Category: Trustee

Funeral Trust is an Option for Final Expenses

Funeral Trust is an Option for Final Expenses

A funeral trust is an option for final expenses. A funeral trust is an inter vivos trust created by an individual, while alive, with the objective of covering final expenses associated with future funeral arrangements.

Anyone competent and of legal age can set up a funeral trust. Family members can open a trust for immediate family members, such as parents, siblings, spouses, children, or stepchildren.

Bank Rate’s recent article entitled “The pros and cons of funeral trusts” advises to first choose a reputable funeral home provider.

You can accomplish this by looking at online reviews or use local word of mouth recommendations to find the top funeral home provider with a good reputation.

Funeral trusts are also sold through insurance companies, in which case they’re typically funded with single-premium whole life insurance. Next, see how much your funeral will cost and check the funeral cost limitations set by your state.

You can then compare the various methods of funding a prepaid funeral trust. Cash, savings bond, CD’s, payment plans, or final expense insurance (burial life insurance) may be used to fund a prepaid trust.

Consider consulting an elder law attorney. He or she can help consumers understand the legalities and tax requirements involved in funeral trusts.

You then need to confirm that proceeds from the trust will be accepted as payment. If the funeral home you selected won’t accept the funds from the trust as payment for services, your family could be left confused and frustrated after your death.

Ask an elder law attorney about relocation regulations before opening your funeral trust. You should confirm that if you move across state lines, the trust can be changed to the new state. If you relocate, be certain that you change the trustee and beneficiary to the new funeral home you’ll use.

Make certain that family members are aware of your plans. You can provide your executor and all your heirs with a copy of the trust, as well as contact information for the funeral home and the beneficiary if different.

You then need appoint an independent trustee, who will audit the funeral bill for reasonableness and pay any excess to the family.

Finally, don’t forget to fund the trust. A funeral trust is an option for final expenses, but only if it is properly funded. If you would like to learn more about funeral planning, and additional issues related to probate, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Bank Rate (Feb. 8, 2021) “The pros and cons of funeral trusts”

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How to Manage Investments when Someone Dies

How to Manage Investments when Someone Dies

Taking responsibility for a decedent’s probate or trust estate often involves managing significant amounts of wealth, whether they are brokerage accounts or cash assets. They will need to know how to manage investments when someone dies. Today’s volatile markets add another level of complexity to this responsibility. The article “Estate Planning: Investments during administration of decedent’s estate” from Lake County News explains what estate administrators, executors and trustees need to know as they take on these tasks.

Investment account values are in a constant state of change and may include assets now considered too risky because they are owned by the estate and not the individual. The administrator will need to evaluate the accounts in light of debts owed by the decedent, the costs in administering the estate and any gifts to be made before the estate will be closed.

At the same time, too much cash on hand could mean unproductive assets earning less than they could, losing value to inflation. If there is a long time between the death of the owner and the date of distribution, depending on markets and interest rates, having too much cash could be detrimental to the beneficiaries.

The personal representative or trustee, as relevant, may determine that the cash should be invested, shift how existing investments are managed, or decide to sell investments to generate cash needed for debts, expenses and distributions to beneficiaries.

A personal representative is not expected or required to be a stock market expert. Their duties are to manage estate assets as a person making prudent decisions for the betterment of the estate and heirs. They must put the interest of the estate above their own and not make any speculative investments. With the exception of checking accounts, the expectation is for estate accounts to earn something, even if it is only interest.

If the personal representative has the authority to do so, they may invest in very low-risk debt assets. If the will includes investment powers and if certain conditions safeguarding payment of the decedent’s debts and expenses are satisfied, the personal representatives may invest using those powers. In some instances, a court order may be needed. An estate planning attorney will be able to advise based on the laws of the state in which the decedent resided.

Learning how to manage investments when someone dies is a critical role for a trustee or executor. For a trust, the trustee has a fiduciary duty to invest and manage trust assets for beneficiaries. Assets should be made productive, unless the trust includes specific directions for the use of assets prior to distribution. The longer the trust administration takes and the larger the value of the trust, the more important this becomes.

In all scenarios, investment decisions, including balancing risk and reward, must be made in the context of an overall investment strategy for the benefit of heirs. Investments may be delegated to a professional investment advisor, but the selection of the advisor must be made cautiously. The advisor must be selected prudently and the scope and terms of the selection of the advisor must be consistent with the purposes and terms of the trust. The trustee or executor must personally monitor the advisor’s performance and compliance with the overall strategy. If you would like to learn more about managing investment account in an estate, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Lake County News (June 11, 2022) “Estate Planning: Investments during administration of decedent’s estate”

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Special Needs Trusts can Protect disabled Child

Special Needs Trusts can Protect disabled Child

Parents with disabled children worry about how their offspring will manage when parents are no longer able to care for them. Leaving money directly to a child receiving means-tested government benefits, like Social Security Supplemental Income or Medicaid, could make them ineligible for these programs, explains an article from Kiplinger titled “Estate Planning: A Special Trust for a Special Need.” In most states, beneficiaries of either program are only allowed to have a few thousand dollars in assets, with the specific amount varying by state. However, the financial support from government programs only goes so far. Many families opt to have their own family member with special needs live at home, since the benefit amount is rarely enough. A Special Needs Trust can protect your disabled child.

The solution is a Special Needs Trust, which provides financial support for a disabled individual. The SNT owns the assets, not the individual. Therefore, the assets are excluded from asset limit tests. The funds in the trust can be used to enhance quality of life, such as a cell phone, a vacation or a private room in a group living facility. The SNT is a means of making sure that a vulnerable family member receives the money and other relatives, such as a sibling, don’t have a financial burden.

SNTs can only be created for those who are younger than age 65 and are meant for individuals with a mental or physical disability so severe they cannot work and require ongoing support from government agencies. A disabled person who can and does work isn’t eligible to receive government support and isn’t eligible for an SNT, although an estate planning attorney will be able to create a trust for this scenario also.

Each state has its own guidelines for SNTs, with some requiring a verification from a medical professional. There are challenges along the way. A child with autism may grow up to be an adult who can work and hold a job, for instance. However, estate planning attorneys recommend setting up the SNT just in case. If your family member qualifies, it will be there for their benefit. If they do not, it will operate as an ordinary trust and give the person the income according to your instructions.

SNTs require a trustee and successor trustee to be responsible for managing the trust and distributing assets. The beneficiary may not have the ability to direct distributions from the trust. The language of the trust must state explicitly the trustee has sole discretion in making distributions.

Because every state has its own system for administering disability benefits, the estate planning attorney will tailor the trust to meet the state’s requirements. The SNT also must be reported to the state. If the beneficiary moves to another state, the SNT may be subjected to two different sets of laws and the trustee will need to confirm the trust meets both state’s requirements.

SNTs operate as pass-through entities. Tax treatment favors ongoing distributions to beneficiaries. Any earned investment income goes to the beneficiary in the same year, with distributions taxed at the beneficiaries’ income tax rate. Trust assets may be used to pay for the tax bill.

As long as all annual income from the trust is distributed in a given year, the trust will not owe any tax. However, a return must be filed to report income. For any undistributed annual investment income, the trust is taxed at one of four levels of tax rates. These range from 10% and can go as high as 37%, depending on the trust income.

An SNT can be named as the beneficiary of a traditional IRA on the death of the parent. Investments grow tax deferred, as long as they remain in the retirement account and the SNT collects the required minimum distributions for the retirement account each year, with the money passing as income. However, any undistributed amount of the required distribution will be taxed at the trust’s highest tax rate. Using a Special Needs Trust can protect your disabled child and ensure they have a quality of life for years to come. If you would like to learn more about SNTs, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Kiplinger (June 8, 2022) “Estate Planning: A Special Trust for a Special Need”

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Firearms can be included in your Estate Plan

Firearms can be included in your Estate Plan

It’s common to focus on the big assets when creating an estate plan, like the family home, investment accounts and life insurance, but personal property also needs to be addressed, especially if the items are of great value or if ownership is complicated. This is especially the case regarding firearms, discussed in a recent article, “In the Crosshairs: Guns in Estate Planning” from The National Law Review. Firearms can be included in your estate plan.

Your executor, personal representative or successor trustee is the person who takes on the fiduciary role of administering your estate, according to the directions in your last will and testament. What seems like a relatively simple transfer of your favorite shotgun to a family member could lead to serious legal problems, if the family member is a “prohibited person.”

The Gun Control Act of 1968 made it unlawful for certain people to ship, transport, receive or possess firearms or ammunition. This group includes persons with mental illness, felons, dishonorable discharges or domestic violence convictions. Unless your executor knows the family member and can confirm they do not belong to any of these categories, the transfer and receipt of the firearm could constitute criminal behavior.

Geography could be an issue as well. A federal firearms license holder must be used to transfer the firearm, if the recipient lives in a different state. Since guns laws vary widely throughout the US, transfers are not straightforward. Something perfectly legal in one state may be a felony in another.

Laws about guns and related devices change also. After a mass shooting event in Las Vegas in 2017, the bump stock, a device used to allow more shots to be fired from an assault weapon was made illegal and owners were advised to surrender or destroy any bump stocks in their possession. If the fiduciary doesn’t know anything about firearms, they may unwittingly commit a felony.

The risks of transferring firearms can be addressed with informed planning. Gun trusts are used to protect and plan, especially for unique items like registered machine guns, suppressors, short barrel rifles and short barrel shotguns.

Firearms can be included in your estate plan. In recent years, the gun trust use has expanded to collectible firearms to preserve their use for future generations. Collectable firearms often are as expensive as collectible cars, so care must be taken to properly preserve and transfer them.

If firearms are in your home and you wish to pass them along to another family member, the best way to do this is with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney who can create a gun trust and help determine if the intended heir is permitted to inherit a gun. If you would like to learn more about addressing personal property in your planning, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: The National Law Review (May 10, 2022) “In the Crosshairs: Guns in Estate Planning”

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What is the Best Way to Leave Money to Children?

What is the Best Way to Leave Money to Children?

Parents and grandparents want what’s best for children and grandchildren. We love generously sharing with them during our lifetimes—family vacations, values and history. If we can, we also want to pass on a financial legacy with little or no complications, explains a recent article titled “4 Tax-Smart Ways to Share the Wealth with Kids” from Kiplinger. What is the best way to leave money to children?

There are many ways to transfer wealth from one person to another. However, there are only a handful of tools to effectively transfer financial gifts for future generations during our lifetimes. UTMA/UGMA accounts, 529 accounts, IRAs, and Irrevocable Gift Trusts are the most widely used.

Which option will be best for you and your family? It depends on how much control you want to have, the goal of your gift and its size.

UTMA/UGMA Accounts, the short version for Uniform Transfers to Minor or Uniform Gift to Minor accounts, allows gifts to be set aside for minors who would otherwise not be allowed to own significant property. These custodial accounts let you designate someone—it could be you—to manage gifted funds, until the child becomes of legal age, depending on where you live, 18 or 21.

It takes very little to set up the account. You can do it with your local bank branch. However, the funds are taxable to the child and if an investment triggers a “kiddie tax,” putting the child into a high tax bracket and in line with income tax brackets for non-grantor trusts, it could become expensive. Your estate planning attorney will help you determine if this makes sense.

What may concern you more: when the minor turns 18 or 21, they own the account and can do whatever they want with the funds.

529 College Savings Accounts are increasingly popular for passing on wealth to the next generation. The main goal of a 529 is for educational purposes. However, there are many qualified expenses that it may be used for. Any income from transfers into the account is free of federal income tax, as long as distributions are used for qualified expenses. Any gains may be nontaxable under local and state laws, depending on which account you open and where you live. Contributions to 529 accounts qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion but can also be used for other gift and estate tax planning methods, including letting you make front-loaded gifts for up to five years without tapping your lifetime estate tax exemption.

You may also change the beneficiary of the account at any time, so if one child doesn’t use all their funds, they can be used by another child.

From the IRS’ perspective, a child’s IRA is the same as an adult IRA. The traditional IRA allows an immediate deduction for income taxes when contributions are made. Neither income nor principal are taxed until funds are withdrawn. By contrast, a Roth IRA has no up-front tax deduction. However, any earned income is tax free, as are withdrawals. There are other considerations and limits.  However, generally speaking the Roth IRA is the preferred approach for children and adults when the income earner expects to be in a higher tax bracket when they retire. It’s safe to say that most younger children with earned income will earn more income in their adult years.

The most versatile way to make gifts to minors is through a trust. This is perhaps the best way to leave money to children. There’s no one-size-fits-all trust, and tax rules can be complex. Therefore, trusts should only be created with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney. A trust is a private agreement naming a trustee who will manage the assets in the trust for a beneficiary. The terms can be whatever the grantor (the person creating the trust) wants. Trusts can be designed to be fully asset-protected for a beneficiary’s lifetime, as long as they align with state law. The trust should have a provision for what will occur if the beneficiary or the primary trustee dies before the end of the trust. If you would like to learn more about how to leave money, or an inheritance, to your children, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Kiplinger (May 15, 2022) “4 Tax-Smart Ways to Share the Wealth with Kids”

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Dying without a Will is costly

Dying without a Will is costly

Dying without a will in place is a costly mistake. Without a valid and legal will, it can open the door to family fighting or significant court costs to settle an estate.

The Seattle Times’s recent article entitled “Do you have a will? Without an estate plan, families can struggle to sort it out” advises you to put your wishes in writing, so your estate is handled responsibly at the end of your life.

It’s the best thing that you can do to help your family and help eliminate fighting in the future.

A will can help with the most routine aspects of settling someone’s affairs or provide additional protection for more rare events.

If a person dies without a will, they are said to have died intestate. When this occurs, the deceased’s estate is handed over to the local probate court to identify creditors, beneficiaries and allocate assets.

Property typically goes to a surviving spouse first, then to any children, then to extended family and descendants, following the state’s probate laws. If no family can be found, property typically reverts to the state.

You can also ask an experienced estate planning attorney about a living trust.

A trust is a legal document that can set out plans for someone while they’re still alive and after death, including instructions for how to divide up all assets, including property, businesses and investments.

While most of the instructions should be covered in the living trust, writing a will can also serve as a back-up document to lay out how property and other assets should be transferred. In addition, wills used in conjunction with a living trust commonly designate that trust as the beneficiary of the will. Hence, such wills are referred to as pour-over wills.

A will that’s entirely in someone’s own handwriting — not anyone else’s — that’s signed and dated may be valid, depending on your state of residence. However, it can be disputed in court if there are questions about its authenticity. People who handwrite their wills risk leaving out or forgetting heirs or assets they want to identify, if it’s not checked over by a professional. Dying without a will in place is a costly mistake that could have significant implications for your love ones. If you would like to learn more about drafting a will or trust, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Seattle Times (May 16, 2022) “Do you have a will? Without an estate plan, families can struggle to sort it out”

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Leaving Property in Trust is Common

Leaving Property in Trust is Common

A typical estate at death will include a personal residence. It’s common for a large estate to also include a vacation home, or family retreat. Leaving real property in trust is common.

Estate plans that include a revocable trust will fund the trust by a pour-over, says Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “Should You Own Your Home in Your Trust?”

A settlor (the person establishing a trust) often will title their home to the revocable trust, which becomes irrevocable at death.

Another option is a Qualified Personal Residence Trust, which is irrevocable, to gift a valuable home to a trust for the settlor’s children. With a QPRT, the house is passed over a term of years while the original owner continues to live there, so the gift passes with little or no gift or estate tax.

Some trusts arising from a decedent estate will hold the home belonging to the settlor without any instructions for its disposal or retention. Outside of very large trusts, a requirement to actually purchase homes for beneficiaries in the trust is far less common.

It is more common in a large trust to have terms that let the trustee buy a home for a beneficiary outside the trust or keep the settlor’s home in the trust for a beneficiary’s use, including purchasing a replacement home when requested.

The trustee will hopefully propose a plan that will satisfy the beneficiary without undue risk to the trust estate or exceeding the trustee’s powers. The most relevant considerations for homeownership in a trust are:

  • The competing needs of other trust beneficiaries
  • The purchase price and costs of maintaining the home
  • The size of the trust as compared to those costs
  • Other sources of income and resources available to the beneficiary; and
  • The interests of the remaindermen (beneficiaries who will take from the trust when the current beneficiaries’ interests terminate).

The terms of the trust may require the trustee to ignore some of these considerations.

Each situation requires a number of decisions that could expose the trustee to a charge that it has acted imprudently.

Leaving real property in trust is common and those who want to create a trust should work with an experienced estate planning attorney to avoid any issues. If you would like to learn more about managing real property in your estate planning, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Kiplinger (Feb. 8, 2022) “Should You Own Your Home in Your Trust?”

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Maximize the Benefits of a Trust Fund

Maximize the Benefits of a Trust Fund

To maximize the benefits of a trust fund, you’ll need to understand how trusts funds work and how to create a trust fund the right way, advises this recent article from Yahoo! Money titled “How to Start a Trust Fund the Easy Way.” You don’t have to be a millionaire to start a trust fund, by the way. “Regular” people benefit just as much as millionaires from using trusts to protect assets and minimize taxes.

A trust fund is an independent legal entity created to own assets and ensure money and property are used to benefit loved ones. They are commonly used to transfer assets to family members.

Trust funds are created by grantors, the person who sets up the trust and transfers money or assets into it. An experienced estate planning attorney will be essential, since creating a trust is not like going to the bank and opening an account. You need the assistance of a professional who can create a trust to reflect your wishes and comply with your state’s laws.

When assets are moved into a trust, the trust becomes the legal owner of the property. Part of creating the trust is naming a trustee, who manages the trust and is legally bound to follow the wishes of the trust following the grantor’s wishes. A successor trustee should always be named, in case the primary trustee becomes unwilling to serve or dies.

Subject to compliance with specific requirements, assets owned by an irrevocable trust are not countable towards Medicaid, if someone in the family needs long-term care and is concerned about qualifying. Any transfer must be done at least five years in advance of applying for Medicaid. An elder law attorney can help in preparation for this application and to ensure eligibility. This is a very complex area of law. Do not attempt it alone without the assistance of an elder law attorney.

Trusts can have a long or short life. Some trusts are held for a child until the child reaches age 25, while others are structured to distribute a portion of the assets throughout the beneficiary’s lifetime or when the beneficiary reaches certain milestones, such as finishing college, starting a family, etc.

A revocable trust allows the grantor to have the most control over the assets in the trust, but at a cost. The revocable trust may be changed at any time, and property can be moved in and out of it. However, the assets are available to creditors and are countable towards long-term care because they are in the control of the grantor.

The irrevocable trust requires the grantor to give up control, in exchange for the benefits the trust provides.

There are as many types of trusts as there are situations for trusts. Charitable Remainder Trusts reduce estate taxes and allow beneficiaries to receive an income stream for a designated period of time, at the end of which the remainder of the trust’s assets go to the charity. Special Needs Trusts are created for disabled persons who are receiving means-tested government benefits. There are strict rules about SNTs, so speak with an experienced estate planning attorney to ensure that your loved one continues to be eligible, if you want them to receive assets from you.

Trusts are often used so assets will pass through the trust and not through the probate process. Assets owned by a trust pass directly to beneficiaries and information about the assets does not become part of the public record, which is part of what occurs during the probate process.

Your estate planning attorney will help you maximize the benefits of a trust fund, achieve your specific wishes and are in compliance with your state’s laws. A boilerplate template could present more problems than it solves. For trusts, the experienced professional is the best option. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of a trust, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Yahoo! Money (March 18, 2022) “How to Start a Trust Fund the Easy Way”

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Estate Planning complicated by Property in Two States

Estate Planning complicated by Property in Two States

Estate planning can be complicated by property in two states. Cleveland Jewish News’ recent article titled “Use attorney when considering multi-state estate plan says that if a person owns real estate or other tangible property (like a boat) in another state, they should think about creating a trust that can hold all their real estate. You don’t need one for each state. You can assign or deed their property to the trust, no matter where the property is located.

Some inherited assets require taxes be paid by the inheritors. Those taxes are determined by the laws of the state in which the asset is located.

A big mistake that people frequently make is not creating a trust. When a person fails to do this, their assets will go to probate. Some other common errors include improperly titling the property in their trust or failing to fund the trust. When those things occur, ancillary probate is required.  This means a probate estate needs to be opened in the other state. As a result, there may be two probate estates going on in two different states, which can mean twice the work and expense, as well as twice the stress.

Having two estates going through probate simultaneously in two different states can delay the time it takes to close the probate estate.

There are some other options besides using a trust to avoid filing an ancillary estate. Most states let an estate holder file a “transfer on death affidavit,” also known as a “transfer on death deed” or “beneficiary deed” when the asset is real estate. This permits property to go directly to a beneficiary without needing to go through probate.

A real estate owner may also avoid probate by appointing a co-owner with survivorship rights on the deed. Do not attempt this without consulting an attorney.

If you have real estate, like a second home, in another state (and) you die owning that individually, you’re going to have to probate that in the state where it’s located. It is usually best to avoid probate in multiple jurisdictions, and also to avoid probate altogether.

A co-owner with survivorship is an option for avoiding probate. If there’s no surviving spouse, or after the first one dies, you could transfer the estate to their revocable trust.

Estate planning can be complicated by property in two states. Each state has different requirements. If you’re going to move to another state or have property in another state, you should consult with a local estate planning attorney. If you would like to learn more about managing real estate in your estate planning, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Cleveland Jewish News (March 21, 2022) “Use attorney when considering multi-state estate plan”

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Information in our blogs is very general in nature and should not be acted upon without first consulting with an attorney. Please feel free to contact Texas Trust Law to schedule a complimentary consultation.
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