This client originally found us online because she was looking for someone to draft a will for her and she saw we had excellent reviews. She has lived a full life, had no spouse or children, and wanted to leave a house and some investments to charity. We discussed that leaving real property and investment accounts through a will is tricky because doing so would often leave the charity with a tax burden and the assets would still have to go through the expensive and time-consuming probate process before reaching their intended beneficiaries. After some expert advice from our team, the client opted to put her property into a trust, which will allow it to avoid probate and pay any taxes before distributing funds to the client’s preferred charities.

Based on their needs they chose to do a trust package, which includes:

– Revocable Living Trust;
– Wills;
– Powers of Attorney;
– Medical Powers of Attorney;
– Health Care Directive;
– Disposition Instructions; and
– Quit Claim Deeds moving real estate into the trust

The Revocable Living Trust enables the clients to avoid probate, directs their assets in the trust to go where they would like them to go, and appoints a trustee to oversee management and distribution of these assets. When the clients are gone there will also be asset protection elements for the children.

The Will names a personal representative (i.e. executor) of the client’s estate and ensures all assets get into the trust, even those the client failed to allocate.

The Power of Attorney names people to manage the clients’ finances if they are ever incapacitated.

The Medical Power of Attorney nominates people to manage the clients’ health care if they are unable to do so themselves.

The Health Care Directive tells the client’s Medical Power of Attorney what to do if they are in a vegetative state (i.e. pull the plug or not).

The Disposition Instructions state what the clients would like to happen to their remains after they are gone.

The Quit Claim Deeds transfer the clients’ interest in real property to their trust, so it will avoid going through probate.

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