 When planning to create a Will or a Living Trust to make a plan for your assets, there is no need to hire an expensive attorney. A legal document assistant can help you create these documents for a much smaller amount of fees, saving you thousands of dollars.
By creating a Will or a Living Trust, you will spare the hassle and expense of a probate for your beneficiaries or heirs after you are no longer there, for in the absence of a Will or a Living Trust, there will be a question as to who inherits your property and other assets. In such an event, the court will take over, probate process will start, where your assets will be equally divided between your lawful heirs. In other words, the State or the court will write your Will, that may or may not be in line with what you may have wanted. For example, someone you wanted to give more than the others, or wanted to disinherit someone totally. Through these documents, you can create a plan on how exactly you would like your assets to be divided or managed after your death, or even during your life, should you be incapacitated for any reason. You can instruct to the minutest detail about where you would like your hard earned money to go, to your favorite charity, to a disabled child, to a relative, or to neighbor or a friend. A state created Will does not consider these entities to be lawful inheritors of one's assets. To be continued…
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 The word estate planning could make one think that it is meant only for the rich who own “estates”. But the fact is that anyone who is a homeowner and has reasonable assets needs to have estate planning.
If you don’t create a Will or a Living Trust and die, your beneficiaries will have a hard time selling the home and dividing the assets for the simple reason that the title of your home is on your name and you are gone. Your beneficiaries will have to prove to the court through a tedious process and high cost that they are the natural inheritors. Chances are that the probate process will need to be started if you died without a Will or a Trust. Attorneys charge a certain percentage of the total value of the estate as their fees to file for probate and complete the process, which will be an astronomical sum and this is not where you would want your hard earned money to go, if it can be helped. And yes, it can be helped! To be continued…  You may be led to think that you can do your own Will or Living Trust. But even though there is no such thing as a standard living trust and they are not written in legalese (legal language), it is wise to use the traditional forms that comply with the current statutes.
Typically, a registered legal document assistant working on Will and Trusts uses the most up-to-date self-help software program to create these important documents for their clients that meet all the statutory needs of their clients. To be continued… First, you need to chalk out a plan about what your goals are with the help of a legal document assistant. Based on your needs and goals, your Will or a Living Trust will be created within a much shorter period of time than at a busy attorney’s office and at a fraction of the cost.
Estate planning typically reduces estate taxes and fees; helps create plans regarding your healthcare or treatment whether you would like to be on life-support in a serious illness. You can assign a trustor and a successor trustor to manage your finances if you became incapacitated in any way, a guardian for your minor children, and create a durable power of attorney naming someone you trust, to carry out the functions of your trust if you are not there, for any reason. You can also itemize how you want your property distributed among your heirs after you die or if you want to disinherit someone, as well as you can create a plan for the care of minor or disabled children. In short, you must have an estate plan if: 1. You have sufficient property that you want certain heirs to inherit. 2. You are concerned about your treatment options should you become seriously ill. 3. You have minor or a disabled child. To be continued… |
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Dolly is a registered and bonded LDA. She has a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from USF, Paralegal Certificate from Cal State East Bay University, Mediation Certificate from San Francisco Bar Association, and Divorce Mediation Certificate from CALDA. Archives |
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