Estate Planning

[Northern]

If you want to leave a environmental legacy of your life giving your funds to purchase wildlands is a gift that will last for hundreds of years.

Everything else is really temporary in its impact.

Yes, there are lots of organizations that do excellent work, but it is not as important as the purchase of land and transfer into public ownership.

Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Unlimited, Western Rivers, Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Lands and others that purchase lands have a huge impact for hundreds of years.

It will be more important in the years to come. We have nowhere close, nor are the public lands well distributed to hold on to the ecosystems we have today.

Look at what we have lost in our lifetimes. It is staggering.

The problem with conservation easements is that they cost 90% of the purchase price. The Forest Service refused to do easements preferring to just do outside purchase. Congress has in some cases directed the Forest Service to buy easements instead of ownership.

Here is the perfect case study of the problem with conservation easements. For a 95 million dollars the taxpayers of California got a "NO TRESPASSING" sign.

https://usbackroads.blogspot.com/2012/03/hearst-castle-san-simeon-california.html

JUST BUY IT.

Not sure I saw this first time around:

The property in question is not necessarily conservationally important. For all we know it's a house and half acre of suburban lawn in the middle of a planned neighborhood.
Arranging to have it sold and the proceeds donated to a conservation org is more likely to be what most folks are asking about.
People still need homes

Just FYI, Western Rivers is one of my 501c's of choice

Mayfly Project is nationwide, but benefits foster kids, not environmental issues. The national office is happy to accept fly gear donations to be auctioned off to fund chapters!

 

[fatbillybob]

Actually it is super easy. Any estate attorney will set up a revocable living trust which everyone should have anyway to avoid probate and establish your wishes while alive and dead...establishing springing powers of attorney and medical directives. Identifying who to bequeath assets to is easy. Identify who you might give to and contact them. They will flood you with info and the process to encourage you to pick them. Research potentials just like you would evaluate a stock pick. Your attorney and or bank trusts can be an executor after the last to die and even conservator if incapacitated. You can have a trusted friend be your executor and pick charities of the time who meet your requirements and your attorney can guide your requirements to be flexible enough. They have seen it all from the client who wants to die spending his last penny to parents with complex needs to care for a disabled child who will out live parent caregivers to disabled spouses who may out live their spouse caregiver. Estate attorney is your first stop or local lectures at adult schools or even your local fidelity or schwab to start understanding estate jargon before you see the attorney.

 

[RCF]

Actually, my wife and I are going thru this process updating our current estate/trust , Power of Attorney and medical ditectives documents. Primary reason is to bring them up to date with current laws and regulations. Things have changed a lot since our last update. Keep them up to date... Maybe review and update every 5 years.

@fatbillybob is correct for the most part. Reading 100 pages of legalize is hard! ---> eyes glaze over.