I avoid cocktail parties.  While I occasionally enjoy a nice glass of wine over a quiet dinner with my wife Patti, and perhaps some friends, I’m not a social drinker. My impression is that cocktail parties tend to bring out the worst in people when they’ve had one too many. At one such occasion an acquaintance accosted me to render advice to her on how to stop her stepmother from “stealing” her inheritance.

That’s another byproduct of these get-togethers. Most friends and acquaintances know that I am an attorney. Once the requisite attorney jokes have made everyone belly-laugh, I am usually approached several times for free legal advice. Good tactic – don’t you think? Make fun of the lawyer, and then ask for his advice.

But I digress. The lady told the sad story about her father dying. He was in a second marriage, you see, and left his estate in trust providing income to the stepmother for the remainder of her life. The trustee of the trust could invade the principal, reducing the amount that the deceased’s children would one day receive, but only for the stepmother’s health.

This inebriated guest who was asking for my advice, wanted to know what “health” meant under the terms of her father’s trust.

I asked whether the trust defined the term “health” and she didn’t know. I learned that her questions stemmed from the fact that the stepmother wanted to purchase a unit at a lifetime care-assisted living facility. At this particular assisted living facility one must first make a nonrefundable six figure deposit, and then pay monthly maintenance fees. Upon the death of the stepmother, the deposit is lost forever. The trustee was wrestling with the issue whether such a large nonrefundable deposit was within the scope of “health” for purposes of invading the principal of the trust.

The question presented was actually a good one. If your trust or will provides for the ongoing support of a spouse or other loved one, and if the trustee may invade the trust for “health”, you would want to check whether “health” is defined. If it is defined, read the definition to see whether it fits within your intent.

Health certainly includes, for example, regular doctor visits and probably also covers co-payments for specialists, hospitals and regular procedures. Would it cover plastic surgery? What if that plastic surgery was necessary to reconstruct your loved one’s features following a harrowing car accident? What if instead the plastic surgery was to enhance her lips for attracting a new spouse following your death?

Should the surviving spouse have to consume his or her own resources before the trustee can invade the trust for “health” reasons? What if the surviving spouse is also the trustee? Does he or she have cover when making these decisions for him or herself?

There might be tangential items that are “health” related but not quite so directly. The payment of health insurance premiums comes to mind. Would the trustee be authorized to invade the principal for health insurance, knowing that if the health insurance bills weren’t paid then other health services would likely cost the trust more money?

How about rehabilitative services for a recovering addict? Psychological services? Knee replacements? The list is endless. The problem with trying to draft such a comprehensive definition of “health” is that no one can anticipate every contingency.

If your document doesn’t define “health” in detail, however, you may want to consider having your attorney draft additional language to more clearly state what your intent would be in a variety of different situations. This would give a future trustee clearer direction when having to make decisions that not only affect the spouse, but also the remaindermen beneficiaries.

So the next time you’re at a gathering, here’s a lawyer joke for your arsenal. You might want to make sure that you don’t need advice from the lawyer in the room before you recite it:

A doctor and a lawyer were attending a cocktail party when the doctor was approached by a man who asked advice on how to handle his ulcer. The doctor mumbled some medical advice, then turned to the lawyer and asked, “How do you handle the situation when you are asked for advice at a social function?”

“Just send a bill for your advice,” the lawyer counseled.

The next morning upon arriving at his office the doctor directed his nurse to issue the ulcer stricken man a $50 invoice.  That afternoon he received a $100 bill from the lawyer.