Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 20, 2016

B3

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

 Mountain Views News Saturday, August 13, 2016 


FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett

FIVE REASONS TO 
NEVER GIVE AN 
OUTRIGHT INHERITANCE 
TO YOUR CHILDREN - 
AND WHAT TO DO 
INSTEAD!

If you’re like me, you want to leave an inheritance 
for your children. It’s likely a big part of the reason 
you work so hard. But far too often, the way an 
inheritance is left actually does more harm than 
good. And that’s something no parent wants.

 Giving outright ownership of our assets to our 
kids could put everything you’ve left behind at risk. 
Why, how, and what can you do about it? 

 Let me share with you the five reasons leaving an 
outright inheritance to your kids is a mistake and then 
show you the way to protect your kids’ inheritance 
– not just for them, but for generations to come. 


Your Child’s Future Divorce

According to current statistics, forty-two percent 
(42%) of our children will divorce during their 
lifetime. In most divorces property is divided 
evenly. So if you have a married child, or a child 
who will get married in the future, and you leave 
them an inheritance, and they later divorce, as 
much as half of their inheritance could go to their 
ex-spouse. You aren’t working as hard as you are to 
support your child’s future ex-spouse, right? 

Bankruptcy 

Your child may incur such extreme debt that the 
only possible relief will come through bankruptcy. 

 Possible causes of such debt are a business 
venture gone bad or a major health event such 
as addiction, mental illness, accident, or disease 
that results in either a temporary or permanent 
inability to work in combination with staggering 
bills. 

 Bankruptcy does happen to good people so why 
not ensure the inheritance you leave behind will 
never be at risk due to a mistake or health issue? 

Lawsuit

Unintentional neglect that injures someone else’s 
person or property could wipe out an inheritance 
you leave your children. For example, consider 
these recent lawsuit judgments:

 $49 million in California for an automobile 
accident where the family of 21-year-old college 
student sued drivers of two vehicles involved in 
the multi-vehicle crash. The plaintiff’s counsel 
claimed one defendant was sleep-deprived, 
while the other was on their cell phone. The 
plaintiff was in a coma for one month and 
is expected to require lifetime 24-hour care. 
$20 million in Florida for an ATV accident 
where a teenage male was killed while riding 
an ATV on the neighbor’s property. The 
neighbor had invited him to drive the ATV, 
permitting him to operate it without proper 
safety equipment and without adult supervision. 
The teenage male struck a fence and was killed. 
$11.9 million in Florida for an internet 
defamation suit brought by a Florida consultant 
against a Louisiana woman for posting 
defamatory statements about the plaintiff on 
an internet bulletin board. The defendant 
called the plaintiff a “crook” and a “fraud.” 
$5.9 million in Maryland in a dog-bite case 
where a 16-month-old child was attacked and 
killed by a pit bull kept at the home of a family 
friend. 

 It is easy to see how well intended, but neglectful 
behavior on the part of your children could 
completely wipe out any inheritance you leave 
them. 

4. Mismanagement

I have many clients who tell me they do not trust 
their children to manage money. This could 
mean that their children are spendthrifts, unwise 
investors, or easily manipulated out of the money. 
And, the statistics support this for nearly 20% of 
inheritors. 

According to Prof. Jay L. Zagorsky of Ohio State 
University, 40% of individuals inheriting less than 
$100,000 will spend or lose the entire inheritance 
with about half as many who inherit more than 
$100,000 spending or losing the entire inheritance. 
It’s quite likely that if that inheritance was left 
in a different way those numbers would greatly 
improve. I’ll share more with you about that below. 

5. Lost Work Ethic: 

Some people simply can’t handle prosperity. 
In fact, that may even be most people. 
For example, Thomas Stanley and William 
Danko in their book, The Millionaire Next Door, 
uncovered research showing that children who 
received an inheritance were worth four-fifths less 
than others in their same profession who didn’t. 
Vic Preisser, of the Institute for Preparing Heirs, 
says that unprepared children who inherit money 
are susceptible to excessive spending, identity loss, 
and guilt over receiving money they didn’t earn. 
Preisser says, ”In a year to 18 months, everything 
falls apart -- marriage, finances -- and if there is 
a drug problem it becomes worse.” Thus leaving 
an outright inheritance to our kids may do more 
harm than good. 

 As you can see, an outright inheritance is 
usually NOT the best answer for your kids. 
Most lawyers would tell you that the answer is 
to leave your kids’ their inheritance in a Trust and 
they’d be right, but they would likely still distribute 
that Trust outright to your kids at specific ages or 
stages.

 But there’s an even better plan ( far better, in 
fact).

The Alternative

An alternative to an outright inheritance to your 
children (“outright” meaning they both personally 
own and can personally lose the inheritance) is to 
gift your assets to your children at the time of your 
death via a Legacy Asset Protection Trust.

 A Legacy Asset Protection Trust can be 
drafted to give your children full control of their 
inheritance (if you choose), but ensure they never 
own the inheritance. And because the rule of 
law is you can’t lose what you never owned, you 
are gifting your children with lifetime, airtight 
asset protection, of the kind they couldn’t give 
themselves at any price. 

 When you gift an inheritance to your children 
via a Legacy Asset Protection Trust, the trust owns 
the property, not your children. Thus, if your 
children ever get divorced, file bankruptcy, or are 
ordered to pay damages in a lawsuit, they can’t lose 
the inheritance, simply because they never owned 
it. 

 And if they use their inheritance wisely (and 
the trust can be set up to help them do that too), 
those assets can grow and be passed down via 
another Legacy Asset Protection Trust from your 
children to their children and so on. In fact, this 
tool is something that really helps families grow 
their assets and build wealth from generation to 
generation.

 Dedicated to your family’s health, wealth, and 
happiness,

 A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on a 
mission to help parents protect what they love most. 
His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, 
Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an appointment 
to sit down and talk about ensuring a legacy of love 
and financial security for your family by calling 
626.587.3058 or visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more 
information.


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SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015VOLUME 9 NO. 20Inside this week: 
PASADENA/ALTADENA 
Pg. 6ARCADIA NEWS 
Pg. 7FOOD & DRINKARTS Pg. 11OPINION Pg. 15THE WORLD AROUND 
US Pg. 14CALENDAR Pg. 2SIERRA MADRE NEWS 
Pg. 3/4EDUCATION & YOUTH 
Pg. 10LEGAL NOTICES 
Pg. 15GOOD LIFE 
Pg. 13HEALTHY LIVING 
Pg. 12MONROVIA/DUARTE 
Pg. 7BEST FRIENDS 
Pg. 9SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 
Pg. 8Sierra Madre, CA. - 
On Wednesday May 13, 2015 at 04:00 AM a resident on Grove Lane heard noises in the front of his residence. The resident looked out the 
window and observed a suspect breaking into his vehicle. The resident went outside and confronted the suspect, who was now inside his 
vehicle, and a brief struggle ensued. The suspect had a large silver object in his hand which the resident felt was a gun. Fearing for his safety 
the resident backed away from the suspect allowing the suspect flee southbound to a dark colored SUV. As the SUV pulled up another 
suspect ran out of the residence south of the original victims and fled to the vehicle. 
Within minutes of the original call officers spotted the dark colored SUV traveling at a high rate of speed southbound on Baldwin from Sierra 
Madre Blvd. A high risk traffic stop was conducted and three suspects were detained without incident. Stolen property and narcotics were located 
inside the vehicle. 
Police Chief Larry Giannone said “we discourage residents 
from confronting suspects for their safety but are glad the victim 
is okay. The quick response from the officers was instrumental 
in apprehending these suspects and recovering the victim’s 
property”. Police located additional property in the vehicle and 
will be attempting to identify other victims. 
The three suspects are gang members and have lengthy arrest 
records. All three suspects reside in El Monte and were booked 
at the Pasadena City Jail. Bail for each is set at $50,000.
SUSPECTS ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPT ROBBERY AND 
POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTYJesus Rojas (20) Geovany Martinez (19) Aaron Vazquez (33)
There are many reasons why city of Sierra 
Madre is considered a great place to live. 
Certainly, its’ village character is one 
reason. Our independence is another. We 
have excellent schools and our own police 
and fire departments. We have our own 
library. We have our own grocery store, 
hardware store, auto repair shops, coffee 
shops, florists, restaurants and much more. 
However, if a survey were taken today, you 
would probably find that most residents 
consider safety their number one priority. 
And, according to a recent survey released 
by safewise.com, Sierra Madre ranks No. 24 
in the top 50 cities in the State of California 
and, based upon the survey’s findings, it is 
the safest city in the San Gabriel Valley! 
There are 482 cities in California that 
38 million residents call home. Safewise 
examined those cities with populations 
over 10,000 and evaluated recent FBI Crime 
Report data. and compiled a list of the 50 
safest cities based upon the incidents of 
crime compared to the national average. 
“From there, we determined the number 
of Violent Crimes, which are considered 
murder, aggravated assault, robbery and 
forcible rape, as well as Property Crimes, 
consisting of burglary, motor vehicle theft, 
arson, and larceny-theft that were reported 
in each city. Then, to create a level playing 
field and make it easy to compare crime 
rates among several cities, we calculated the 
chance of these crimes happening out of 
1,000 people. 
“The average violent crime rate among 
our safest cities was 1.12 per 1,000 people, 
and the average property crime rate was 
11.32 per 1,000 people. That means the 
average safe city listed below experienced 
70 percent less violent crime and 60 percent 
less property crime than the typical U.S. 
city. We were particularly impressed to 
discover that 42 of California’s 50 safest 
cities (84 percent) reported no murders. 
And the safest city on our list, Hillsborough, 
reported no incidents of violent crime 
whatsoever.”
Sierra Madre has had no murders 
and ranks well below the national 
average when in comes to crime. 
In the report, this is attribute 
to the use of technology by the 
SMPD. 
Other San Gabriel Valley Cities 
that make the top 50 list are: 
Temple City - No. 37; La Canada 
Flintridge – 43 and La Puente – 
46.
The incorporated cities and 
unincorporated neighborhoods 
of the San Gabriel Valley with a 
population over 10,000 include: 
Altadena, Alhambra, Arcadia, Azusa, 
Baldwin Park, Citrus, Covina, Diamond 
Bar, Duarte, East Pasadena, El Monte, 
Glendora, Hacienda Heights, Hillgrove, 
Irwindale, La Cañada Flintridge, La Puente 
Monrovia, Monterey Park, Pasadena, 
Rosemead, Rowland Heights, San Gabriel, 
San Marino, Sierra Madre, South El Monte, 
South Pasadena, South San Gabriel, South 
San Jose Hills, Temple City, Valinda, 
Vincent, Walnut, West Covina and West 
Puente Valley.
S. Henderson/MVNewsSIERRA MADRE: - 24th Safest Statewide of Cities With Populations 
of 10,000 or more. Topped ranked San Gabriel Valley City24. SIERRA MADREYou’ll find the safe city of Sierra Madre 13 miles south 
of Los Angeles. For roughly a century, the Sierra Madre 
Police Department has worked with citizens to keep the 
community a safe place to settle. Leveraging the latest 
technology, the department uses the free online service 
CrimeReports to give residents insight into what types of 
crime are happening in their community. In all, the safe 
city cited only 13 violent crimes for the year and only five 
other cities on our list reported fewer forcible rapes and 
fewer robberies.
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 1.17Property Crimes per 1,000: 11.67www.safewise.comBARTOLAI’S NAMED 4TH OF 
JULY GRAND MARSHALSThe volunteers of the Sierra 
Madre 4th of July Committee 
are pleased and excited to 
announce that the 2015 
Fourth of July Parade Grand 
Marshal will be Sierra Madre’s 
very own Nina and Clem 
Bartolai. 
“The Grand Marshal is a 
person or persons whose 
efforts over a long period 
of time has been beneficial 
to the community of Sierra 
Madre. The title of Grand 
Marshal is intended to 
honor a person or persons’ 
volume of work, dedication 
and overall enhancements to 
our community.” Nina and 
Clem have embodied these 
characteristics for years. 
This ultra civic Sierra Madre 
couple have continued to 
donate time and service to the 
Sierra Madre community for 
over 60 plus years. They are 
true examples of the Sierra 
Madre spirit and continue to 
give back today. 
Clem was part of the first 
committee in 1964/65 to plan 
the first 4th of July Parade/
Celebration in Sierra Madre. 
Clem served the community 
as a Parks & Recreation 
Commissioner, Planning 
Commissioner, and then in 
the 1980s and 90s as Mayor 
and Councilmember. In the 
1960s he was a member of the 
Sierra Madre Lions Club. He 
is a Past President and current 
member of the the Sierra 
Madre Kiwanis Club and was 
a founding member of the 
Sierra Madre Community 
Foundation. 
Nina has served on the Senior 
Community Commission for 
over six years and has been a 
member of the Priscilla’s since 
1997. Throughout the years 
both Clem & Nina have been 
active with the Sierra Madre 
Rose Float Assoc. Historical 
Society, SMEAC and Friends 
of the Library. 
There isn’t a civic cause or 
local group they haven’t 
helped with. Together they 
are committed to making 
the town of Sierra Madre 
the community we treasure 
today. The Bartolais are 
Sierra Madreans that make a 
difference. 
For more information 
on all of the 4th of July 
Festivities, please visit www.
sierramadre4thofjuly.com. 
COMMUNITY INPUT SOUGHT TO 
HELP BALANCE SIERRA MADRE’S 
BUDGET 
With the reduction of revenue for the next fiscal 
year, July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016, and the 
reality that Sierra Madre cannot sustain the level 
of services it currently provides, Mayor John 
Capoccia, Councilwoman Rachelle Arizmendi 
led one of many outreach efforts to solicit input 
from the community as to how the council 
should balance next year’s budget. 
On Tuesday, the presentation made to the 
Sierra Madre Kiwanis Club asked residents to 
review the city’s financial situations and let their 
elected officials know what services were most 
important to them; what services should be cut; 
suggest ways to increase city revenue and ideas 
on how to address the current situation. 
The Mayor noted that the city does have healthy 
reserves, however those funds are needed for 
emergencies such as the fires of 2008 or the 
windstorm on 2011. In each instance, because 
of the size of our town and other factors, the city 
had to pay a portion (and for certain items all) 
of the funds needed to repair the damages done. 
The current decrease in revenue, which is 
projected to be approximately $600,000 for the 
next fiscal year and as much as an additional 
$1 million for the 2016-2017 fiiscal year is the 
direct result of the failure of residents to pass 
the Utility User Tax modification in 2014. The 
current UUT will decrease to 8% for the 2015-
16 fiscal year and 6% the following year. Had 
the ballot measure passed, the rate would have 
remained where it is today, at 10%. 
The presentation focuses of the city’s general 
fund, the unrestricted revenue that operates 
Sierra Madre. 
Services Provided by the General FundCommunity Services - Senior Services: lunch 
program, fitness classes, bingo, movies, health 
screenings, legal services, and excursions | Parks 
& Facilities: six parks and two community centers 
| Community Garden | Community Newsletter | 
Coordinating Council | Special Event Permits | 
Contract Services: Aquatics, Recreation Classes, 
After School Youth Programs | Special Events: 
Huck Finn, MWTR, 4th of July, Summer Fun 
in the Park, Concerts in the Park, Movies in 
the Park, Halloween | Staff the Community 
Services & Senior Community Commissions(continued on page 4)
TOTAL GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES 
(In thousands, with transfers)
We’d like to hear from you! 

What’s on YOUR Mind?

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