Gabb Morrison LLP

While my favorite local meteorologist, Zack Fradella, watches this new possible Gulf disturbance, it's probably a good time to start honing our preparation skills for the 2026 Hurricane Season (which hopefully is not supposed to be as dire as the one I wrote about in this article from a few years ago).

The article is attached but below is the text for easier reading:

BE PREPARED…it’s not just for the Scouts!

If you have read some of my previous articles, I hope you took to heart that the person responsible for handling the household finances has already shared their tips, tricks, locations, logins and passwords, for keeping the bills current and the finances organized. While both of you are involved in this process, unfortunately it’s time to prepare for hurricane season by reviewing your important papers and deciding what is important to bring along in case of an emergency evacuation.

In anticipation of this upcoming dreaded high-activity hurricane season, it is a good time to be sure your insurance policies are all up-to-date. We have spent so much more time at home over the last few years that many of us have taken the opportunity to renovate or upgrade our homes and perhaps our furniture. This may warrant an increase in coverage for your home and/or contents and all that has to be done when there isn’t a storm already in the Gulf! Be sure the limits on your homeowners and flood insurance are sufficient if you must rebuild or replace the contents of your home or business. Remember, contents coverage exists under flood insurance policies, too, as many of us (including me) learned the hard way after Hurricane Katrina.

Another lesson learned from Katrina is that safe deposit boxes are not waterproof! Important papers, titles and valuables (like the 1,000,000 Iraqi Dinars I have had for 20+ years waiting for it to be worth $1-LOL!) that are kept in your safe deposit box (or even a safe at home) should be stored in waterproof Ziploc bags for extra protection. Now, I even keep my tax returns at home stored in big Ziploc 2-gallon bags (but I do live on the water).

In this day and age, much of the information you may need can be stored electronically. If you are bringing your laptop or iPad, you may have all you need. Or you can save this data (and photos) on a thumb-drive or a small external hard drive that is small and easy to carry with you. However, you may also wish to carry paper copies of your insurance declaration pages in case websites or internet are inaccessible for a while after a major catastrophe. Of course, we hope and pray that will not be the case, but we’ve seen it happen before, and this season’s projections are higher than ever so we may as well BE PREPARED!

As dismal as this sounds, when we evacuate, we have to admit the possibility of what we left behind may not be there when we return. Therefore, we should be evacuating with our cash, passports, valuables, heirlooms, people/pet cremains/urns, medications, etc. However, the “bad” people know that too, so be extra vigilant when leaving your car, or hotel room unattended, even when locked. Use your hotel safe if they have one, or just be sure someone is always in the room or keeping an eye on the car, yes, even at the rest areas. Unfortunately, someone’s tragedy is all-too-often someone else’s opportunity.

Here are some suggestions of what you may need in case of an emergency:

1. Insurance policies and your Agent’s emergency contact information;

2. Bank and other account information, and extra cash;

3. Health Care directives, like your Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will that should include your emergency contacts (or your *DocuBank card if you have a membership);

4. Other important papers/documents (Last Will & Trusts, car titles, passports, birth certificates, Social Security cards, if these originals are stored at home), family heirlooms/art, photographs—this may include items of monetary value, and especially those of sentimental value.

*DocuBank is a service we have used for 25 years that houses members’ medical directives electronically, and allows access to these documents and information from anywhere in the world, 24 hours per day. Visit www.DocuBank.com

These days it’s easy to be consumed by the possibility of a catastrophic event. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a planner. I like to know the people that I love are safe, and those things I have worked so hard for are protected. The best we can do is BE PREPARED, just like the Scouts would do!

The most common telephone question we get: "IS THERE A FORM FOR THAT?" (A close second and third place: "can I ask a quick legal question?" and "do you charge for that?") Here is a good article I wrote in 2022, all still accurate except the gift amount for 2026 is now $19,000. Full article in text below (with updated 2026 figure).

Is There a Form for That?

That is such a common question we hear! The short answer is: MAYBE, but we are not giving you one! Why, you ask? Because in estate planning (and life in general) every action has a REACTION. And it’s that reaction that gets you in trouble. Once you read this, you will know why it is not good practice to just provide a form.

The most common “form” question is: Can’t you just give me a form so my mother can put her house in my name? For just that one “simple” question, let’s look at all the REACTIONS to that action.

This is called an “Act of Donation” and no, it isn’t just a “form”. Under Louisiana law, an Act of Donation must be prepared properly to even be valid. The criteria include: it must be crystal clear that it’s an irrevocable donation; it must include an accurate and complete legal description; and the format in which it is drafted is sacrosanct (just like a Last Will). It must be in “authentic act” which means each party (Donors and Donees) must sign the Donation in the presence of two witnesses and a Notary Public-- everyone in the same room at the same time to sign and witness the signatures. There are no exceptions! If not done properly, it is invalid. (If you’re a nerd like me, Google this interesting case: Zamjahn v. Zamjahn.)

Once the Act of Donation is properly drafted and executed, it now needs to be recorded in the Conveyance records in the Parish where the property is located for accurate “notice to third parties,” and the Parish tax assessor gets notified. Depending on the circumstances, the property will likely be reassessed, and the Homestead Exemption and Senior Freeze, if any, will be lost if the Donee does not reside there. Retaining Homestead Exemption and the Senior Freeze are additional issues that should be addressed with proper legal representation, like retention of usufruct, perhaps. But how do you know about these issues if you just get a form?

Next reaction: What do you mean there’s a limit to how much my mom can give me? Yep, one can only gift or donate up to $19,000 per year (for 2026) per person without the requirement to file a Form 709 Federal Gift Tax return. If you want to know more about that, ask your accountant about that “form”! Just like your annual tax return, it’s just another form, but I am sure to pay my CPA to file that for me, because I won’t risk the IRS reactions that I may not know about!

Wow, there really can’t be any more reactions, right? Wrong! If mom just donated her property to you, your “basis” is now whatever mom’s basis was. Maybe it’s what she purchased it for many years ago, or perhaps mom inherited it. Regardless, it’s NOT the fair market value (FMV) as of the date of the gift (although that is the value that will be reported on that gift tax return). If, however, mom had kept the property in her own name and you then inherited it at mom’s death, then the basis would be stepped up to the FMV as of mom’s date of death.

Anything else, you ask? Why YES! Most of the time, the reason people are asking for this “magic” form is because they heard this is how Mom can get on Medicaid, and then the “government won’t take my mom’s house”. Well, that’s another whole article, but the short answer is you probably just shot yourself in the foot as that gift means that Mom cannot qualify for Medicaid for another five years. Of course, we have other options for this too, but you won’t find them on a “form”.

All of the above “reactions” can occur from doing a “simple” Act of Donation “form” without proper counsel. Imagine how many reactions there would be if we just provided a “form” for a Last Will, a Living Trust, Powers of Attorney, and the list goes on and on.
I realize trivializing legal documents as “just a form” is just an attempt to save money, but we all know the old adage “you get what you pay for” is true in most cases. If it’s a FREE form you want, you must be willing to accept the consequences, and risk spending more money to correct what has been done, if it’s not too late to do so.