Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wills, and Trusts?

Morbid topics seem hot on the 'fire just now. We made a new will a few years ago.

Trusts are something I do not understand so well. There must be many types, what is gained by a trust?

Lots of money if you are the beneficiary.

Wills are made to be broken.

you're not goin anywhere loonie

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I'm not an expert, but if your total assets are above a million or two, you really need a trust. One main benefit of a trust is that in the event of the death of one trustee, all the assets are still available to the other(s) without probate or delay to process the will.

Ours was set up by a trust lawyer several years ago. He set up the trust, wills, living wills, and powers of attorney for us.

Been dealing a lot with wills, trusts and estate issues here lately.

One conclusion everyone involved has come to is that financial advisors like for instance "Edward Jones" type people are only out for themselves.

Do NOT give the free reign to swap investments, etc.... Because in a market that has a pretty flat interest rate payout right now, the only one making money on these transactions are THEM.

Investment bankers get paid win, lose or draw.

Pretty late in life to be estate planning.

I suppose late is better than up an croaking and leaving a huge mess for your grown children. Like so many other selfish, childish old people do.

Grown children have their own things to worry about like raising kids and college planning and living within their means.

Last thing they need is for "the farm" to be tied up in probate. Or worse, having sort through every friggin mustard and pickle jar someone hoarded over a lifetime.

Trust is the way to go. Cost more initially, but saves the survivors a lot of money and headaches. A Will, is a money maker for everyone except the survivors.
Spend a little, money talk to an Estate Attorney. It will be money well spent. Our's cost about $1500.00, chump change if you have any kind of net worth and we don't.
We, have no children so we set up the trust so the surviving spouse and our parents would be provided for.

jmo

arky

As long as you and your spouse are still alive it's never too late to do estate planning. You lose some tax benefits if you plan after the death of one spouse though.

+1 on hiring a good estate planning atty.

We had a trust set up 18 months ago. There is a will within the trust.
Talk to some friends and get a recommendation for an attorney that specializes in wills and trusts and let him/her help you decide what you need.
Depending on complexity, the cost varies quite a bit.

KISS

Your basic documents for your final days on earth are the will (for when you die) and the advanced medical directive (sometimes called a living will) primarily for your medical affairs and a durable power of attorney primarily for your financial affairs. Both of the latter are for when you are still alive.

Here's a link: https://modernsurvivalblog.com/health/basic-legal-preparedness/

Any trust comes after these. Only about a third pf people out there have wills in place and its these that cause the largest angina in the survivors.

In many states if you die without a will all assets go to the state. That alone is reason enough to do estate planning.

also estate planning can eliminate estate taxes in most cases. That will depend on your location.

Just because you have a will does not mean that all is taken care of. As laws are changed your legal docs. need to change.

That's just not so.

If you die and are single, and die intestate, and have no traceable living kinfolk no matter how far removed... maybe.

But to state if someone dies without a will within some states, the estate goes to the state, is just in error.


The far, far worse thievery is known as the Estate Tax, or Inheritance Tax.

wabigoon;
Good morning to you my friend, I hope all is well with you and the weather is suitable for harvest if that's where you're at.

Wills and estate planning in general are a bit of a "thing" with me and I'll talk to anyone who will listen about them, mainly because I've been involved with too many instances of bad or no wills in the last few years.

Honestly I believe that the most unselfish thing we can do to our heirs is to do proper estate planning.

Speaking from personal experience, when we are dealing with all the details of a loved one dying, the very last thing we need to worry about is whether or not they had a plan in place to disburse the estate.

Up here we've got a split between the financial part of a living will - power of attorney - and the medical care of the individual - representation agreement. That's a fairly recent wrinkle, but also a vital part of keeping the process as simple as possible for all involved.

Another thing which I tell folks is that we all assume the will and estate planning will be a straight forward, "I'm dead and they get my stuff", but what happens if I have a debilitating stroke and end up comatose for months or years?

I believe it's important to have a plan in place so my kids don't have to take a second mortgage out in order to keep the lights on at my place while I'm plugged in at the local hospital, no?

Anyway sir, work is calling so off I go, but I'll check in later on tonight to see where this goes. It is, in my view anyway wabigoon, something we all need to deal with and talk about with those who we'll be leaving behind.

Have a good day sir and Lord willing we'll check in tonight.

Dwayne

PS
IF the Lord calls me today, we have solid wills in place as well as the kids having all the contact info for our life insurance, bank accounts, safe combinations etc....

In other words, I'm in no hurry to go wabigoon, but I am ready!!!

The purposes of a trust generally are to avoid taxes, avoid probate or hold funds for someone who has diminished capacity for some reason. If your estate is more than $5m individually or $10m married, then you would be a candidate for a trust. If you need the trust to hold funds for children or someone who can't look out for him or herself, then you'd be a candidate for a trust.

Avoiding probate? For the most part, you're avoiding nothing. The effort and costs and fees put into creating the trust will generally equal the effort and cost and fees laid out for a probate, in my fairly extensive experience. Its six of one, and half a dozen of the other.

Trusts don't magically save any headaches. They can be and often are messed up in their creation and over the lifetime of the Trustor and result in the same disagreements over time. They are not a magic pill by any stretch of the imagination.

Don't put anything into an 'Estate'!

Lawyers love 'em!!

Treasure hunt. A little housecleaning never hurt an inheritor

a will is basically useless for the most part. The problem with a will is it must be adjudicated. That means a court,ie the probate court has to make a ruling and say yes the will is valid and that is what is going to happen. I recommend a will for personal things, like say guns, jewelry. basically anything there is not "title" to.

the purpose of a trust is mainly so that assets can be transferred beyond someone's death. Think of a trust is a contract with a set of instructions that define who manages it and who benefits from it. Its a document that isn't filed anywhere but defines and holds title to things. So lets say your house is your primary assset. Without a will the court will define who is getting what % of it. With a will the court is still going to have to enforce what the will says. HOWEVER if a trust is set up before you die. What you do is transfer title of the property into the trust. A COMMON MISTAKE WITH A TRUST IS ASSETS DON'T ACTUALLY GET TRANSFERRED INTO IT!! This has to be done with the recorders office. Title of the property must be in the name of the trust. That way in order to do anything with the property if its in a trust. you simply take the trust docs with you to the title company. They look who it says is the trustee and the trustee can sign for the sale of the property. There is NO court proceeding to make this happen. The trustee can open bank accounts in the name of the trust. They have `100% control of the asset, but still maintain a fiduciary responsibility to the beneficiaries of the trust.

bank accounts, retirement accounts etc. This can be done 2 ways you can actually have them transferred into the name of the trust. OR you can have the trust be the beneficiary upon death. again this needs to be done at the bank prior. A will can be made so that it direct certain personal things to be given to the trust upon death. Many couples have their things be given to the trust upon their death. however those things would again have to be adjudicated if challenged by potential heirs.

trusts can be used for asset protection, ie irrevocable trusts, or for tax purposes.

what other questions do you have?

Best to think of a trust as a conduit for funnelling money from one person(s) or entity to another.
The "pipe" protects the money from taxes, creditors, the time and expense of probate, and lawsuits.
Whether it's for you is the subject of a conversation with an attorney.