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THE LIVING TRUST
Probate Costs Too Much!
Probate Lasts Too Long!
Probate Promotes an Abuse of Unwanted Publicity!
When Robert Sterling Clark died in New York, the cost of administering his estate was $856,747, the executor was paid $2,9,65,683, and the attorney charged $1,065,530. It cost $4,822,430 to "protect" Clark's heirs.
Hyde Stewart, an Ohio postman died leaving $22,864 and no will. When the estate was settled after 25 months, it had paid out $2077 in administer's fees and $3500 in attoryney's fees.
"Probate Eats Up Nearly Half of an Estate of $19,425" - a front page headline of a Missouri newspaper.
Can this happen to your estate?
How can you avoid falling into the "probate trap"?
As noted above, Probate as a bad name.
Generations ago, the probate system was conceived as one orderly way of transferring the property of a deceased person to his or her heirs. It was designed to protect the heirs.
Today it has become an ugly, legal nightmare where lawyers, clerks, guardians, administrators, estate appraisers and bonding companies bilk widows and orphans out of their inheritance.
All across the nation, greedy lawyers in league with conniving judges and bureaucrats plunder huge chunks - and sometimes all - of an estate.
As noted above, there are three things wrong with probate.
First it costs too much. In most states, probate fees are set by law as a percent of the "gross" estate. For example, say you left an estate consisting of your home, an auto, stocks and bonds, savings plus a few personal possessions worth $200,000. The executor's commission and attorney's fees to probate this estate in California would amount to $10,300. Average fees in other states range from 3.8% in Utah to 11% in Alaska.
The second thing wrong with probate is that it takes too long.
On the average, it takes two to five years to settle an estate. For all practical purposes, the estate is frozen during probate while the judges, court officials, and attorneys have a field day picking it apart. The beneficiaries, in the meanwhile, wait, wait... and wait. This is why many lawyers would rather write Wills for $60 and then made a bundle when the Will is probated.
The third abuse of probate is the unwanted publicity it creates.
Everything in probate is a matter of public record and, unfortunately, there are individuals who go from probate court to probate court compiling lists which are then sold to unscrupulous people who prey on widows and try to separate them from their inheritance.
How can you escape from the Vagaries of Probate?
The law has provided everyone with a magic key to probate exemption: it's called "inter vivos trust" or a "Living Trust." You can pass on your assets to your spouse or children or other heirs in entirety - without delay, without the lawyers, administrators, courts, or the appraisers skimming off the top.
Here is how a Living Trust works. You create the trust by preparing a trust instrument in which you simply identify:
- Assets you are transferring to the trust
- Beneficiary of trust (your spouse, children, or other heirs)
- Trustee (i.e. you) who will manage the trust
Precisely to help you avoid or reduce the costs and nightmarish problems of probate, we've put together a LIVING TRUST KIT (1994). The kit is designed for a layperson to transfer his principal assets to a Living Trust, name himself as trustee, and designate beneficiaries who will inherit the estate - without the rigors of probate - upon his death.
The kit contains step-by-step instructions, filled out samples, and all the necessary forms you'll need to establish your Living Trust.
By creating a simple Living Trust document, you have freed yourself of the legalized larceny of probate. Simple as that.
Living Trust is set up by you while you are alive. You name yourself as "trustee" and you maintain full control over your assets just as before. You can do whatever you with to do with them - manage them, sell them, or give them away. The trust does not become effective until you die or become incapacitated.
The person you would designate as beneficiary of the trust (your husband or wife or children) is called "successor trustee." Upon your death, the successor trustee takes over the estate immediately without going through probate and terminates the trust. It's that simple.
Your trust would be a Revocable Living Trust. You can abolish the trust or alter its terms or change the beneficiaries at any time you wish. It provides you with the maximum amount of flexibility.
MORE BENEFITS OF A LIVING TRUST
Let us point out two more benefits of Living Trusts. First, disgruntled heirs find trusts extremely difficult to contest. When an estate goes to probate, the court freezes its assets for several months and asks anyone to come forward and contest the Will if the please. Someone contesting doesn't even need to hire a lawyer. But to contest a trust, a disgruntled heir needs to hire a lawyer and file a civil suit. In the meanwhile, the trustee is free to distribute the assets to the beneficiaries immediately. Your estate isn't tied up in lengthy litigation.
A Living Trust offers another important benefit. A growing number of older Americans are putting their assets into Living Trust because they want to avoid being placed under a court-appointed guardian if they become unable to manage their affairs. With a Living Trust, you can specify in advance whom you want to manage your affairs if you ever become incompetent.
HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE LIVING TRUST?
Let's take a simple example of a savings account. Upon your death, the bank would most likely block the account while the Will is being probated. It will not allows any withdrawal from the account without a court order.
However, with a Living Trust, your beneficiary walks into the back with the trust instrument and the death certificate - and walk out with the money. No 2-to-5 years delay. No ten percent in expenses. And no publicity
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU OWN A BUSINESS?
Probate can be particularly harsh on a going business. It almost always deals it a fatal blow. Most businesses simply come to a grinding halt while the dead man's Will is being probated. Your business records become public records - open to competitors and creditors alike.
However, under a Living Trust, the successor trustee can continue to run the business without have to wait for the ponderous machinery of judiciary to grind out an approval. Your business doesn't become everybody's business.
A word about Taxes. A revocable Living Trust has no effect on your taxes. There are no advantages for are there disadvantages. As a trustee, you'll continue to report all trust transactions on your own income tax return.
In the final analysis, the greatest advantage of a Living Trust lies in the savings of attorney's fees, administrator's and executor's commissions and court costs. It is a magical, wonders formula that allows you to avoid probate.
Use of a Living Trust is valid in all fifty states.
THE LIVING TRUST KIT (1994) contains everything you'll need to establish your living trust: Ready-to-use forms, step-by-step instructions, actual examples, and explanations of various terms. It shows you how to prepare the trust document, how to implement the trust by transferring title to the property to the trust, and eventually how your beneficiary can distribute the trust assets to himself or herself and dissolve the trust. All in one handy kit.
Satisfaction Guaranteed - Or Your Money Back
The regular price of THE LIVING TRUST KIT is $79. However, in this Special Introductory Offer, you only pay $39.95 plus a $3.00 postage and handling fee. You can save even more many by ordering a second copy to give one to your parents, a relative, or a friend and play only $59.95 plus $4.00 postage and handling for the two copies.
We have a software version of the Living Trust Kit on diskette for IBM compatible computers. You order the diskette, the entire 300-page Kit and User's Guide, all for the low price of $69 (reg. $99) plus the $3.00 postage and handling fee.
What Customers Say about The Living Trust Kit
"Excellent. This is information that 'everyone' should have, regardless of their financial status." R.Q., Bedford, N.H.
Easy to read. Was able to set up a trust using forms in the book, write out a quit claim deed, and had both recorded at no cost other than county recording fees and saving all attorney fees I checked the book's probate forms with a Florida attorney who said to use the appropriate form as is." E.L., Florida
So order your Living Trust Kit with confidence.
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