Estate Plan Documents
Essential documents to protect your assets and privacy
What's Included
attorney drafted, state specific estate plan documents
Will
In this case a pour over will which will put anything not in the trust when you die will be put in your trust after probate for those items.
Revocable Living Trust
Core document to avoid probate court and direct your executor to whom, when and how to distribute your assets. Single, married and special needs trusts all available at the same discounted price compared to attorney fees for the same documents in funded trusts,
Customized Distributions
Distribute all at once, over time or on benchmark occasions.
Spendthrift Provisions
Gives the trustee discretion on distributions to consider the best interests of the beneficiaries Are they unable to manage their finances(drug or gambling problem), Are they involved in a divorce or lawsuit. Trustee could delay or spread distributions out over time.
Bequests
Ability to distribute specified items before the estate is distributed.
Power of Attorney for Finances
Document that empowers someone you designate to act in your behalf with regard to financial matters for as long as you are incapacitated.
Power of Attorney for Healthcare
Document that empowers someone you designate to act in your behalf with regard to healthcare matters for as long as you are incapacitated.
Living Will
Living wills and other advance directives are written, legal instructions regarding your preferences for medical care if you are unable to make end of life decisions for yourself.
Advance Directives
If you are terminally ill, seriously injured, in a coma, in the late stages of dementia or near the end of life, with Advanced Directives, you can get the kind of care you want and avoid unnecessary suffering or contusion about the choices you would want people to make on your behalf
Organ Donation Directives
Make clear your decisions regarding whether or not to donate and if so, what and to whom should get them.
Funeral Instructions
Do you want a cremation and memorial service or a full fledged funeral service and burial. Details.
Trust Funding Kit included
all the instructions and information needed to fund the trust yourself or with the assistance of our guides.
No Charge for updates to your included documents. Access requires nominal annual fee of $29.95.
Digital Vault
Military grade security with USA housed server. Online storage for all your important documents .
Estate Planning Attorney available for an questions not answered in the software.
Have you Provided For These Risks
Probate Risks
No Will
Your estate will be disposed as determined by the government of the state where the assets are titled.
Will Only
Your estate will go to Probate Court to determine the validity of the will and to appoint an executor gather and keep safe all the assets until probate is completed. Read that as all assets (bank and brokerage accounts are frozen, lock boxes not available. real estate, automobiles and other titled assets are only available sell , rent or use at the discretion of the court.
Probate
After a person’s death, you have to obtain original certified copies of their death certificate (you will need one for every asset holder, the court and debt holder). You will need to find the most recent valid will that was executed by the deceased and you will need to get the proper probate petition forms. By filling out the forms and submitting the required documents, you are informing the court of who passed away, who is applying to be the Executor, who the heirs are and what are the assets known at the time. All of this becomes part of the public record that can be obtained by anyone that asks. These days much of this is available online.
Next the judge set a date for a hearing to see if everyone agrees on who the Executor will be and on the validity of the will. From there, although the protocols differ a bit by state, the probate process generally goes as follows:
First the court validates the Will by acknowledging the Will’s existence, validity, and authenticity. Then the court officially appoints a personal representative who has been named in the Will. The personal representative oversees the administration of the deceased’s estate under the supervision of the court.
Next the personal representative informs the Social Security Administration, beneficiaries and creditors of the deceased’s death and the will’s existence.
The personal representative is responsible for identifying securing, safe keeping and determining the value of all assets and property.
The personal representative is responsible to the court for periodic filings and appearances. Attorneys are happy to take on that responsibility for you. In fact is one of their most profitable business segments.,
The personal representative pays off outstanding valid debts,(including taxes) funeral costs, legal, accounting and appraisal fees and files any required tax returns (e.g. the deceased’s income tax returns, estate income tax returns and estate tax returns).
The personal representative distributes the remaining assets in the estate according to the will and closes the estate with an accounting of all transactions to the court.
This process typically takes, if uncontested, six months to a year and sometimes much longer.
If assets a located in more than one state, probate must be filed in each state.
We should note that the typical cost of going through probate runs between 2 and 10%. So if you take the median house value of $350,000 . The median probate cost would run abut 6% or $21,000.
Most, if not all, of the cost of time, aggravation and money of going through probate could be avoided by putting all your assets into a revocable living trust,
Beneficiary and Transfer on Death Risk
Many think that by bypassing probate by adding either a beneficiary or transfer on death clause that everything is taken care of. But there is another risk in doing that,, What if the beneficiary is dead, incapacitated, involved in a law suite or divorce? Wouldn't it be nice for the trustee to have the discretion to delay distribution until a more opportune time?
Having all those assets go to a revocable living trust with spendthrift provisions can provide more control and preserve your assets from pointless losses.
Revocable Living Trust
The key advantages of a revocable living trust are as follows:
Because it is revocable, you can pull assets out of the trust anytime you want.
You, acting in the capacity of a trustee, can do the same.
The contents of the trust, list and value of assets, plus the names of the beneficiaries remain private.
Avoids the aggravation and all the loss of time and money with the probate process.
Without government interference, a properly funded trust can be executed without delay.