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PRIVACY NOTICE

Last updated February 10, 2021
Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at Poche Estate Planning Law Firm (“Company“, “we“, “us“, “our“). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at Jane@LPocheLaw.com.
 
When you visit the website vimeo.com (the “Website“), use the mobile application, as the case may be (the “App“) and more generally, use any of our services (the “Services“, which include the Website and App), we appreciate that you are trusting us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Services immediately.
 
This privacy notice applies to all information collected through our Services (which, as described above, includes our Website and App), as well as, any related services, sales, marketing or events.
 
Please read this privacy notice carefully as it will help you understand what we do with the information that we collect.
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
2. HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?
In Short:  We process your information for purposes based on legitimate business interests, the fulfillment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent.
We use personal information collected via our Services for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations. We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below.

We use the information we collect or receive:

  • To send you marketing and promotional communications. We and/or our third-party marketing partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. For example, when expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our Services, subscribing to marketing or otherwise contacting us, we will collect personal information from you. You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time (see the “WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS” below).
  • Deliver targeted advertising to you. We may use your information to develop and display personalized content and advertising (and work with third parties who do so) tailored to your interests and/or location and to measure its effectiveness.
3. WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?
In Short:  We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations.
We may process or share your data that we hold based on the following legal basis:
  • Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.
  • Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.
  • Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfill the terms of our contract.
  • Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
  • Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:
  • Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
4. IS YOUR INFORMATION TRANSFERRED INTERNATIONALLY?     
In Short:  We may transfer, store, and process your information in countries other than your own.
Our servers are located in. If you are accessing our Services from outside, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities and by those third parties with whom we may share your personal information (see “WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?” above), in and other countries.
If you are a resident in the European Economic Area, then these countries may not necessarily have data protection laws or other similar laws as comprehensive as those in your country. We will however take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and applicable law.
 
5. WHAT IS OUR STANCE ON THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES?
In Short:  We are not responsible for the safety of any information that you share with third-party providers who advertise, but are not affiliated with, our Website.
The Services may contain advertisements from third parties that are not affiliated with us and which may link to other websites, online services or mobile applications. We cannot guarantee the safety and privacy of data you provide to any third parties. Any data collected by third parties is not covered by this privacy notice. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of any third parties, including other websites, services or applications that may be linked to or from the Services. You should review the policies of such third parties and contact them directly to respond to your questions.
6. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
In Short:  We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.
We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us.
When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.
7. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?
In Short:  We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.
We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security, and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.
8. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?
In Short:  You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.
 
If you are a resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.
If you are a resident in Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html.
If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at Jane@LPocheLaw.com.

Account Information
If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:
  • Log in to your account settings and update your user account.
  • Contact us using the contact information provided.
Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.
Opting out of email marketing: You can unsubscribe from our marketing email list at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send or by contacting us using the details provided below. You will then be removed from the marketing email list — however, we may still communicate with you, for example to send you service-related emails that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes. To otherwise opt-out, you may:
  • Access your account settings and update your preferences.
  • Contact us using the contact information provided.
9. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES
Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice. 
10. DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?
In Short:  Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.
California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.
If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with a Service, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g. backups, etc.).
11. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?     
 
In Short:  Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.
We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.
12. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?     
If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO), Jane St. Pierre, by email at Jane@LPocheLaw.com, by phone at 225-224-8099, or by post to:
Poche Estate Planning Law Firm
Jane St. Pierre
4960 Bluebonnet Blvd., Suite C
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
United States
13. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?     
Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it in some circumstances. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please submit a request form by clicking here. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

Being Prepared with Wills, Trusts, & Powers of Attorney During COVID-19

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CALL 225.224.8099 TODAY TO JOIN A FREE TWO HOUR EDUCATIONAL EVENT.

The COVID19 pandemic is REAL and Louisiana is one of the hotbeds of this invisible killer.  In order to protect ourselves and the good health and safety of others, we are all washing our hands like never before; wearing face masks; and keeping our social distance.

But, did you know that in a recent Rasmussen poll, only 4% of Americans fear the loss of their physical health by the Coronavirus?  The overwhelming fear is loss of income; loss of hard-earned assets; not having what you need to protect your family…in sum, not having a legal estate plan in place.  Are you prepared?

If you don’t have a plan in place yet, don’t worry…you are not alone!  Most people know that they need an estate plan and want to set one up, but life is normally so hectic that they never get around to doing it until it’s too late.  Well, life is not normal now. Because of COVID19, most of us have lots of extra time on our hands. Why not take advantage of this extra time, and put your estate plan in place now.

I’m Laura Poche, a Louisiana estate planning attorney and for over 28 years, I’ve helped 1000’s of people preserve their hard-earned assets and protect their families by helping them set up their own rock-solid legal estate plans.

Attend A Free Webinar or Educational Event And Discover How To:

  • Avoid Costs, Delays and Stress of a Louisiana Succession;
  • Avoid losing your family home and life savings to nursing home costs and sitter fees;
  • Create a simple legal estate plan for your family in only 6-7 weeks;
  • Determine whether you need a Will, a Trust, or both;
  • Keep nosey neighbors, identity thieves and the government out of your estate settlement;
  • Start the five-year look-back period for nursing homes;
  • STOP worrying about your estate once and for all!

Join one of my FREE two-hour workshop to learn how to put yours in place very quickly.  And even better, you can do it remotely and from the comfort and safety of your own home. 

“LIVE IN PERSON SEMINARS”

Baton Rouge
Monday April 22
Poche Law Office
4960 Bluebonnet, Ste. C
2:00pm – 4:30pm
Refreshments Provided After

 

Baton Rouge
Tuesday April 23
Poche Law Office
4960 Bluebonnet, Ste. C
9:30am – 12:00pm
Lunch Provided After

 

Baton Rouge
Wednesday April 24
Poche Law Office
4960 Bluebonnet, Ste. C
5:30pm – 8:00pm
Dinner Provided After

 

Baton Rouge
Thursday April 25
Poche Law Office
4960 Bluebonnet, Ste. C
11:00am – 1:30pm
Lunch Provided After

*Office Location: Baton Rouge – 4960 Bluebonnet Blvd, Suite C

Call our office at 225.224.8099 to save your spot!

Click here to read what our clients are saying about our workshops!

IMPORTANT GUIDELINES FOR OUR WORKSHOPS: Though these webinars are remote and virtual, we do limit the number of people who can join a particular webinar to ensure personalized attention to those who are serious about getting their estate plan in place. Our workshops are open to FIRST-TIME ATTENDEES ONLY and current Poche’ Law Firm clients. The workshops are geared towards people who intend to put a legal estate plan in place in the near future. Please bring your calendar to your workshop should you decide to start your legal estate planning immediately! Finally, if married, both spouses must attend the workshop to ensure that all decision-makers are involved in the family’s coordinated estate plan. Thank you for your attention to these important guidelines for our workshops.

Anyone who attends the webinar will receive a FREE copy of Laura’s book, Estate Planning Advice By A Woman For Louisiana Women, A Guide For Women And Those They Care For About: Wills, Trusts, Probate, Power of Attorney, Medicaid, Living Wills and Taxes.

Whose Fault When The Nursing Home Takes It All?

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Whose Fault When The Nursing Home Takes It All?

I met with an amazingly nice couple recently. What I asked them what their main concerns were, they jumped out of their seat and told me that their #1 concern was that they wanted to avoid losing what they had to the nursing home. You see – the husband’s parents had lost everything they had worked for to the nursing home, and they learned from their parents’ mistakes. They said they had worked – too hard and too long – to see everything go down the drain due to long term nursing home expenses. We talked about the top five nursing home rules that Missouri families need to be aware of prior to thinking about protecting their life savings from nursing home poverty:

  1. Five Year Look-Back Period. Don’t call us when your spouse or parent is on the doorstep of the nursing home – about to check in. It’s too late. But you can protect your home, your real estate, and every penny you own if you take the right legal steps at least five years before you enter the nursing home.
  2. Trusts Help You Protect Things.You don’t have to give up control (and often pay unnecessary tax) by putting your assets in the names of your children. You can use certain types of trusts to keep control but keep it out of the nursing home’s hands. BE CAREFUL THOUGH! Only certain kinds of trusts with certain kinds of provisions work to protect what you have.
  3. Protect Your Home From Estate Recovery. Many people realize that generally you cannot be forced to sell your home to pay for nursing home costs. But most people don’t understand the State of Missouri has Estate Recovery rights which put a lien on your home for the costs of your nursing home stay.
  4. IRAs Require Special Planning.You can’t just put your IRA in someone else’s name, and you can’t transfer ownership of your IRA to a trust. But you can take certain actions to protect your IRA from being depleted at a nursing home.
  5. Special Rules for Married Couples.The Long Term Medicaid eligibility rules are different for single people and married couples. Know the differences so that you can take the necessary actions to protect what you have – whether single or married!

Avoiding nursing home poverty is one of those things in life that often trap the uneducated because they wait too long before they take action to protect what they have.

Contact us at (225) 224-8099 so that we can walk you through what you need to do to stay in control of your estate – both while you’re alive and able, and when you’re not here to manage it yourself.

Own Your Real Estate In An LLC; Transfer Your LLC To A Trust for Simple Transfers During Life And At Death

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Both this morning and yesterday afternoon I dealt with a couple of families and both of those families owned several different tracks of real estate, but what made it easier for them to manage this during their life time and to leave it to their children was they owned those real estate pieces inside of an LLC.

One of the things each family wanted to do was to transfer that real estate to a trust and ordinarily there are a lot of real estate transfers and a lot of real estate recordings and a lot of documentation that needs to be done to transfer real estate to a trust. Since that real estate was already owned by their LLC we could just do one transfer of that LLC interest and that made it very simple to arrange their affairs to leave things to their children. We are doing some transfers of their LLC interest into the trust, nothing recorded in the real estate records, it’s simple it’s easy.

There are a lot of different uses for an LLC if you own real estate, sure there is liability protection, but there is a lot of simplicity in leaving that real estate from one generation to the next. Contact us at 225-224-8099 so that we can walk you through what you need to do to stay in control of your estate – both while you’re alive and able, and when you’re not here to manage it yourself.

You Don’t Have to be Rich to Have an Estate Worth Protecting

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Years ago, the term “estate planning” was a term that described how the wealthy left their many belongings to their heirs. It seemed inappropriate to say that you had an “estate,” when you were struggling to make sure you have enough money to make it through your golden years comfortably. But now virtually everybody has an estate – and you better do some pretty serious and informed legal planning or you’ll lose it. You may not know how you will lose it, but there’s a pretty good chance you’ll lose your estate (or at least a good chunk of it) to the following:

  • Taxes.You pay income tax your entire life. Then, when you die, you face an estate tax that will take up to 55% of what you own. Planning techniques can avoid or minimize what your family must give to the government and the earlier you start planning to avoid estate tax, the more likely it is that you’ll keep more in your family.
  • Nursing Home Poverty.Every day, families are wiped out from long term care costs. The finest legal plan does no good if you are forced by the government to spend it all first on your long term care needs. Fortunately, if you are smart enough to plan ahead (at least five years ahead), you can protect your life savings and the value of your home from these medical expenses.
  • Probate. Probate costs are rising. Probate costs commonly include court costs, attorney fees, executor fees, appraisal fees, accounting costs, bonding fees, and recording charges, sucking a big chunk of your estate away from your family. Fortunately, you can arrange your affairs to minimize (or eliminate) probate, leaving more for your loved ones.
  • Divorce. The divorce rate these days ain’t what it was when you were growing up – it’s much worse. Unless you set things up right, there’s a good chance that you’ll leave your child an inheritance, and then they’ll lose it when they later get a divorce. Fortunately, there are legal strategies that are available so that you can protect your children’s inheritance from their past, present and future divorces.

It’s tough enough to keep what you have. It’s even harder to ensure that what you have goes intact to your loved ones die. There will be many vultures tugging away at it after you pass on, so do what you can to protect it for them in the future. I’m predicting that in the future, the taxes will be greater, and it will be harder for the next generation to accumulate some savings, so the more you can do to help them – the better.

Contact us at so that we can walk you through what you need to do to stay in control of your estate – both while you’re alive and able, and when you’re not here to manage it yourself.

Ready, Set, Plan!

Recently, I had an initial meeting with a great couple. They had put off getting their estate plans in order for a number of years, and realized it was time to get started. After attending one of our seminars, they decided it was time to start planning ahead. I asked what was most important to them, and they gave me pretty detailed instructions on how they want their estate legal affair to be handled. After reviewing many different options that would best suit them, we will be preparing a Living Revocable Trust, along with the other necessary healthcare and end of life instructions. I’m looking forward to working with them!
Have you started planning for your future? Don’t let deadlines creep up on you. Let’s make sure we have all of your affairs in order so that you may enjoy your free time.

Did You Know That You Can Protect Your Children from Their Future Divorces?

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The divorce rate is higher now than it was 30 or 40 years ago. While it’s uncommon for a couple that has been married for 40+ years to get divorced, it is common that one or more of their children will be getting divorced.

By definition, an inheritance that your child receives is his or her separate property. However, your child’s inheritance will quickly become community property co-owned with your son-in-law or daughter-in-law unless it’s handled properly. If your son or daughter later gets divorced after their inheritance becomes community property, he or she may be required to split this inheritance with his or her ex-spouse.

If you are interested in learning more about planning options for you and you loved ones, I’m happy to help.

How Do You Know That A Particular Estate Planning Is “Right” For You and Your Family?

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I speak with folks all the time, and they feel comfortable sharing their “good, bad and ugly” attorney stories with me.  Unfortunately for them—they learned the “hard way”.  For what it’s worth, here are some tips on finding the right estate planning attorney for you and your family:

  1.        Work with an attorney who will not push you around or take advantage of you and your family from the standpoint of unreasonable attorney charges. Work with an attorney who addresses upfront appropriate fees for legal services in a very transparent manner, and all fees for legal services are performed for a fixed reasonable cost provided in writing to you in advance.
    2.        Work with a law firm that is referred by hundreds of other Louisiana residents. What an attorney says about himself or herself is merely a claim. When hundreds of Louisiana individuals, couples, and families objectively endorse a firm after using its services, those statements made by those clients are fact, and not a mere claim.
    3.        Work with an attorney and a lawfirm that will establish and maintain a lifetime relationship with you and your family. Estate planning is not a one-shot deal. You cannot “set it and forget it.”  You or your family will need your attorney and his/her firm in the future, so you’ll want to work with one that will be there when you need them.
    4.        Work with an attorney and a firm that has the staff and resources to support you and your family in the future. Work with a firm that has a staff of highly trained professionals that can answer your questions and respond to your inquiries on a moment’s notice in a courteous, prompt and professional manner.
    5.        Work with an attorney and a firm that keeps you informed of important law changes and timely estate planning trends through monthly newsletter mailings to your home and ongoing educational opportunities through live seminars and online webinars.

If you are interested in learning more about planning options for you and you loved ones and am looking for the right estate  planning attorney, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.

What Is A Revocable Living Trust in 3 Sentences Or Less?

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The Revocable Living Trust is used primarily as a Succession avoidance tool in Louisiana. If your assets are titled in your name when you die, your assets titled in your name will be frozen, and your family will have to go through a Succession and obtain court orders, which orders banks, financial institutions, and others to transfer your assets to your heirs. If your assets are titled in the name of your trust, your Successor trustee will have immediate access to your assets and will be able to sell or distribute them to your beneficiaries that you named in your trust- no Succession is necessary to transfer these assets after your death which reduces significant costs, delay and family disharmony.

If you are interested in learning more about planning options for you and you loved ones, I’m happy to help.

Estate Planning Necessarily Involves Planning to Care for People with Special Needs

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Individuals with certain disabilities can receive cash benefits and medical coverage from various government programs. In order to qualify for these benefits, the individual’s income and resources must not exceed certain levels.

If a parent leaves a bequest to a special needs child, the inherited assets may preclude the child from receiving the benefits. The government, however, has established rules to allow assets to be held in trust for the benefit of a special needs child, preserving the government benefits, as long as certain parameters are met.

These trusts, called Special Needs Trusts, preserve government benefit eligibility and leave assets that will meet certain needs of a special needs individual. Special Needs Trusts are typically designed so that the trust assets can be used to supplement, not supplant, government benefits. Trust assets are typically distributed to third parties to pay for items other than the food and shelter of the disabled individual.

If you are interested in learning more about planning options for you and you loved ones, I’m happy to help.

All Trusts Are NOT the Same!

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While trusts can be confusing at first to the lay person, trusts can be a valuable estate planning tool. Common types of trusts in Louisiana include:

• Revocable living trusts. Becoming increasingly popular for Louisiana residents because it allows families to avoid the court-supervised Succession procedure at death and provides for a faster and less-costly estate settlement at death. A revocable living trust can be extra beneficial if you own real estate in other states allowing your family to avoid multiple probates.

• Trusts for minors. If there’s a chance your minor child or minor grandchild will inherit assets from you, then you need to make sure those assets will be placed in trust so the courts won’t need to supervise the minor’s assets and so that the minor will be protected from squandering the assets when he or she reaches the age of 18.

• Trusts to avoid estate tax. Not as popular now since the estate tax exemption has increased from $600,000 to $5,300,000, but if estate taxes are likely, you need to consider these irrevocable trusts.

• Special Needs Trusts. If you have a child with special needs, make sure any inheritance you leave that child is placed in a Special Needs Trust. This will help preserve government benefits that benefit the child.

• Trusts for Married Couples. A way to make your assets available for your spouse after you die, but when your spouse later dies, the trust assets will revert back to your heirs, not your spouse’s heirs.

• Charitable Trust. A vehicle which allows you to transfer appreciated assets to a charity, have them sold with no tax consequences, receive an income off those assets for your lifetime, and at your death the remaining trust assets are passed along to your favorite charity or charities.

 

If you are interested in developing your legal estate plan, please email me at laura@lpochelaw.com or call my office at 225-224-8099.  I look forward to the opportunity to assist you.