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Frequent Issues & Topics When Completing A Trust
Frequent Issues & Topics When You Already Have A Trust
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Shouldn’t Wills Require Full Disclosure Too?
Consider this: The true costs and consequences of a Will do not hit home until long after you sign it and at a time you can no longer complain or change it. The very document (Will) that you sign years beforehand, obligating you to probate, makes no mention of the eventual burdening costs and processes. The lawyer you are paying to draw it up and represent your interests isn’t required to discuss it nor is it a practice for lawyers to do so. Technically, you can’t call any of this outright concealment because they will tell you it is all a matter of public record and known law. Yet, does that mean you, or “Aunt Rose”, or most any other layperson for that matter truly and fully grasps the real end costs, impact and obligation of probate when signing a Will or that you don’t want it discussed? Consider that you can’t complete a home loan without a separate document that highlights and details all of the short and long term costs and obligations. Yet lawyers, supposedly representing their clients’ best interests, are allowed to draft and complete Wills without ever mentioning, discussing or disclosing the end costs and headaches of probate. As long as that is allowed to continue it is up to you to educate yourself and take steps to prevent this backend incursion on your family and hard earned dollars.
Keep Your Family In Control
When you utilize a Living Trust there is never any loss of control to a costly, impersonal government process. It stays a private affair between the family, beneficiaries, and trustee of your choosing — and keeps control where it belongs – with the family – not the whims of the state and lawyers.
Maintain Your Privacy
In probate the entire affair — the Will, the size of the estate, the type of assets, how much they are worth, the beneficiaries, what they get, and everything else is public record for everyone in the world to see. In stark contrast a Living Trust is completely private.
Avoid High Probate Fees
Probate court means probate fees, which are based on the gross value of the estate (not the net). Additional extraordinary fees are also routinely charged. In fact, reliable statistics indicate that the total cost of probate averages between 8 and 10% of the gross estate. (No debt deduction)
Facilitate Quick Settlement
Living trusts allow you to minimize lawyer involvement, keep the family in control and provide you the capability to quickly and easily settle and distribute the estate rather than forcing the family through a lengthy, bureaucratic and cumbersome probate.
Avoid Probate The Right Way
Any successful probate avoidance technique needs to also maintain maximum tax advantage and protection. It is there that Joint Tenancy and alternative probate avoidance techniques typically fail in such hidden and costly fashion. Assets passed through a Living Trust do not suffer these grave problems. Learn more!
Protect Immature Beneficiaries
No one likes the idea of an 18 year old squandering an inheritance — yet did you know that without a trust a teenager would take over full management of an inheritance the day they turned 18? A trust allows you to control the management and terms of distributions until beneficiaries reach the age you specify.
Beware of Living Trust Scams
Beware of numerous illegal, unethical, and illicit entities peddling living trusts under the guise of legitimacy. If it is not a law office your information is not confidential and it is an illegal operation (even if they state that a lawyer drafts your trust). Learn more!
Advance Health Directive
It is impossible to overemphasize how important it is for every person to complete an advance directive lest you risk even your spouse or closest loved one be denied the ability to help or provide input or receive any information or communication in a medical situation or emergency. Learn more!
Don’t Procrastinate — Get It Done!
Establishing a trust is relatively inexpensive, straightforward, and simple; getting caught without one is nightmarishly expensive and complex. For the sake of your family we urge everyone to take care of this important matter and avoid the common but mistaken tendency to put it off.
Our Trust Package Includes What You Should Expect & More
Avoid The Vacation or Surgery Scramble!
We’ve nicknamed it the “living trust vacation scramble”. For some reason, mere days before departure, most feel an urgent need to make sure their estate plan is in order before they leave. While we agree that it is wise to be covered, we also suggest it is far better to have taken care of this ahead of time than it is to be scrambling at the last minute when it is highly stressful, if not impossible to get it done. The same applies to establishing your living trust done when all is well. Some of our most heartbreaking times occur when we are asked to help someone who has been diagnosed with a life threatening condition, or is facing major surgery. Yes, the trust needs to be done, but it is nonetheless a very awkward and emotional time to deal with these matters! We urge everyone, when possible, to take care of your estate planning when you are healthy and can joke about your mortality rather than at a time it might be staring you in the face!
The Search For Perfection That Leaves So Many In The Most Imperfect Place Of All!
Clients tend to delay implementing a living trust for many years after they have already decided they should have one. This occurs for a myriad of reasons – natural human procrastination, the mistaken belief that it is very involved, they can’t quite make up their minds on a few points, they are searching for the perfect attorney, the perfect trust, the perfect price, the perfect timing. On the surface many of these reasons appear understandable and reasonable, but when you take a closer look, the major flaw in such logic is the absolutely terrible position you are allowing yourself to stay in during this time. In the flawed thinking which often accompanies this line of reasoning, many people believe this waiting period is so they can make a good decision. Problem is, where you may think you have not yet made a decision in this important matter, you actually have because without your own estate plan your signature is on the one the state has made up for you. On your most indecisive day you can probably arrive at a better estate plan for yourself (than the “state”). (Did you know that without a trust an 18 year old would gain uncontrolled use of an inheritance?)
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