Trust attorney
- Thread starter notTHEoc
- Start date
Perspective
Well-known member
Are you just trying to avoid probate for a simple estate (1 house), or do you have a specific purpose for creating a trust?
Perspective
Well-known member
i1 said:
If you consult a trust attorney, s/he will convince you a trust is necessary and easy. I'd spend a couple hours doing research about trusts, maybe read a highly rated book on the topic.
How do you think a trust would minimize taxes and protect assets? Good insurance policies with umbrella riders might be the best asset protection place to start.
i1 said:
I've used The Law Office of Yvonne Hsu (http://yvonnehsulaw.com/) to establish a revocable living trust . Of course, you can download a generic form for free and do it yourself if you choose to but that only works on the most simple of cases. LegalZoom is only slightly better than DIY and not really a replacement for an attorney. Keep in mind that mistakes or misunderstandings will usually only manifest themselves once the trust needs to be looked at - which would be too late to address any of these.
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
There is a TI site supporter that does family law, Cameron Fernandez, maybe they can refer you.
eyephone said:
I think this is the tread about seeking estate planning attorney:
http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,15193.0.html
Anyone had an idea of the cost of setting up and running a living trust?
Perspective
Well-known member
iacrenter said:
Estate taxes? What's the probability the person asking this question has a net worth exceeding $10M (married)? I've never looked into whether a revocable living trust protects assets in the trust from creditors. Does it?
i1 said:
This thread may help or not.http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,15193.msg305491.html#msg305491
eyephone said:
I think the only benefit from a revocable trust is to avoid probate... and this will be mainly for real estate. This will save some costs of probate and avoid anything becoming public information. Regarding money in the bank or retirement accounts, I believe a trust will not be of any help. If estate taxes are a concern this means you have a ton of money then you may want to consider an attorney. I have read that an irrevocable trust can be used to avoid estate taxes, but by no means am I confident of this.
Liar Loan
Well-known member
hello said:
I'm going through probate right now with my dad's estate. He was very stubborn and didn't want to meet with a lawyer, so it was never possible to get a trust set up for him. The best I could do was convince him to let me create a DIY Will for him to sign. His financial accounts all had me as beneficiary or joint owner, so those automatically transferred upon death (no will or trust needed), but the house and any other physical assets like cars, jewelry, coins, etc. would be the reason to set up a trust.
Man, I wish he would have set up a trust. The probate process was created sometime in the 1800's and hasn't changed much since then. It's a complete joke meant to enrich lawyers, judges, probate appraisers, and newspapers. I'm paying $19,000 just to transfer the title on the modest house that my dad lived in. That's $17k to the lawyer (which is the statutory amount) + another $2k in court costs and newspaper fees.
Not only that, but the system is so slow. You have to post an announcement in the dead-tree newspaper. (Who still reads that?) Then wait for a court date. Then wait 4 months so creditors can make claims. My dad had no debt whatsoever, but the court can't override this requirement. Then there are more court dates to close the estate. It will take almost a full year from my dad's passing to completing the settlement of his estate, which in this case is really just transferring the title of his house. There's no car, no debt, and really nothing else of value. A full year and $19k just to transfer title to a house!
A couple of years back, the California state legislature passed a new law allowing you to record a transfer-on-death deed against your house. I would highly recommend people look into this as well, as a potential alternative to a trust.
http://www.car.org/riskmanagement/qa/probate-folder/revocabletransferdeathdeed/
woodburyowner
Well-known member
Liar Loan said:
Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm curious why you didn't do a DIY Trust at the same time you did the will? Sounds like he has the most simple/standard situation.
Liar Loan
Well-known member
woodburyowner said:
That would have been ideal, but at the time there was no guarantee of getting him to sign anything. The trust has some extra steps because you have to first create it, then sign ownership of your assets into the trust in the presence of a notary. It was hard enough convincing him that he needed a will, POA, and medical directive, and getting him to sign them in the presence of two witnesses he trusted. There was also a sense of urgency because he was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's at that time. I needed to get it done before he progressed further, so when he agreed to finally create a will, I had to act quickly.
Hugo Township
Active member
That sucks. If anyone else finds themselves in a similar position in the future, there are resources at Alzheimer's Orange County in Irvine. alzoc.org
All their classes are free IIRC. They have memory care classes but also legal/financial/advance care/etc.
All their classes are free IIRC. They have memory care classes but also legal/financial/advance care/etc.