Planning Ahead Article
Revocable Living Trust
A trust is a contract between yourself as the Trustmaker/Grantor/Settlor/Trustor and yourself (typically) as Trustee (the person that manages the trust). You can change or revoke the trust at any time that you have capacity.
You can specify who determines your disability. You can set out the terms of the trust to handle distribution while you are alive and well, alive and disabled, and not alive. The trust handles both disability and providing for your beneficiaries. You can set the terms for how and when your beneficiaries receive assets from the trust. If the beneficiary has disabilities, a special needs trust may be appropriate.
You may want assets held in trust for a minor beneficiary. If a beneficiary is going through bankruptcy or has creditor issues, you may want to draft the trust so that the beneficiary cannot demand the money from the Trustee. Sometimes trusts are set up to provide protection in event of divorce (if the beneficiary receives the money outright and then commingles it with spouse, it can be hard to trace what is left, if anything, if the inheritance and amounts not traceable are included in what is divided in the divorce).
Consult an estate planning attorney to review your goals/wishes and the various options in this area.
Make sure you properly fund your trust after signing it and review all beneficiary designations to make sure they meet your wishes. It will be frustrating for your Trustee to not only have to do the trust administration but also the probate because you “forgot” to change title on an asset into your trust.
Comments:
On 3/1/08
James said
WE have our Trusts and wills Made up, WE NEED to Know how to FUND these instruments, thru the Govt, without going thru Lawyers, we have no extra money and want to do the process ourselves..
QUESTIONS
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How do I begin to file probate if there is no will?
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My mother is the guardian for my brother, who has Down's Syndrome. He is dependent on her for many of his needs. How can she plan ahead in terms of his care and guardianship? In other words, can she put that in her will or does she need to set something up in the courts? What happens if she does not? Kindly,
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How does a disclaimer of rights of survivorship in jointly held property work?
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Can I be barred from handling my own affairs for any reason?
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I would like to have assistance with filling out advance directives. Can you help?
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What is the difference between a 'living will' and a 'last will and testament' type of will?
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If there is a person named as the executor in a trust and the Trustee wants to change the executor; is the previous executor need to be present in order to make this revision to the trust? The previous executor is not reliable and cannot be trusted. Also this person would not agree to let the trust be changed.
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When my mother was living she put my sister's name on my decease fathers money and now she has passed. What should be done with the money my sister has. Shall if be divided among the siblings?
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My late husband suffered from Alzheimer's Disease when he borrowed money and signed documents that deeded his home to another person. That person refuses to return title of the home to my late husband's estate even though the loan was paid off in full. What are my rights?
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Can a person not a resident of Arizona be my guardian or conservator?
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