Wills and Trusts

WILLS

A Will is a legal document that describes how the assets of a person should be distributed upon death. However, a Will does not avoid a probate proceeding through the Court. Probate is a legal process that includes filing with the Court deceased person’s Will, locating and gathering the assets, pay off debts and death taxes, and distributing what is left as the will directs. The probate process often takes six months to one year or more. Further, probate usually requires an attorney, court fees, and other miscellaneous expense. Then why a Will? A Will directs your assets to those individuals you want to receive it, otherwise, without a Will, your assets may go to individuals you may have chosen not to receive if you were alive. The least expense estate planning tool, however, it is effective.

LIVING TRUSTS
Most Living Trusts are the most popular estate planning tool. The Living Trusts may be more expensive, but the benefits are more desirable. In a Living Trust title to property is transferred by its living owner, called the settler or grantor, to a written document called the “trust instrument.” In essence the trust instrument becomes the owner of the property. The trustee, who is usually the settlor, manages the trust instrument and the trust property within it. Within the trust instrument the settlor appoints a person he trusts as the successor trustee who, upon the death of the settlor, transfers the trust property to the beneficiaries. The significant benefit with a Living Trust, is that it avoids probate and cost associated in the probate process. Therefore, the Living Trust may be more cost effective considering there are no attorney fees, court fees, and other miscellaneous expenses to consider. There are two types of Living Trust: Revocable and Irrevocable. Changes can be made to a Revocable Trusts at any time by the grantor. However, Irrevocable Trust cannot be modified without a court order . Because one wants the option of changing trust property as life events change, the Revocable Trust is the most desirable.

GRANT DEED
A grant deed is a document that transfers real property into the name of another. This instrument is use as part of the Living Trust package in order to transfer real property into the Living Trust name. That means that the creator of the Living Trust (the settlor or grantor) takes the real property he owns out of his name and transfers the property into the name of the Living Trust. The Living Trust is the now the owner of the real property. Because the Living Trust remains alive after the settlors death, and it now the owner of the real property asset, there is no probate issues regarding the real property. This is the most significant benefit of the Living Trust.

POUR-OVER WILL
Pour –Over Will maintain the same principle of a basic Will, however, the chosen beneficiary of the will is your Living Trust. Property not designated in the trust instrument is not owned by the Living Trust, therefore those property assets will be subject to the Will and through the language stated in the Will the property assets pours-over into the Living Trust as the designated beneficiary of those assets. Those assets now part of the Living Trust is distributed by the successor trustee of the Living Trust.

POWERS OF ATTORNEY
• Power of Attorney for Finance
Simply, a Power of Attorney for Finance is a document drafted and executed by an individual appointing a person he or she trusts to manage his financial affair, as it is directed within the power of attorney, in the event he or she is incapacitated (ex: in a coma).

• Power of Attorney for Health (also know as Health Care Directive)
A Power of Attorney for Health is a document drafted and executed by an individual appointing a person he or she trusts to make health care decisions, as it is directed within the power of attorney, in the event he or she is incapacitated (ex: in a coma).

Call us and let PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PLUS assist you in the preparation of these documents.