Living Trust Planning
When you hire an attorney for preparation of a living trust, what you will get is actually a trust package or an estate planning package. This is because a living trust is just the main piece in a group of documents that are needed to carry out the typical estate planning strategies in California i.e. avoiding probate and conservatorships, reducing estate taxes and providing for minor children.
A typical package includes the following documents:
- Living trust
- Pour over will
- Durable Power of Attorney for Financial Matters
- Advance Health Care Directive
In addition to the above documents, many packages include the following documents:
- Deeds transferring your real property
- Preliminary Change of Ownership Report forms regarding property taxes
- Trustee's Certifications of Trust
- Assignments of Assets
The packaging of these documents varies; many firms will provide your documents in a binder that can help you keep your documents organized. The notebooks we provide also have a place for you to list information that would assist the persons who will be taking care of these matters in the event of your death or incapacity.
The above documents work together to put persons in place to manage your affairs in the event of your incapacity and your death as follows:
- Living Trust - The trust gives another person the authority to follow your instructions on your incapacity and your death. However, a trust only gives authority over assets held in the trust.
- Durable Power of Attorney - Some assets cannot be held in trust, for instance 401K's and IRAs. These types of assets almost always name a beneficiary to receive them after death. However, no one has the authority to manage them in the event of your incapacity. Therefore, a document is needed for this purpose. That document is a durable power of attorney. In addition to the above purpose, it also allows another to take care of paying your bills and other matters that are not covered by the trust in the event of your incapacity.
- Pour-over Will - The main reason for the pour-over wills is to "pour" assets you left out of your trust into your trust on your death. In the perfect world, all assets that could be held in your trust would be there on your death. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. People sometimes forget to return real property to their trust after taking it out for a refinance loan or the lender advises they will return the property to the trust and then neglects to do so. Therefore, trust packages should always include pour-over wills. In addition, if there are minor children, it is necessary to nominate a guardian to take care of the children until they reach age 18. This is also done in the will.
- Advance Health Care Directive - An Advance Health Care Directive gives authority and instructions for another to make medical decisions for you. Usually this authority becomes effective only when you can no longer make decisions for yourself. The document also gives directions for post-death matters including your preferences regarding cremation, autopsies and organ donation.
Our Process for Living Trust Estate Planning
Our packages include all of the items listed above. At our first meeting we will explain how each piece works for you as we discern the facts of your individual situation. Then we prepare drafts of all the documents and send them to you for your review. After you have had a chance to look them over, you can call us with any questions you have and we will revise the documents to fit your needs. Then you will come back in to execute all the documents. We provide notarization and witnesses as needed.
Our process allows you the time with us and with the documents before they are signed that is needed for you to fully understand your estate plan. This is important because the plan will be implemented at a time when you can no longer change it, and it controls what will happen to everything you have when you are incapacitated and when you die. We have developed our procedures with this in mind.
For specific information and advice regarding a living trust estate planning package, please call and schedule a free initial consultation with a Van Sickle & Rowley Estate Planning Attorney.
