The trust document covers only things that are put into the trust. The will covers anything that is not in trust, and not in a designated-beneficiary account like life insurance or retirement accounts.
A Living Estate is what we own while we are alive. All of those things that go into your financial junk drawer: your cash, real property, vehicles, jewelery, 401K accounts, etc., are part of your living estate.
To an estate planning attorney what is astonishing is not that Tony Curtis disinherited his children, which frankly happens often enough not to produce comment, but that he did so publicly when he could have easily done it privately.
Your father, as a settlor and trustee, has a right to a copy of the trust that he and your mother hired the attorney to draft, assuming the attorney still retains a copy in the file. The request does not have to be notarized; in fact, he should simply be able to pick up the phone and call.
Typically, a trust won’t specify how much a trustee should be paid for their effort. And yet, unless wavied by settlor, or specifically established by settlor, successor trustee’s have a right to ‘reasonable compensation’. What is reasonable?
There are two main purposes of an international trust for U.S. citizens. The first is to combine domestic and offshore assets into a unified estate plan with a common trustee and set of instructions. The second use of interantional trusts is for asset protection.
Here is a question posed recently on avvo.com. My answer was chosen as “Best Answer” by the questioner. Question: How can my parents change their revocable trust without an attorney? My parents reside in Wisconsin and have a revocable trust with 3 of 8 children designated to administer the trust. If they wish to delete 1 of the 3 or replace 1 of them, would they need to go through an attorney? Answer: It’s probably best to use an attorney to create an amendment to the trust – it shouldn’t be expensive at all if they are making simple changes… read more →
Beneficiaries of a living trust are entitled to accountings only when the trust becomes irrevocable.
Today’s question and answer came from AVVO.Com. The person, a single parent of one child, had set up her daughter as the Pay-On-Death beneficiary of her bank accounts. Now she wanted to figure out a way of transferring her homes to the daughter without making a trust. My advice to her follows. Q: if a person only has one child and her name is on bank accounts as POD, and there are two homes, is a trust still necessary? what is the best way to transfer homes without a trust. Would a will still go to probate? My Answer: The… read more →
This guide provides a list of the typical documents that make up a California estate plan. Costs for this plan vary from attorney to attorney, as well as on the complexity and size of the estate. 1. Revocable Living Trust A living trust, also known as a Revocable Living Trust or a Family Trust, is a legal document that holds title or ownership to your real property and assets. In the event of your death or incapacity, a successor trustee is named to immediately step in and handle the assets in accordance with your instructions. 2. Pour-Over Will(s) A pour-over… read more →