Creating an estate plan is a gift, both to yourself and to your loved ones. During your lifetime, knowing that you have a proper plan in place to provide for your loved ones will give you peace of mind. After you are gone, your loved ones will appreciate that you took the time to organize your affairs and lay out your wishes. An Orange County living trust is a valuable tool that is often incorporated into a good estate plan. Living trusts allow you to avoid probate, manage and distribute your assets, and minimize taxes. An experienced California estate planning attorney can help you create a trust that is right for your family by carefully tailoring its provisions.
As you move forward with creating a trust as part of an estate plan, what types of decisions will you have to make?
Generally, you will have to outline your choices for various provisions that are contained in the trust. While trusts are unique and customized for each creator, certain provisions are present in nearly every trust. These provisions include the following:
- A provision that outlines the power to amend or revoke the living trust in Orange County during your lifetime
- A provision that appoints successor trustees of your trust and outlines the rules on how those trustees can be removed
- Distribution provisions that direct the “who, how, and when” of the distribution of your assets
- A survival clause that dictates who should be deemed the survivor if both you and your spouse pass away at the same time
- An outline of the powers of the trustees
- Directions as to whether real estate should be sold, rented, or distributed
- A “doomsday” or “catastrophe” clause, which takes effect when your family is not alive to accept the distribution of your trust assets
Our guide, Understanding the Revocable Living Trust – In Language that Anyone Can Understand in 8 Minutes, provides additional information about how a trust can be used as part of your plan. To learn more, contact an experienced Orange County estate planning lawyer today at (714) 282-7488.