{"id":344684,"date":"2025-10-31T03:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/344684\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T03:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T03:47:12","slug":"estate-planning-may-be-more-important-and-easy-than-you-think-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/344684\/","title":{"rendered":"Estate planning may be more important and easy than you think \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

Halloween and the Day of the Dead are the perfect times to talk about what will happen to all of your stuff after you die.<\/p>\n

A long life well lived<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad used to sell TVs in the 50s. He was a pioneer in Tijuana selling them,\u201d said Homero Reyes, who is 78 years old and lives in Chula Vista.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

Homero Reyes from Chula Vista explains he’s ready to die when it comes to estate planning. <\/p>\n

Like most people his age, he has a wealth of memories and life experiences he will cherish until his very last breath. At the top of the list, his time with family and friends takes up most of the space in his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw my parents die. I saw my older brother pass away. I saw my older sister pass away. And then you start seeing your neighbors are not there anymore. They\u2019re gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His biggest loss? Rosamaria, his wife of 48 years. He\u2019s been without her for almost two years now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you want to deny it, totally. You want to say it\u2019s not happening. It\u2019s a bad dream. It\u2019s a…,\u201d Reyes paused to gather himself a bit, unable to continue. \u201cBut you have to realize, sooner or later, it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

He now has what he calls a \u201cbucket list for when he kicks the bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n

First off: get rid of everything he no longer needs or uses, including the living room furniture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a wife. I don\u2019t have a fianc\u00e9e, and I\u2019m not having kids anymore,\u201d Reyes said, laughing as he showed an empty living room and dining room. \u201cI\u2019ve got my TV. I\u2019ve got my dog, and that\u2019s all I need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

Homero Reyes shows how he got rid of most of the furniture after his wife died.<\/p>\n

Also on his bucket list: get all his financial affairs in order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my wife passed away, everything was in a joint trust. So you have to do the paperwork. Then begins the labor, which everybody hates,\u201d he said as he sat at a fold-up table in his dining room.<\/p>\n

Estate planning 101<\/p>\n

Ruth Ryan-Cruz is an estate attorney who\u2019s helping Reyes get his affairs in order. She said everyone, no matter what age, should have a plan in place for their stuff after they die.<\/p>\n

She said she\u2019s seen it get messy when there is no plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery messy, very quickly. Unfortunately, it\u2019s one of those situations where if a person passes away, and they leave no documents in place, it\u2019s a big giant cloud of confusion,\u201d she cautioned.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

Estate attorney Ruth Ryan-Cruz explains how important and accessible it is to plan what will happen to your belongings after you die.<\/p>\n

She divides a solid estate plan into four categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Advanced Directive<\/strong>. You\u2019re alive, but you can\u2019t make your own health care decisions, so you ask someone to make them for you. \u201cSomebody who\u2019s actually strong-blooded. Somebody who can actually handle that kind of stress,\u201d she said.<\/li>\n
  2. Financial Power of Attorney<\/strong>. You\u2019re alive, but you can\u2019t make your own financial decisions; someone will need to step in.<\/li>\n
  3. Trust.<\/strong> This is who you want your assets to go to after you die. Not necessarily to keep them, but to manage them. These last two should be the same person, and choose carefully. \u201cWe’re looking for somebody who’s organized, who’s patient, who you actually trust with your money. We don’t want them to go through and handle your money and run off to Las Vegas, right?\u201d asked Ryan-Cruz rhetorically.<\/li>\n
  4. Will\/Testament<\/strong>. That person will help you execute your will. Who gets what and when after you die?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When it comes to your bank accounts, setting up a Payable on Death, or P.O.D.<\/strong>, will send the money directly to whoever you want.<\/p>\n

    How about if you don\u2019t have a plan in place and you bid this world farewell?<\/p>\n

    Intestacy Law<\/strong> – California will distribute your assets for you. It can be a drawn-out and costly process if there are any challenges or hiccups to the process.<\/p>\n

    Reyes doesn’t want the state to decide what will happen to his stuff, especially if he hits the lotto. He says he plans to donate to the fire services in the city where he made his career \u2014 Tijuana.<\/p>\n

    \u201cI want to control the action. I\u2019m looking to benefit society even after I\u2019m gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Halloween and the Day of the Dead are the perfect times to talk about what will happen to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":344685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,6004,255,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-344684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-death-and-dying","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115466734476533757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}