What are you trying to accomplish exactly? ERE is all about DIY. In this particular case you should educate yourself on estate planning. After this personal education then and only then should you decide on the particulars of your estate plan which may if deemed necessary involve professionals. First, read a book. I like the books by Nolo.
+1 to this recommendation. Based on what you've shared here and in your journal, it doesn't sound like this is something you need to accomplish immediately. You have a lot of other stuff going on at the moment, so it might be worthwhile researching a bit more (though I realize that is essentially what you are doing with this thread ).
Whatever you decide, please share what you did and why in this thread.
+1 to this recommendation. Based on what you've shared here and in your journal, it doesn't sound like this is something you need to accomplish immediately. You have a lot of other stuff going on at the moment, so it might be worthwhile researching a bit more (though I realize that is essentially what you are doing with this thread ).
Whatever you decide, please share what you did and why in this thread.
Yep...I am trying to research by posting on this thread, thought that people might have some insight on where to look and research to DIY or whether this really is a "call a lawyer" situation.
There is lots of stuff going on, nevertheless, I could die at any time, and since I'm not married to my partner, he would be SOL.
insight on where to look and research to DIY or whether this really is a "call a lawyer" situation.
I read a book called "Living Trusts for Everyone" by Ronald Sharp. It was about 150 pages. It gave a good overview of trusts and their uses along with advice on when to use a lawyer and how to minimize lawyer usage (in setting up the trust and post-death of the grantor). If you want a book recommendation, you could start there and then you'd probably have a good idea about what to do next after reading it.
I read a book called "Living Trusts for Everyone" by Ronald Sharp. It was about 150 pages. It gave a good overview of trusts and their uses along with advice on when to use a lawyer and how to minimize lawyer usage (in setting up the trust and post-death of the grantor). If you want a book recommendation, you could start there and then you'd probably have a good idea about what to do next after reading it.
An update is I got the audiobook from that library that was recommended, and the advice it gives is that the book explains what a trust is and all the homework you can do and have prepared for the lawyer to reduce lawyer hours. But after you do all the homework and collect all the information you can do yourself, then you should hire a lawyer.
How about starting with a will now (leaving some of your assets to your partner) and making the more complicated structure when you have more time? At least you'll have something in place instead of the current nothing.
There are several good reasons to make a living trust (either by paying a lawyer or by using Nolo software which is what I did). BTW all my information on this is from my state, California.
1. If you have minor children. The probate court does not allow minors (under age 18) to directly inherit from the estate. Instead the money/property will be managed by the executor until each child is 18 and then they immediately inherit their share. In our case we have a sizeable estate and minor kids, and I wouldn’t want my son to inherit multiple millions of dollars when he is only 18. If you have a trust then you can specify that your successor trustees hold the money in trust until age 25, 30 whatever. You can specify that the successor trustee can use the money to pay for the kids education expenses, etc. In California you CANNOT specify any delay in minors receiving their inheritance beyond age 18 – wills do not have that power and any such clause in a will is invalid and will be ignored by the probate court.
2. If you value your privacy. If you leave behind only a will or nothing at all then the estate will be probated. This means that it will become part of the publicly available court record and the exact amounts and properties and who got what will be publicly visible. When I inherited a small lot from a relative that went through probate I got all kinds of scammy mail and calls for months afterwards trying to trick me into “title search insurance”, etc. I wouldn’t want my heirs to have to deal with that, or even just nosy neighbors. I could imagine that some criminals probably directly target people that inherit large sums as reported in court records.
3. If your estate is sizable. In California the probate fees are statutory. They amount to around 1% of the value of the assets in the estate (not the net value of assets – debts). So if you have a single family home in the bay area of CA and it is worth $1.5M, you are looking at $15K in probate fees right there even if it still has a sizeable mortgage on it. Crazy. If you have a trust all the assets protected by the trust skip probate entirely – so no probate fees at all.
4. Speed. If you have assets like property that you leave to your heirs through the probate process then the executor has to jump through a bunch of hoops to take it all through probate. The executor has to prove that they have gathered all the assets and debts, show the judge everything has been paid, make sure all creditors have been informed and enough time has gone by, etc etc. When I was involved in an estate that went through probate it took six months to get to the distribution, and that was considered “speedy and well handled”. On the other hand when my parents died and I was the successor trustee of their living trust I had everything transferred within 60 days of the death. And it was super easy since it did not involve courts or anything else. Just show up at each institution with a copy of the trust, my ID and the death certificates. So easy. Even transferring the house title was easy at the county clerk/recorder office.
The living trust really made handling my parents’ estate a lot easier than it could have been and I appreciate that they did this to help my sister and I.
How about starting with a will now (leaving some of your assets to your partner) and making the more complicated structure when you have more time? At least you'll have something in place instead of the current nothing.
This is a good idea - especially since you can just write a will down on a piece of paper in my state. I will definitely make a trust in the upcoming months but having something just in case in the meantime is good.
Yep...I am trying to research by posting on this thread, thought that people might have some insight on where to look and research to DIY or whether this really is a "call a lawyer" situation.
There is lots of stuff going on, nevertheless, I could die at any time, and since I'm not married to my partner, he would be SOL.
BOOK: "Beyond the Grave revised edition: The Right Way and the Wrong Way of Leaving Money To Your Children (and Others)", by Gerald M. Condon and Jeffry L. Condon
BOOK: "Plan Your Estate", by Denis Clifford (Nolo Press)
The first book addresses some of the pitfalls of estate planning that some people fall into. Worth a read. The second book is from Nolo Press and provides the fundamentals of estate planning.
A Living Trust is a solution. Before deciding on that solution, first assess your objectives. The solution will follow from the objectives. If what you are trying to do is complex, then a professional may be necessary. The two books listed will help you to assess your situation.
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