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How Does One Become An “Executor?”

An executor, also known as a personal representative, is a person appointed by a court to manage the distribution of assets and payment of debts of a deceased person’s estate. In California, the duties of an executor are governed by the Probate Code, which outlines the responsibilities and powers of the executor in the administration of the estate.

What are the Practical Duties of the Executor?

One of the primary responsibilities of an executor is to gather and inventory the assets of the deceased person’s estate. This includes identifying and locating all assets, such as real estate, personal property, bank accounts, and investments, and determining their value. The executor must also identify and notify any known creditors of the estate, and pay or make arrangements to pay any debts, taxes, and expenses of the estate.

The executor is also responsible for distributing the assets of the estate to the beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the will or California’s laws of intestate succession if there is no will. This may include selling assets, transferring property, and making cash payments to beneficiaries. The executor must also prepare and file any necessary court documents, including an inventory of the estate’s assets and a final accounting of the estate’s finances.

Another important duty of an executor is to appear in court when necessary to answer any questions about the administration of the estate. This may include attending hearings to request court approval of certain actions, such as the sale of real estate or the distribution of assets to beneficiaries. The executor must also represent the estate in any legal proceedings, such as will contests or disputes over the distribution of assets.

What Is the Fiduciary Duty of an Executor?

In addition to these specific responsibilities, an executor also has a general duty to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries of the estate. This includes keeping beneficiaries informed about the progress of the estate administration, and providing them with any information they request about the estate. The executor must also avoid conflicts of interest and refrain from using their position for personal gain.

However, being an executor is not easy, it is a huge responsibility that requires a good deal of time, effort, and attention to detail. The executor must familiarize themselves with the probate process, including the requirements of the California Probate Code, and must be prepared to spend a significant amount of time managing the estate’s assets, paying debts, and communicating with beneficiaries.

Additionally, the executor must be able to manage the finances of the estate and make decisions regarding the sale or distribution of assets. This may include working with real estate agents, attorneys, and other professionals to manage the estate’s assets and resolve any legal issues that may arise. The executor must also be able to communicate effectively with beneficiaries, who may have different expectations and interests regarding the distribution of the estate’s assets.

In conclusion, being an executor is a complex and demanding role that requires a great deal of responsibility and attention to detail. The executor must be able to manage the estate’s assets, pay debts and taxes, and distribute assets to beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the will or California’s laws of intestate succession. They must also be able to navigate the probate process, communicate effectively with beneficiaries, and make difficult decisions regarding the distribution of the estate’s assets. It’s a challenging role, but one that comes with the important responsibility of managing the final wishes of the deceased, and ensuring that their assets are distributed fairly among their loved ones.

Please note: This website provides information, content, and materials that are not intended to provide legal advice, but rather serve as a general resource for information. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. Please schedule a free consultation to talk with an estate attorney for answers to your specific legal questions and legal advice for your specific case.

When you create an estate plan, you have the option to include a revocable trust. Also known as a living trust, this document allows you to choose how your assets are distributed upon death. You can retain control of the trust while you are alive and even make changes if you wish. A revocable trust also protects you if you become incapacitated, allows your heirs to avoid probate, and so much more. Properly creating and funding your trust is vital. If you make a mistake, your loved ones might have trouble accessing their inheritance. Fortunately, R. Dustin MacFarlane of California Probate and Trust, PC has spent years helping seniors create trusts. As a top trust attorney, our team create customized legal documents for clients to ensure they enjoy all of the protections and benefits.

Benefits of a Revocable Trust

Many people visit a revocable trust lawyer so they can enjoy the benefits provided by such a document.

  • Avoid probate.
  • Choose someone to manage assets if you aren’t mentally competent.
  • Select how assets are distributed.
  • Determine who gets assets.
  • Maintain privacy regarding your estate.

Plan for the Future with a Revocable Trust Attorney

When you create an estate plan, you have the option to include a revocable trust. Also known as a living trust, this document allows you to choose how your assets are distributed upon death. You can retain control of the trust while you are alive and even make changes if you wish. A revocable trust also protects you if you become incapacitated, allows your heirs to avoid probate, and so much more.

Properly creating and funding your trust is vital. If you make a mistake, your loved ones might have trouble accessing their inheritance. Fortunately, R. Dustin MacFarlane of California Probate and Trust, PC has spent years helping seniors create trusts. As a top revocable trust attorney, he creates customized legal documents for clients to ensure they enjoy all of the protections and benefits.

Benefits of a Revocable Trust

Many people visit a revocable trust lawyer so they can enjoy the benefits provided by such a document.

  • Avoid probate.
  • Choose someone to manage assets if you aren’t mentally competent.
  • Select how assets are distributed.
  • Determine who gets assets.
  • Maintain privacy regarding your estate.

Amending A Revocable Trust

A revocable trust allows you to maintain full control over your assets during your lifetime, as long as you are of sound mind. Many people choose to amend a revocable trust after getting married, getting divorced, or having a child. You can also amend your trust if you want to change how the property is distributed or add or remove beneficiaries or property. Your trust lawyer will help you make all necessary changes, ensuring that it meets the legal requirements set forth by the state of California.

Add A Pour-Over Will To Your Estate Plan

Your revocable trust attorney might recommend a pour-over will along with the trust. If you overlook some of your assets and fail to put them in the trust, your executor can transfer them if this document is in place. While those assets will have to go through probate, they will be subject to the terms of the trust after the process is over.

For many Americans, retirement accounts comprise a substantial portion of their wealth.

When planning your estate, it is important to consider the ramifications of tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as 401(k) and 403(b) accounts and traditional IRAs. (Roth IRAs are not tax-deferred accounts and are therefore treated differently). One of the primary goals of any estate plan is to pass your assets to your beneficiaries in a way that enables them to pay the lowest possible tax.

Generally, receiving inherited property is not a transaction that is subject to income tax. However, that is not the case with tax-deferred retirement accounts, which represent income for which the government has not previously collected income tax. Money cannot be kept in an IRA indefinitely; it must be distributed according to federal regulations. The amount that must be distributed annually is known as the required minimum distribution (RMD). If the distributions do not equal the RMD, beneficiaries may be forced to pay a 50% excise tax on the amount that was not distributed as required.

After death, the beneficiaries typically will owe income tax on the amount withdrawn from the decedent’s retirement account. Beneficiaries must take distributions from the account based on the IRS’s life expectancy tables, and these distributions are taxed as ordinary income. If there is more than one beneficiary, the one with the shortest life expectancy is the designated beneficiary for distribution purposes. Proper estate planning techniques should afford the beneficiaries a way to defer this income tax for as long as possible by delaying withdrawals from the tax-deferred retirement account.

The most tax-favorable situation occurs when the decedent’s spouse is the named beneficiary of the account. The spouse is the only person who has the option to roll over the account into his or her own IRA. In doing so, the surviving spouse can defer withdrawals until he or she turns 70 ½; whereas any other beneficiary must start withdrawing money the year after the decedent’s death.

Generally, a revocable trust should not be the beneficiary of a tax-deferred retirement account, as this situation limits the potential for income tax deferral. A trust may be the preferred option if a life expectancy payout option or spousal rollover are unimportant or unavailable, but this should be discussed in detail with an experienced estate planning attorney. Additionally, there are situations where income tax deferral is not a consideration, such as when an IRA or 401(k) requires a lump-sum distribution upon death, when a beneficiary will liquidate the account upon the decedent’s death for an immediate need, or if the amount is so small that it will not result in a substantial amount of additional income tax.

The bottom line is that trusts typically should be avoided as beneficiaries of tax-deferred retirement accounts, unless there is a compelling non-tax-related reason that outweighs the lost income tax deferral of using a trust. This is a complex area of law involving inheritance and tax implications that should be fully considered with the aid of a estate planning lawyer.

Every year, each individual who dies in the U.S. can leave a certain amount of money to his or her heirs before facing any federal estate taxes. For example, in 2013, a person who died could leave $5.25 million to his or her heirs (or a charity) estate tax free, and everything over that amount would be taxable by the federal government. Transfers at death to a spouse are not taxable.

Therefore, if a husband died owning $8 million in assets in 2013 and passed everything to his wife, that transfer was not taxable because transfers to spouses at death are not taxable. However, if the wife died later that year owning that $8 million in assets, everything over $5.25 million (her exemption amount) would be taxable by the federal government. Couples would effectively have the use of only one exemption amount unless they did some special planning, or left a chunk of their property to someone other than their spouse.

Estate tax law provided a tool called “bypass trusts” that would allow a spouse to leave an inheritance to the surviving spouse in a special trust. That trust would be taxable and would use up the exemption amount of the first spouse to die. However, the remaining spouse would be able to use the property in that bypass trust to live on, and would also have the use of his or her exemption amount when he or she passed. This planning technique effectively allowed couples to combine their exemption amounts.

For the year 2013, each person who dies can pass $5.25 million free from federal estate taxes. This exemption amount is adjusted for inflation every year. In addition, spouses can combine their exemption amounts without requiring a bypass trust (making the exemptions “portable” between spouses). This change in the law appears to make bypass trusts useless, at least until Congress decides to remove the portability provision from the estate tax law.

However, bypass trusts can still be valuable in many situations, such as:

(1) Remarriage or blended families. You may be concerned that your spouse will remarry and cut the children out of the will after you are gone. Or, you may have a blended family and you may fear that your spouse will disinherit your children in favor of his or her children after you pass. A bypass trust would allow the surviving spouse to have access to the money to live on during life, while providing that everything goes to the children at the surviving spouse’s death.

(2) State estate taxes. Currently, 13 states and the District of Columbia have state estate taxes. If you live in one of those states, a bypass trust may be necessary to combine a couple’s exemptions from state estate tax.

(3) Changes in the estate tax law. Estate tax laws have been in flux over the past several years. What if you did an estate plan assuming that bypass trusts were unnecessary, Congress removed the portability provision, and you neglected to update your estate plan? You could be paying thousands or even millions of dollars in taxes that you could have saved by using a bypass trust.

(4) Protecting assets from creditors. If you leave a large inheritance outright to your spouse and children, and a creditor appears on the scene, the creditor may be able to seize all the money. Although many people think that will not happen to their family, divorces, bankruptcies, personal injury lawsuits, and hard economic times can unexpectedly result in a large monetary judgment against a family member.

Although it may appear that bypass trusts have lost their usefulness, there are still many situations in which they can be invaluable tools to help families avoid estate taxes.

Q: My mother’s Revocable Trust states that her estate must be divided between her four adult children. She has now died, and each should receive about $150,000. The problem is one of my brothers is now disabled and is receiving SSI and Medi-Cal. If he receives this inheritance, it will disqualify him from his benefits and disrupt his life. Is there a way he can refuse the inheritance?

A: The answer is maybe. One way to accomplish this is by the use of a “disclaimer.” A disclaimer is a renunciation of one’s right to an inheritance. In order for a disclaimer to be effective, it must pass to the next person in line, without any direction on the part of the original beneficiary. The estate would be divided as if your brother had died before your mother.

Example: If your mother’s Trust had directed that if your brother died before she did, that his share would go to his children, then your brother could disclaim his inheritance and let it pass to his children. He could not disclaim in favor of the other brothers and sisters.

Another possible solution is to petition the Probate Court to allow the creation of a Special Needs Trust for the benefit of your disabled brother. Medi-Cal laws permits gifting of assets and still maintain Medi-Cal eligibility. Both these strategies requires the assistance of an estate planning attorney.

I received a very disturbing telephone call yesterday, which inspired today’s blog post.

A woman whose brother lay dying in the hospital called to ask a few questions about what would happen to his estate after he died. She said he had a Will, in which he left everything to his children, and provided nothing for his wife, from whom he had been separated for more than 15 years. The caller had drafted the Will, “off the Internet,” because the dying man wanted to make sure his children received his estate, and not his estranged wife.  She also said that she herself had drafted a Power of Attorney, also “off the Internet.”  She wanted to know if the dying man’s son, who held the Power of Attorney, could transfer his property into a Trust to keep it from the estranged wife.  He and this wife were not legally separated, and had no written agreement about their marital property upon separation.  In other words, he and his wife were, in the eyes of the law, legally married, and the wife had all marital rights.  

I researched ownership of his largest asset, his house, and discovered that it was owned, with the estranged wife, as “joint tenants with rights of survivorship.”  I explained to the caller that in this case, the husband and wife each held a 100% interest in the house, and that upon her brother’s death, the house would go to the wife, even though they hadn’t lived together in 20 years.  Regardless what the Will or any Trust would say, the Deed trumps the Will or Trust.

The caller also admitted that the Will that she had downloaded off the Internet did not mention the wife at all.  In California, a spouse has a statutory right to at least part of the dead spouse’s estate. If the spouse is not mentioned in the will and is not clearly disinherited, it could result in her being declared “pretermitted,” or “forgotten,” and the Court could grant her a statutory portion of the estate. The Internet Will had failed to do this.

I explained that a “form Power of Attorney” downloaded off the Internet probably did not give the dying man’s son the authority to make gifts, i.e., he could not transfer his assets to a Revocable Trust. And even if the POA permitted this, the son could not transfer the house into the Trust without the permission of the estranged wife… something that was unlikely to happen.

This tragic scenario demonstrates three hard but important lessons:  (1) Don’t wait until you’re on your death bed before considering your estate plan; (2) Don’t expect forms downloaded from the Internet to provide you with the customized legal advice that a good estate planning attorney can provide; and (3) The lack of good legal advice can be much more expensive than a trust attorney’s fee.

When potential clients begin to discuss estate planning, we attorneys often hear similar concerns repeatedly. They do not want to burden family members who may provide care, especially in a serious illness. They do not want the government to control their real estate or personal property when they die. They want to make sure the correct people get their possessions — and the wrong people do not.

While people tend to have strong feelings about these estate planning concerns, they still hesitate to begin the process. They likely think they have more time or do not want to face their mortality

Although you may want to avoid the discussion, estate planning will provide you with vital peace of mind. An experienced estate planning attorney can help make sure that survivors will respect your wishes.

Each client has a unique situation, but in general, an estate planner recommends that you have four key elements in place:

1.Your Last Will and Testament

For many people new to the process, a will is synonymous with estate planning. This legal document empowers you to decide what happens to your property after your death. Family, friends, favorite charities, or a combination of these, tend to be common beneficiaries.

Suppose you do not have a will when you die. In that case, California has rules of intestate succession that control the distribution of your estate, including retirement accounts, real estate, and personal property.

Under these rules, the distribution begins with the surviving spouse for married couples, followed by surviving children. Parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all take a place in line if you have no surviving spouse or children.

If you have strong feelings about the distribution of your assets, a will can give you peace of mind.

Still, after your death, the will goes into probate, costing time and money. If you want to spare your family the probate process, you should add a living trust to your estate plan.

2.Living Trust

A living trust, also called a revocable trust, is a legal document that gives a trustee the power to control property for a beneficiary or beneficiaries.

Since you establish the trust, you will act as the first trustee. The agreement sets forth the person who will assume the title of a trustee when you die or become unable to handle your personal affairs. It also details how the assets covered by the trust will be distributed.

A living trust does not need to go through the probate process. You can also alter or revoke the trust at any time so that you do not relinquish any control of your assets while you are alive.

Wills and trusts work well together, covering your assets and your wishes while avoiding the time and cost of probate. A trust attorney can answer any questions you may have about this part of the process.

3.Power of Attorney

When you complete a durable general power of attorney, you designate another person to control your property and financial interests if you become incapacitated.

A power of attorney provides significant authority, so you must make your selection carefully. Should the time come when you cannot make your own decisions, you want that power to rest in the hands of someone you trust.

4.Living Will

Your living will, also called an advance health care directive, protects your wishes regarding medical treatment.

The form created by the State of California features one section that acts as a power of attorney specifically for health care. You name someone who will make health care treatment decisions for you if you cannot do so on your own.

The second section allows you to set forth specific directions for your care that your doctors and your appointee in the first section must follow. The document will enable you to choose under what conditions you do and do not want life-sustaining care.

The third section of the living will gives you the power to choose whether or not to donate your organs, while the fourth section provides for your choice of a primary doctor. Your appointee from section one will make these decisions if you do not specify your preferences in advance.

With these four items in place, you can decide what will happen to your most precious possessions after you die. Though you may be avoiding estate planning, you will have great peace of mind when you complete the process with an attorney you trust. Plus, you can make sure your assets do not fall into the wrong hands.

Contact California Probate and Trust, PC for Your Estate Planning Needs

The knowledgeable and experienced team of professionals at California Probate and Trust, PC in Fair Oaks, California, can help protect your assets and interests. We look forward to assisting you with a wide range of customized estate planning services.

Listen to Estate Planning Attorney and Founder of California Probate and Trust, PC, R. Dustin MacFarlane, discuss Death & Dying, And DIY on his podcast, Legally Speaking:

https://soundcloud.com/jes-anderson-721964976/legally-speaking-06-death/s-CRePDoOi7NF?in=jes-anderson-721964976/sets/legally-speaking-2020//s-iEMFoazchjv

California Probate and Trust, PC offers a free estate planning guide that gives you some vital information. Call our 24-hour hotline at 916-603-2782 to leave your name, number, and mailing address. We will send your guide to you ASAP.

Copyright © 2021. California Probate and Trust, PC. All rights reserved.

The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information in this post should be construed as legal advice from the individual author or the law firm, nor is it intended to substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting based on any information included in or accessible through this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.

California Probate and Trust, PC
9701 Fair Oaks Blvd
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
916-674-2066
https://cpt.law/

Are you looking for ways to maximize your estate planning and ensure that you have a comprehensive plan in place? Plenty of people in California turn to the benefits provided by a living trust to accomplish these goals. A living trust attorney can help you decide how to start your living trust and give you the support needed to move forward. Knowing how to use a living trust enables you to get the maximum benefit out of your planning.

Without doing any of your estate planning, you leave the decisions up to the court in terms of what happens to your assets. When you leverage tools like a trust created by a living trust attorney, you have much more of an opportunity to exercise your wishes, make things easier for your loved ones and chosen beneficiaries, and preserve family relationships after you’re gone. Here are five major benefits to using a living trust.

1.You Can Create a Legally Compliant Living Trust

Some people are under the impression that there are no legal tools available for estate planning and asset protection planning purposes. That’s simply not true; a living trust in California is a fully legal estate planning strategy and document that you can use to pull assets outside of your probated estate and away from your individual ownership.

Some mistakes could jeopardize the success of your living trust, however. Do not create a living trust without the help of a California living trust lawyer to give you maximum peace of mind regarding your use of this strategy.

2.You Can Fund the Trust

The creation of the trust is just part one; ask any living trust attorney in California. The second step for proper planning is to retitle all of the intended property into ownership by the trust. The retitling process, also known as “funding the trust,” is a crucial step for achieving the maximum protection of your property.

You can pass on some of your property to loved ones in other ways, such as a life insurance policy payout for your chosen beneficiaries or a retirement account with benefits inside. A living trust is an excellent option if you want your assets to be given:

  • At your discretion;
  • On a schedule; or 
  • Outside of probate.

3.You Can Select a Trustee

Most people opt to be the trustee of this tool while they’re still alive. A living trust gives you maximal opportunities because you have the right to change it during your lifetime. To revoke the trust or move assets into and out of it, you’ll want to name yourself as the trustee.

When you pass away, if there are still assets inside the trust, your successor trustee will become responsible for the management and distribution of those assets. You get to decide who this person is, another significant benefit of a living trust in California.

4.You Can Amend the Trust if Needed

An irrevocable trust, which is different from this concept, means that you cannot make any changes to the trust. Thankfully, a living trust in California empowers you with many options, and you can always adapt your trust as needed. Or speak to your attorney about a revocable trust.

5.You Can Include Additional Documents to Maximize the Estate Planning Benefits

There are other tools and documents you can use to get the most out of your estate planning strategy. A living trust is just one component of an overall strategy. Ensuring that your wishes are reflected in the trust might mean including other documents to explain your thinking or strategy.

While a living trust can do a lot for you, it’s often just one piece of a larger puzzle around estate planning needs. Along with a will, powers of attorney, and other documents, you can cover many of your bases by passing on assets to your loved ones and ensuring that there are protections in place if something should happen to you.

Why Choose California Probate and Trust, PC to Draft Your California Living Trust?

Getting support from an experienced estate planning attorney helps you preserve peace of mind and family relationships. At California Probate and Trust, PC, we work hard to get to know you from the outset of the relationship and help you create a plan for today and tomorrow. You might not know what tomorrow can bring, but you’ll know that you’re prepared for it by working with the experienced estate planning attorneys and the team at California Probate and Trust, PC.

Avoiding mistakes in creating your living trust allows you to get the most out of your planning options. For a living trust to function as expected and give you the protection needed the small details matter. Due to our strong background in this area, we know how to think about all the issues you should consider when developing an estate planning strategy. Schedule a consultation with us today at 916-674-2066 to learn more.

Get a copy of our free guide, The 7 Reasons Why You Need An Estate Plan by calling our 24-hour hotline at 916-603-2782. Leave us your name, phone number, and mailing address and we’ll send the guide to you ASAP.

Listen to California Probate and Trust, PC and Estate Planning Attorney R. Dustin MacFarlane explain the difference between a will and a trust on his podcast, Legally Speaking.

The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice from the individual author or the law firm, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.

Copyright © 2021. California Probate and Trust, PC. All rights reserved. 

California Probate and Trust, PC
9701 Fair Oaks Blvd
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
Phone: 916-674-2066
https://cpt.law/

 

Are you interested in using estate planning tools to accomplish your personal goals and make the transfer of property to your loved ones as easy as possible? A revocable living trust can achieve multiple things at once; for that reason, it is a popular estate planning tool.

Proper estate planning calls on you to hire an experienced attorney to help guide you through that process. The support of a California revocable trust lawyer can be instrumental in helping you understand how all of your tools work together. You need peace of mind that your estate plan will function as you intended when the time comes.

What is a Revocable Trust in California?

A revocable living trust is both a document and an instrument managed by a trustee during your lifetime. As the creator of the trust, you’ll be both the grantor and the trustee. You can make changes to the trust or dissolve it. Income earned by the assets inside the trust is taxable, but the property effectively titled into the trust is not part of your probated estate, unlike other property named in your will.

5 Benefits of a Revocable Trust in California

One of the biggest reasons more California residents are electing to use trusts is because they allow the creator to manage the property as they wish. Since the trust is a revocable document, you might make changes throughout your life to account for new plans or new beneficiaries. You can also leverage this document to ensure that your intentions with estate planning are evident; it is difficult for disgruntled family members to challenge a trust, making this a powerful tool for estate planning purposes.

There are multiple benefits to leveraging these estate planning tools. Here are five reasons you might use a revocable trust in California.

Avoid Probate

Properly titling assets in the name of the revocable trust is vital because this marks the moment those assets are no longer owned by your estate and are instead owned by the trust. Those assets officially exit what’s considered your probate estate.

With a living trust, you avoid the expense and delay of probate to allow your beneficiaries to get these assets more quickly after you pass away.

Choose Someone You Trust to Manage Your Assets if You Are Not Mentally Competent

As the grantor and creator of the trust, you are the primary trustee. But if you become unable to make decisions on your own due to an accident or disability, the successor trustee you previously named takes over that role.

The successor trustee should be a person you trust and someone confident in their ability to step in and execute the terms of the trust while you are unable to do so. Likewise, the successor trustee also gets appointed when you pass away if there are still assets to distribute.

You Decide How to Distribute Your Assets

With a will, you can determine how your loved ones get your assets once you pass away. However, a revocable trust enables you to decide the exact manner in which to distribute your assets. A revocable trust gives you more control and flexibility over the timeline and what that looks like for your beneficiaries.

If you want a beneficiary to receive a certain amount per month rather than a lump sum or a loved one that you’d like to get trust assets in a particular way, a revocable trust is tailored to your wishes and needs. Working directly with a California revocable trust lawyer will help ensure you’ve considered all the most critical issues and have a plan for crafting and executing this trust.

You Determine Who Gets Your Assets

Do you have different plans for various family members or friends regarding what they’ll receive from your estate? A trust gives you maximum flexibility to determine who your beneficiaries are, what they will get, and how they will get it. If you have specific plans for certain assets and heirs, a revocable trust allows you to document that with your goals and desires in mind.

While other assets like 401k benefits and life insurance policy proceeds will pass outside of your trust due to the beneficiary forms you file with those companies, you can set up your strategy for other assets inside your revocable trust.

You Maintain Your Privacy Regarding Your Estate

Basic estate planning can be accomplished in your will, but perhaps you want to ensure a layer of privacy even within your own family so that your plans for who gets what are not a matter of public record.

A revocable trust is a private document managed by the trustee or successor trustee. It’s not entered into court records with the rest of your estate either when it’s created or after you pass away.

Do You Still Have Questions About A Revocable Living Trust in California? California Probate and Trust, PC Has Answers

If you have further questions about establishing and using a revocable trust, schedule a consultation with a California living trust lawyer today for more information. R. Dustin MacFarlane, Attorney, and Founder of California Probate and Trust, PC, and his staff are ready to help. Contact us at (916) 674-2066 to schedule an appointment.

You can also get a copy of our free guide, The 7 Reasons Why You Need An Estate Plan by calling our 24-hour hotline at (916) 603-2783. Leave us your name, phone number, and mailing address and we’ll send you the guide ASAP.

Listen to R. Dustin MacFarlane discuss “Starting with the End in Mind” on his informative podcast, Legally Speaking.

Disclaimer: The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction. No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice from the individual author or the law firm, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.