Estate Plans

Estate Planning Services

Let us help you plan your estate. Whether you are new to estate planning or have an existing estate plan that needs to be updated, our attorneys can help you customize an estate plan that is right for you and your family.

STARTING YOUR ESTATE PLAN

An estate plan generally consists of four primary documents: a Revocable Living Trust, a Pour-Over Will, an Advanced Health Care Directive, and a Power of Attorney. In addition, TLD Law will also transfer your real estate into your Trust by preparing a Trust Transfer Deed, and will provide you with a Certification of Trust and instructions for you to be able to transfer your assets into your trust.

4 Key Legal Documents

REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST

A Revocable Living Trusts avoids probate when your home and other assets are vested in your Trust. You select who will be in charge and set the rules distribution of your assets.

POUR OVER WILL

A Will is the preferred document to nominate guardians for your children. A Will does not avoid probate, so a Trust is also executed at the same time. The Will functions to “pour over” assets to your Trusts.

DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY & ADVANCE HEALTHCARE DIRECTIVE

A Durable Power of Attorney and Advance Health Care Directive allow you nominate loved ones to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf in the event you are alive, but not well (i.e., car accident, medical incapacity or not aging well).

You select your agents instead of the court making the choices for you.

Checklist to Prepare for your Estate Plan

YOUR FAMILY

An estate plan generally consists of four primary documents: a Revocable Living Trust, a Pour-Over Will, an Advanced Health Care Directive, and a Power of Attorney. In addition, TLD Law will also transfer your real estate into your Trust by preparing a Trust Transfer Deed, and will provide you with a Certification of Trust and instructions for you to be able to transfer your assets into your trust.

Understand that Getting Proper Legal Advice is Priceless

YOUR FAMILY

YOUR FULL NAME

SPOUSE’S /PARTNER’S FULL NAME

CHILDREN: Names & Dates of Birth indication if child with special needs, disability or other concerns

YOUR ASSETS

REAL ESTATE home, rental properties, timeshares

BANK ACCOUNTS checking, savings, money market, brokerage

STOCKS, BONDS & INVESTMENTS both retirement and non-retirement

BUSINESS INTERESTS corporations, LLCs, partnerships

OTHER ASSETS performance royalties, oil/gas rights, etc.

YOUR DESIRES

GUARDIANS if your children are minors

TRUSTEES/EXECUTORS who should take over? either when you are incapacitated or have passed away

FINANCIAL AGENTS* who should make $ decisions? *good for your lifetime only

MEDICAL AGENTS* who should make medical decisions? *good for your lifetime only

PLUS YOUR DESIRES ON END OF LIFE, ORGAN DONATION AND BURIAL OR CREMATION PREFERENCES

WHO GETS WHAT? funds remain in trust specific gifts of cash or property charitable gifts

ESTATE PLANNING INTAKE INFORMATION

ESSENTIAL ESTATE PLANNING QUESTIONNAIRE

High Net Worth Estates

ABC TRUST

An ABC Trust is a combination of trusts meant for married couples with an estate worth more than the estate tax exemption amount. At the death of a spouse, an ABC Trust not only separates the survivor spouse’s assets from the late spouse’s assets but also divides the late spouse’s assets into the amount of assets allowed by the estate tax exemption and the amount that exceeds the allowed exemption.

An ABC trust arrangement allows you to defer estate taxes on your assets until the death of the surviving spouse while protecting the inheritances of children from prior marriages.

ABC TRUST

A legacy trust is essentially a second layer of protection for specific assets which are taken out of your primary estate. As a result, creditors can’t touch them and money is set aside for future generations. When creating a legacy trust, you must appoint a trustee who has the power to act during your lifetime. The use of the funds in a legacy trust is up to you, whether for college tuition, income for grandkids, or your own medical needs.

When implemented correctly, a legacy trust can do all of the following:

Avoid the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax (GSTT)

Reduce your family's overall estate tax bill

Prevent creditors from touching certain assets

Allow individuals to become the trustee of their own trust

A legacy trust is funded through annual gifts, made by you, which help to keep the trust active. In the event that your children or grandchildren have their own trusts within the legacy trust, they can act as their own trustees when the time is right.

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