Due to the many benefits of revocable living trusts, they are becoming increasingly common estate planning documents. But with their recent rise in popularity, several common misconceptions have emerged. Before you make any decisions, speaking with an experienced Atlanta living trust lawyer is important. Our skilled Atlanta estate planning attorney at Trace Brooks Law can do a comprehensive evaluation of your financial situation and walk you through why you should add a revocable living trust to your estate plan.
In this article, we answer several common questions about the benefits of revocable trusts.
Does a revocable living trust help me save on taxes?
No. Like other grantor trusts, revocable living trusts are ignored for income tax purposes during the grantor’s life. Taxable events that happen to trust-owned property during the grantor’s life must be reported on the grantor’s personal income tax return. Further, revocable living trusts and wills can accomplish the same tax benefits at death.
Does a revocable living trust protect my assets from creditors?
Asset protection is on many clients’ minds. A revocable living trust, however, is generally not an effective asset protection strategy. Because the grantor creates the trust and has full access to assets in a revocable living trust, Georgia law does not allow asset protection benefits during the grantor’s life or after death.
In very limited and rare circumstances, a revocable living trust may provide tangential asset protection benefits. Because it can be slightly more difficult for a creditor to collect from a trust than an estate, the trustee may have additional leverage in negotiating a settlement. Also, a revocable living trust may protect from a creditor of the estate that the grantor did not owe during their lifetime (this situation is rare). The limited circumstances in which a revocable living trust might protect your assets from current or future creditors should not be the primary reason to use a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document. There are many more effective ways to protect your assets from current and future creditors, both during your life and after your death.
Contact an Atlanta Asset Protection Attorney at Trace Brooks Law to discuss options that could effectively protect your assets from current and future creditors.
Is a revocable living trust better than a will?
It depends. Whether a revocable living trust is better than a will depends on your unique circumstances and estate planning goals. Many clients balance the relative simplicity and cost-effectiveness of a will-based estate plan with the additional privacy and ease of administration afforded by a revocable living trust-based plan.
Contact an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law with your questions about revocable living trusts, including whether a revocable living trust or will is right for you.
from Trace Brooks Law https://www.tracebrookslaw.com/common-misconceptions-about-revocable-living-trusts/
Though estate planning is commonly considered something that only older individuals need to think about, young families in Georgia also benefit from having an estate plan in place. Simply, estate planning is the process of making a plan for how your assets will be treated after you pass away or become incapacitated. Speaking to an experienced Atlanta estate planning attorney in Atlanta can help you start planning for the future of your loved ones. Here are some things to consider when estate planning for young families in Georgia.
Choosing a Guardian. One of the most important decisions that parents with minor children need to make is choosing a guardian for their children. The guardian will be responsible for your children if you pass away before your children turn 18. There are many factors to consider when choosing a guardian, including your and your children’s relationship with that person, their values and parenting style, and their age, health, and financial situation. It is important to discuss your decision with the potential guardian and obtain their agreement to serve in this role.
Writing a Will. A will is a legal document that outlines your wishes for how your assets will be distributed after you pass away. It is important to have a will in place to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. Without a will, Georgia intestacy laws will determine how your assets are distributed, which may not be what you would have wanted.
Establishing a Trust. In addition to a will, a trust can also be useful for young families. A trust allows you to transfer assets to a trustee who will manage the assets on behalf of your beneficiaries. One of the most common trusts is a revocable living trust. There are many benefits to using a revocable living trust as a young family. A trust can be especially useful if you have minor children, as it can provide for their care and education until they reach adulthood. A revocable living trust can also ease the burden of managing your assets if you become incapacitated.
Updating Beneficiary Designations. It is important to regularly review and update your beneficiary designations on your life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and other financial accounts. This ensures your assets go to the intended beneficiaries and avoid the probate process.
Powers of Attorney. A power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. This can include financial decisions, medical decisions, or both. It’s important to have powers of attorney in place to ensure that your wishes are respected if you are unable to make decisions for yourself. Spouses commonly list each other as their first power of attorney, though it is wise to list successor powers of attorney in case your spouse is unable or unwilling to serve.
Long-Term Care Planning. Long-term care planning is another important consideration for young families. This can include setting up a trust or purchasing long-term care insurance to ensure that you and your loved ones are taken care of in the event of a serious illness or disability.
Digital Estate Planning. Your estate plan should consider everything you own – real property, personal property, and digital property. Digital property can include your social media accounts, email accounts, and online financial accounts. It’s important to have a plan for how these assets will be managed after you pass away. It is also important to ensure your estate planning documents provide for access to these accounts so that they may be managed according to your wishes.
Estate planning is important for young families in Georgia to ensure that their wishes are respected and their loved ones are taken care of in the event of their passing. Contact an experienced Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law to discuss the estate plan that is right for you and your family.
from Trace Brooks Law https://www.tracebrookslaw.com/estate-planning-for-young-families-in-georgia/
There are many benefits to using a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document in Georgia. In this article, we take a look at several benefits of revocable living trusts and the funding requirements required to take advantage of each benefit. Some benefits, like avoiding probate, are easily explained. Others, like incapacity planning and minimizing post-death disputes, are more nuanced.
For more information, working with an experienced Atlanta living trust lawyer can be helpful. At Trace Brooks Law, we can walk you through the different benefits of a revocable living trust and how it can be a useful addition to your estate plan. Contact us today at (404) 492-9559 to schedule a consultation.
Added privacy by avoiding probate. In Georgia, a will must be filed with the probate court of the county where the decedent resided, as well as any ancillary probate courts. This requirement applies even if all assets pass outside the probate estate and no formal probate is necessary. Revocable living trusts, on the other hand, are private documents that are not typically filed with any court and therefore do not become public records. To take advantage of the added privacy that a revocable living trust provides, you must fully fund your trust.
Avoid out-of-state probate. A revocable living trust can be a valuable tool to help you avoid probate if you own or may acquire real property outside your state of residence. In general, a will must be probated in each state where you own real property at your death, in addition to the state of your primary residence (even if you do not own property in that state). However, if your out-of-state property is owned by your revocable living trust, there is generally no need to probate your will in that state because the property owner – the trust – has not passed away. By using this ownership structure, the trustee of the revocable living trust can more quickly and cost-effectively transfer title to the intended beneficiaries. To take advantage of this benefit, you only need to transfer your out-of-state real property to your revocable living trust.
Incapacity Planning. A revocable living trust can be an essential tool to ease the burden on your loved ones if you become incapacitated. Unlike a will, a revocable living trust can provide protection both during life and after death. With a fully-funded revocable living trust, the management of your assets during your incapacity and after your death becomes much simpler for your loved ones. While it may take some additional initial effort to fully fund your revocable living trust, it can be well worth it to ease the burden on your loved ones.
As the legal owner of the trust assets, a trustee of a revocable living trust has an easier time managing the assets in question than someone acting under a power of attorney. The trustee’s legal authority makes it easier for banks, government institutions, and other third parties to accept and recognize the trustee’s authority.
Additionally, a revocable living trust is one of the most powerful ways to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your wishes if you suffer from a weakened mental state later in life. Declining mental and physical function commonly occurs later in life and is often imperceptible at first. Many aging people go through a period of several years where they are not fully incapacitated but have decreased mental capacity and make increasingly poor decisions. A revocable living trust can help prevent others from taking advantage of you during periods of declining cognitive capacity by preventing you from engaging in harmful or ill-advised transactions.
With a revocable living trust, you or your agent can transfer your assets to the trust, allowing a co-trustee or successor trustee to manage your financial affairs. To enable others to manage your affairs under a revocable living trust, you can resign as trustee or be removed if you are determined to be incapacitated under the terms of the trust. The choice of a co-trustee or successor trustee is critical in protecting yourself and your loved ones, and should be carefully considered.
In Georgia, easing the administrative burden on loved ones by planning for incapacity is one of the primary reasons to use a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document. Though assets must be in your revocable living trust to take advantage of this benefit, they can be transferred by you or by your agent acting under a power of attorney if you become incapacitated.
Avoid post-death disputes. A revocable living trust can be a valuable tool to avoid post-death disputes, especially for those with complex family situations or those who wish to distribute their assets unequally or to non-family members. Legal disputes often arise when family members or other beneficiaries disagree with the distribution of assets outlined in a will or trust. By using a fully-funded revocable living trust, you may curtail these disputes because assets owned by the trust do not go through probate – making it more difficult for disgruntled family members to challenge the distribution of assets. Further, it is generally more difficult to successfully challenge a trust than a will.
A post-death dispute can also arise if the surviving spouse makes a claim for “Year’s Support” from their deceased spouse’s probate estate. Assets that are held in a revocable living trust, however, are not subject to a potential Year’s Support claim. This can be advantageous in blended or contentious families, particularly where the spouse and heirs may have conflicting interests.
To avoid post-death disputes, owning your assets in a revocable living trust can help ensure that your estate planning wishes are carried out. You must fully fund your revocable living trust to help realize these benefits.
Ease of moving to another state. For individuals who may move to another state, revocable living trusts offer greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness than wills. While states generally recognize wills created under the laws of another state, updating a will-based estate plan to take full advantage of the probate and estate administration laws in a new state can be a costly and time-intensive process. Revocable living trusts, however, avoid this issue, as a well-drafted trust contains all the necessary provisions, regardless of state of residence. Therefore, only the standard and less expensive powers of attorney and pour-over will need to be redone upon moving to a new state.
It is important to update your estate plan, regardless of whether you use a will or a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document, to reflect your new home state’s laws. Fully funding your revocable living trust is not necessary to realize this benefit.
Easily make and change specific bequests. Georgia law allows individuals to make specific bequests of tangible personal property such as artwork, collectibles, and jewelry before the remaining assets are distributed. A revocable living trust allows for the creation of a schedule of specific bequests that can include any type of property, including money, without the need for an attorney’s assistance. Therefore, creating and modifying a schedule of specific bequests in a revocable living trust is cost-effective and can be done at little to no cost without the help of an attorney. (You should, of course, advise your attorney of any changes to your specific bequests.) When using a will as your primary estate planning document, providing a specific bequest would require amending the will every time changes to the specific bequest list are desired, which would require the assistance of an attorney. Fully funding your revocable living trust is not necessary to realize this benefit.
To use a corporate fiduciary as your agent under your power of attorney. While most corporate fiduciaries are hesitant to serve as an agent under your power of attorney, some are willing to do so if they are also named as the successor trustee under your revocable living trust. If you become incapacitated, the corporate fiduciary would use their authority under the power of attorney to transfer your assets to your revocable living trust, where they will serve as successor trustees. Because you cannot typically change the ownership of tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as IRAs or 401(k)s, to a revocable living trust during your lifetime without incurring negative tax consequences, the corporate fiduciary should use your power of attorney to manage these accounts. Fully funding your revocable living trust is not necessary to realize this benefit.
As you can see, there are many benefits to using a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document in Georgia. Contact an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law today to discuss whether a revocable living trust is right for you.
from Trace Brooks Law https://www.tracebrookslaw.com/benefits-of-a-revocable-living-trust-in-georgia/
In recent years, revocable living trusts have become increasingly common estate planning tools. And, in the right circumstances, revocable living trusts are an appropriate estate planning strategy. Sometimes, however, revocable living trusts are unnecessary – or even counterproductive! In this article, we cover the common reasons someone might need a revocable living trust in Georgia. But first, let’s dispel a myth: the myth that probate is bad.
In some states, probate is an expensive, time-consuming nightmare. But in Georgia, probate is not “bad.”Georgia is known as an “easy probate” state. With a well-drafted will and the assistance of an experienced Atlanta estate planning attorney, probate is relatively easy and inexpensive in Georgia. In truth, whether you have a well-drafted will or a pour-over will with a revocable living trust, the administration of your estate will require a similar effort. Ease of administration, however, is only one thing to consider when deciding if you need a revocable living trust. Several other advantages to using a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document include:
Privacy. When you die, your will becomes part of the public record. That means anyone can obtain a copy of your entire will – including who gets what and how they receive it. If you use a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document, your pour-over will should simply give all your assets to your trust (which, upon your death, becomes irrevocable). Though your pour-over will would be part of the public record, your revocable living trust would not. This would keep the disposition of your assets private and out of the public record. This is especially important if you are considering leaving assets disproportionately or disinheriting a potential beneficiary entirely.
Avoidance of out-of-state probate. Probate is required in each state where you own real property at death. As we noted previously, Georgia is known as an “easy probate” state (Georgia is, in fact, one of the easiest probate states). Out-of-state (or “ancillary”) probate can be frustrating, time-consuming, and costly – doubly so in a state with a complicated probate process. If you use a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document, you can avoid out-of-state probate by signing a quitclaim deed from yourself to your revocable living trust.
Simplicity in cases of incapacity. Powers of Attorney are the most common way to designate someone to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. A revocable living trust allows for an easier transition of the management of your assets if you become incapacitated.
Simplicity for blended families. Estate planning complications arise when one or both spouses have children from a prior relationship. Many of these complications can be avoided with the privacy of a revocable trust.
As you can see, there are many benefits to revocable living trusts. There are, of course, drawbacks: primarily initialcost and initial complication. Because of the additional legal work required to draft an effective pour-over will and revocable living trust, an estate plan using this strategy is often more costly upfront. Further, for a revocable living trust to be effective, assets must be retitled in the name of the trust. The proper retitling of assets can be complicated and time-consuming.
Finally, as the name suggests, revocable living trusts can be revoked or amended by the grantor – the creator of the trust – at any time (so long as the grantor is alive and has capacity).
Contact the Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law to determine whether you should have a revocable living trust or, if you already have one, to review your trust to make sure it remains effective and will fulfill your wishes. Call the Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law today to schedule your appointment.
from Trace Brooks Law https://www.tracebrookslaw.com/do-i-need-a-revocable-living-trust/
In Georgia, unlike in many other states, probate is not “bad.” Probate in Georgia is relatively easy. But despite the relative simplicity of probate in Georgia, you might desire to avoid probate for many reasons.
Probate is the legal process of administering a recently deceased person’s estate. During probate, the probate court oversees the collection of assets, payment of taxes and debt, and the distribution of the deceased person’s assets according to a will or state intestacy law if there is no will. The probate process can be time-consuming and costly, not to mention overwhelming to family members who have to deal with the grief of losing a loved one.
Avoiding probate can be done by utilizing estate planning tools such as trusts and deeds. With the help of an experienced Atlanta probate attorney, you and your loved ones may be able to avoid the complexities involved in the probate process. At Trace Brooks Law, skilled Atlanta estate planning attorney Trace Brooks can help you understand your options in avoiding probate and assist you in navigating the legal processes involved. Contact us today at (404) 492-9559 to schedule a consultation.
Options to Avoid Probate in Georgia
The reason why most estates necessitate probate is the fact that most individuals have not prepared proactively to avoid probate. To avoid probate in Georgia, you must ensure that no assets pass to your probate estate at your death. To accomplish this, you should consider a comprehensive estate plan utilizing a revocable living trust and pour-over will. Further, your assets must be properly titled and your beneficiaries properly designated.
Your assets will not be part of your probate estate if they pass elsewhere via a beneficiary designation, they pass to the surviving joint owner of an asset owned as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, or they were already owned in trust at your death.
To use a revocable living trust to avoid probate, you must fully fund the trust before your death. In other words, you must transfer almost all your assets to your revocable living trust during your lifetime (as the trustee of your trust, you would retain full control over the assets). You should not, however, transfer assets you prefer to own in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship (such as a joint checking account) and tax-deferred accounts (such as IRAs, Qualified Retirement Accounts, and annuities) to your revocable living trust. Transferring tax-deferred accounts during your life to a trust is typically a taxable event, resulting in taxable income in the year of transfer. To avoid probate with tax-deferred accounts, ensure proper beneficiary designations are in place.
Living Trusts
Living trusts can allow you to transfer assets into the trust and remove them from your ownership. By putting assets into a living trust, you transfer ownership of the property to the trust. When the primary trustor passes away, the successor trustee takes over the management of the trust and oversees the transfer of the trust’s assets as indicated in the trust agreement.
It is important to remember that only assets included in the trust would be excluded from probate. Any assets the trustor had that were not transferred into the trust before they passed away would still be subject to probate, to be distributed according to their will or subject to intestacy law.
Joint Tenancy
Owning a property with someone else can allow them to get the ownership of property once their co-owner passes away. This is called the “Right of Survivorship”. Under a Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship (JTROS), the surviving owner automatically gets their co–owner’s share of ownership in the property. While this method would avoid probate, it will still be necessary for the surviving owner to provide certification that they now hold the property on their own.
In Georgia, joint tenants can legally own real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, and other assets of value. Joint tenancy can work regardless of whether the owners are married or unmarried as long as they own an equal share of the property.
Business Succession Planning
For business co-owners, it may also be beneficial to iron out the details of succession in the case of unexpected circumstances such as incapacity or death of one or more of the co-owners. When a person dies without a business succession plan in place, their share of ownership in the business is either passed on to relatives as part of their estate, taken up by other shareholders, or both.
Business assets go through probate in Georgia. Creating a business succession plan can be a helpful way to avoid possible conflict between relatives or shareholders by proactively planning out what happens to your ownership interests.
Payable-on-Death and Transfer-on-Death Designations
A Payable-on-Death designation allows an individual to assign a POD beneficiary rights to their account once they pass away. The person who created the account can still access and manage the account as they wish and the POD beneficiary will only get the rights to access the account once the primary owner passes away. When the primary owner dies, the beneficiary can file a claim directly with the bank without the need for probate.
For brokerage accounts, a person can register their stocks and bonds with a Transfer-on-Death form that allows them to name a beneficiary who will inherit the account upon their death. Like with payable-on-death designations, the beneficiary can deal directly with the brokerage company to transfer the account to their name.
Georgia only authorizes transfer-on-death designations for brokerage accounts and not for real property or vehicles. To be able to transfer real property and vehicles without the need for probate, other methods in this list may be more applicable.
Simplified Probate
Smaller estates or estates that don’t have complicated assets can avoid probate through the state’s simplified probate process. This involves filing a petition called the Petition for Order Declaring No Administration Necessary. For the petition to be approved the following requirements must be met:
The decedent did not leave a will behind
The estate does not have any debts or any creditors who have a claim on the estate have consented to the petition being submitted
All the heirs who are legally entitled to inherit from the estate have consented to how the estate is going to be distributed
Along with the pertinent information to file the petition, the document must be signed by all the heirs and have their signatures notarized. If the property to be distributed includes real estate, the court would need to file a copy of the order in the county where the property is located to notify them that no administration was conducted and is not necessary. The copy would be indexed in the county’s office and certify that the property has been transferred to the heirs.
Before you make any decisions, consult an experienced Atlanta probate lawyer. An attorney can help you determine how to avoid probate by using a method that fits your specific circumstances.
At Trace Brooks Law, skilled Atlanta probate attorney Trace Brooks works diligently to ensure that clients’ goals regarding their estate’s management are respected when they pass away. Our team of legal professionals can walk you through your available options for avoiding probate and help you understand your rights and responsibilities under estate law.
Contact an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law today at (404) 492-9559 to discuss your estate planning goals, including how to fund a revocable living trust and whether a probate avoidance plan is right for you.
from Trace Brooks Law https://www.tracebrookslaw.com/how-to-avoid-probate-in-georgia/
In many states, probate – the court-administered process by which someone’s property and debts are settled after death – can be complex, expensive, and worth significant effort to avoid. Georgia, however, is an exception to this. Georgia is an “easy probate” state. Georgia law streamlines the administration of most estates that go through probate and allows many estates to avoid probate altogether. In this article, we look at what makes Georgia probate easier than in many other states.
In Georgia, the probate process is only administrative unless a post-death dispute arises. The will, the Petition to Probate in Solemn Form, and (sometimes) the death certificate should be filed with the probate court in the county where the decedent lived. So long as all heirs are adults, consent to the Petition to Probate in Solemn, and do not dispute the will’s validity, the proposed executor swears to follow the terms of the will. After swearing, the probate court clerk provides the executor with Letters Testamentary, a document stating the individual is the estate’s executor. From there, the executor handles the estate administration without court oversight or filings.
Even with a streamlined process, probate in Georgia typically takes several months. Complicating factors, such as a minor heir or a poorly-drafted Will, can slow the probate process. An experienced Atlanta estate planning attorney may be able to provide valuable insights on how to manage any potential disputes that may arise during the probate process.
Further, in Georgia, you may not need a will at all. Most states have a simplified probate process – called summary probate – for small and uncontested estates. The qualifications for summary probate vary by state and are often driven by the value of the estate. Georgia is one of the few states that allows heirs to skip probate altogether, so long as there are no outstanding debts, all heirs agree to the distribution plan, and there is no Will.
Notably, Georgia does not put an estate dollar value limitation on the availability of this process. So long as the three requirements above are met, the process only requires that a representative of the estate file a petition with the court attesting to the lack of need for administration.
This is a huge benefit for small, simple estates in Georgia. But for people with more complex estates, or who do not want to leave the disposition of their estate for others (or the state) to decide, comprehensive estate planning is advisable. You should discuss with an attorney whether your primary estate planning document should be a will or a revocable living trust.
Contact an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law to discuss whether a will or a revocable living trust is right for you.
Often, potential clients seek a revocable living trust to avoid probate. Probate in Georgia, with a well-drafted will that waives bond and inventory and reporting requirements, and gives all the correct powers to act without ongoing court supervision, is not difficult. There are, however, other reasons to use a revocable living trust as your primary estate planning document.
It is important to note that the only assets subject to probate are those in your estate at death, and many assets can be transferred to your heirs upon death without a will or trust. For example, any asset that allows you to make a beneficiary designation (such as a bank account, life insurance, or retirement account) will transfer ownership to the designated beneficiary immediately upon your death. Similarly, any jointly-owned property will pass to the surviving owner. The probate estate consists of everything left over after these compulsory transfers occur.
Contact an Atlanta Estate Planning Attorney at Trace Brooks Law today to discuss your options and determine how probate might affect your estate.
from Trace Brooks Law https://www.tracebrookslaw.com/what-is-probate-like-in-georgia/
