Family trust, where do I start?

[Anonymous]

We are using a lawyer in Fairfax. For our situation it is a little under $6,000 to perform living trust estate planning for a married couple. This includes placing 2 deeds into a trust.

[Anonymous]

You can do a search, as this issue has been discussed endlessly here. The bottom line is that, unless you live in a state where probate is a hassle (e.g., California), or have other special circumstances (property in multiple states, etc), or you have an estate in excess of $10 million or so ($20 million for a couple), you don’t need a trust. Lawyers love to set them up because they cost $$ and it’s an easy sell people love to say they have a trust because if makes them sound rich. If you have minor children, you can provide for a testamentary trust for them in your will.

Yes, you can avoid probate IF you have titled everything correctly (and many people do not), but you’ll also hear many stories of trustees abusing their position. Probate has protections built in that are generally for the protection of heirs, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

[Anonymous]

Right now the inheritance tax exemption is $10million but it us expected to go down to $5 million. Who knows what Congress will do. It has been 0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have the type of money this would be prudent for, it’s odd you’d be starting here than with an estate attorney.

This is a bit rude. Many self-made folks learn as they go. Sometimes we learn from strangers too.

Of course, but she's not asking whether she should do one, why others did one, what the the benefits of one, are you happy you did one, how complicated was it, how difficult was it to transfer the assets into the name of the trust, etc. She's asking for the costs and how long it takes. That will be wholly dependent on where she lives and who she goes to and how complicated and vast of an estate she has.

[Anonymous]

When you boil a trust down, it boils down to two things.

#1 Privacy. It stays out of probate.

#2 Control. It gives you "control" after your are dead to dictate where your money goes. i.e. your twenty something gets your money in traunches over their lifetime instead of a lump sum.
There are other benefits of a trust but trusts are more and more common and they have become a staple of estate planning.

You have to evaluate if these are important to you. I have been an executor on a couple of estates. One was a trust and the other was not. The one that was not was the estate of a family member that had never been married and had all of the necessary POD, TOD and benficary documents in place. Things moved quickly and efficiently but I did have to deal with a vehicle, personal effects, and a condo in probate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right now the inheritance tax exemption is $10million but it us expected to go down to $5 million. Who knows what Congress will do. It has been 0.

The revocable trusts that most people are talking about here do nothing for estate tax liability. If Congress changes the law, you can reevaluate. If they drop the exemption amount, there are likely to be other tax law changes, as well, so there’s not much use in trying to predict the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you boil a trust down, it boils down to two things.

#1 Privacy. It stays out of probate.

#2 Control. It gives you "control" after your are dead to dictate where your money goes. i.e. your twenty something gets your money in traunches over their lifetime instead of a lump sum.
There are other benefits of a trust but trusts are more and more common and they have become a staple of estate planning.

You have to evaluate if these are important to you. I have been an executor on a couple of estates. One was a trust and the other was not. The one that was not was the estate of a family member that had never been married and had all of the necessary POD, TOD and benficary documents in place. Things moved quickly and efficiently but I did have to deal with a vehicle, personal effects, and a condo in probate.

#2 can be accomplished via a testamentary trust established as part of a will.

[Anonymous]

Start with a lawyer. Unless you have $18m. You don’t need a trust.