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Trust and Estate Forms Tips
Must-Have Estate Planning Documents
Regardless of your financial or family situation, trust and estate planning is a very important component of fiscal and personal responsibility. Many people associate estate planning with deciding how your assets will be divided in the event of your death. However, estate planning involves much more than drafting a Last Will and Testament.
It is certainly a good idea to have a Last Will and Testament for the purposes of clearly establishing your wishes regarding property division. However, estate planning should also involve naming someone to make medical and/or financial decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. Another important component of estate planning is documenting your wishes regarding medical interventions if you ever become terminally ill or permanently incapacitated.
The following estate planning documents are important parts of any estate planning checklist:
Last Will and Testament
Living Will
Power of Attorney
Completing the proper estate planning documents doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult. The Estate Plan Bundle from Rocket Lawyer is a great tool for making sure that you have all the bases covered when it comes to estate planning.
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RocketLawyer.com Tip: Tips for Estate Planning
Prepare Your Will Don't procrastinate. If you die without a will, your estate may end up in probate, which often causes problems among your heirs.
Use Estate Planning Forms You can get the documents you need to create an estate plan at RocketLawyer.com. These estate planning forms are easy to customize and also include all the proper provisions and legal language.
Create a Business Succession Plan If you have a family business, find ways to leave the business to those who will actually do the best job operating it. However, you should also have provisions of sharing the profits fairly with other remaining survivors.
Give to Charity in Tax-Efficent Way You can utilize Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) and Charitable Lead Trusts (CLTs) to structure charitable contributions in the a manner to maximize your deductions for income and transfer tax.
Update Your List of Assets and Liabilities On a regular basis you should update your list of both assets and liabilities. Your liabilities will need to by paid off at the time of death before any assets are distributed.
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Top 10 Basic Estate Planning Tips
There are many important considerations when beginning the estate planning process. Each person’s family financial situation is different, and estate planning needs may be more complex for some individuals than others. Everyone needs to make sure that their estate planning includes at least the most fundamental elements of a sound estate plan.
10 Basic Estate Planning Tips:
Inventory your assets
Make decisions about how you would like your assets to be divided
Draft your Last Will and Testament
Decide who you would like to handle your finances if you become incapacitated
Draft your Power of Attorney
Determine who you would like to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so yourself
Draft your Living Will
Give a copy of your living will to your physician(s)
Determine whether or not a trust will be beneficial to you or your heirs
Review and update your estate planning documents regularly
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RocketLawyer.com Tip: Creating a Living Trust
A living trust is a way to avoid costly legal fees after one passes away. Without a living trust, probate fees can eat away at your assets, leaving less for your heirs. However, if you utilize a living trust, you can avoid most probate costs which in turn allow your beneficiaries to be less burdened when you pass away.
You can set up a living trust so that you can be your own trustee until the time you pass away. By naming yourself as a trustee, you still have full control over your assets while you are still alive.
A living trust stipulates the distribution of property upon your death.
You can create a basic living trust for an individual or a couple to avoid probate.
RocketLawyer.com provides living trust documents, including funding worksheets and living trust forms for both standard and joint living trusts.
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How Irrevocable and Revocable Living Trusts Differ
Living trusts can be established so that they are revocable or irrevocable. When either type of living trust documents are created, assets are transferred from an individual’s name, referred to as the grantor, to the trust. The grantor no longer owns the assets once this happens; instead title lies with the trust. When an individual creates a living trust, the grantor names an individual to serve as trustee over the trust. The trustee can be the grantor him or herself, or another individual.
With a revocable living trust, the grantor has the right to invalidate the trust at any time. When a grantor exercises this right, title to the property of the trust is returned to his or her name. Grantors of revocable trust may choose to alter the terms and provisions of the trust at any time.
An irrevocable living trust is one that cannot be revoked. Once assets are transferred to a an irrevocable living trust, the grantor gives up the rights to take back the assets and to alter any of the stipulated terms or provisions. These types of trusts are often used to set up educational trust funds for minors. They can also be utilized for property settlements resulting from a divorce or other legal action.
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RocketLawyer.com Tip: Using Power of Attorney Forms
By completing a Power of Attorney form, you can place someone in charge of your interests at a time in which you cannot make your own decisions. An example of when Power of Attorney can become useful is if you are incapacitated by illness and unable to decide what to do with your assets.
A Power of Attorney can be “Durable” or “Nondurable.” A nondurable Power of Attorney is set for a specific amount of time. For example, you can give someone authority to complete a business deal. On the other hand, a durable power of attorney is in place until it’s revoked.
At Rocketlawyer.com you can create your Power of Attorney quickly and easily. By answering a few simple questions, your Power of Attorney will be customized automatically to be durable or nondurable as you wish.
