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Home » Estate Planning » A Living Trust Is More Effective Than a Last Will

A Living Trust Is More Effective Than a Last Will

April 26, 2020Estate Planning

living trustOne of the most versatile and effective estate planning tools is the revocable living trust. If you have never considered the benefits, you are probably going to be pleasantly surprised. A living trust can be a much more comprehensive solution than a last will, even if you are not extraordinarily wealthy.

Spendthrift Protections

If you are going to be leaving an inheritance to a loved one that is not good at managing money, you will probably take pause. What would happen if they burn through their inheritance too quickly?

They have often come to you for support over the years, and you will no longer be there to help. Plus, they tend to run up bills, and creditors could go after their inheritance even if they don’t spend it all.

You can put these concerns aside if you utilize a living trust as the centerpiece of your estate plan instead of a last will.

It would be possible to include a spendthrift clause along with instructions for the trustee to follow after your passing. A typical way to proceed would be to allow the trustee to distribute the earnings from the principal of the trust to the beneficiary on an incremental basis.

In this manner, the principal or corpus would remain intact to keep producing income, and the spendthrift beneficiary would have no access to it. When it comes to the creditors, they would “step into the shoes” of the beneficiary. Since the beneficiary would not be able to access the corpus, the same dynamic would apply to the creditors.

Incapacity Planning

Once you reach the age of 67, your life expectancy is at least 85 years. The Alzheimer’s Association tells us that four out of every 10 people that are 85 years of age and older have contracted the disease. This is a major cause of incapacitation in elders, but there are others.

While it is not the most pleasant prospect to consider, incapacity is a looming threat to the oldest old. It is prudent to take steps to prepare for this eventuality in advance, and this can be easily done when you have a living trust. You can empower a disability trustee to act as the trust administrator if you ever become unable to make sound financial decisions on your own.

Streamlined Planning for Married Couples

If you are married, you and your spouse could choose to establish a joint living trust. You could serve as co-trustees and co-beneficiaries while you are both alive and well. There are many different ways that such a trust could be structured, but we will look at the most common one here.

Control of all the jointly owned property in the trust would fall to the surviving spouse/trustee after the death of one spouse. The desired distribution of personal property would be spelled out in the trust agreement. In many cases, the surviving spouse would keep the trust intact and make the children the final beneficiaries. As we stated, this is one possible arrangement, but there are other possibilities.

Attend a Free Webinar!

Our estate planning trust attorneys do everything possible to provide educational opportunities to members of our community. This is because so many people are unprepared from an estate planning perspective. When they understand more about the process, they tend to take action, because they find out why it is so important.

To this end we are holding a number of webinars in the near future. You can learn a lot if you attend one of these sessions, and they are being offered free of charge. We invite you to visit our webinar schedule page to get all details.

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Scott Schomer, Estate Planning Attorney
Scott Schomer, Estate Planning Attorney
A graduate of Boston University School of Law, Scott P. Schomer is a frequent lecturer on estate planning and elder law issues, having discussed these important issues on local and national television. A seasoned courtroom advocate, Scott has obtained combined judgments and verdicts in excess of twenty-five million dollars for his clients. Scott has served as a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Probate Volunteer Panel (PVP Attorney), Probate Settlement Panel and a Judge Pro Tempore. Scott's expertise has been recognized by his peers with such accolades as a life-time membership in the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, the Five Star Wealth Manager designation, and repeated nominations as California Super Lawyer.
Scott Schomer, Estate Planning Attorney
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We need to update our Living Trust and attended Schomer Law Group’s seminar. Afterwards we made an appointment and were impressed by the attention Scott Schomer and Liran Aliav gave to our case answering all questions and making suggestions how to minimize the estate tax. All the office staff is very friendly and we highly recommend Schomer Law Group.

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Mr. Schomer does an amazing job at explaining all the intricacies of establishing a trust. He and his team help you every step of the way so you always know what to expect and what you are preparing for. Best education you can get and the best gift you can give your family.

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We put off getting a trust for years. After attending a seminar with Scott Schomer we realized that the time had come to get a trust. We were given very good reasons for why we should get a trust. No pressure, just the plain facts. We are very relieved and happy to finally get our trust. Scott and Cesar were very knowledgeable, helpful and listened to our ideas of what we had to say. Any questions that we have now and in the future they are available to assist us to solve them. I recommend the Schomer Law Group and I wish we knew about them years ago.

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When you’re presented with an invitation to attend in a mailer, you may have reservations, this was a truly gift!! My wife and I were educated and guided through the process of creating a family trust.
Both of our parents had attorney’s that “worked” with wills/trusts, but came up short. Fortunately, the Schomer Law Group was there! This is a group of attorney’s that only specialize in estate planning, law, and financial advice, so you know you’re getting expert and personalized advice. This is the best money we’ve ever spent!! Thank you!

Bob L.
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We knew we had to update our 10 year old ( 20 page ) trust. After several detailed meetings, Liran and Cesar produced a large ( 300 pages + ) highly detailed trust document that we have used to make sure our family estate is well managed and clearly understood.
They were all very helpful in answering myriad questions and explaining all the various options…

We would strongly recommend the Schomer Law Group to anyone with an estate of even modest means, to assure proper planning…

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We had contemplated updating our will and starting a trust for a number of years. After attending a talk by Scott Schomer we realized we were long overdue and the potential downside of not having our affairs in order was significant. Scott and his excellent team made the process simple and seamless. They were great listeners, addressed all our concerns and even pulled and processed all the paperwork from our financial institutions. If you are looking for assistance with estate planning, wills and trusts, we highly recommend Schomer Law Group.

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Very competent & informative – friendly atmosphere – ready to answer the most mundane questions – relaxed.

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Mr. Schomer was excellent in getting our family trust and estate affairs in order. My husband and I had put off doing this and Scott really made the process easy! He is very passionate in making sure his clients get all that they need and we really appreciated it. I would highly recommend him and look forward to the many years he will be available to assist our family.

Kim

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