You don’t need to live in the Biltmore House, have a vacation home, or have a private art collection big enough to rival MOMA to consider yourself the owner of an estate. In fact, virtually anyone who owns anything has an “estate” in the eyes of the law. Although the term may conjure images of mansions and flashy cars, for the purposes of estate planning law, the term “estate” covers a whole lot more.
When people say that real property (which refers to real estate such as your home, as opposed to personal property such as your chairs, tables, jewelry, etc) passes “outside of probate” what does that mean? Simply put – real estate transfers to the new owner at the time of the decedent’s death. It is not subject to the probate process and it transfers immediately (with some provisions that we touch on below).
But seriously y’all – let’s hope we all “need” to have an estate plan in place. Let us all hope that when that day does come (very far off in the distant future) we have loved ones we want to give our assets to, have assets to give, and aren’t so apathetic that we are happy to let the government decide what to do with our things and where our minor children should live.
If you own a closely-held business, a Revocable Living Trust might be a great tool to consider – as it gives you the ability to transfer your business interests into a trust.
Typically there will be a gap between the date of death and the appointment of an executor to handle your estate during the probate process. This time gap can cause problems with a business running smoothly and in extreme cases can lead to your business dying with you.
As a way around this, business owners can transfer their interest in the business into a Revocable Living Trust. When the owner dies, the successor trustee can continue to run the business in a seamless manner and without delay.
Since the owner will only be transferring the business interest (as opposed to the actual business) into the trust – there won't be any major functional differences when running the business. At the same time, in the event that something happens to the owner, business employees or others who rely on everything running smoothly won’t suffer the consequences of a time delay in the event of the owner's death.
Whether or not to create a Revocable Living Trust will vary from person to person based on their needs and estate planning goals. If this is something you would like to learn more about, feel free to reach out to us so we can discuss it further.
One of the biggest misconceptions about Revocable Living Trusts is that they are only for the wealthy. However, even if you have only accumulated a moderate amount of wealth or assets, having a trust might be a useful tool to consider for your estate plan.
Probate is the court-supervised process of settling an estate after someone dies. It is a time-consuming process and can sometimes end up being costly. Additionally, it is completely public – anyone can see the distributions made and who they are made to.
A Revocable Living Trust, however, allows for greater privacy since any assets that were titled in the name of your trust during your lifetime will generally avoid the probate process and will not become part of the public record. At the same time, a Revocable Living Trust can be altered, revoked, or amended any time during the lifetime of the person who created it – without the consent of the trustee or others – allowing privacy at death and flexibility during life.
While it is important to fund the trust by adding your assets to it, it is also important to have a will that will work in conjunction with the trust. A carefully drafted will can allow for assets that were not in the trust at the time of your death to “pour over” into the trust during the probate process.
Revocable Living Trusts are useful tools, but it’s important to keep in mind that they are not a magic solution to all of your problems. Without further planning, most Revocable Living Trusts cannot help you avoid income taxes, avoid estate taxes, shield assets from your creditors, or help you qualify for Medicaid. While options may be available such as a credit shelter trust to reduce the amount of estate taxes due for some people or a spendthrift trust to prevent a creditor from accessing some assets, these are issues that would need to be carefully addressed on a case-by-case basis.
Whether or not to create a Revocable Living Trust will vary from person to person based on their needs and estate planning goals. If you would like to talk about whether one will be beneficial to you, we recommend talking with an attorney or tax advisor. As always, don't hesitate to contact us if this is something you would like to discuss.
While it is never something we want to consider, planning for incapacity is an important part of making an estate plan. There are many methods and tools available to make sure that your wishes are respected and that the people you trust the most will be the ones making important decisions on your behalf.
Some useful tools to consider include:
We highly recommend that you put a plan in place so your wishes are followed in the event of incapacity, and perform periodic reviews of your documents to make sure nothing needs to be changed or updated.
Titling a Car as Joint Tenants With Right of Survivorship
Your vehicle may be one of your most valuable assets, next to your home, that you own. If you rent, it may be your most valuable asset. If something happens to you, what will your partner or spouse need to do with it? Will they need the cash value of the vehicle to pay for your expenses? If so, it might require that several probate hoops be jumped through in order to sell it. In this situation, wouldn’t it be nice if you could just take the title and death certificate to the DMV? Well, owning a car as joint tenants with right of survivorship would allow just that - and is about to get easier as of January 1, 2017.
First, owning a car with your spouse/partner/family member as joint tenants with right of survivorship (JTWROS) means that, upon the passing of one of the joint tenants, ownership will be consolidated in the surviving tenant. Functionally, for estate planning purposes, this means that when one owner passes away the car is wholly owned by the survivor.
Second, this allows the car to avoid the probate process. Generally, if just you or your partner own the car separately, ownership will not pass until the probate process is completed. This can take a lot of time depending on the size and complexity of the estate.
Third, titling a car (or other vehicle) as JTWROS in NC is totally doable and about to get easier. For sometime now, the DMV has allowed people to to write in the designation “JTWROS” on the certificate of title application. As of January 1, 2017, the form will contain a “preprinted option” for co-owners to choose JTWROS.
Curious how this will impact you and your loved ones? Feel free to reach out to us to discuss it all in more detail.
While it is easy to be dismissive of the idea of creating a pet trust – it’s not something to completely rule out. When it comes to our furry/feathered/hoofed family members – the law doesn’t distinguish between “pets” and “property” – which means that you may need do some extra planning when it comes to the care of your pets if you become unable to care for them or pass away.
The two attorneys at Clayton and Clayton are unfortunately currently experiencing the pitfalls of a lack of appropriate planning first-hand; James’ grandmother is in rehabilitative care, which has meant that our household has temporarily grown with the addition of a tiny Chihuahua named “Prissy.” While she has many adorable and lovable qualities – the sudden arrival of a strange dog has not been the most ideal situation for a family with a toddler, hectic and long work hours, and a busy travel schedule.
What it has done, however, is make us more aware about the importance of having a discussion with our clients about their wishes when it comes to the care of their beloved pets.
While a will is a valid place to establish where you want your pets to go – there are some benefits to using a trust over a will, such as:
• Incapacity: A trust can appoint a guardian for your pet in the event that you are medically incapacitated and cannot care for your animal or communicate your desires about where your pet should go. A will won’t be effective until after you pass away.
• Quick: A trust does not need to go through probate – and will therefore allow the pet to be immediately transferred to the guardian you choose, and allow for funds to immediately go towards the care of the pet. If you disburse funds to cover the costs of pet care through a will, they will not be available until after the will goes through probate – which can take years in some instances – leaving the kind people who took your pet in in a potentially financially stressful situation.
• Reliable: A trust will allow the disbursement of funds to be monitored – the person who takes your pet in can’t drop the pet off at the pound and use the money to take an elaborate vacation or renovate their kitchen.
• Choice: A trust will allow for any remaining funds left after your pet is cared for to go wherever you prefer – a local animal shelter, your family, etc.
If you want to talk about the options that are available for your pets in the event that you cannot care for them, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We are happy to talk about it with you in more de“tail.”
