Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Living Trust & Beneficiaries

My mom is terminally ill. She is divorced and I am her only child, age 26. I am currently listed as her beneficiary on all of her financial accounts. Someone mentioned the idea of a living will. Is there any benefit to a living trust if I am already the beneficiary on her accounts? Without a living trust, would property and accounts go into probate, even if I am the beneficiary?


Asked on 2/03/08, 6:35 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Re: Living Trust & Beneficiaries

Very sorry to hear of your situation. If she owns real estate you should consider a living trust or a gift deed (with retained life interest) so that you can receive the house with full step up in tax basis and without probate. Merely having the house in joint tenancy may not be enough depending on the value of the house. Good luck.

Read more
Answered on 2/04/08, 10:00 am
Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

Re: Living Trust & Beneficiaries

It depends up what assets your mom has. I also depends upon how long she lives and what kind of mental capacity she enjoys before she dies.

I suggest you get and read my book "How You Can Protect Your Loved Ones in the Event of Death or Disability (Without Paying a Legal Fees}" Not only does it explain virtually everything you need to know in plain English, but it contains in the Appendix a copy of the Legacy Living Trust Package. This is a complete trust package for the Middle Class including a Living trust for single or for married people, a durable general power of attorney, an advance healthcare directive, an Abstract of Trust, all necessary transfer documents and instructions. Having taught literally hundreds of seminars to thousand of regular middle class people, I have learned how to answer the most important questions in language understandable to all. Having learned over 30 years that most people that go to an attorney to pay $1200 or more for these documents don't understand the language in the unnecessarily complicated documents, don't understand what they are doing and why, and ofen make common but avoidable mistakes, I created the Legacy Living Trust Package.

You can order the book on-line at Amazon.com, but, it is better to order at www.IWant2CreateMyLegacy.com. If you order there, you will get a free special report entitled "The Seven (7) Most Common Mistakes Made by the Middle Class in Planning For the Inevitability of Death and the Likelihood of Disability, and How to Avoid Them." This report alone could save you and your family hundreds of times the cost of the book.

Again, the book is, to my knowledge, the only one written for regular people in the middle class, and it contains in an appendix the Legacy Living Trust Package, which to my knowledge is the only complete fill-in the blanks trust package written in simple English ("People Ease", not "Legalese") that will be valid in every State in the US.

Read more
Answered on 2/03/08, 7:18 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Probate, Trusts, Wills & Estates questions and answers in California