Setting up trusts/wills/estate

[Guest]

You gotta person you recommend?

Married, kid, own business, house. We have nothing setup should something happen. Also have no idea really what I need. In my mind it's a will, but setting up trusts seems like what rich, smart people always do, so maybe I should do that? Not even real sure how a trust functions.

Talked to one lawyer that seemed a bit high (~$3500). Have no clue of a baseline but was thinking that $1,500 should be plenty given that you can set things up for $200 on LegalZoom.

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

Hornian knows this area well.

[UTPhil2006 3805]

@hornian to the white courtesy phone

[South Austin 52454]

Don’t forget the rule against perpetuities.

[ocugolf 1214]

35 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

You gotta person you recommend?

Married, kid, own business, house. We have nothing setup should something happen. Also have no idea really what I need. In my mind it's a will, but setting up trusts seems like what rich, smart people always do, so maybe I should do that? Not even real sure how a trust functions.

Talked to one lawyer that seemed a bit high (~$3500). Have no clue of a baseline but was thinking that $1,500 should be plenty given that you can set things up for $200 on LegalZoom.

Worth the money. You are going to pay for it now or your kids can for your estate to go into probate when you and the wife die.  Probate costs more money and makes public all of your assets and debts.  Why mess with that? $3,500 is in range depending on what all comes with it.  Our Trust "package" for a couple is 2 wills, 2 Durable power of attorneys, 2 medical power of attorneys, 2 advance directives, a deed to put your home into the trust, and a memorandum of trust.  

[Chewbacca 7767]

We did this probably 5 years ago.  Used a guy my CPA recommended.  I think it cost $1,500 or so to set up wills, family trusts, powers of attorney for wife and I, etc.

[luke duke 6412]

We did this probably 5 years ago.  Used a guy my CPA recommended.  I think it cost $1,500 or so to set up wills, family trusts, powers of attorney for wife and I, etc.

You sure you have a trust? $1500 sounds pretty cheap for a trust.

[Chewbacca 7767]

1 minute ago, luke duke said:

You sure you have a trust? $1500 sounds pretty cheap for a trust.

Quite sure.  Revocable family trust.  Not sure if CO law is different than TX on that stuff.

[ocugolf 1214]

25 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Quite sure.  Revocable family trust.  Not sure if CO law is different than TX on that stuff.

Hell of a deal if you got all of that for 1500

[tbone_ 14111]

What’s the rationale for having a trust? What all do you want in it?

[tbone_ 14111]

If you have a minor child, can you designate your life insurance proceeds, if relevant, go to a trust that then doles out the money periodically so they don’t blow it all?

[ocugolf 1214]

39 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

What’s the rationale for having a trust? What all do you want in it?

Avoiding probate. Probate takes a long time. Costs more money than a good estate plan. Puts undo burden on your kids or beneficiaries to make tough decisions that you could have already done for them. There’s basically seamless transfer of assets to your beneficiaries if held in a trust. 
 

You want all your assets, home, cars, beneficiaries to your investment accounts, life insurance, bank accounts, etc. 

 

[Chewbacca 7767]

2 hours ago, tbone_ said:

If you have a minor child, can you designate your life insurance proceeds, if relevant, go to a trust that then doles out the money periodically so they don’t blow it all?

The trust can deal with that if you want it to.  You can set age limits, distribute over time, etc.  Lots of flexibility depending on your circumstances.

[hornian 5210]

4 hours ago, ocugolf said:

Avoiding probate. Probate takes a long time. Costs more money than a good estate plan. Puts undo burden on your kids or beneficiaries to make tough decisions that you could have already done for them. There’s basically seamless transfer of assets to your beneficiaries if held in a trust. 
 

You want all your assets, home, cars, beneficiaries to your investment accounts, life insurance, bank accounts, etc. 

 

Eh, probate in Texas with a well drafted will is not onerous or expensive as long as your estate qualifies for an independent administration (which 95% of estates should if you have a well-drafted will in place), and because the homestead protections in Texas are so robust there's not the same need to put your primary residence in a trust as other states. And a lot of the other large assets you mentioned (investment accounts, life insurance, bank accounts) can be set up to be POD or go to beneficiaries outright, taking them out of probate all together. And cars - the rigamarole of titling a motor vehicle in a trust is not worth it, and the protections of a trust (i.e. protections from judgment creditors if you/your car causes a large amount of damage to another person who sues for recovery) can be replicated by carrying good insurance. I talk most people out of living trusts, even though they make me more money to draft, because they are overkill and even if set up right there are lots of pitfalls if they aren't administered correctly after they are drafted/set up. I do dozens and dozens of estate plans each year, and only a handful of living trusts each year.  There are good reasons to do living trusts, but they are overkill for most Texas residents. 

7 hours ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

You gotta person you recommend?

Married, kid, own business, house. We have nothing setup should something happen. Also have no idea really what I need. In my mind it's a will, but setting up trusts seems like what rich, smart people always do, so maybe I should do that? Not even real sure how a trust functions.

Talked to one lawyer that seemed a bit high (~$3500). Have no clue of a baseline but was thinking that $1,500 should be plenty given that you can set things up for $200 on LegalZoom.

I'm in Austin but can draft Wills, etc. for anyone in the state. I doubt you actually need a living trust based on your post, at least not a living trust (a testamentary trust is probably called for in most situations, but that's part of the Will, not a stand alone document). If you want to get a lawyer (i.e. me) to draft it without paying $1500+, sign up for Texas Legal (www.texaslegal.org) by the 24th of this month, and you'll be covered on April 1st. I'm a participating attorney, and Texas Legal will pay me for the work with no additional out of pocket costs to you, while all you pay them is your monthly or annual membership fees. 

Send me a PM if you want more information.

 

 

[ERhine 1894]

Hornian is who I send my family members to for probate related stuff. Literally this morning his firm had a consult with one.

[ocugolf 1214]

10 hours ago, hornian said:

Eh, probate in Texas with a well drafted will is not onerous or expensive as long as your estate qualifies for an independent administration (which 95% of estates should if you have a well-drafted will in place), and because the homestead protections in Texas are so robust there's not the same need to put your primary residence in a trust as other states. And a lot of the other large assets you mentioned (investment accounts, life insurance, bank accounts) can be set up to be POD or go to beneficiaries outright, taking them out of probate all together. And cars - the rigamarole of titling a motor vehicle in a trust is not worth it, and the protections of a trust (i.e. protections from judgment creditors if you/your car causes a large amount of damage to another person who sues for recovery) can be replicated by carrying good insurance. I talk most people out of living trusts, even though they make me more money to draft, because they are overkill and even if set up right there are lots of pitfalls if they aren't administered correctly after they are drafted/set up. I do dozens and dozens of estate plans each year, and only a handful of living trusts each year.  There are good reasons to do living trusts, but they are overkill for most Texas residents. 

I'm in Austin but can draft Wills, etc. for anyone in the state. I doubt you actually need a living trust based on your post, at least not a living trust (a testamentary trust is probably called for in most situations, but that's part of the Will, not a stand alone document). If you want to get a lawyer (i.e. me) to draft it without paying $1500+, sign up for Texas Legal (www.texaslegal.org) by the 24th of this month, and you'll be covered on April 1st. I'm a participating attorney, and Texas Legal will pay me for the work with no additional out of pocket costs to you, while all you pay them is your monthly or annual membership fees. 

Send me a PM if you want more information.

 

 

I guess I should have prefaced with that I’m not licensed or practicing in Texas.

[Jkwellborn 6691]

What’s the rationale for having a trust? What all do you want in it?

NFA stuff. But this is different.

[TwiceHorn 31438]

The other major reason for a trust, which is mostly past, is the "marital bypass trust," which allows a married couple to effectively double the estate tax exemption.  When that exemption was $600k, it was a common thing.  

The current exemption is $12M plus, so there's less need to do that, and if you have that kind of money, may need more sophisticated estate planning.

If you own your own business, descending ownership and control to wife/children can be a bit tricky, and can be handled in a will or by other means.

Probably the most important aspect of estate planning is not what you decide upon, but that you give it some thought in an orderly fashion.

[Dbeasy 15042]

I just went thru new estate planning and can vouch for Hornian. He did my stuff. I actually went from a trust back to normal wills because of the $24M combined estate exemption. We took my father in law’s estate thru probate in Texas and it was a piece of cake. In a few years we may reassess and go back to a trust, but only due to new potential needs, or a major reduction in the estate tax. 

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

1 hour ago, Dbeasy said:

I just went thru new estate planning and can vouch for Hornian. He did my stuff. I actually went from a trust back to normal wills because of the $24M combined estate exemption. We took my father in law’s estate thru probate in Texas and it was a piece of cake. In a few years we may reassess and go back to a trust, but only due to new potential needs, or a major reduction in the estate tax. 

Masterful humblebrag.  Bravo!

[Reagan1k 3024]

If you own a business that would or could still have value after you check out, you also need to do some planning there.

Having partners necessitate well through out buy-sell agreements and you may need to do some insurance planning around that.

Same if you have a key employee that you'd want to take over.....or a kid for that matter.

Have some intentionality about your goals and put them into agreements that take greed and guesswork off the table. 

I'm no attorney but one observation I've made over time and through some experiences is that when dividing assets, fair does not necessarily equal even and even does not necessarily equal fair.

When planning for kids, it can help to decided if you want things divided equally or fairly.  Neither is right or wrong, but make sure you know which way you want to go.

[Dutchrudder 11134]

I need to look into this too. We have nothing for wills, estate planning, PoA, kids guardianship, etc.  I don't really want to do legalzoom, seems too important to entrust to a document mill. 

[hornbri 1396]

We just went through this and paid $3500, so the op quote did not seem far off.