In past blogs we have discussed the need to have an experienced estate planning lawyer draft your trust. In California, a case has recently been filed against Legal Zoom, an online site that markets wills and trusts without the need to meet with an attorney. The case involves a man…
Once your revocable living trust has been created, you need to “fund” the trust with your assets. A trust that is not funded is useless as a vehicle to avoid probate. If you have gone to the time and expense of preparing a trust, you certainly don’t want your heirs…
Often trusts provide for the distribution of assets at different intervals. This is a common occurrence where parents want to provide for their children during their minority and then spread out the distributions during adulthood. A typical trust might leave a certain percentage to a beneficiary at age 21, 25,…
A trustee is the person who handles the distributions to the beneficiaries according to the terms of the trust document. Some trusts can go on for years if there are distributions to be made for the benefit of minors or for other reasons. There may be some circumstances where a…
The Illinois Supreme Court recently held that a Jewish couple’s wish to disinherit any of their grandchildren that married outside their faith was lawful. The particular will had provided that upon the death of the surviving Trustor, if any grandchild had married outside the Jewish faith, their non-Jewish spouse had…
There are many reasons why a will or a trust may be challenged and set aside as invalid. Here are some of the more common grounds to contest someone’s will or trust. 1. Coercion – If someone coerces the testator (the person creating the will or trust) to make changes…
In the estate planning world we used the term “fiduciary” a lot. Trustees, administrators, executors, and agents under a power of attorney are all “fiduciaries”. What does that term mean? A fiduciary is an individual who undertakes to act for and on behalf of another in a particular matter. A…
For now, there is no estate tax in 2010. Everyone expected Congress to address the estate tax issue in 2009 but it did not happen. The House passed a bill that would have permanently kept the 2009 exemption but the Senate failed to vote on the estate tax issue leaving…
An irrevocable trust is one that usually cannot be revoked, modified or amended. Trusts can become irrevocable in several ways. Some are created to be irrevocable at the time they are created. An example of this type of irrevocable trust is a Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT). This is a…
In the 1950’s there was a TV program called “The Millionaire” where an anonymous millionaire gave away a million dollars each week to people he never met. The money was conditioned on the donee not revealing how he got the money or how much he received. I guess no one…