Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

It is highly recommended you seek the review by an estate planning lawyer of your estate plan documents to determine if any amendments are required in response to any events that may have occurred during the interim, of the documentation preparation and the present date.

Probably YES, due to changes in the law over the years.

More important is to probably separate the assets into various trusts (sub-trusts) and identify and determine values of the assets. If your trust was done well, then the assets in the trust should get a step up in basis for income tax purposes for both your husbands share of the assets and for your share.

There might be a sub-trust created to have your husbands share of the assets placed so that they are not taxed on your death nor countable for medi-cal purposes, if you were in need later in life.

If you were to remarry, it is possible that your husbands assets would remain in the sub-trust and not be able to be given away by you to your new beau... so, your children would be the beneficiaries of at least 1/2 of the estate at the time your husband died.

An administrative trust is generally created to deal with the issues that exist after a death until the distribution of the assets into the various trusts. There are income tax advantages to doing this.

In separating the assets, it is important to analyze the tax effect of the assets being placed into the various sub-trusts and the income tax effect of both the income and the deductions. In this way, future income taxes may be minimized.

There are issues of the needs of the family as well. Should a disclaimer be used?

If there are retirement accounts, who are the beneficiaries? Should IRA rollover accounts be opened? Whose lives are the required minimum distributions going to be based upon? Is a trust the beneficiary? Reports and disclosures are required by September following the death.

Overall, there are many reasons to go see an attorney who is familiar with both the legal aspects of the trust you had created but also the tax issues that arise along with the planning that is available. The cost of using an attorney following the death of a spouse is far less than the future advantages available if using the right attorney.

I strongly agree with Mr Rimer. There are numerous issues that need to be addressed, depending on what the trust terms provided. You may be in a position where it is only necessary to clear title properly, but the actual trust terms will define what steps are needed. It is most appropriate to have the present documents reviewed by effective estate planning counsel to help you comply with its terms and clear title, and for you to determine whether the family changes since 1989 would dictate revisions based on changes in circumstances.