Planning Ahead Article
Revocable Living Trust
A trust is a contract between yourself as the Trustmaker/Grantor/Settlor/Trustor and yourself (typically) as Trustee (the person that manages the trust). You can change or revoke the trust at any time that you have capacity.
You can specify who determines your disability. You can set out the terms of the trust to handle distribution while you are alive and well, alive and disabled, and not alive. The trust handles both disability and providing for your beneficiaries. You can set the terms for how and when your beneficiaries receive assets from the trust. If the beneficiary has disabilities, a special needs trust may be appropriate.
You may want assets held in trust for a minor beneficiary. If a beneficiary is going through bankruptcy or has creditor issues, you may want to draft the trust so that the beneficiary cannot demand the money from the Trustee. Sometimes trusts are set up to provide protection in event of divorce (if the beneficiary receives the money outright and then commingles it with spouse, it can be hard to trace what is left, if anything, if the inheritance and amounts not traceable are included in what is divided in the divorce).
Consult an estate planning attorney to review your goals/wishes and the various options in this area.
Make sure you properly fund your trust after signing it and review all beneficiary designations to make sure they meet your wishes. It will be frustrating for your Trustee to not only have to do the trust administration but also the probate because you “forgot” to change title on an asset into your trust.
Comments:
On 3/1/08
James said
WE have our Trusts and wills Made up, WE NEED to Know how to FUND these instruments, thru the Govt, without going thru Lawyers, we have no extra money and want to do the process ourselves..
QUESTIONS
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Does the principal's signature on the Healthcare Directive and Power of Attorney need to be witnessed or noterized in Arizona?
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Our living will was updated for the state of California; should it be updated for Arizona since this is our primary residence?
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My Mother lived in and owned property in Sun City, AZ for about 30 yrs. She had two living children whom have had a rather toxic relationship. She had a living trust and her son is named Successor Trustee. In 2003 she suffered a small stroke and (while still mentally alert) she had a problem with her speaking ability. As a result, she retired as Trustee and named her son who divides his time between New Mexico and Alaska. Her son physically relocated her to New Mexico about 10 months before she passed in Feb. 2011. He had sold her property in AZ in Sept 2010 but moved all her personal belongings to his property in NM prior to that date. Her remains are interred in AZ. Which state would have jurisdiction if a probate proceeding is necessary? (i.e.- Say the Successor Trustee fails to act?)
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Can a person not a resident of Arizona be my guardian or conservator?
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Can I be barred from handling my own affairs for any reason?
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How does a disclaimer of rights of survivorship in jointly held property work?
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I need info pertaining to my rights power of attorney for my father and how to keep ex-stepmother from getting his pension.
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I am a double lung transplant recipient and even though my doctor says that I cannot return to work, CIGNA looked at my hospital records and a panel cancelled my waiver for my Life Insurance premiums from my employer benefits. Can they do this? My life expectancy is short, about 5 years on average. My wife and I are on disability and they want a quarter of the premium to appeal their decisions. We are debt free don't want to acquire more debt to fight this. Can someone help?
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Can I just leave my savings in a bank account for later use?
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If there is a person named as the executor in a trust and the Trustee wants to change the executor; is the previous executor need to be present in order to make this revision to the trust? The previous executor is not reliable and cannot be trusted. Also this person would not agree to let the trust be changed.
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