Deciding whether to purchase a living trust is difficult. You want to protect your assets for your beneficiaries. In evaluating attorneys or trust companies, try to stick to the facts and be wary of exaggerated claims about their products.  You want to be able to trust your lawyer, and know that they aren’t trying to… Read More


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.… Read More


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.… Read More


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.… Read More


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?… Read More


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.… Read More


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… Read More