living will and trust - General Information
We've all been told that if we do nothing else to take care of our legal affairs, we should write a will. That's pretty good advice. If you don't make a will before your death, state law will determine who gets your property (and it may well not be whom you would have chosen), and a judge may decide who will raise your children. In your will, you can make these decisions yourself.
 
An example of a legally binding will would include but not be limited to:
 
• leaving your property to the people and organizations you choose
• naming a guardian to care for your minor children if you can't
• naming someone to manage property you leave to minor children (yours or someone else's), and
• naming your executor, the person with authority to make sure that the terms of your will are carried out.
 
When a Basic Will Is Enough
By and large, if you are under age 50 and don't expect to leave assets valuable enough to be subject to estate taxes, you can probably get by with only a basic will. But as you grow older and acquire more property, you may want to engage in more sophisticated planning -- we go into these details below.
 
To arrange a free initial consultation with Attorney David LiBassi, call us at (978) 441-9339, or contact us online.
 
Executor
The person named in a will to handle the property of someone who has died. The executor collects the property, pays debts and taxes, and then distributes what's left, as specified in the will. The executor also handles any probate court proceedings and notifies people and organizations of the death. Also called personal representatives.
 
Will a Basic Will Avoid Probate?
No. If you leave anything more than a small amount of property through a will, probate court proceedings will probably be necessary after your death. Although it varies from state to state, probate can take six months or a year, and eat up three to five percent of your estate in lawyers' and court fees. And your beneficiaries will probably get little or nothing until probate is complete.
 
How Living Trusts Avoid Probate
Ask people why they work hard and save their money, and often you'll hear that it's not only because they want to raise their own standard of living; they want to leave something behind for their children, too. Understandably, they don't want a big chunk of that money to be used up for probate lawyers' fees.
 
That's where living trusts come in. They don't save you a penny while you're alive, but after death they can eliminate the need for probate -- and probate fees. (Probate involves inventorying and appraising the property, paying debts and taxes, and distributing the remainder of the property according to the will.) When you make a living trust -- a device in which you hold property as a "trustee" -- your surviving family members can transfer your property quickly and easily, without probate. More of the property you leave goes to the people you want to inherit it.
 
Types of Living Trusts
The two most common types of living trusts are: Basic living trust (for an individual or couple), which avoids probate, and an AB trust, which both avoids probate and saves on estate tax.
 
Probate-Avoidance Living Trusts
A basic living trust allows property to avoid probate and to quickly and efficiently pass to the beneficiaries you name, without the hassles and expense of probate court proceedings. A married couple can use one basic living trust to handle both co-owned property and the separate property of either spouse.
 
The above information gathered from Nolo.com.
To arrange a free initial consultation with Attorney David LiBassi, call us at (978) 441-9339, or contact us online.