First Blog Draft (17aug24):
Everyone with substantial assets should have an estate plan. Many have not started such plans but those who have almost always end up with estate lawyers who recommend trustees.
Estate lawyers and trustees claim they will take care of your assets and will distribute them according to your wishes. Maybe they will. Maybe they’ll do an excellent job. Or maybe, despite the finest of goals, they may stumble. Worse, the personnel who promised you move on to other work and people you never met take over the task.
Will they do what you want? How will you know? If they don’t what can you do about it. You’re dead and gone.
Something Much Better
In my search for a better way to plan my estate, I knew I needed expertise not presently available in the estate lawyer / trustee industry. Those experts have their methods and are greatly constrained by laws and regulations. These restrictions result in a uniformity of advice.
I sought something different.
To begin my discovery, I spoke to numerous people at conferences and I watch hundreds of hours of video and listened to many day’s worth of podcasts.
Most didn’t want to advise on estate planning. I kept searching and found one individual I thought could help. This was Morgann Rochard, wife and partner of Pierra Rochard, TITLE at Marathon, one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies.
What I hoped to accomplish on my call with Morgan. When I made the appointment, she advised, “Please share anything that will help prepare for our meeting.”
Her request caused me too describe my goals. Here’s what I sent her.
“I have an estate planning attorney who can address specific other interests of mine. However, while he brings strong skills, he is woefully underinformed about bitcoin. Therefore, I would like to hire someone inside the Bitcoin community about what more is possible in The Age of Bitcoin.
“My wife and I have built a significant Bitcoin position, a substantial portion of our assets. Moving toward 100% Bitcoin, I wish to fund a charitable giving plan to operate 50 years after my death. (I have a very specific reason for this time period and it is tied to the skills the estate attorney offers.)
“Problem: The conventional method involving trustees and detailed estate plans are not very compatible with a 50-year goal. For example, a 1% annual fee would cut my giving in half. In addition, after a generation or two, a trustee will have no first-hand knowledge of me and I will know not know the new trustee or the enterprise as it may change. I believe Bitcoin offers a more reliable opportunity but I have some questions that need to be resolved: tech first, then legal.
“You may recall that I told you my estate planning attorney does not have a trustee who will work with a cold wallet. The organization he uses said they are only allowed to use a hot wallet, and that is unacceptable to me. In truth, I don’t really want to give them my cold wallet information either, thinking that time lock can address the distribution needs I envision without revealing my seed phrase. I’ve done thinking about privately preserving my 24 words as well.
“My study suggests a Bitcoin plan could be achieved using code functions like time lock addresses and Bitcoin Script. Using Bitcoin math and disintermediating complex legal structures of the State will likely present legal challenges but first I must determine if the technology can support my goals.
“I’m -not- seeking financial counseling, a life plan, or investment advice. I’m 76 and already well invested in Bitcoin. I will continue stacking.
“I -am- seeking expert assistance to execute a vision for a Bitcoin estate plan for charitable actions to occur long after my death.
“My question is, can you help? I realize you personally may not do either the technical or the legal. But I see you have skills of value and
between you and Pierre, it seems you have the right credentials and far more bitcoin experience than any other legal people I am engaging.
I wish to hire expertise to assist in this goal but as a longtime aviation journalist who recently sold my web business, I also plan to write about my effort to create a Bitcoin estate plan.”
On our conversation, we covered the text above and explored some areas of concern for me. This discussion will follow in my next blog post.
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