The incomplete idiot's guide to Living Trust - by JY

By JY - From online forum

the incomplete idiot's guide to Living Trust 2010-09-17 08:56:55


1. the advantage of living trust is preventing your assets going into court probation, which is a long and costly process.

your estate tax is base on your net worth, has nothing to do with setting up a trust. by setup a trust does not gain tax benefit, what you owe in death tax, you still owe, but you can prolong that tax till the second member die while your heirs can still receive a portion of your hard earn money.

there are many type of trust, each fit a special purpose needed, most frequently used is call A-B trust, where A is survivor, B is family, when one spouse die, assets at that time will divided in 2 parts, you can fund the B trust up to deceased spouse's federal estate tax exemption, and the remaining in A, which mean you don't need pay any estate tax at this time, but still able to pass thru portion of your assets to your heirs.

now, when you die, A trust then must distributed at the time, and pay the estate tax base on the asset in A.

you can direct how the asset is distributed, to whom, when or at what age.

if your net worth is XX mil, you should also consider A_B_C trust, where C can be just a life insurance policy on you, own by the trust and the face value can offsets the estate tax in A.

if your net worth is over XXXXX mil, then you should consider a charitable trust, where assets within goes to charity instead of going to IRS.

haha..

2. there is not much you can do to reduce the power of a trustee, when you name the trustee, you naming someone act for you, what you can do is to can name someone to audit the trustee's activities, if the trustee fail to perform or lie or steal, your heirs can file suit to release him from the trustee post, which is a painful process.

that is why I said the hardest part is to find someone you trust, I named my brother to oversee my kids, just because I am more close to my brother than the rest of my family..

3. you set of trust papers should include more than just the trust itself, you need an assignment agreement to assign all your personal affects, you should also appoint a durable general power of attorney before you lay in the hospitable, a medical power of attorney to decide you live or die, and you still need a living will for your own wish if you a vegetable, and lastly, your last will, tells your heirs what you want to with anything you left outside of your trust..

haha, now send me $500 for my time....