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Strategies & Market Trends : Dividend investing for retirement -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sm1th who wrote (22032)	3/1/2015 6:13:01 PM
From: E_K_S	1 Recommendation Recommended By bruwin Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 34328

Re: Estate Planner - My Dad's Death Book ( Making a Living Trust: Can You Do It Yourself? Many people don't need a lawyer to create a living trust.) I agree w/ Estate Planner and most importantly getting all of your assets titled in the name of your living trust(s). My Dad kept a binder called his "Death Book". Here he kept his living trust, and a list of all of his assets in that trust and where they were supposed to go in the event of his death. He set this up years before his death and since I was the successor trustee, he coached me on what I needed to do to settle his estate. I did the same thing creating a living trust at age 21 and having all my brokerage accounts in the name of that trust and recording the real estate I eventual bought held in the name of the trust. An estate planner can create all of the necessary paper work but remember to move all of your assets into your living trust trust. Basically, with a living trust you are the active trustee. I also reference my (1) IRA and (2) ROTH in the Trust document but be sure to assign separate beneficiaries for those assets (that's typically done w/ a beneficiary statement held by the broker administering your IRA an/or ROTH). DO NOT put the Living Trust as the beneficiary for either a ROTH and/or an IRA, consult your estate planner first. Every few years update your living trust w/ beneficiaries, specifying the successor Trustee(s), adding and/or deleting assets inside the trust and what the distribution percentages are for the assets that are given to the beneficiaries. I maintain a similar binder as my Dad and keep a copy of the most recent brokerage statement(s) w/ account No's and a list of all the real assets titled under the Trust. If it is real property, I have a copy of the recorded deed there too. My living Trust acts as my Will and provides my successor trustee a road map on how to dispose of my assets upon my death. My Aunt had her attorney do a living Trust for her and at the time it cost her about $1K. I was the Trustee upon her death and it worked smoothly. Just remember to to have transfer on death (TOD) designations on all of your other accounts "outside" your Living Trust Agreement. These typically are Bank, Credit Union and Savings accounts. EKS