Should You Prepare a Will or a Trust?
If you own a home or a business in California, or if you have loved ones who rely on you, you should schedule a consultation with a Napa trust attorney to begin preparing your estate plan. Every adult who has properties, assets, or loved ones should establish an estate plan promptly.
Most estate plans include either a last will and testament or a trust. One of these documents will serve as the foundation of the estate plan. How do trusts and wills differ? What advantages does a trust provide, and why should you consider establishing a trust instead of preparing a will?
There’s no single trust or estate planning formula that’s right for everyone. Your Napa estate planning lawyer will recommend a plan based on your family’s needs, your assets and properties, your financial circumstances, and your own estate planning objectives and goals.
What Should You Know About Probate?
If you prepare a will, and if you do not set up a trust, your assets and properties will be subject to probate. However, if you set up a trust, the assets and properties that are owned by your trust will not be subject to the probate process when that time comes.
Typically, probate is a lengthy and expensive process that delays the distribution of assets and properties to beneficiaries, although California estates may qualify for “simplified” probate if forty days have passed since the decedent’s death and if the estate is valued at or under $184,500.
Because probate is a public and judicial process, the details of your last will and testament will go on the public record. A trust, however, is private and confidential, and a trust is also less likely to be challenged than a last will and testament.
What Does a Will Do?
When you prepare a will, you’ll designate the party or parties who will inherit your properties and assets upon your death. You’ll also designate an executor to manage your financial affairs and estate, and if you’re a parent, your will should designate a guardian for your minor children.
In the State of California, if you have not designated a guardian for your minor children in your trust or your will, and if you and the other parent both pass away, the custody and fate of your children could be determined by a court.
Your last will and testament takes effect only upon your death, but a trust goes into effect the moment you sign it. Unlike a will, you can use a trust to transfer assets and properties during your lifetime as well as after you’ve passed away.
Who Manages Your Trust?
Any assets or properties that are transferred into your trust are no longer considered part of your estate, so those assets and properties avoid probate. Thus, after your death, your trust allows your successor trustee to transfer your assets and properties quickly and directly to your heirs.
During your lifetime, you can manage the properties and assets in your trust and act as your own trustee. If you become incapacitated, or upon your death, the successor trustee you’ve designated assumes the management of your trust.
How Do You Manage a Trust?
If you set up a trust in California, you must ensure that the trust becomes the legal owner of the properties and assets that you transfer into it. For example, when you transfer property, you should have property deeds reissued so that the trust is named on the deeds as the legal owner.
With a will, you continue to be the legal owner of your properties and assets, and the will spells out how your properties and assets will be distributed upon your death and after the probate process.
For most people, however, having a trust own most of your assets and properties is the better option. As the trustee of your trust, you are still in control of those properties and assets during your lifetime, and after your death, your heirs will not have to endure the probate process.
Why is the Advice of an Estate Planning Lawyer So Important?
Do you really need a trust lawyer’s advice and services when you can download blank trust forms or purchase a do-it-yourself trust kit? The answer is yes. When you plan your estate, you’ll need a Napa trust attorney’s advice and services for the following reasons:
- A trust attorney can help you determine what kind of trust best meets your family’s needs. You may not know about some of the estate planning options that would be right for your family, but your trust attorney will be familiar with those options.
- Estate planning lawyers in California know what kinds of legal disputes and difficulties can arise if a trust is not written properly and precisely.
- Your Napa estate planning lawyer will assist your successor trustee with the distribution of your assets and work with your family to close your estate.
What Else Should You Know?
Proper and effective estate planning takes some time and consideration. Furthermore, whether you establish a will or a trust, that document will need to be reviewed and updated regularly.
No one knows what the future holds, but you can prepare for the future by planning your estate now. You can learn more about trusts, wills, and estate planning in California by scheduling a consultation – promptly – with a California estate planning attorney.
Where Should You Turn for Estate Planning Guidance?
Celaya Law offers advanced, customized solutions for protecting your loved ones and your hard-earned wealth. We’ll answer your questions in plain language, give you personalized solutions, and carry out your wishes cost-effectively and efficiently.
Celaya Law provides estate planning services to business owners, families, and other clients in Napa, Sonoma, and Solana counties and throughout the Bay Area. Our attorneys handle estate planning, probate, tax planning, retirement planning, and more.
Learn more about preparing your estate plan – or begin the process now – by contacting the offices of Celaya Law. Call 707-754-0977 to schedule your first estate planning consultation.