What is the difference between a will, a living will and a living trust? You should have at least a will, advance health care directive, and durable power of attorney. If your estate is over $150,000 you should consider a trust.… Read More
Six Claims by Trust Lawyers You Want to Avoid 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
Which takes precedence, a will or a trust? 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
Living Estate 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
The Real Story of Tony Curtis’ Last Will and Testament 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. … Read More
How Can I Get a Copy of My Trust? 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
How much should I be compensated as trustee? 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
A Brief Introduction to International Trusts 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
Can we change our revocable trust without an attorney? 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
When are Living Trust beneficiaries entitled to accountings from the trustee? Beneficiaries of a living trust are entitled to accountings only when the trust becomes irrevocable.… Read More
