1. Why do I need an estate plan?
Many of us spend a considerable amount of time and energy accumulating wealth. As we do this, there comes a time to preserve it for our enjoyment and for future generations. A solid, effective estate plan ensures that your hard-earned assets will pass intact to your beneficiaries.

2. If I don't create an estate plan, won't the government provide one for me?
YES. But your family may not like it. The government's estate plan is called "Intestate Probate" and guarantees government interference in the disposition of your estate. Documents must be filed and approval must be received from a court to pay your bills, pay your spouse an allowance, and account for your property. If you fail to plan your estate, you lose the opportunity to protect your family from an impersonal, complex governmental process that is an unecessary burden.

What about the "Death Tax?"
There is much you can do in planning your estate that will reduce and even eliminate death taxes. Some estate planners favor wills and others prefer a Living Trust.

3. What's the difference between a will and a Living Trust?
A will is a legal document that describes how you want your assets distributed at death. The actual distribution, however, is controlled by a legal process called probate (Latin for "prove the will"). Upon your death, the will becomes a public document available for inspection. Once your will enters the probate process, it's no longer controlled by your family, but by the court and probate attorneys.

Probate can be cumbersome, time-consuming, expensive, and an emotional trauma in a family's time of grief and vulnerability. A Living Trust avoids probate because your property is owned by the trust, so there's nothing for the probate courts to administer. Whomever you name as your "successor trustee" gains control of your assets and distributes them exactly according to your instructions.

There is one other crucial difference between a will and a living trust. A will doesn't take effect until you die. A Living Trust can help you preserve and increase your estate while you are alive, and offers protection should you become mentally disabled.

4. The possibility of a disabling injury or illness scares me. What would happen if I were mentally disabled and had no estate plan or just a will?
Unfortunately, you would be subject to "living probate," also known as a conservatorship or guardianship proceeding. If you become mentally disabled before you die, the probate court will appoint someone to take control of your assets and personal affairs. These "court-appointed agents" must file a strict accounting of your finances with the court. The process is often expensive, time-consuming.

5. If I set up a Living Trust, can I be my own trustee?
YES. In fact, most Living Trusts have the people who created them acting as their own trustees. If you are married, you and your spouse can act as co-trustees. And you will have absolute and complete control over all of the assets in your trust. In the event of a mentally disabling condition, your hand-picked successor trustee assumes control over your affairs, not a court appointee.

6. Will a Living Trust avoid income taxes?
NO. The purpose of creating a Living Trust is to avoid living probate, death probate, and reduce or even eliminate federal estate taxes. It's not a vehicle for reducing income taxes. In fact, if you are the trustee of your Living Trust, you will file your income tax returns exactly as you filed them before the trust existed. There are no new returns to file and no new liabilities are created.

7. Can I transfer real estate into a Living Trust?
YES. In fact, all real estate should be transferred into your Living Trust. Otherwise, upon your death, depending upon how you hold title, there will be a death probate in every state in which you hold real property. When your real estate property is owned by your Living Trust, there is no probate anywhere.

8. Is the Living Trust some kind of loophole the government will eventually close down?
NO. The Living Trust has been authorized by the law for centuries. The government really has no interest in making you or your family go through a probate that will only further clog up the legal system. A Living Trust avoids probate so that your estate is settled exactly according to your wishes.

9. Isn't a Living Trust only for the rich?
NO. A Living Trust can help anyone protect his or her family from unnecessary probate fees, attorney's fees, court costs and federal estate taxes. In fact, if your estate is greater than $100,000, you'll find a Living Trust offers substantial benefits for you and your family.

10. Can any attorney create a Living Trust?
NO. You should choose an attorney whose practice is focused on estate planning. Members of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys receive continuing legal education on the latest changes in any law affecting estate planning, allowing them to provide you with the highest quality estate planning service anywhere.