LIVING TRUSTS & POWERS OF ATTORNEY

ABOUT GARY R. LIEBERMAN, ESQ.

NEW & IMPORTANT

8 MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN MOST LIVING TRUSTS

MEDI-CAL / LONG TERM CARE ESTATE PLANNING

5 QUESTIONS TO HELP DETERMINE IF YOU NEED A REVIEW OF YOU ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LIVING TRUSTS

A Living Trust is a well established estate planning tool designed primarily to avoid Probate of your estate when you die. There are many types of Living Trusts. The most common is a Revocable Living Trust. The person(s) creating the Living Trust is/are known as the "Settlor(s)," "Grantor(s)," or "Trustor(s)." All or a portion of your assets may be transferred to the Living Trust (during your lifetime: hence a "Living Trust") to be held by a Trustee (most of the time you are the Trustee) for the benefit of your heirs. Because you have transferred your assets "during your lifetime," when you die, there are no assets in your estate that need to go through Probate, which is a costly and time consuming Court process.

A properly drafted Living Trust may be revoked, cancelled, terminated, modified, or amended at any time during your lifetime. As the Trustee of your own Trust, you have all of the rights and powers to deal with the assets in the Trust as you would with your own assets. For example, you may sell, lease, mortgage, exchange, or make a gift of any or all of the Trust assets. In the majority of cases, the terms and provisions of your Living Trust remain private and may be held, administered, and distributed at a fraction of the cost of a Probate procedure.

In most cases, there are no adverse propery, income, or gift tax consequences (the porperty and income tax remain the same). In appropriate circumstances, the Living Trust may be set-up to minimize or even avoid Federal Estate Tax. Beginning in 2006, a properly drafted Living Trust may allow a husband and wife to transfer 4 Million Dollars tax free!