Looks like Trust is included as well. The enrollment period to sign up for the service is not until October of this year. This is great.
It gets better. These are Estate Planning documents included in the service.
Looks like Trust is included as well. The enrollment period to sign up for the service is not until October of this year. This is great.
IIRC, although the enrollment period starts in October, coverage may not begin until January 1 of next year. Make sure about that. The firm that we selected was an estate specialist and from what I could tell did a proper job. Their main office is in Scottsdale but they had a small satellite office near us in Sedona. Our estate planning was fairly simple as there were no children or previous marriages. Ultimately, the only thing that went into the trust was our paid-off home. Our non-IRA accounts were too little and IRA's aren't generally appropriate for a trust.Looks like Trust is included as well. The enrollment period to sign up for the service is not until October of this year. This is great.
G-Man,
When I retired effective 1-Feb-21, ms gamboolgal and I met with our Attorney and reviewed / revised our documents. We also established a trust. See itemized list below of all documents.
Total Cost was $3K. We use one of the well established Law Firms that we have been with for years in The Woodlands.
This cost is about normal as over the years we have periodically reviewed/revised and added on as need be to the documents and legal instruments.
We also have had Vanguard and later upon retirement when when we swapped to Fidelity to review the appropriate documents and Insurance Coverages vs our Legal documents and our local Bank Accounts.
(Please note, we swapped to Fidelity because we are minutes away from their Brick and Mortar Office and we like to meet Face to Face from time to time as need be. And we meet with the same one or two Fidelity Reps that know us - that matters to us.
We were always pleased with VG but no Face to Face meetings.
List of Documents Reviewed/Revised in 1st Qtr 2021 - Cost was $3K
1. Assignment of Property
2. Certification of Trust
3. Declaration of Guardian – Myself
4. Declaration of Guardian – Spouse
5. Directive to Physicians – Myself
6. Directive to Physicians – Spouse
7. Durable POA - Myself
8. Durable POA – Spouse
9. Last Will & Testament – Myself
10. Last Will & Testament - Spouse
11. Medical POA - Myself
12. Medical POA - Spouse
13. Recorded Special Warranty Deed for Residence
14. Special Warranty Deed
15. Trust Agreement -
It's a chore but it is also a good "chore" to have to do....from time to time as need be.
gamboolman....
....
Which gives me an opportunity to ask my question: If the only thing in the will is personal possessions (which really don't have any formal proof of ownership), are the courts even interested/involved in doing anything? Does the executor/sole heir need to take any formal action when the person dies?
IIRC, although the enrollment period starts in October, coverage may not begin until January 1 of next year. Make sure about that. The firm that we selected was an estate specialist and from what I could tell did a proper job. Their main office is in Scottsdale but they had a small satellite office near us in Sedona. Our estate planning was fairly simple as there were no children or previous marriages. Ultimately, the only thing that went into the trust was our paid-off home. Our non-IRA accounts were too little and IRA's aren't generally appropriate for a trust.
Things that can be passed via beneficiaries is the simplest way to go l
Trusts can complicate things and have unintended consequences sometimes.
Trusts are good when what you leave heirs has special instructions or clauses .
Like you want to say my son only gets an inheritance if he is married .
Revocable trusts don’t have the advantages irrevocable trusts have but irrevocable trusts can really be a pain or hurtful to a spouse
It looks like Texas and Louisiana are the only states left, according to Nolo: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/avoid-probate-book/chapter3-2.htmlMake sure your state accepts tod accounts from brokerages .
For the longest time I had no idea ny didn’t accept tod accounts on my fidelity account .
Ny changed their laws so now they are okay but everyone needs to check their own state
It is State dependent, here in IL if the estate is worth less than $100K then probate is not required, saving over a year and $$$$. Instead the executor completes an affidavit of small estate. The Form is at the govt website.
https://ilsos.gov/publications/pdf_publications/rtopr31.pdf
Also in IL, for the last 10 years, a person can put a TOD on the house, no longer a need to use a Chicago Land Trust. Saves ~$100/yr.
...Which gives me an opportunity to ask my question: If the only thing in the will is personal possessions (which really don't have any formal proof of ownership), are the courts even interested/involved in doing anything? Does the executor/sole heir need to take any formal action when the person dies?
... I called my estate attorney and asked whether or not we should file probate for his household stuff and she said no - just split it up. Obviously, if you have a situation where there is a lot of valuable stuff and heirs that don't get along, then that might be a different story.
In our case, at least half of the stuff ended up in a dumpster.
........
In our case, at least half of the stuff ended up in a dumpster.
I have a TOD/POD question. If you have multiple recipients listed and one of them dies, do you have a provision so that the deceased recipient's share goes to his/her family or does it just revert to the other heirs, leaving nothing to the deceased recipient's family?...
This question raises an issue that I almost decided to comment on earlier:I have a TOD/POD question. If you have multiple recipients listed and one of them dies, do you have a provision so that the deceased recipient's share goes to his/her family or does it just revert to the other heirs, leaving nothing to the deceased recipient's family? If an heir dies its easy to just change the TOD/POD, but that assumes you are still mentally sharp enough to know to change it and that you are legally still in charge of your finances. ...
It is the difference between "pro rata" or "per capita" and "per stripes". With pro rata or per capita, the decedent's surviving beneficiaries share equally, so if you had 4 kids when you set up the TOD and one predeceses you then the pot is shared by the 3 surviving kids. With per stripes, the heirs of any beneficiaries that predecease the decedent get the benefit of that share... so in the example the pot would be split 4 ways with 3 going to the decedent's surviving kids and 1 going to the deceased kid's heirs.
As one with a sore experience with using the wrong word, I believe you meant STIRPES, not STRIPES.
In a per stirpes distribution, beneficiaries with the closest linear relation to you inherit an equal share of your estate when you pass away.
As I described in an another post, a LAWYER created a will using STRIPES instead of STIRPES and then proceeded to probate the will incorrectly after death, giving shares to the least related. Regardless, the one word used incorrectly is a big deal.
Only irrevocable trusts can effect taxes
Anything that has the potential for major capital gains. For most married couples, the federal estate tax no longer is a concern so setting up an appropriate living trust can yield a savings in capital gains when the surviving spouse eventually dies. It's something called the "Double Step-up in Basis" and it's explained here The Double Step Up In Basis: Traditional Planning Makes Kids Pay Extra Capital Gains Tax — Rabalais Estate Planning, LLC Regular bank and brokerage accounts may be worthwhile putting in too if large. Our attorney suggested ballpark anything over $100K after reserving an account amount outside the trust for general handling of routine expenses but we don't have that amount in such accounts.What accounts and assets are appropriate for including in a trust?