When we are preparing estate plans and creating a living trust for real estate, I often get this question about the tax implications for a trust. The main question is whether the transfer of real estate into a living trust will trigger a reassessment from the county tax assessor’s office. The key reason people worry [...]
More and more trust documents are being created due to an aging population. I’m seeing increasing problems administering trusts with provisions that allow family and loved ones to reside in a property included in the trust. Problems that commonly occur are payment of home expenses, exclusive possession of the premises, and downright disagreements among the [...]
I was reading yet another sad story about a family that set up a sloppy estate plan. The plan involved a mother and four children. The mother had a bank account with roughly $400,000 in it, and she was going to split the cash into four equal shares. However, for lack of better judgment, the [...]
I recently came across a question by a father. He wanted to know how to protect his inheritance that he wanted to leave to his son and daughter. The father had acquired about four rental properties and wanted to give his son and daughter two properties each. All the properties had no mortgages and were [...]
I come across this question a lot: I am a beneficiary of a will or trust and I am either the personal representative of the estate or the trustee of the trust. Can I use money in the trust for my own personal purposes? After all, I am entitled to the money I am taking [...]
You may be wondering, Do I need to put my cars in my living trust? Here’s the short answer: if you are talking about the cars you use every day to go to and from work, you probably do not need to bother going down to the DMV and changing your ownership records. After all, [...]
What does an executor do? I get this question a lot from people who are curious about what an executor of an estate does especially if the decedent's estate will need to be probated. An executor is a person nominated in someone's will who is in charge of finalizing or finishing out the decedent’s business [...]
Can I modify the terms of a living trust? I run across this question a lot in my office and online from spouses and children of families who have created living trusts to protect their families and assets. The short answer is this: It depends. Let’s look at some ways a living trust can be [...]
