Keeping your assets in your trust.
I started a theme last month, which has to do with making sure your assets are in your trust. This goes for real property as well as other forms of property. Last month I wrote about making sure that real property you own in states other than California is re-titled in your names as trustees of your trust. Let’s step back a minute and review what the legal term “property” refers to. Often people say they have no “property” because they don’t own real estate, or because they have not yet paid off their mortgage. Legally, there are several types of property and everyone has something. Real...
Read MoreOut-of-state properties and California trusts.
For those of you who have done trust-based estate plans with me, you know that when it comes to your California real estate, I help you put those properties into your trust. And that if you own out-of-state real property, I advise you to seek out someone in that state to help you create a state-specific deed to re-title that property in your name as trustee of your California trust. I do not know how many people with out-of-state real property follow through on getting those properties retitled in their names as trustees of their trust. Jack and Josie had a trust together here in...
Read MoreFunny what some people think about estate planning.
Ask your average person on the street about any number of topics—baseball stats, the latest scandal news running on CNN, where to buy a good lawn mower, whatever—and you’ll probably get an earful of mostly accurate information. Ask the average person what he or she knows about estate planning and you might get some real doozies of misinformation. I think that’s because estate planning is about getting old, death, family and finances—and that’s a combination a lot of people would rather not think about. I am continually amazed by some of the things new clients tell me when it comes to estate...
Read MoreEven the basics can get complicated
If you’ve been in my office, you’ve heard me say that the basic elements of a typical estate plan are: a trust to prevent probate and hold property for beneficiaries until they reach a certain age; a back-up will; a power of attorney for finances; and an advance health care directive. Simple—until it’s not. Alejandro and Alicia are old clients of mine and they were in the process of buying a house for one of their daughters and her family when their son and his wife—living outside the country—were about to have a first baby. Alejandro and Alicia were concerned that the house buying deal...
Read MoreWho owns what? Trusts, joint tenancy and more…
I know many of you have recently refinanced your houses, and this can affect your trust, albeit temporarily. Very often – but for no good reason – a lender will ask you to remove your house from your trust before you refinance, placing title back in your name as an individual or married couple with a recorded deed. Some lenders will do this for you. Others will send you to an attorney to do this and I have recorded many such deeds in recent years. The trick is to make absolutely sure that when the refinancing process is complete, your house is retitled back in your names as trustees of...
Read MoreProtect Your Online Assets Too
We are living more and more of our lives on-line and I am increasingly asked by clients: what should we do about our on-line assets? This is a moving target. A number of companies have sprung up, offering — for a hefty fee — to hold onto your passwords until your heirs eventually call to retrieve them. I can’t recommend any of these firms and I’m not sure it’s at all necessary to pay someone to hold onto on-line information. James died about a year ago after a lengthy illness. He was a software designer and he did all of his banking and paid most of his bills on-line. ...
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