Estate Planning
ESTATE PLANNING.
Between now and the end of the year would be a good time to take care of any estate planning needs and objectives that you may have related to transferring your estate to your beneficiaries.
Estate planning normally includes preparing current versions of the following documents:
Last Will and Testament, The will is the only place you can nominate guardians if you have minor children.
Revocable Living Trust to avoid probate.
Advance Health Care Directive– Durable Power of Attorney Form to take care of your medical decisions should you become incapacitated.
Durable Power of Attorney-for Asset Management Form to allow for your Financial Management responsibilities if you are unable to take care of them yourself. This document is very useful if you become incapacitated because the agent takes over the management of all assets that are not titled in the name of your trust. This avoids the costly and burdensome task of having a conservator appointed by the court to be the responsible person. The best time to consider these issues is well in advance of any pressing need to take care of this long-term planning. You will need to answer questions relating to who will receive benefits from your estate after you are gone.
Many people think that a Will is the best way to transfer assets at death. In my opinion, a Will is an outdated, costly, and time-consuming way to transfer assets to heirs. The reason for this is that a Will must be processed as a probate in the county where the person resides. If you have more than $166,250 of assets that are transferred under the will, then a probate would be needed in California, in most circumstances. The probate process frequently costs from $25,000 to $35,000 in processing fees. Probate freezes all estate assets under strict court control for 11-18 months or more. The probate information becomes a public record of all of your private details. Because the information is made public, marketing companies frequently target beneficiaries of estates for a variety of sales offers.
The entire probate process can be easily avoided if a person simply creates a living trust to transfer his or her assets to heirs and merely registers the assets in the name of the trust. When you have a living trust, a Last Will and Testament can be prepared to handle only a few assets that are hopefully below the value that would require a probate court proceeding. If you avoid probate by having a living trust, there are still legal requirements and costs to transfer your estate to your beneficiaries, but court supervision is not required. Your successor trustee follows your instructions in your trust document to transfer your assets in the specific way that you have selected.
Having a revocable living trust does NOT eliminate all estate administration issues for the successor trustee after someone passes away. However, the amount and level of detail needed to administer an estate that has a revocable living trust as the primary estate planning tool takes significantly less time and effort on the part of the trustee than a California State Superior Court & judge-supervised Probate processing of a Will requires.
We provide the services of estate planning for our clients. We take care of all document preparation, using information we gather from clients about their wishes regarding the disposition of their estates and the distribution of their assets to beneficiaries and loved ones who survive them.
It is recommended that you obtain our Estate Planning Questionnaire & Organizer Forms prior to your appointment. The estate planning questionnaire provides a place for you to list your assets and identify your beneficiaries so that enough information will be available to get an overview of your estate planning needs and desires.
Call now, so that your estate plan can be designed, implemented, and completed at this time. Do not delay. Your beneficiaries will appreciate your advance planning in this area.
Comprehensive Estate Plan Pricing
$850 for single individuals | $1150 for married couples
* plus $250 for each Real Estate Deed.
Simple Will $450
This is only a simple will not part of a comprehensive estate plan
May not be appropriate if you own real estate
Would be appropriate to nominate a guardian for minor children if the parents are gone
