Getting started
Sorting a parent’s papers, in the order I’d do it
What to open first, which papers name people and which only list money, and the one-page summary that makes the next conversation shorter.
Clarice Thornwell7 min read
Estate and elder law · Greenville, South Carolina
Plans a family can follow when the time comes
Most people who call me are in the middle of something: a parent who has started to forget, a diagnosis nobody planned for, a will signed decades ago and never looked at since. They don’t need to be frightened. They need someone to say what each document does, what it costs, and what to do first.
I work alone from North Main Street in Greenville, and I explain every page in plain words before you sign it.
Clarice Thornwell
Attorney, Thornwell Law Office
Unhurried
A first meeting lasts as long as your questions do.Plain
Every term explained before it goes on paper.Written
What we decide, in a folder your family can find.
Clarice Thornwell
Attorney
I came to this work from the family side.
When a parent of mine fell ill, I learned what a durable power of attorney was by trying to use one. I found out how much of the paperwork people trust was never written to do what they think it does, and how little anyone had told us about the order to do things in.
That is most of what I do now: read what a family already has, say plainly what it will and won’t do, and fix the gaps before anyone is standing in a hospital hallway. I take wills, trusts, powers of attorney, planning for long-term care, special needs trusts and probate, and I say so right away when a question belongs to another lawyer.
My office is a short walk from Falls Park, where I take lunch when the weather allows.
What I take
- Wills and living trusts
- Powers of attorney
- Paying for long-term care
- Special needs trusts
- Probate and estates
Watch
A parent’s statements, sorted in the order I’d do it
Twelve minutes at a kitchen table with a stack of bank, insurance and pension mail: what to open first, what to keep, and what to leave until someone with authority can sign.
If you would rather read than watch, the guide has the same steps and a list you can print.
Sorting a parent’s statements at a kitchen table
Guides
Two guides for the weekend before you call
I wrote them for the person sitting with a pile of mail and a long list of questions.
Powers of attorneyA power of attorney the bank will accept
Why banks turn down perfectly good forms, how to write one that reads clearly to a stranger, and when to hand it over.
Clarice Thornwell6 min read
Worked examples
Three families, in round numbers
These families are invented and the figures rounded. The rules behind them are real, but they differ from state to state and change over time, and your own numbers will be your own. They show how a plan works and are not results; past results do not predict the outcome of any matter.
- Wills01
Rudolph, 74: the will says three, the form says one
Rudolph’s will leaves everything equally to his three children. His IRA, worth $60,000, names only his oldest daughter, and an account form beats a will. With a $240,000 house and savings, each child receives $80,000 from the will, and the daughter also receives the IRA: $140,000 against $80,000.
A will governs what it names
A beneficiary form governs the account
Ten minutes with the custodian fixes it
- Long-term care02
Eunice, 79: a gift made two years ago
Eunice gave her grandson $24,000 for tuition. Medicaid looks back sixty months from the day of an application, so a gift made two years before it is counted and one made six years before is not. A counted gift postpones help for a period that the state sets.
Look-back: sixty months
Counted: a gift two years back
Not counted: a gift six years back
- Special needs03
Berta and Faye: $15,000 left outright
Berta’s sister Faye receives disability benefits that allow her about $2,000 in savings. If their mother leaves Faye $15,000 outright, her benefits stop until she spends it down. Left to a special needs trust, the same $15,000 pays for Faye’s dental work and a bus pass, and her benefits continue.
The limit is about $2,000
Outright: benefits pause
In a trust: benefits continue
Come with papers, or with nothing at all
The first conversation is for listening. Bring a will, a deed, an insurance letter, or only a list of what worries you. If a parent is in the hospital this week, say so when you call.