revocable living trust.

[vash]

talk about uncharted territory for me.

i need to line up all my crap..i just made an appointment with a lawyer.

ballpark, what does it cost?

i've goggled the crap out of it, and it honestly confuses the crap out of me.

[pwd72s]

Just asked Cindy..she says the contract lawyer we used charged us $1,000. But ours is pretty simple. Only one daughter, paper assets. She said it was well worth it. Who am I to argue? Evidently probate in Oregon is a really big ball of red tape.

Why this lawyer? When we first met, he told us he doesn't go to court because he writes contracts so there is no need to go to court. Sounded good to me..

[MRM]

Don't chose a lawyer based on internet searches. You might get a good one (you probably will) but as a consumer you have no way of judging who is a good or bad lawyer. The best way to do it is to get a referral from someone who used that lawyer and had a good experience.

As for cost, it's all over the place, but it should be pretty reasonable. $1,000 seems a little low to me, but $2,500 or less should be easy to do. Costs should be minimal because there isn't any reason for the documents to be very complicated with the new estate tax that was just passed. California does not have an estate tax and the feds now have an exemption of $11.2 million per taxpayer. That means you and your wife have a combined $22.4 million exemption before you start paying estate taxes.

For anyone who doesn't have a $20 million plus estate, estate planning is pretty easy these days. You just write the will or trust to take advantage of both exemptions and you identify who it is you want to have your stuff. If you're doing a living trust you have to draft deeds placing your real property into the trust. That's a little bit of a hassle but that's what paralegals are for.

At the same time you'll want to do a health care directive and issue a power of attorney in case you're incapacitated. Those are just forms that come right out of the statute books and you fill in the blanks.

Look for someone who specializes in wills, trusts and estates, rather than someone who does a bunch of things and advertises he can do wills trusts and estates. The more wills and trusts the lawyer does per month the better he is at it, the faster and more efficient he will be, and the cheaper his price will be.

[Don Plumley]

I'd be happy to refer you to the estate planning attorney in Santa Rosa that we used. She's very chill, no-nonsense, not big city prices.

[speedster911]

Have attorneys in the family - wouldn't use any of them because that is not their speciality.

We paid aprox 1,500 for our trust, somewhat complicated as it included transfering realestate into the turst and changing titals etc. . Attorney based in the east bay. PM me if you want contact info

[vash]

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

I'd be happy to refer you to the estate planning attorney in Santa Rosa that we used. She's very chill, no-nonsense, not big city prices.

yea!!

the person i'm meeting; i told the phone person, i just wanted to see if we even got along. he was referred by a coworker that gushes about him.

this was our new years resolution, to button up the loose ends should one of us go "buh-bye".

my neighbor died in four weeks after telling me his "back was sore". we just built a fence together!!..well, we paid and annoyed the contractor together. got me off my ass for sure.

[Cdnone1]

$2500.00 here in LA.

[mikehinton]

We paid about $2,500 for ours up here in Nor Cal.

[PorscheGAL]

Just did this ourselves. Putting all the cars and house in trusts to avoid probate which is about 1 year long. Also updated wills, health directives, power of attorneys. $1500 for both of us.

[flatbutt]

I paid a CELA attorney ALOT of money to set up a real estate trust, a trust fund for the grandkids, a living will with advanced directive and a will for my son who is executor. Plus mine is irrevocable so that prolly added to the cost of $7K.

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by vash

yea!!

the person i'm meeting; i told the phone person, i just wanted to see if we even got along. he was referred by a coworker that gushes about him.

sent

[dan88911]

Good idea,Vash I did as well a few yrs. back.
Cost was about $2000.
Be sure to check your beneficiary designations on any pensions and such.
Cause that will take president over a will or trust.
You want to make sure that lines up with your wishes, when you move on the here after.

[Tidybuoy]

I did mine about 1 year ago and it cost $1,800

The main purpose is to make it easier when your are gone by keeping the state out of your business. You write a will and you can divide everything equally to your airs or you can specifically designate things to specific people.

You basically fill out a legnthy questionair that the lawyer will give you. Then they draw up everything and send a sample document for you to review. They create a health document that allows you to make decisions (i.e., life support), while you are still healthy and can make these decisions.

It is then finalized and certain assets are tranferred into the trust (you're home, autos, artwork, bank accounts, etc..). My lawyer recommended not to transfer the 401k because that has it's own laws that govern 401k.

You are in total control of the trust while you are alive as you are the trustee. But, you assign this duty to someone after you are gone. It can be shared or a single individual. You can also assign a backup. In my case, I selected a friend who is non-family. I was co-trustee with a family member of an ederly friend and it was not a pleasant experience. Family members came out of the woodwork to stake their claims. I did not enjoy this duty.

That's it in a nutshell.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

I did mine about 1 year ago and it cost $1,800

The main purpose is to make it easier when your are gone by keeping the state out of your business. You write a will and you can divide everything equally to your airs or you can specifically designate things to specific people.

You basically fill out a legnthy questionair that the lawyer will give you. Then they draw up everything and send a sample document for you to review. They create a health document that allows you to make decisions (i.e., life support), while you are still healthy and can make these decisions.

It is then finalized and certain assets are tranferred into the trust (you're home, autos, artwork, bank accounts, etc..). My lawyer recommended not to transfer the 401k because that has it's own laws that govern 401k.

You are in total control of the trust while you are alive as you are the trustee. But, you assign this duty to someone after you are gone. It can be shared or a single individual. You can also assign a backup. In my case, I selected a friend who is non-family. I was co-trustee with a family member of an ederly friend and it was not a pleasant experience. Family members came out of the woodwork to stake their claims. I did not enjoy this duty.

That's it in a nutshell.

Thanks bud.

[wdfifteen]

It cost Mrs WD and I $1200 each on separate occasions. She has kids, I have kids, we wanted our pre- marriage assets handled differently. While we are alive we each are trustees of the other's trust. We have set up a succession of trustees for after our deaths. Through trustees we get to control the flow of our assets from the grave. IRAs cannot be transferred to a trust, so that money is willed to non-profits for now.

[aigel]

Just make sure the guns, bows and bicycles make it to me. You have my information.

Seriously though, why a trust - you don't have offspring, right? Is it useful with a married couple?

G

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by aigel

Seriously though, why a trust - you don't have offspring, right? Is it useful with a married couple?

G

The trust allows you to distribute your assets as you see fit after your death. The trustee does it for you, not an executor. It doesn't have to go through probate, which is the court deciding what you own and seeing to it that it is properly distributed - for a 6% plus attorney fees of course. The less complicated your life is the less you need a trust.

[on2wheels52]

Cathy and I completed an irrevocable trust last year ($1300).
The attorney spent a lot of time with us before we committed to the idea, would have been no cost if we had declined.
Part of his pitch(?) was that wills are cheap to buy but have more cost/aggravation at your death. To the effect that you can choose to pay on the front end or on the back end.

[vash]

When my stepdad died, my mom was tied up in probate for a long time. She couldn’t even get rid of cars. Seemed annoying. And there was their condo in hongkong. What a cluster!

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by aigel

Seriously though, why a trust - you don't have offspring, right? Is it useful with a married couple?

G

The trust allows you to leave your estate as you see fit. You might want to leave that 911 to a specific person. If you don't have a trust, then your estate is divided up by the state. If you have a will, it can be challanged and the state will look into it. Regardless, the government involvement will add time and expense to the process. A trust, whether or not you are married is a legal entitiy and everything in the estate will be handled based on a pre-arranged set of rules - set by you.

BTW, you can make changes to the trust anytime you want, as long as you are still alive - you are the trustee untill death.