longer than the person wants.
Angela shared her contact information with Office Hours participants: email.
The next Office Hours with special guest Angela Shook, companion animal doula, is Wednesday, 19 March 2025, at 4p. You can register here & now to save your seat.
Share this post