Updating Your Trust

It’s a new year!  It’s time to consider updating your trust.  Significant life events last year may change who you want to leave your property to today.  So, its time to answer some important questions.  The answers may require updating your trust and other estate planning documents.

Which life events occurred last year?

1.   Did you get married?
2.   Did you get divorced?
3.   Did you sell your home?
4.   Did you buy a new home?
5.   Did a loved one pass away?
6.   Do you have a new grandchild?
7.   Is your Executor/Trustee still alive?
8.   Did you have a baby or adopt a child?
9.   Is there someone you want to disinherit?
10.   Is your Healthcare Agent/Attorney in Fact still alive?
11.   Do you have named alternates on your powers of attorney?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, you may need to update your trust.

If you answered NO to any of these questions, then ask yourself these questions:

1.  Is your Successor Trustee able to handle the responsibilities of carrying out your Trust?
2.  Is your Executor able to handle the responsibilities that are required under your Will?
3.  Is the person you named to help you with your healthcare still able to help?
4.  Is there anything else that you want to add or delete?

Naming Beneficiaries

Certain investments include beneficiaries (the people you want to leave your money to when you pass away).  You can also include a POD (pay on death) on your bank accounts.  It’s always wise to check on an annual basis to make sure the people you named are still alive.  If not, then depending on the value as of your date of death, these funds may need to be probated.

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then this may be a good time to update your Living Trust, Will and other estate documents.  If you don’t know what your estate planning documents provide, you may need to have them reviewed by an attorney who can give you a legal analysis.  Otherwise, if you know what you want to update, we can help you by preparing amendments at affordable rates.

Updating your trust and other documents is essential to make sure your property passes to your loved ones.  Also, making sure your trust is funded properly may avoid probate.

If you don’t have any of these documents in place or you want to replace your current documents, we provide documents written by attorneys at affordable rates. Give us a call at (805) 439-0715

This content is general knowledge and can be found on any bookshelf in a public library or bookstore in California.