Many people assume that Revocable Living Trusts are just for wealthy people. However, the benefits that they can offer to someone with even minimal wealth are significant.
One of the more common questions for estate planning attorneys is asked and addressed in an article from thebalance.com, “Will or Revocable Living Trust—Which Do You Need?” It’s a good question because many people don’t understand how important having a will is, even if you don’t have a large amount of property. The following are some factors to consider, when speaking with your estate planning attorney about wills and different types of trusts.
Mental Disability Planning. Regardless of the size of your net worth, you might want to consider a Revocable Living Trust for mental health planning. A properly drafted Revocable Living Trust, which should be prepared by an experienced estate planning attorney, will have provisions to determine mental capacity outside of a court proceeding. It will also state your wishes about taking care of you and your finances, in case you do become mentally incapacitated. It is likely that such a document could keep your family out of a court-supervised guardianship.
Minor Beneficiaries. This is what happens all too often: young parents have a life insurance policy or a retirement account through work. They divorce and one of the parents decides to name a minor child as a beneficiary. It is also possible that both parents could die, while the children are still minors. What happens to these assets? They are placed in a court-supervised guardianship for the benefit of the minor, until the child reaches 18. Parents can instead set up a Revocable Living Trust, naming the trust as the primary or contingent beneficiary of the life insurance or retirement account. They must then name a trustee to accept and manage the funds, instead of a court-appointed guardian. The judge does not know your child as well as you do and may not be able to nominate the most suitable person to be your child’s guardian. Children who are 18 years of age, are usually not ready to deal with large sums of money. With a Revocable Living Trust, the parents can dictate how old the children will be when they receive their inheritance. Some kids are ready at age 21, while others are not ready until they are 30 or ever.
Singles Need to Plan Also. If you have assets titled in your name and no legal partner, you could use a Revocable Living Trust to keep you and your assets out of a court-supervised guardianship and allow beneficiaries to avoid the cost of probate.
Planning for Second Marriages. If you and your spouse have children from prior marriages, you may have different beneficiaries. A Revocable Living Trust can ensure that each of your estate assets will be distributed where you want, outside of probate.
Don’t Forget to Fund. This last step gets forgotten all too often. If you create any kind of a trust, don’t forget to fund it and update your beneficiary designations. Otherwise, it won’t accomplish what you want.
If you want know whether a will or a trust is more suitable for you, contact an estate planning attorney today.
Reference: thebalance.com (June 29, 2018) “Will or Revocable Living Trust—Which Do You Need?”
我怎麼知道我是否需要遺囑或生前信託？
許多人認為生前信託僅適用於富人。然而，他們可以為財富最少的人帶來的好處是顯著的。
在thebalance.com的一篇文章中提出並解決了資產規劃律師的一個常見問題，“Will or Revocable Living Trust—Which Do You Need?” (遺囑或生前信託 - 你需要哪一個) 這是一個很好的問題，因為即使你沒有大量財產，很多人也不明白有遺囑的重要性。在與你的資產規劃律師討論遺囑和不同類型的信託時，需要考慮以下因素。
精神疾病計劃。無論你的資產規模如何，你都可以考慮使用生前信托進行精神健康規劃。
一份由資深的資產規劃律師準備的生前信託，會有條文決定委托人是否有精神能力，而無需法院的介入。它也會表明關於照顧你和你的財務狀況的意願。這文件很可能會讓你的家人不受法院監管。
未成年受益人。這種情況經常發生：年輕父母有人壽保險單或退休賬戶。他們離婚後，其中一位父母決定將未成年子女定為受益人。如果父母雙方都過世時，孩子仍然是未成年人。這些資產會如何？在這種情況下，法院會委托監護人為未成年的受益人管理財產，直到孩子滿18歲。另外的做法是父母可以設立生前信託，將信託指定為人壽保險或退休賬戶的主要或次受益人。然後，他們必須指定受託人去接受和管理資金。這個做法的好處是由你指定的受託人。因法官不會像你一樣了解你的孩子，也可能無法指定最適合你孩子的監護人。18歲的孩子通常還沒准備好去處理大筆金錢。通過生前信託，父母可以決定孩子在什麼年齡時繼承遺產。
單身也需要計劃。如果你擁有資產在你名義之下且沒有配偶，你可以使用生前信託來保護你和你的資產不受法院監管的監護，並允許受益人避免遺囑認證的費用。
計劃第二次婚姻。如果你和你的配偶有從第一次婚姻的子女，你們可能有不同的受益人。生前信託可以確保你的資產將按照你的意願分配，而無需法院的介入。
不要忘記資助。這最後一步經常被遺忘。如果你創建任何類型的信託，不要忘記資助它並更新您的受益人名稱。否則，它將無法實現您想要的效果。
如果你想知道遺囑或信託是否更適合您，請立即聯繫資產規劃律師。
參考: thebalance.com (June 29, 2018) “Will or Revocable Living Trust—Which Do You Need?”
Comments