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I'd be interested to hear from people who have created a trust to preserve assets for their heirs. Did you use a bank trust or an attorney or both? Did you put your house in the trust? Can you make the trust the beneficiary of your IRAs and 401Ks?
My parents used an attorney for the family's revocable living trust - my Dad asked my cousin-in-law who was a corporate lawyer to do it.
After Dad passed away, my Mom and I went to an attorney who specialized in elder law to fix some things my relative had missed or messed up.
Yes, her house deed is recorded as owned by the Trust. Her car and her checking account are not in the Trust's name - I'm listed as co-owner on those. The brokerage account is in the Trust name. The annuities are in the Trust name. The Trust is the beneficiary of her life insurance policies. Dad and Mom never had 401Ks or IRAs, so I can't help you there.
There are a lot of factors to consider so you should do a lot of research. The need for a trust will depend on the state you live in, the other states you have property in, the value of your estate, specials needs of beneficiaries etc. etc. etc.
I would seek advice on your estate from a financial planner and then discuss trusts with an elder attorney. I would not go to someone that sells trusts for a living for advice on my need for a trust.
All assets that you want to be covered by the trust has to have to be titled to the trust. This would include all real estate, financial accounts etc. Be certain you do not have beneficiaries listed assets that are in the trust that conflict with the object of the trust. Be careful as you could cause gift taxes, income taxes etc if you do it wrong. In the right cases trusts are good. Just make sure you understand then and can do the annual paper work that might come with them.
I'm an ex-accountant. I was the executrix for a large estate. I'm currently the trustee for several trusts, including some that hold IRA's.
My advice: FIND AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE WHO SPECIALIZES IN ESTATE PLANNING. It's not elder law. If the total assets equal more than $5million (including real estate, possessions, IRA's, life insurance, everything!), you need a very good estate planning attorney and pbably a CPA who specializes in trusts and estate taxation. If the total assets are less than $5million, you would be fine with an average estate planning attorney. (The difference is likely to show up in his/her cost per hour).
If you have assets that are significant to you and your family in those 401k's and IRA's, you also need to discuss this with an attorney. How the beneficiary designation are assigned can make a HUGE difference in how they are taxed to the beneficiaries. You can obtain enormous tax savings for your beneficiaries by getting this advice and implementing a very simple beneficiary designation form. This means that just dumping those assets into a living trust is often THE WORST thing you can do, unless your non-spouse beneficiaries enjoy paying more in taxes than they need to.
Pay for the attorney's time and advice. You don't do self-surgery or self-dentistry, do you?
No, and that's why I asked the question. Thanks for your helpful advice.
Good question, and I'm sorry if I sounded snotty. But we ALL hate lawyers. This just happens to be one of the very FEW areas of the law where they really can be helpful rather than harmful.
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Thanks for your helpful advice.
