When Life Doesn’t Follow Your Plan

Let’s get real. An unfortunate, sad example that illustrates the need for understanding your financial benefits and beneficiaries is a gay couple I worked with, where there was an age difference between them. But they've been together for many years, over 20 years. And I know that in the back of their mind, because of the age difference, they were expecting the older gentleman to pass away first.

However, the younger man passed away first, shocking and unexpected. Their documents and plans were not done properly to deal with this outcome.

They had their home in an LLC — a company in which they named a nephew of the deceased man as the managing member, which means the owner. I don't know why they did some of these things. But that nephew all of a sudden became the legal owner of their home.

And they had to fight. A cousin had come in and gotten the water turned off on that house. So the surviving older man wakes up, and there's no water. And I took him personally to a gay attorney to review his options.

I remember the attorney saying you don't have a right to live in your home. It's not even an eviction. It's an ejection. And to see this older man, I swear his face turned white. And I remember driving him home. And he said, I never thought I would be in this position. And I was upset with him. I said, How could you not plan for this?

But, it is human nature—people think life’s going to play out in a certain way according to their plans. However, life often has other plans—and you want to make sure your loved ones, your spouse or partner, your kids, and your business are protected.