Estate planning is the process of working with an attorney to place your legal affairs in order for your golden years and the eventual passing of your when you have left. A good estate plan will usually include a living trust, certification of trust, wills, advance healthcare directives, durable powers of attorney and documents and assistance in transferring your assets into your living trust.

A living trust is a way to hold and manage your assets during your lifetime and then distribute your assets to your family or other beneficiaries after you have passed away. Living trusts are designed to avoid the possibility of a conservatorship during your lifetime and the court process of probate following your death.  Living trusts can also provide asset protection features, tax savings clauses, methods for dealing with black sheep, thought out plans for leaving assets to children or planning for a disabled beneficiary with a special needs sub-trust.  Living trusts are flexible and personally tailored to your individual circumstances.  They are also revocable, which means they are not set in stone and you can change them in the future.

Probate is the court supervised process for distributing your estate after you have passed away. Modern estate planning techniques are designed to avoid probate and pass along your estate outside of court.  Most people find this more desirable because it is less expensive, faster, more private and less complicated than going into court.  If you do not have an estate plan or have only a simple will with no living trust, you will most likely require a probate of your estate.

A conservatorship is a court supervised legal process whereby a conservator is appointed to manage a person’s financial and/or personal affairs if they have become incapacitated and unable to manage matters for themselves. There are conservatorships of the estate to manage a person’s finances and conservatorships of the person to manage a person’s healthcare, living arrangements and personal affairs.  Sometimes both types of conservatorships are necessary and sometimes only one is required.  There are alternates to conservatorships which are less expensive and much easier on the elderly or disabled person.  Proper estate planning will include provisions to prevent the need for a conservatorship.

Trust administration is the process managing a living trust when the person who set up the trust (the settlor) has become incapacitated or has passed away.  The trustee is the person who has been left in charge of managing and distributing the trust.  Trustees have legal duties and requirements which will be set forth in both the trust documents and in the California Probate Code.  The process of trust administration is not complicated when you are working with an experienced attorney.  It can be a nightmare for trustees who try to go it alone.

Yes, trust beneficiaries have rights!  These rights include receiving a copy of the trust, being kept informed by the trustee of what’s happening with the trust and receiving a trust accounting that shows how all funds have been spent and distributed.  The trustee will probably have an attorney to assist and advise them.  If you are the beneficiary of a trust, you should also have your own separate attorney to ensure your interests are protected.

It’s true that attorneys are expensive but we’re not ridiculously expensive. In my practice I look for ways to save my clients money,  For example, the cost of setting up an estate plan is much less than the cost of going through probate or conservatorship proceedings because you don’t have an estate plan in place.  For some matters like court proceedings I charge by the hour.  In other matters such as probate, attorneys’ fees are set by statute as a percentage of the value of the estate.  I usually charge a simple all inclusive fee for setting up an estate plan so you know what you’ll be paying ahead of time.  Setting up an estate plan can cost as little as $1250 for a single person or $1750 for a married couple.  This type of all inclusive fee covers everything including notarizations, basic recording fees, copies and all time and meetings with me, your attorney.