Estate Planning

A Last Will & Testament, a Revocable Living Trust Agreement, a Living Will and a Durable Health Care Power Of Attorney are probably four of the most important estate planning documents that a person can have. When these documents are used in combination, they provide a solid estate plan catering for a speedy and tax efficient method of transferring your assets to your heirs.

Legal experts agree - a Last Will and Testament should be prepared in addition to a Living Trust Agreement. The reason is simple - if you add to your assets (for example, if you open a new mutual fund) and you neglect to add it to your Living Trust, it will "pour over" into the Last Will. It will not be protected from the probate court, but it will still be covered.

OK, But Are You Sure I Still Need A Last Will & Testament?

Lets be clear, if you don't have a Last Will and Testament or fail to get proper legal will assistance when making your Will:-

	YOUR possessions will be divided in accordance with the law and your wishes will not be taken into consideration!
	YOUR possessions will be placed in to the hands of a person appointed by a Court - which could be a total stranger!
	YOUR children could be placed into the care of a guardian appointed by a Court - this again could be a total stranger!
	YOUR children's guardians will have control over their inheritance - but only until they reach the age of 18 - after that its up to them not to waste it!
	YOU will have missed a very valuable opportunity for tax planning which could end up costing your estate thousands of $$$$!

If you die without making a valid Last Will and Testament, you will lose control over who your assets are given to, who will mind your children and your estate will be substantially depleted due to the huge costs of intestate administration. Making a valid Legal Will is the only way for you to provide for the special needs of your family and save your estate thousands of dollars in unnecessary intestate administration expenses.

Having a valid legal Will enables you to:-

	Appoint trustees and executors of your estate You decide who has control over your assets and possessions and who administers your spouse's and/or children's trust funds!
	Appoint guardians over your infant children You determine who looks after the welfare and education of your children!
	Make funeral arrangements You decide whether and where you would like to be buried or cremated.
	Make gifts of your assets to loved ones and friends You decide which of your possessions you would like to gift and to whom.
	Make a donation to charity You can decide to make a donation to support your favorite charity.
	Create a trust for your spouse and/or children You can create a trust fund for your spouse so that he or she will be properly provided for; while at the same time you can also provide for your children.

- Additional Benefits -

	If you are unmarried, you can ensure that your partner is properly provided for - they won't inherit from you automatically!
	If you are divorced, you can decide whether or not to leave something to your ex-partner;
	You can make sure you don't pay the taxman more tax than you have to;
	You can make a very difficult time for your loved ones as easy as possible;
	You can prevent family disputes over the distribution of your estate;
	You can avoid the high costs of intestate administration and eliminate the need or an administrator bond and the associated costs; and
	Much much more......

Only: $79.95

If you want ensure that your assets pass to your beneficiaries uncontested, in a timely manner and would also like to save your family thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses at the same time, then you really need to avoid probate!!

Why do I need to avoid Probate? What's wrong with it?

Probate has come to mean not just proving the validity of a Last Will and Testament but the entire administrative process involving the passing of an owner's legal title to property to his beneficiaries after his death. Assuming that the Last Will & Testament is not contested, the probate process shouldn't take too long. However, if there are any complications, probate could end up taking years.

Let's take a quick look at some of the typical problems with probate:

Probate can often cost up to $50,000!

In most states, probate fees are charged as a percentage of the "gross" value of an estate. These fees can typically range from 3.8% ( Utah) to 11% ( Alaska). Probate fees are calculated on the gross value of a decedent's estate. So, if a home had a market value of say $1 million and a mortgage of $900,000, probate fees will be calculated on the $1million even though the net asset value is only $100,000!

Probate Takes Too Long!

Assuming that all the appropriate documents are in order, probate should, on average, take a year or so. However, this rarely occurs and, in practice, it can take between eighteen months to five years to settle an estate. For all practical purposes, the estate is frozen during that period and beneficiaries have to wait until probate is over before they can receive their inheritance.

Probate creates unwanted publicity!

Everything in probate court is a matter of public record and details of a deceased person's assets, their creditors, as well as details of the persons who have received their assets and other family issues are open for daily inspection by the public!

Probate allows Wills to be easily contested!

Beneficiaries and heirs can become upset with their inheritance under a Will and often hire attorneys to contest the Will. Because a Will is on the public record, an attorney can easily evaluate the likelihood of a successful challenge to its validity or its terms before deciding whether or not to take a case. An attorney can therefore, and at relatively little cost, advise a client quite quickly as to whether they have a plausible cause of action. Because the likelihood of making an unsuccessful claim is substantially reduced, heirs and beneficiaries are much more likely to successfully make a claim.

Now that you know why you should avoid probate, let me show you the most effective way of doing it.

A Revocable Living Trust (also known as an inter vivos trust, a Living Trust or a Family Trust) is a type of trust created for the purpose of holding ownership of an individual's assets during that person's lifetime, and for distributing those assets after their death.

How does a Revocable Living Trust work?

A Revocable Living Trust is quite easy to establish and operate. To create a basic living trust, you make a document called a declaration of trust, which is similar to a Last Will and Testament. You then name yourself as trustee and transfer whatever assets or property you want into that trust. Because you are named as the trustee, you maintain full control over your assets just as you did before you transferred them. You can still do whatever you wish to with them - manage them, sell them, or even give them away. The trust does not become effective until you die or become incapacitated.

After you, or you and your spouse (in the case of a joint trust) pass away, the trust identifies the person who will act as successor trustee. The successor trustee -- the person you appoint to handle the trust after your death -- simply transfers ownership of the assets in the trust to the beneficiaries named in the trust. In many cases, the whole process takes only a few weeks, and there are no lawyer or court fees to pay. When all of the property has been transferred to the beneficiaries, the living trust ceases to exist.

IMPORTANT: Your trust is a Revocable Living Trust. As its revocable, you can abolish the trust or alter its terms or change the beneficiaries at any time you wish!

Having A Revocable Living Trust will have many benefits for you:-

	You will be able to Avoid Probate and the excessive legal fees and other expenses that go with it. With a Revocable Living Trust, your assets will go directly to your beneficiaries after your death. Because your assets are owned by the Trust rather than you personally, they will not be subjected to probate administration proceedings, saving your family the money normally paid as probate administration expenses, attorneys fees or court costs.
	You avoid probate and the drawn out distribution of your assets! The courts maintain no control over the Trust's assets, and will not tie or freeze up your assets in a lengthy (and costly) probate process. Your trustee simply distributes assets to the beneficiaries named in your Living Trust.
	You avoid probate and the unwanted publicity that goes with it ! Your Revocable Living Trust is not open to inspection by the public and, as a result, no-one becomes aware of what assets you have, who you passed those assets to, who you owed money to and what specific family arrangements you may have put in place.
	Disgruntled heirs find trusts extremely difficult to contest. With a private family trust, the contents are not publicly known. Attorneys are therefore less likely to spend their own time and money pursuing a lawsuit with unknown probabilities of success.
	Prevents court control of your assets if you ever become incompetent or incapacitated. If you become unable to manage your estate, your Revocable Living Trust avoids the need for a court-mandated conservatorship. The successor trustee you have named in your Revocable Living Trust will manage your affairs without court interference and expense. Without your prior written consent, your trustee cannot use trust property for any other reasons than those specified in the trust agreement and must hold the trust property solely for the benefit of your designated beneficiaries.
	You can prevent court control of inheritances received by minors and appoint someone to manage property left to minors or young adults.
	You can provide for the care, support and education of your children by turning over assets to them at an age chosen by you.
	You can direct that your life insurance proceeds be paid to your trust so that your successor trustee can manage them for the benefit of your family.
	You can avoid many of the statutory restrictions on bequests and transfers of property on your death.
	You can reduce or eliminate estate taxes.
	You can have peace of mind!!

 

Only: $79.95

Have you ever thought about what you would like to happen if an illness or an accident leaves you in a coma or in a vegetative state………

 

	Who would make health care decisions for you?
	Who would ensure that your health wishes were respected?
	Would you want to have your life prolonged by any means necessary?
	Would you want to have some treatments withheld to allow a natural death?
	What if you are dying from a painful terminal illness?
	Would you want to receive medical procedures to prolong your life?
	Would you want to have someone else help make that decision for you?

 

Well, these decisions usually falls to family members. However, in extreme cases, it can fall to …….The Court!

If you become unconscious or ill and unable to make decisions regarding your health care, an application may need to have you made a 'ward of court'. A guardian will be appointed by the court and will make medical decisions on your behalf.

But there is no guarantee that whoever is given the responsibility for your medical care will respect your wishes.

	What if you were religiously against blood transfusions?
	What if you wanted certain treatments withheld or withdrawn if they are only prolonging the dying process – would your guardian or family members respect your wishes if they knew them?
	What if, for example, the guardian authorized amputation against your wishes?
	What if your guardian decided to take a risky operation which could leave you permanently paralyzed or even brain damaged?

 

In any event, if these parties are not aware of your wishes and fears, then they simply will not be able to make decisions in a manner that you would approve of!

Once appointed, there’s no guarantee that your guardian or family will make decisions which you would approve of. In fact, YOUR medical treatment could be decided by your guardian and your wishes may not be taken into account at all!

REMEMBER - court appointed guardians are free to do what they see fit.

The only way to really protect yourself is by having both a Health Care Power of Attorney and a Living Will!

A Health Care Power of Attorney is the first line of defense in protecting yourself! A Health Care Power of Attorney is a document that allows you to designate a person (an "agent") who will have the authority to make health care decisions on your behalf if you are unconscious, mentally incompetent, or otherwise unable to make such decisions. These medical decisions relate to the provision of medical treatments - not the withholding of same - this is dealt with by a Living Will.

With a Living Will, you can also designate a person who will have the authority to make health care decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make such decisions. These decisions relate to whether you wish to receive "life-sustaining medical treatment" if you become permanently comatose or terminally ill. This will help your agent to know your wishes as he or she makes decisions for you. In particular, they can elect, based upon your instructions, to withhold life sustaining treatment and allow you to have a natural death.

Even if you have executed a Health Care Power of Attorney or Living Will, you still have the right to give medical directions to physicians and other health care providers as long as you are able to do so. These documents only become effective when you do not have the capacity to give, withdraw or withhold informed consent regarding your health care.

How You Will Benefit From Having a Power of Attorney and Living Will?

 

	You decide who should be appointed as your lawful attorney to make medical decisions on your behalf should you become incapacitated.
	You avoid having a court appointed guardian make medical decisions that could adversely affect you!
	You will have the security of knowing that the person who has been appointed as your attorney is someone that you can trust to make these important health care decisions on your behalf.
	You will have the security of knowing that your lawful agent will act in the best interests of you and your family!
	You can limit the rights given to your attorney under a Health Care Power of Attorney and under a Living Will, or you can give your agent full rights to make decisions on your behalf – the choice is yours not someone else’s!

 

Best of all, you can revoke your Power of Attorney and Living Will at any time!

Only: $79.95

All four of these documents work together to satisfy your various legal needs and to provide an effective estate plan. The Revocable Living Trust Agreement allows you to transfer your assets directly to your heirs without having to incur the costs and delays normally attributed to the probate process. On the other hand, a Last Will and Testament ensures that any property which has not been transferred to the Revocable Living Trust will transfer to the persons named in your Will following completion of any necessary probate work – and avoids the normal intestacy probate whereby State intestacy laws determine how your assets will be distributed. Your Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone who can make medical decisions on your behalf while you are unconscious. Finally, the Living Will allows you to specify what medical treatments, if any, that you would like should you become incapacitated. In particular, and by contrast to a power of attorney, it allows your agent to specify the withholding of medical treatment to enable you to die.

Also included as added additional standard forms:

 

	Property Inventory Form;
	Notice of Revocation of a Power of Attorney; and
	Notice of Revocation of a Living Will.

Only: $79.95