Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

validity of ca living trust

My sister created an online, fill-in living trust in my 87 year old mothers name (which my mother signed with a notary). This sister is a successor trustee as well as a beneficuary. Is this trust valid?


Asked on 1/23/08, 9:45 pm

4 Answers from Attorneys

Phillip Lemmons, Esq. Phillip Lemmons APC, Attorneys at Law

Re: validity of ca living trust

See my answer above.

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Answered on 1/24/08, 3:15 pm
Jonas Grant Law Office of Jonas M. Grant, A.P.C.

Re: validity of ca living trust

I would add that, depending on the quality and appropriateness of the trust, and how it was completed, and whether a trust (if created) was funded, it may or may not do what it was "supposed" to.

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Answered on 1/24/08, 9:07 pm
Donald Field Donald L. Field, Jr., Attorney at Law

Re: validity of ca living trust

to answer these questions the trust agreement must be reviewed and additional information provided regarding the facts and circumstances of the execution of the document.

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Answered on 1/25/08, 11:42 am
Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

Re: validity of ca living trust

Love the question. The answer is, it depends. First, there is no magic to who drafts a trust and from what resources. Second, the notarization only autheticates the signature. The validity does not depend upon notarization. But, signing the document, if the signer is not competent does not create a trust relationship. Your mom has to be competent to agree to the terms of the trust agreement. Also, if she signs under a mistaken belief about what she is signing, under fraud, duress or under threat, overt or implied, her consent to the trust agreement is voidable.

Finally, signing a trust agreement without transfering assets into the name of the trust does nothing at all. A trust is not a will, and a trust without assets is like a head without a body.

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.

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Answered on 1/24/08, 12:23 pm


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