OMG....I had no idea how easy things are because dad took the effort to set up a trust. Thanksgiving Eve Dad decided he wanted to have Thanksgiving with Mom, of visa versa...not sure which. That means he had to leave us, since Mom has been gone 8 years. We know, without a shadow of a doubt he is with mom ( read my post "An Amazing Story). Needless to say as Trustee to Dad's trust I've been a busy beaver for the last few days. But it looks like, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will be most wrapped up inside of two weeks (takes over a week or more to get the death certificates) and everyone will have their inheritances (minus what's set back for income taxes) and can go about their lives. I know I'd like to get back to my husband and my two dogs, my cockatoo and my Bearded Dragon Lizard (all of whom he's not so fond of taking care of). Dad made it so easy with the Trust rather then having to go through Probate and all that entails. When this is wrapped up, I'm going home and my husband and I are getting on Legal Zoom and doing a trust, without a doubt.
The only problem was that my Dad had dragged his feet doing his "homework" of filling out the forms which asked for information. My Dad didn't want the Attorney to know how much money he had.... oh dear, we got a problem in the room. I kept pestering Dad to do the paperwork.
Dad never got any of the paperwork done and he passed. So I am dealing with Probate which is a maze and complex. So now his Estate is paying for the Elder Law Attorney to help walk me through this jumble of documents.... [sigh].
Thank goodness my Trust and all the related documents is complete and signed.
You are right, though; other than the 1041s (which vary in complexity by the assets of the trust), estate resolution CAN be a lot easier than dealing with probate.
I've looked into doing our own through Legal Zoom for much less and I think that's the way we are going to go. We have a daughter and a granddaughter we want to give to equally. I don't forsee any problems, but I want them to be able to access everything right away and not have to spend a penny on lawyers and probate.
We've run into a hitch with Dad's trust. He opened an account here in TX where he was living with my brother and sis in law and funded it with his IRA yearly mandatory withdrawal this year. He wanted this account to be his "gambling" account so he didn't bother to put anyone on it as beneficiary and put it in his name only, rather then the trust. Now, we are having to get a lawyer involved and that account is going to have to be probated in Texas as a "foreign will", which will take time, money and was totally unnecessary! Glad it's only this one account though...everything else (all in trust) is going smoothly thus far... I'm just worried that the money in this account is going to be needed to pay his Income Taxes and won't be freed up by the time they have to be paid. Darn it Daddy!
Boss, so glad you're went so well! That's the best case scenario...
What instead some do -if there not the $ for trust- is "beneficiary designation" or LLC on all assets that you can. Insurance policies, pensions, iras, annuities get designation. POD designation on banking. Property owned by LLC. So when they die there's maybe just maybe homestead property thats the only asset to deal with by small estates affadavit or muniment of title (both simple & minimal cost). Could ideally take care of almost all assets so no trust or its costs needed.
More of your astute wisdom, please!
Dad was Trustee and I was Co Trustee. Everything in the trust, the main checking account and savings, the house, the personal belongings, I was immediately in charge of after dad died and started right away dispersing funds as dad wanted, minding that I would keep enough in reserve for his 2016 taxes and any small debts that might appear. Tomorrow I need to start on the house, finding out what I need to do there, but I'm not anticipating any problems.
The two things that dad left out of the trust, however, are going to cost time (three to four weeks) and money (1250.00),and that's only because is a small enough amount to be able to fast track these items with Muniment of Title. This wouldn't have been available if we'd have had to probate everything since it was more then the maximum Muniment of Title allows.
Without trust we would have been forced to fully probate and would have cost at least three times as much, or more, and up to 6 months or more. Even with beneficiaries on everything and a will, you have to go through probate, whereas the trust kept the bulk of his assets out of probate and only cost him 1100.00 to set up. A huge savings in time and money and headache if you ask me.
I'd suggest that, unless you know you're going to have very little to leave behind, or if what you do leave behind is legally titled as such that it automatically passes to an heir(s) upon death (I.E. Joint Bank Account, Pay On Death Clause, Right of Survivorship, etc) then a trust is the way to go.
The restrictions on specific disinheritance might be unique to Michigan. I don't know for sure as I haven't checked out any statutory provisions on that aspect.
If I had any assets besides my house and garden (yes, that's a major asset!), I would still use a trust just to avoid the rigamarole and openness of probate. I don't appreciate having carpetbaggers coming out of their holes harassing me to list a house. And I don't appreciate all the unwanted solicitations that can occur when these carpetbaggers go through probate's public records.