What Are the Drawbacks of a Living Trust?
video summary
What are the drawbacks of a living trust? Well, the biggest drawback that I see the living trust is that it’s a complicated document. And then once you sign it you have to rely upon what the lawyer tells you. It says, rather than you’re trying to understand 16 or 17 pages of legal jargon. I always ask folks why they want to set up a trust. And if the simple reason for this is to avoid probate, I go through and I ask them, well, what assets do you have? And that’s simply a matter of real property, some bank accounts and a brokerage account. Those can be, we can avoid probate through titling. If you just have a, a couple of beneficiaries, if you wanna set up a trust because a person is disabled and you want them, a special needs trust.
So they don’t receive the money. Well, that’s a good reason to set up a living trust. Another good reason to set up a living trust is if you need to protect the beneficiaries from spending all the money, if they’re, either have some addiction problems, or they’re not good money managers, you want their money to be held until they reach a certain age, although they may receive the income. One of the other disadvantages of a living trust is the cost to set them up in that’s usually there more expensive. I would also do not unless under severe duress ever set up a joint trust between husband and wife. I still do, but it’s usually it’s not needed particularly to avoid probate. And also you don’t want to put at your homestead property, your home into a joint trust. It creates problems as far as when the first spouse passes away. So if you have any questions about setting up a trust, give me a call and (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos
Why Is a Title Review Important In A Real Estate Transaction?
Video Summary
Why is a title review important in a real estate transaction? Well, the obvious reason to me is that you want to know whether or not there’s any liens on the property. Also, you want to confirm who the actual owner of the property is, and does not take someone at face value saying that they own the property particular if you’re buying it. So #1, a title search would be done. And certainly in Florida, I would recommend that you obtain title insurance. So, a complete title search would be done to determine the ownership and what liens or in conferences there are against the property, if there’s any outstanding bills, any judgment liens, any wild deeds or, someone has attempted to transfer the property. So those are all in important and almost every real estate contract will provide that to the buyer or seller would be paying for title insurance. So that they’re assured that they’re getting marketable title to the property and that there are no outstanding judgments or liens of against the property are none that they’re aware of or any unsatisfied mortgages as far as that is concerned. So if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288
- Published in Real Estate, Videos
If I Have a Living Trust, Should I Also Have a Will?
Video Summary
If I have a living trust, should I have a will answer? The question is yes, those are called Pour- Over wills, meaning that your will says I leave whatever assets that I may have that are just titled in. I name to the trustee of my trust, the trust, then the trustee designates who the beneficiaries are, what I have found over my career that sometimes trust are set up and are fine and dandy. They designate who all the beneficiaries are, but for whatever reason, the assets of the decedent are not titled into the name of the trustee. And so there must be a probate proceeding to have the assets transferred to the trustee so they can be distributed to the beneficiaries. So without a will leaving it to the trust, well then the assets would pass to the children or the heirs of the decedent, which is probably not the same as the testament scheme or who you wanted to receive these assets as, as a result of executing a trust. So that is a real good reason to have a will. That leaves everything to the trustee and your trust upon your death in the event. So that any assets that you have in your name alone will go to your trustee to be distributed to your designated beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos, Wills
Does A Living Trust Avoid Estate and Probate Taxes?
Video Summary
Does a living trust avoid estate and probate taxes? The answer to that question is no, it does not. So let let’s talk about the estate taxes in the state of Florida, Florida has done away with their estate tax. The federal government has raised the federal estate tax limit to 11.8 million. So if your estate is less than, 11.8 million, you don’t have to worry about probate taxes. Also if it’s you live in Florida, your Florida assets are not subject to estate taxes. The only time that you may be concerned about estate taxes is if you own real estate outside the state of Florida, wherever the real estate is situated, then that state may have an estate as far as that’s concerned, as far as probate taxes. They’re not necessarily a probate tax that as far as probate expenses, which is primary attorney fees and it can avoid probate. But there still may be some attorney fees involved as far as the administration of the estate. So if you have any questions about your revocable trust, we’ll give a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Taxes, Videos
How Do I Close A Credit Card Account of a Deceased Person?
Video Summary
How do I close the credit card account of a deceased person? The first thing I’d suggest you do is to cut the credit card in half, and then if you have a death certificate, send a death certificate to the credit card company or possibly call and advise them that the person is deceased. Some of the other considerations, when dealing with credit cards, you need to see if there’s another user, as far as that’s concerned. And so, or, or if it’s a debit card, there’s a bigger problem where all they need to have is the, the code. And they can use that to access a bank account but any event, you need to determine whether or not there’s another person authorized to use the account. And, also who is liable on the account who signed that. So if it’s just in the decedent’s name, well, that’s, my suggestion is to notify the credit card company, cut the card in half, and hopefully they’ll freeze the account. So no one else can use the account after his death. And also if you’re an heir or whatever, you do not have any liability for that credit card account. And if there’s no estate, the credit card company does not get paid. So if you have any questions, as far as probates concerned and credit cards will give me a call at (727) 847-2288.