Create an Estate Plan and Gain Peace of Mind
Create an Estate Plan and Gain Peace of Mind. An Estate Plan and Testament is an important part of any estate plan. But you may need other documents as well to fully address your estate planning needs. A comprehensive estate plan can do far more than simply provide a roadmap for the distribution of your estate assets when you die.
Do You Need A Lawyer to Make an Estate Plan?
You do not need a lawyer to create an estate plan. You can hand write the documents yourself and have them be perfectly valid, if you comply with certain legal prerequisites. Or you can type or print the documents, again, so long as you comply with certain other and different requirements. But do you know those requirements? Should you consult with a lawyer anyway? Yes. Estate planning attorneys have the education and experience necessary to ensure that your documents satisfy the requirements of the law.
Remember, if it is not done correctly, after you have passed away it is too late to fix it.
Do I Need an Estate Plan if I Don’t Have Any Assets?
Believe it or not, you have an estate. In fact, nearly everyone does. Your estate comprises everything you own. That may be a car, your home, other real estate, checking and savings accounts and other investments, or may simply be your, furniture and your clothes and personal possessions. Those are all considered assets. No matter how large or how modest, everyone has an estate made up of assets. The question then becomes, are your assets important enough to you to care who gets them after you are gone? If so, you should have a will, even if it is like the old cowboy song, "Fred, you take my saddle, Jim, you take my bed, Johnny, take my pistol after I am dead." And if you have assets that will require formalities to pass, most people nowadays find that a simple will is not enough.
Revocable Trusts
Work with a skilled trust attorney to ensure your estate is protected from the cost and delay of probate when you pass.
A Revocable Trust can Avoid Probate
Probate is the court process of dealing with property and debts that remain after someone passes away. The Superior Courts of California oversee this process, ensuring that documents are valid, debts are paid and property is transferred to the rightful recipients. The system works, but suffers from three significant (and mostly unavoidable) detriments. First, it is a slow process. There are timelines built into the law, and delays in the processes of many counties, that make it virtually impossible to wind up the affairs of an estate in less than a year. Second, it is an expensive process. The filing fees, publication fees and appraisal fees can quickly add up to thousands of dollars, and the complexity of the court proceedings makes it difficult to complete the administration of the estate without an attorney, which can add many more thousands of dollars to the cost. And, third, everything in a court proceeding is public record. The value of the estate and everything in it, who inherits or does not inherit, and what everyone received and its value are all right in the court file, which anyone has the right to go to the courthouse and view. All your financial affairs that you have kept private your whole life are available to whoever wants to see them. That is not just distasteful; it can lead to unwanted interference or contact for those who receive from your estate.
A Revocable Trust is administered privately. The information is shared with only those who have a legal right to know. In almost all cases, the cost of administration is vastly less, and even where assisted by an attorney, the fees for that are usually a fraction of what they would be in a formal probate. And, the process can be completed in far shorter time than a probate. While sometimes the administration of a trust can also drag out, in many cases the process can be completed quickly and expeditiously. In some, it is possible to finish the administration of a trust in less time than it would take to get a court hearing to even start a probate proceeding.
How A Revocable Trust Works < Click Here to view PDF>
by Steven R Pogue, Attorney at Law
Pogue Calvert, LLP