With or Without a Trust?
PREPLANNING ESTATE BENEFITS DURING YOUR
LIFETIME
Incapacitation/Conservatorship |
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| With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
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Powers of Attorneys: People are appointed in advance by you to
manage your assets and interests should you become incapacitated.
These people are normally your children who become Successor
Trustees. Your Successor Trustees follow strict guidelines in your
Trust to maintain your assets in your best interest. |
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The courts step in and appoint a conservator. At this point, your
records and proceedings are open to the public. The court costs,
legal bills, fees, and bonds can be taken from your estate. A spouse
or loved ones have lost the control needed to carry on your wishes.
Financial assets can be frozen. |
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If you are incapacitated you may be appointed
a court guardian or
someone to manage your affairs - which doesn't necessary have to be
who you wanted - for such things as paying bills
or running your business, or taking care of your minor children. |
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Power of Attorney: Two types - Medical and Financial |
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
Appoints both medical and financial decision-making powers.
Living
Trusts appoint Successor Trustees for both medical and financial
powers of attorneys.
You eliminate the additional costs of two powers of attorneys. Typically,
financial Institutions, such as banks, are more comfortable dealing
with a Successor Trustee than they are with a durable power of
attorney.
You appoint the Successor Trustees for your financial affairs and
for your medical power of attorney who
will make health decisions for you, if you are unable. Many people have a
Living Trust in force stating their intentions on the use of life
support (living Will) in terminal situations, eliminating the toughest decision
for spouses or loved ones. |
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Appoints neither medical or financial decision-making
powers.
Financial: Banks and financial institutions have
their own specific power of attorney forms which they require for a
financial power of attorney to take action.
You may be asked to hire an attorney, before you can gain
access to any accounts the deceased had.
Medical: Hospitals have their own medical power of
attorney forms which can be confusing.
You may be asked to hire an attorney, before anything can be
done for your love one. |
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Will I have control of my assets? |
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
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Yes. You
have full control of assets just as you held them before owning a
Trust. You own the Trust and
you can make changes at any time. |
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No. You have very little control at death.
Even if you have a Will, the Will must be validated through
the probate process. Loved ones
lose control. |
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| Conservatorship for Incapacitated
Love Ones, Minors & Handicapped |
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
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Yes.
Trusts also provide more flexibility in cases where
guardianship includes: handicapped children receiving federal money;
other special considerations and pets. |
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No, less flexibility. A Will can provide
flexibility in these matters, but the Will must be validated through
the probate process. |
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Privacy of assets at death? |
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
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Yes! Your Estate and all your
information about the same, stays private and no one has access to
any of it, PERIOD! |
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NO
privacy.
Even with a Will your files can be accessed through the
records office upon your death or in case of conservatorship. |
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Likelihood of Probate, and length of time?
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
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No Probate. Integritas shows their
clients how to properly
place assets in their trusts. And,
this means that there is no waiting period for your heirs to receive
their inheritance.
Your spouse and loved ones are protected. |
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If
you own a home or property it is highly likely.
Most states have joint tendency in ownership.
It can take 6 months to 2 years and longer. And once
your titled items are introduced to Probate court, all your assets
are sucked in too. |
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Average cost to pass your estate to your beneficiaries? |
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
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None. Do
you consider proper preplanning a cost?
Paying the price if you leave it up to your spouse or loved
ones is much more expensive.
An Integritas Revocable Living Trust designed by experienced
attorneys is much less expensive. |
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With or without a Will, probate can take its toll on a spouse or
loved ones. Stress, emotions and the financial burden of probate is
the price. Just owning a home can cause probate which can eat up
tens of thousand of dollars. |
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Ease of Contesting a Trust Verses a Will? |
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With A Living Trust |
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Without A Living Trust |
Extremely difficult.
The person contesting would have to prove the creator of the
trust was under duress every day the trust was in force.
Assets are not frozen while or even if a trust can be contested.
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So easy.
Creditors, friends or relatives can contest a Will.
A small disagreement on intensions of the Will or proving
duress the day it was written causes probate.
Assets are frozen while a Will is being contested. |
Remember, few attorneys know how to
properly design or fund a Revocable Living Trust.
The Integritas Estate and Asset Risk Management (ARM) team
designs and funds Trusts everyday.
Please consult with
Integritas
before undertaking any actions.
Note: This information is not engaged in
rendering legal advice. All
attempts have been made to provide accurate information.
Authors can not be held accountable for any errors or
omissions. |
INTEGRITAS
ESTATE SERVICES, LLC
4101 PERIMETER CENTER, SUITE 109
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73112
CALL OUR
ESTATE PLANNING EXPERTS TODAY
Toll Free: 866.659.6203
Office: 405.602.2700
Fax: 405.602.2858
Email:
admin@trustintegritas.com
Q
- I am working on my father's trust and started transferring his assets as required.
I like the protection that's provided by his Trust, can I use
his trust to protect my assets? A - Once you have completed all the
elements of the trust, including the transfer of assets, the trust is considered
finished. And no,
unfortunately you cannot use your father's trust for your assets, but if your
father's Trust was completed by us, you are eligible for our preferred client
pricing, call us
to find out more. 
The
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provides protection
for release of individually identifiable health information and special release
and consent authority to all healthcare providers before medical information can
be released. HIPAA effects documents executed in a trust, as such, it is
not grandfathered in which means that it can render executed documents of
previous executed Living Trust useless. Ensure your Living Trust is in
compliance with these regulation. All IntegriTas Living Trust are in
compliance with the order.
Q
- My father died and I believe he had a trust. Does the attorney contact
me to discuss my dad's last requests? I don't have the attorney's
information and how does the attorney know that he is deceased? A - Unless
the attorney was a friend or the Trustee for your dad, its unlikely he would know that your father
passed. So first, you need to start checking around the house for the trust
manual. Did your dad have a safety-deposit box? Once you have located
the manual, you can determine who is the Successor Trustee and who will carry
out the provisions of your dad's trust. If someone else has been named
Successor Trustee, you will need to get in contact with that person to ensure
they carry out the orders of the trust.
