Irrevocable Trust

[am1]

There must be an easier and still legal way to protect assets then an irrevocable trust. One may need to take a few plane trips though.

 

[Talent312]

I'd convert everything to cash and have a lawyer put it all in my casket.
That way, I can take it with me.
But I worry that he might put in a check... and pocket the cash.

It'd prolly be simpler to set up accounts with "pay on death" provisions.
.

 

[rapmarks]

My aunts had everything payable on death, or for the benefit of. It was fairly easy to move everything. Originally, marital trusts were set up in the time of 600,000 estate being the limit, with a marital trust you could effectively double that amount with no estate tax. A trust is supposed to protect assets from probate, and in the case of a marital trust, protect some of the estate for the heirs. I have many friends whose parent remarried after a death and eventually the entire estate went to the new spouse's children.

 

[WinniWoman]

My aunts had everything payable on death, or for the benefit of. It was fairly easy to move everything. Originally, marital trusts were set up in the time of 600,000 estate being the limit, with a marital trust you could effectively double that amount with no estate tax. A trust is supposed to protect assets from probate, and in the case of a marital trust, protect some of the estate for the heirs. I have many friends whose parent remarried after a death and eventually the entire estate went to the new spouse's children.

There are still many banks that will not allow POD's, unfortunately. Revocable living trusts, however, are really a good idea for homes.

This all said, my parents home went through probate, but everything else we were beneficiaries or our names were actually on the bank accounts. I hesitate do put our sons name on our bank accounts, however, because in the event he gets married I would be concerned about the daughter in law's rights to our account in the event of divorce or whatever.

As for the house going through probate, it took a while and we had to pay the atty quite a bit of money to make sure everything in the estate was settled (this paid out of our parents' money). But- I suppose my parents would have had to pay quite a bit of money- though probably less- to have a revocable living trust set up in the first place.

 

[cgeidl]

Pros- privacy and no probate.Quick settlement.
Cons- cost of setting up and making later changes. We have made five or six changes since establishment in 1983. If you get one make sure it is done by a lawyer specializing in trusts in your own state. Would not do boiler plate on line type on your own.

We are probably going to establish one. For those who have one, what are the pros? What are the cons? Thanks.

 

[WinniWoman]

Pros- privacy and no probate.Quick settlement.
Cons- cost of setting up and making later changes. We have made five or six changes since establishment in 1983. If you get one make sure it is done by a lawyer specializing in trusts in your own state. Would not do boiler plate on line type on your own.

Good point about out of state. We are on the fence about doing it now- the revocable- or waiting until we move out of state in a few years (if we can). Of course, something could happen to us right now, so I was going to go ahead with it, but now I am thinking maybe we should wait.

 

[rapmarks]

Good point about out of state. We are on the fence about doing it now- the revocable- or waiting until we move out of state in a few years (if we can). Of course, something could happen to us right now, so I was going to go ahead with it, but now I am thinking maybe we should wait.

When we moved out of state, the lawyer made an addendum stating we were residents of state of Florida, and also redid power of attorneys and medical power of attorney for Florida.

 

[IngridN]

There are still many banks that will not allow POD's, unfortunately. Revocable living trusts, however, are really a good idea for homes.

This all said, my parents home went through probate, but everything else we were beneficiaries or our names were actually on the bank accounts. I hesitate do put our sons name on our bank accounts, however, because in the event he gets married I would be concerned about the daughter in law's rights to our account in the event of divorce or whatever.

As for the house going through probate, it took a while and we had to pay the atty quite a bit of money to make sure everything in the estate was settled (this paid out of our parents' money). But- I suppose my parents would have had to pay quite a bit of money- though probably less- to have a revocable living trust set up in the first place.

WRT homes, many states now allow beneficiary deeds. MIL passed early last year and she had the foresight to set up everything with PODs, TODs, beneficiary for IRA and beneficiary deeds for her 2 homes which her state allows. My state now allows this and DH and I will be doing this sometime this year. We used her attorney to process the the deeds into DH's name and we promptly sold the homes. Easy peasy. A trust was not necessary and there was NO estate to probate.

Ingrid

 

[isisdave]

I had never heard about beneficiary/TOD deeds. Thanks, TUG! Unfortunately I can't use it for a business property here in CA (nor a timeshare) but it might be a simpler alternative to a trust.

Here's one thing a trust might be good for: protecting an elderly survivor from fraud or coercion. Sometimes unhappy surviving relatives, or just plain scammers, will attempt to influence a surviving spouse who is grief-stricken, mentally challenged, or just old into doing something not in his/her best interest. Having an independent trustee can make this much harder.

 

[WinniWoman]

WRT homes, many states now allow beneficiary deeds. MIL passed early last year and she had the foresight to set up everything with PODs, TODs, beneficiary for IRA and beneficiary deeds for her 2 homes which her state allows. My state now allows this and DH and I will be doing this sometime this year. We used her attorney to process the the deeds into DH's name and we promptly sold the homes. Easy peasy. A trust was not necessary and there was NO estate to probate.

Ingrid

Thanks. I will have to check into this for New York. Being new York loves regulations and fees, I am not too hopeful they allow this, but I hope I am wrong. If they do, then- it would be great not to have to bother with a trust, though we do also have 2 bank accounts that do not allow POD.

 

[theo]

The only comment I will offer here is that this is a complex legal matter involving very different individual state laws (and very different state estate tax (aka "death tax") threshholds too, I might add) ---and that there can be significant (and maybe unintended and unwanted) consequences associated with a irrevocable trust.

The bottom line (IMnsHO) is that this is a matter best addressed with an informed and experienced estate planning attorney in your particular state with your particular circumstances, assets and intentions on the table for informed examination and assessment.

 

[easyrider]

The only comment I will offer here is that this is a complex legal matter involving very different individual state laws (and very different state estate tax (aka "death tax") threshholds too, I might add) ---and that there can be significant (and maybe unintended and unwanted) consequences associated with a irrevocable trust.

The bottom line (IMnsHO) is that this is a matter best addressed with an informed and experienced estate planning attorney in your particular state with your particular circumstances, assets and intentions on the table for informed examination and assessment.

I agree with Theo.

We used the services of an elder care attorney who was highly recommended by our attorney and my father in laws attorney. All in, the cost was about $8000 and included the family trust, transfer of assets into the trust, new wills, new heath directives and new power of attorney docs. The initial appointments, which were two, had no cost. The first appointment was with all family members present and the second was with just the in-laws.

The largest benefit was for my in-laws, who both passed away at their home of 60 years in their own bed with family around. Both of them didn't spend much time in a nursing home and only entered the nursing home for short times of rehab. This is what they wanted above everything else.

Bill