Estate Planning for Everyone

When you create a living trust, you usually need to choose who to name as your successor trustee. It is crucial that this decision is not taken lightly and that the right person is selected for the job. Role of Successor Trustee If you become incapacitated, your successor trustee will step into your shoes and take full control of your trust assets on your behalf. This means he or she will have full authority to make financial decisions -- including selling or refinancing trust assets. In fact, as long as the act does not interfere with the instructions in the trust document and does not breach any fiduciary duty owed, your successor trustee is given broad authority over your trust assets. The authority is very helpful in many circumstances because it avoids costly, time consuming court proceedings, like guardianship, conservatorship, or probate. After your death, your successor trustee acts in the same capacity as an executor: taking an inventory of all trust assets,

Let's talk about money - or the loaning of money. Many children and grandchildren are skipping the traditional bank and obtaining loans from parents or grandparents.   Unfortunately, we have all heard stories of families torn apart because of disagreements over money. So, what can you do to make sure your intra-family loans help — rather than hurt — your family? As far as estate planning is concerned, money you lend to others is legally an asset. If you have lent money to a family member the presence of these assets in your estate can be problematic for your surviving family members. This is because your executor and successor trustee are under a legal requirement, known as fiduciary care, to collect the outstanding obligation, even if the other party is a family member. If the amount of money that you have lent out is significant -- and “significant” can be relative -- it is important to let us know as we help you plan your estate. For example, if you wish to forgive th