Will & Trust
ESTATE PLANNING
Everyone has an estate. Your estate includes your house, bank accounts, personal possessions, retirement accounts, personal ownership interests in a business and more.
The value of your estate is reduced by your liabilities, such as mortgages and loans. Without careful planning, items that are in your estate may pass in a manner where someone else, such as a judge, makes the decisions through a process called Probate.
A will is a legal document that outlines how a person's assets should be distributed and only goes into effect after the person's death, but it does not avoid probate.
Probate is a legal court-supervised process of distributing a person's assets after their death, during which their will is reviewed, an executor is appointed to manage the estate and oversee the distribution of assets according to the terms of the will.. This process can be lengthy and expensive, and can also determine the validity of the will.
On the other hand, a revocable trust offers a significant advantage in that its assets do not pass through probate. This is because assets held in a trust are considered separate legal entities, and are not owned by the deceased person. Therefore, the will does not have any control over the trust's assets, which may include various types of assets such as cash, real estate, jewelry, and artwork. A properly funded trust can help you avoid probate by transferring ownership of assets to the trust, which can be managed and distributed according to your wishes without court involvement. Joint ownership of assets, such as a joint bank account or real estate owned jointly with right of survivorship, can also pass to the surviving owner outside of probate.
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Why have a WILL when you have a TRUST:
Here are a few reasons why you may want to have a will even if you have a trust:
To cover any Assets that were not properly funded into the Trust: It's possible that not all of your assets were properly transferred to your trust before your death. In this case, a will can be used to distribute any assets that were not included in the trust.
To Name a Guardian for Your Minor Children: If you have minor children, a will is necessary to name a guardian for them in the event that you and your spouse both pass away.
To Name an Executor: A will allows you to name an executor who will be responsible for managing your estate, paying your debts, and distributing your assets according to your wishes. While a trustee manages the assets in a trust, an executor oversees the distribution of assets that are not in the trust.
To Handle Your Final Affairs: A will can provide instructions for how you want your final affairs to be handled, such as burial or cremation, and can also include other important details, such as how you want to be remembered.
In summary, while a trust can provide many benefits in terms of asset management and avoiding probate, a will can still play an important role in your overall estate plan, particularly for assets that were not properly transferred into the trust or for naming guardians and executors
Why have a TRUST when you have a WILL:
While a will is an important component of an estate plan, a trust can offer several advantages that a will alone cannot provide. Here are a few reasons why you may want to consider a trust even if you have a will:
To Avoid Probate: One of the main benefits of a trust is that it can help your heirs avoid the probate process, which can be lengthy, costly, and public. Assets held in a trust can pass directly to your beneficiaries without going through probate.
To Provide for Incapacity: A trust can be designed to provide for your care and the management of your assets in the event that you become incapacitated or unable to manage your own affairs. This can help avoid the need for a court-appointed guardian or conservator.
To Provide for Minor Children: A trust can be used to provide for the care and support of minor children or other beneficiaries who may not be able to manage their own inheritance.
To Protect Assets: A trust can provide a level of asset protection by keeping assets out of the reach of creditors and predators. This is particularly important if you have a high net worth or are concerned about potential lawsuits or other legal challenges.
To Control the Timing of Distributions: With a trust, you have more control over how and when your assets are distributed to your beneficiaries. For example, you can specify that distributions be made over a period of time or based on certain milestones or achievements.
In summary, a trust can provide several benefits that a will alone cannot offer, including probate avoidance, incapacity planning, protection of assets, and more control over the timing and distribution of assets.
In general, it can make sense to include most, if not all, of your assets in your trust, particularly if you are looking to avoid probate, provide for incapacity, or protect your assets. However, there may be certain types of assets that are better left out of your trust or require special consideration.
For example, assets that have named beneficiaries, such as life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and bank accounts with payable-on-death (POD) designations, may not need to be transferred into your trust since they will pass directly to the named beneficiaries outside of probate. Similarly, assets that have significant tax consequences, such as certain types of real estate or business interests, may require specialized planning to ensure that transferring them into your trust does not trigger unintended tax consequences.
Here is an example of a table detailing the assets that a typical American family may have and whether they should or should not be included in a trust, along with potential tax implications:
Please note that recording a document with county office will make your document a permanent public record. Persons do not typically record their wills or full trust documents with our office because these documents may contain sensitive information that persons do not want made a permanent public record. If you would like to record these documents, please see the recording instructions below.
You may record a document by mailing it to us or by visiting us in person at the address below. The document must be an ORIGINAL signed document. If the document is mailed, we will return the document to the address in the upper left corner of the document or the return address on the envelope within 2-4 weeks.
Please note that there is very limited parking around our building and construction directly in front of the office. There is metered parking on Third Avenue just south of Jefferson. Our office is located at:
Attn. Copy Desk
Maricopa County Recorder's Office
111 S 3rd Ave #102
Phoenix AZ 85003
The fee to record any document is $30.00 per document