The Trustee S Legal Companion

Serving as the trustee of a living trust after someone has died can be a big task. This book shows trustees how to get organized, get moving, and do a good job. Living trusts are popular estate planning tools, but when you’re chosen to serve as a trustee, you might wonder where to begin. Trustee’s Legal Companion has everything you need to get organized, get started, and get the job done. You’ll learn how to: decide whether to take on the job of trustee set up ongoing trusts for surviving spouses, children, or beneficiaries with special needs invest trust assets get help from lawyers, financial planners, and other experts handle taxes and prepare accountings, and work effectively with beneficiaries and distribute trust property. The authors—attorneys who have helped many a bewildered trustee—show you, step by step, how to administer a living trust with confidence.

If you find yourself with the job of wrapping up a living trust after a spouse, relative or close friend has died, you probably wonder just where you're supposed to start. Here's the help you need to get organized, get moving, and do a good job. Written by two attorneys who have helped many bewildered trustees, the authors will show you, step by step, what to do to meet your legal responsibilities. You'll save time and money---and gain peace of mind.

Millions of Americans have created living trusts over the past couple of decades, giving little or no thought to what the successor trustee will have to do when the time comes. This book shows every trustee how to handle paperwork, keep beneficiaries informed, and get help from experts if necessary.

Finally, an Estate Planning Guide for Californians Every Californian’s Guide to Estate Planning helps you understand the basics of leaving money and property to loved ones and charities, and naming a guardian for children—with a special focus on issues unique to California, like: how community property rules affect inheritance and taxes how to minimize capital gains for those inheriting high value real estate legal and tax rules that apply to non-citizens and U.S. permanent residents important issues for international guardians, trustees, and executors how to understand the impact of “Prop 19,” and make sure your heirs don’t lose a low (“Prop 13”) property tax rate, and how to avoid California’s slow and expensive probate system through options such as transfer-on-death deeds. With Downloadable Worksheets Includes access to essential worksheets that help you get started on writing a will, preparing a trust, choosing a guardian, leaving money to kids, naming beneficiaries, choosing agents for your health care directive and power of attorney for finances, doing a personal inventory, and more. details inside.

Make Your Own Living Trust can help you make an individual or shared living trust that’s valid in your state, saving your family time, money, and headaches. You can use a living trust to name beneficiaries for property and set up property management for young people. In this way, a living trust is like a will. However, unlike a will, a living trust lets your family bypass probate court— which saves everyone money, delay, and hassle. Make Your Own Living Trust provides all of the plain English instructions, worksheets, and forms you need to create an individual or shared living trust and a basic will (for yourself and your family), without the need for a lawyer. Whether you are single or part of a couple, you can use this book to: decide whether a living trust is right for your family keep control over trust property while you live appoint someone to manage trust property, if needed name beneficiaries to inherit your assets set up property management for young beneficiaries, and learn how to transfer all types of assets to your trust, including real estate, stocks, jewelry, art, or business assets. Even if you prefer to hire a lawyer to draw up your trust, you can use this book to learn about living trusts before you go to the lawyer. Using the book to learn about living trusts will save you a considerable amount of money, compared to paying a lawyer to explain it to you. All of the explanations, instructions, and examples are in the book, and the forms are available for download details inside the book. The legal forms in this book are not valid in Louisiana, Canada, or the U.S. Territories.