Making A Will, Etc
Believe it or not, we have no will. We have two small kids, 8 rental properties, personal residence and are sole owners of our LLC (which contains our rental properties) I consulted with an attorney for advice because I'm not sure what we need to do. He suggested we need a living trust. Thoughts or suggestions?
As a side note, what can you do with your rental properties when nobody in your family knows a stitch about real estate (most don't even own their own personal residence) but I don't want to donate my estate since we have two small children. I know, I know........not a fun topic, but I am willing to bet there are others out there putting off taking care of this kind of thing!
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'If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when?' - Hillel
[ Edited by Shirley on Date 01/25/2004 ]
I like the living trust idea. We set one up for our stuff too. I bougt a book at a yard sale and did it myself for $5. Transfered the property and no problems yet. Great way to transfer control if we both pass on to the real estate market in the sky
Good LUCK and Thank You
Hope this helps some
Ted Jr
You need to consult with a good estate planning attorney (or continue the consultation you started). We also have Living Trust(s) and have done some more planning with Life Insurance, etc...A will is a start, but there are a lot of ways to avoid probate and better benefit your family when you're gone. Estate planning is not static, either. We meet every couple of years to review. Good luck.[ Edited by norrist on Date 01/25/2004 ]
It is very easy to just find & follow a form book in making your own trust or will.
Most attorney done inter vivos trusts do include a will provision, so if it's deemed necessary, after grantor's death, it can be probated...a move sometimes done to guarantee that all creditors have had to show up and present their claims or else they're waived.
Very often doing it yourself is not very successful.
Why? Because then, where a lawyer would have followed up by deeding the RE into the trust, the do-it-yourselfer frequently fails to follow through and do this.
So the RE stays in the grantor's name, the rest of his property doesn't ever go into the trust, and it's an empty and worthless trust.
So, for those do-it-yourselfers, just remember to follow through and deed the RE into the trust, and convey any valuable personal property into the trust.