You are listening to a special episode of Ask the Experts on Talk 860 WWDB AM with host Steve O and weekly guest, LGBTQ legal expert Angela Giampolo.
Angela and Steve go off topic in the first half this week’s show to discuss recent developments in the Supreme Court.
Does the threat to Roe V Wade mean that marriage equality and other rights marginalized groups have gained over the years will also be overturned? And can we safely leave these issues to the states? Also, we talk about the best time to do estate planning or, as Angela likes to call it, life planning.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE LEAKED DOBBS DECISION?
Now that Roe v. Wade is being overturned, marriage equality is next. We have Don’t Say Gay legislation in twelve states. Since 2014, I’ve been saying that we would get here. Roe v. Wade would be overturned, and it would open the door for marriage equality or any right guaranteed under the 14th Amendment that is not explicitly written in the Constitution to go away.
It’s not that I don’t trust the states. I feel like we will go back to where we were before Obergefell, which was the Windsor case. Windsor couldn’t give us nationwide marriage equality because it sought to overturn the Defense Against Marriage Act. The court decided that DOMA was unconstitutional, that allowed states to implement marriage equality if they wanted. Then Obergefell came and said marriage is a right guaranteed in the Constitution in the same the way we have interracial marriage from Loving v. Virginia.
This is where the federal government comes in to give us some coherency, and fundamental civil rights are not dependent on the state you live in. But if the overturning of Roe ultimately leads to the overturning of Obergefell, I think we go back to post-Windsor where we had 36 states permitting marriage equality, and then 14 that didn’t
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO DO ESTATE PLANNING?
The younger, the better. The minute you become an adult and you’re living out on your own, we only die once. In our lifetime, these other documents play a much larger role. If you’re 30 years old, you could be in a long term committed relationship where you have a partner that you want to be able to make everyday health care decisions for you. If you go into surgery or if you own a home together, you want them to be your durable power of attorney. People don’t normally think that at 25 they should be doing estate planning because they might not own a home or they don’t have significant assets. But you still need to name your healthcare power of attorney, durable power of attorney, and have people other than you be able to act for you.
If you did get at 25 to 30 years old, you’ll only have about two or three updates in your lifetime. Even if you get it at 50, you’re still going to have two to three updates in your lifetime. So it’s not like if you do it at 25, you’re going to have to update ten times. It’s 25 or 30, and then again around your mid 40s or 50s, then again around retirement and then again when you’re older. But regardless of when someone does it, they tend to tweak it minimally, two to three times, whether it’s at 25 or 60.
WHY DO YOU PREFER THE TERM ‘LIFE PLANNING’?
I like life planning rather than estate planning. Estate planning sounds like it’s for wealthy people, and family planning can feel exclusionary. Life planning fits everyone. It is more proactive to me than estate planning. Life is this thing that happens to us. This is the only one that we have. We need a plan for it. And with that comes certain documents.
Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:01)
You’re listening to a special episode of Ask the Experts on Talk 860 WWAM with host Steve O and weekly guest LGBTQ legal expert Angela Giampolo. Angela and Steve go off topic in the first half of this week’s show to discuss recent developments in the Supreme Court. Does the threat to Roe v. Wade mean that marriage equality and other rights marginalized groups have gained over the years will also be overturned? And can we safely leave these issues to the states? Also, we talk about the best time to do estate planning or as Angela likes to call it, life planning.
Speaker 2 (00:43)
Hey, good morning, Philadelphia. Welcome to another Ask the Expert. We’re with you every Tuesday from ten to 11:00 every Tuesday with some of Philadelphia’s finest attorneys, doctors, financial people. And I have something to share with you. I haven’t even shared with our expert who comes on with us at 10:00 every Tuesday. I got an email and I am so upset because I read it. And have you ever clicked on delete by mistake? I did delete by mistake. And I have done everything I can to recover it, Linda, because that’s the only name you gave me. If you are listening, please, I beg you, because that was the greatest email I’ve ever received about this show, about attorney Angel Giampoplo’s show that brought tears to my eyes. So, Linda, please, if you can resend it to me, and I want to read it over the air and I want to make Angela blush. Good morning, Angela.
Speaker 3 (02:12)
Good morning. How are you?
Speaker 2 (02:16)
Where are you at today?
Speaker 3 (02:18)
I am at my house in Scottsdale.
Speaker 2 (02:21)
Oh, God, it’s beautiful. What a great background.
Speaker 3 (02:25)
It’s an amazing backyard. Yes, it is. We’re going to have to do a show from here one day.
Speaker 2 (02:29)
Oh, that would be wonderful. Angela, I got to tell you, we got an email yesterday from Linda, who listens every week. And basically, to make a long story short, this show changed her life, and it changed her life because of what you have said, I guess she came out. I don’t even know what the right word is. We used to say came out of the closet, but that doesn’t sound right. But you know what I’m saying? I got to tell you, you are touching lives, Angela, that we just don’t even know about. But this woman, I’m pleased. I am so sorry. I was working on five different things with eight markets. We get a lot of emails. Yours was so special, Linda, if you please resend it to me, because I’m an idiot. I mean, I apologize, but it talked about you, what you have done for her life. And I’m a big guy. I’m a man. It brought tears to my eyes. Crazy that a talk show could have so much emphasis on someone’s life.
Speaker 3 (04:17)
There’s a lot that goes into, I think, the normalization of people’s experience. And it’s not always the case in a lot of areas, both regionally as well, not even just where you live locationally, but also how you were raised, the religion in the family, your parents values and beliefs that a lot of people go through life not necessarily feeling seen and they don’t even know the conversations that they could be having because there’s no one around them to have them with. And then they’re driving to work one day and hear our conversation. And it has that normalizing effect that may, for some people, have a huge impact. And ultimately, that’s why we take our time and do what we do.
Speaker 2 (05:13)
I got to tell you, because I’ve been doing this for eight years. And when I get an expert that I don’t know much about, it could be a doctor, it could be a lawyer, it could be a financial person. I’m a little leery because I don’t know a lot about the subject. And that’s what happened with this show. And I got to tell you, it’s been the greatest experience since I’ve been doing these shows, your show. And I want to thank you. And I guarantee Linda is going to resend that email because it was so beautiful. And sometimes we don’t think about who we’re touching out there.
Speaker 3 (06:04)
Yeah, we have a big audience totally. Even if one person hears something that makes them think differently, or once a month on a radio show in the evenings on a Black progressive media station that has very religious undertones as well as being progressive. But still, the overarching is religious. And the host loves me in the audience, not so much. I mean, he knows that bringing me on monthly is pushing against his audience’s overall comfortability. And that’s why he does it. That’s why I go on and do it. And on the last show, I was called the leader of a satanic cult. And I joked, I was like, well, at least I’m the leader. I’m going to be part of a satanic cult. I might as well be the CEO of it. But at the end of that show, if that listener hates me just a little bit less. Right, and was able to hear something and just literally hate me 5% less, I’ve done something. If he went from 100 to 95. And I truly view it that way, both on the negative side and then on the positive side is easy. I mean, that’s why I do what I do.
Speaker 3 (07:27)
It’s much easier to impact people positively. But doing a show like yours is not preaching to the choir. When I do an LGBT specific radio show or I write in an LGBTQ magazine, I know that people who know, like and trust me are reading it and all I’m doing is educating my own community. But when I’m on this show or that Black progressive media show, I know that I am maybe the first gay person that they’ve ever heard speak or the first gay lawyer or the first gay professional. It’s an honor and a privilege to have a platform and a voice to be able to reach the Linda’s of the world. And that’s why I take 30 minutes right now, 30 minutes a week, and soon, much more than that, a week in eight markets.
Speaker 2 (08:27)
Angela, I got to tell you something. And I don’t even discuss I get letters, okay? I get emails, and I don’t even discuss it with you because I’ve learned that insurance is this. If you told me five years ago I would be doing a weekly show like this, I would say, no way. Now I might hear something about somebody who came out as being gay. It’s like, so what’s the big deal? It’s not new.
Speaker 3 (09:08)
And it’s important to be careful of our language when we say it’s not a big deal because it is always a big deal to that person coming out as an ally. It’s a minute difference in the language, but it’s important to say it’s not a big deal to me that you’re gay because to them or trans or bisexual or however they identify. But it’s because for them it’s a huge deal. And that little bit of coming out, they probably thought about it for years prior to doing that. And for you, you’re probably like you’re not a big deal in your brain. But it’s important if anyone comes out to you to not use that language in terms of huge deal, big deal. It’s not anything. It’s not huge. It’s not small. That’s language that we put on it in order to describe it, but just a lot of allies unknowingly use what comes across as condescending language. Like.
Speaker 2 (10:39)
It’s not a big deal. Just to me, it’s just.
Speaker 3 (10:42)
But it’s not even acceptable. I mean, I push back on that because we have Don’t Say Gay legislation now in twelve states, marriage equality is going to go away. Now that Roe v. Wade is being overturned, marriage equality is next. So there is absolutely nothing right now in the political or social discourse that makes it feel okay. Right. And so even if somebody’s current surroundings would be totally comfortable with their sexuality, their sexual orientation, there’s this overarching political discourse going on in the country right now that really makes it scary. And so it’s important to remember that that little eight year old that’s in Florida hears the Don’t Say Gay legislation and doesn’t know why it’s bad to say gay. They just know that maybe they are. And so if it’s bad to say it, it must be horrific to be it. Right? So, yeah, we’re just in a weird, weird time. And whereas some people it’s like completely, totally acceptable for others it’s not. And regionally, where you live also matters.
Speaker 2 (11:55)
Yeah. And boy, you are going into the jungle. You could be going into areas.
Speaker 3 (12:04)
Angela, you would do that where I am here, which will be the first expansion site. When I turn to go to the house, there’s this massive. It’s sort of like a pop up because it’s not a building and it says Trump Nation and not to politicize anything. But at the end of the day, everyone in Trump’s cabinet anti LGBT. The minute Trump was in office on January 20, all mention of LGBTQ and civil rights was removed from the website. And he himself enacted over 50 anti-LGBT executive orders. So it’s not at all a Trump fighting thing. I don’t care. But when I look at what the President does, it’s anti LGBT. Trump was extremely his administration was extremely anti LGBT, even though he’s been seen at gay weddings years ago and also friends with the Clintons years ago and whatever. But anyways, massive Trump Nation guns, ammo and honey that they sell. Like, I don’t know where the honey comes from. And then Hobby Lobby. There’s a Hobby Lobby right near where I am. So the 2014 Supreme Court Hobby Lobby case was the crack in the levy of overturning Roe v. Wade. And when the Hobby Lobby case was decided, over 250 religious leaders asked for Hobby Lobby to be applied to LGBTQ issues and specifically marriage equality.
Speaker 3 (13:47)
So 2014, I’ve been saying that we would get here, that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, and it would open the door for marriage equality next or really anything, any right guaranteed under the 14th Amendment that is not explicitly written in the Constitution would go away. And so that was 2014. I’ve never physically seen a Hobby Lobby store because I don’t frequent this out. And now I drive 2 miles from my house as a Hobby Lobby. And then right before I turn in, I say Hi to Trump Nation. And then I go in, and it’s just to me inspiration to be doing what I’m doing for the LGBTQ community currently surrounded by anti-LGBT sentiment. I mean, this is exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Speaker 2 (14:40)
This is not a political show that we have other, bigger things. But, Angela, I’m really curious. I love your views on things. I’m really curious. You don’t trust the states to do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (15:02)
No, not it’s that I don’t trust the states. I feel like we will go back to where we were before Obergefell, which was the Windsor case, which the Windsor case said ultimately it wasn’t nationwide. So the way Windsor was decided, it couldn’t give us nationwide marriage because of what it sought to overturn, which was DOMA. And so the Defense Against Marriage Act was all that was an issue. So just like the court has said multiple times, it can’t decide an issue that is not before them. So with Windsor, its main issue was, is DOMA constitutional, article three and article two of DOMA in particular. So in deciding that it was unconstitutional, that led for states being able to do what it wanted to do. Okay, and then Obergefell came and said, actually, it’s a right guaranteed in the Constitution the way we have Loving v. Virginia, being able to interracially marry when that was deemed illegal. And so that’s where then Obergefell came to make it nationwide. That be it, black or white if you’re in Virginia and then in Pennsylvania and you’re black or white, and then you marry in Pennsylvania. So it’s that same sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (16:35)
That the states we are the 50 states and we are the United States of America. But at the end of the day, that’s where the federal government comes in to give us some coherency right. And especially with the right of privacy that is guaranteed in the Constitution, what is more private than what we do in our own home, who we love in our own home. So if that is a federal right, I’m still debating the constitutional right on whether or not it is guaranteed to us in the Constitution if they deem it is not, which I think they will, given how they have decided Roe v. Wade and why that’s not a guarantee in the Constitution, then, yes, I think we go back to post-Windsor where we had 36 states allowing or recognizing permitting same sex marriage, marriage equality, and then the 14 that didn’t. So about seven months or so ago. Now time flies, but New Jersey finally passed marriage equality. And people are like, what do you mean? We’ve been able to get married in New Jersey for longer than Pennsylvania. And I said, yes, but it was a court case. Like in Pennsylvania, we have the Whitewood Supreme Court case, which we can see Roe v. Wade can be overturned. So the Whitewood case in Pennsylvania can easily be overturned. Once marriage equality is overturned, then any Supreme Court state that has passed marriage equality can also overturn it. But the legislature in New Jersey made it a right now in New Jersey. So we really have only had and that’s what state will have to do to actually guarantee the right.
Speaker 2 (18:19)
This is what’s so great about you being an attorney. And we don’t really do anything politically on the show. We’re more here because you represent.
Speaker 3 (18:30)
And that’s the point. This isn’t political. Like I have to say, Trump, just like, you know what Bill Clinton gave us, DOMA. And so Clinton has come out of my mouth in a negative way, DOMA. And “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” the Defense Against Marriage. We can’t get married and we can’t serve in the armed forces. And that was Clinton right, like the God’s, moderate Democrat, whatever. Right. And yet he gave us all those things. And I’ve spoken negatively about him because of all of that. So this is truly not political. I just can only mention the administration that gave us certain things. And so then it may sound political, but it’s really legal. It’s the laws that were enacted during an administration and the administration ceiling towards certain social issues.
Speaker 2 (19:22)
Well, what I was saying was you work in estate planning, which is so important, family law, planning, employment law, real estate law only got about five or six minutes. But when’s the best time, Angela, to do estate planning. I understand the younger you get is the better. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (19:47)
Yeah, it’s definitely the younger the better, because the minute you become an adult and you’re living out on your own, we only die once. I tell people all the time. Right. And obviously with covid and a war in Ukraine and all of the things we’re hearing and seeing about death more than we normally ever do on the news prior to covid, but we technically only die once. So in our lifetime, these other documents play a much larger role. And if you’re 30 years old, you could be in a long term committed relationship or just even a three year committed relationship where you have a partner that you want to be able to make everyday health care decisions for you. If you go into surgery or if you own a home together, you want them to be your durable power of attorneys. So people don’t normally think that at 25 they should be doing estate planning because maybe they don’t own a home or they don’t have significant assets. But to name your healthcare power of attorney, durable power of attorney and have people other than you be able to act for you as you should.
Speaker 3 (21:05)
Anything that is important, and also you don’t know the value of it, unfortunately, until you need it. And then something bad has happened. So if people could just take my word for it that the sooner the better. And let’s say you did get at 25 to 30 years old, which is definitely on the sooner side. You’ll only have about two or three updates in your lifetime. And chances are even if you get it at 50, you’re still going to have two to three updates in your lifetime because you tweak these the minute you do them, you feel differently about them. So it’s not like if you do it at 25, you’re going to have to update ten times. It’s 25, 30, and then again around your mid forty s, fifty s, then again around retirement and then again in your seventy s, eighty s when you’re older. And we’re sort of playing Russian roulette with some fun estate planning gifting tactics as someone ages. But regardless of when someone does it, they tend to tweak it minimally, two to three times, whether it’s at 25 or 60.
Speaker 2 (22:17)
You know, I love candidly with all the other estate planning attorneys we have across the country. You were the first one to say that it’s not really estate planning because you think, oh, you’ve got to be wealthy estate planning, and that’s just not the case.
Speaker 3 (22:34)
Yeah, I like life planning. Right. Because family planning? I’m never going to have kids. I have mean Chihuahuas. He’s sleeping, but there we go. I get mean Chihuahuas. Family planning feels exclusionary for a lot of people. But life planning right now, that the great resignation has happened, do you live at your lake house in Michigan and work remote? Are you expanding your business nationwide and therefore traveling a bunch? Right. Like life planning, I feel like, fits everyone. And it’s more actionary to me than estate planning because I keep telling people I have one guy today, he emailed me, and we’ve been working together, going on a year, maybe like May. I feel like I met with him in May or June of last year, and he hasn’t given me his alternate beneficiary. So everything’s going to his wife. They don’t have kids, so 100% to his wife. And other than that, he doesn’t know, I’ve been pushing him. I’m like and they’re not young. And he’s like, I really want to get this done. I’m like, well, then tell me who. Just do it. I dare you. We have a signing day on May 28.
Speaker 3 (24:00)
I dare you to be there right then he laughed. And I got an email from him today. And he’s like, if it were that easy, he said, this is what I’ve been struggling with. And I’m like, call him John. I’m like, John, we can update. It just what feels right in the moment right now. And life planning, you know, life changes. We didn’t know four years ago covid was going to hit us. And we’d have the great resignation and that crypto would be so prevalent and that abortion would be overturned, and that all of the four years ago. Right. Life is this thing that happens to us. And this is not a dress rehearsal. This is the only one that we have. And so we got a plan for it. And with that comes certain documents.
Speaker 2 (24:42)
Well, I got to tell you, and I hope people learn that it is so important to get a will. I mean, if you don’t think it’s important, if you still look at what Prince’s family is going through here’s a guy, it was multimillionaire.
Speaker 3 (24:59)
Paul Walker, the guy from Fast and the Furious. Paul Walker.
Speaker 2 (25:03)
That’s right.
Speaker 3 (25:04)
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:05)
And they have all these managers that forget a little thing like a will.
Speaker 3 (25:11)
How insane.
Speaker 2 (25:16)
It is so important for everybody to have a will. And this is also very important. You might have estate planning, but I want you to contact Angela and just have her look over what your plans are, because things change every day now. And you don’t want to say, oh, yeah, I’ve got an estate plan, but it’s important that you have a professional, someone who really understands this business to look over, just to look over what’s it going to hurt. I want people also to know because I think it’s really important who handles your estate. You’re planning that you can trust them and you feel good with them. And if we’ve been doing this show now for two years, if you can’t feel that her vibes that come across, then there’s something wrong with you. Someone needs to wake you up, Angela again. She does estate planning, family law, employment law, real estate law. And I had all these estate planning questions today that I got to them next week as we always do. Yeah, right. But you know what I felt like this letter from Linda because there are other Linda’s out there, right.
Speaker 2 (26:47)
And we don’t hear from them and like I said, I don’t even tell you the nasty stuff I get and I don’t care because the show is so important that we educate people and then you make a decision. We don’t tell you you have to work a certain way but we’re so lucky to have you, Angela. We got to go as soon as you do. Enjoy. Give your phone number one more time
Speaker 3 (27:20)
215-6452 415 and my website is giampololaw.com and I [email protected] enjoy Arizona.
Speaker 2 (27:33)
See you next week. Bye bye, Angela.
Speaker 1 (27:36)
Be sure to tune in every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. When Angela Giampolo is the guest on Ask the Experts on 860 and online at wwdbam.