When people think about protecting their assets they often think of trusts. We always see in the movies how super rich people doing bad things or wanting to avoid taxes create trusts to shield their assets from lawsuits and the government. There are two truths we need to understand when it comes to revocable living trusts and asset protection. First, revocable living trusts provide ZERO asset protection for you, the trustor (the person that creates the trust). Second, most normal,…
The chances of you living in your house forever are slim. Like, very slim. A question we get asked often by our estate planning clients, either during the estate planning process, or after their estate plan is complete, is what happens if they have a revocable living trust and need to refinance their home? That’s a great estate planning attorney question and I’m happy to answer it. The short answer is, no, a revocable living trust holding real estate will…
A question I get asked often as an estate planning attorney is whether or not one has to record their revocable living trust once it is active. It’s a great question, and one that is important as many people create revocable living trusts in order to secure some privacy over their assets and their eventual distribution. Rest assured, your privacy is safe. There is NO requirement to record your revocable living trust. The only people that get to see it…
Umbrella policy quick tip. As an estate planning attorney I often get asked questions about asset protection. Particularly when it comes to ensuring rental homes and second homes. Should I use an asset protection trust? Should I create an LLC? For most people, those structures are not necessary. For most people, an umbrella policy will do the job (NOTE: don’t just run off and do this. Let’s chat first to make sure you’re doing the right thing.) An umbrella policy…
The best Christmas gift you can give is safety and peace of mind for you, your family, and future generations. Easiest way to do that is with an estate plan. Happy Holidays! Cheers, Christopher Small Estate Planning Attorney PS – Click here to schedule a FREE strategy session with an estate planning attorney.
A common estate planning attorney question I get is “how can I make sure no one challenges my will?” I always tell everyone the same thing: “There is no way to prevent someone from challenging your will if they want to. If they have money and motivation, they can file the paperwork to challenge. What we want to do is make it so they can’t win.” And that’s exactly what we do. The easiest way to do that is to…
A common idea when people are thinking about estate planning is to quitclaim their home to their kids. The thinking is it will allow one to avoid probate and just make things simple. The problem, however, is that it can create a bunch of unintended problems. Let’s just run down the list of all the ways this is wrong. :) First, quit claiming the property eliminates the potential for a step-up in tax basis. The tax basis of property is…
