Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Connecticut

Re: my will

Here are my answers:

1) All wills are revocable. Do you mean a revocable living trust? If so, I would need more information about your situation to see what makes sense, but usually a revokable trust allows more flexibility in using the assets during your lifetime than an irrevokable one.

2) I think you are talking about a living trust. Funding a living trust is very easy. You have a lawyer draft the deeds to move the real estate into the trust. All personal property goes in with a simple bill of sale. Everything else (e.g., retirement accounts, annuities, etc.) use a simple form, just like if you were changing a beneficiary designation.

3) Yes, absolutely, if you have a good living trust, done properly.

4) There is no longer a POA after the person granting the POA is dead. After they are incapacitated, the POA still stands (if done properly, of course). You still should consider having a document called "Nomination of a Conservator," to be used for incapacitation.

5) Yes, you can write out wills on your own. I don't mean to sound flip, but why would you want to? You are taking on so much risk, the risk that your entire estate will not go to the ones how want, in the way that you way, by doing it yoursel. The process is complicated enough without adding in the possibility of not having the will properly drafted or executed. There are many things that you can do on your own, without an attorney (see several of my other posts), but this is one area where you really need an expert.

6) Technically, no, you can't really have POA over a dead person. There are ways around this, ways for you to manage your joint assets after your spouse has passed. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship is one. Living trust is another. Proper estate planning would allow a seamless transition after your spouse has passed away. Talk to an estate planning attorney about this.

Lastly, you did not ask this, but it sounds like your underlying question has to do with whether a will or a trust is better. Of course, it depends on the situation of the individual client, but I almost always advise my clients to use a living trust. Here are some of the benefits:

- avoid probate

- more effectively use your federal estate tax exemptions, for married couples

- for married couples, defer federal estate tax until the death of the second spouse

- more control in how your assets are distributed after your death; probate is a linear process, but trusts can be drafted in a more creative, nonlinear way

- separate property agreements for second marriages

- with ancillary healthcare directive documents, solves almost all of the problems you outlined above

As you can see, I am a huge advocate for the living trust. A good resource for more information is www.theestateplan.com, or Henry W. Abts' book, The Living Trust. You should be able to pick up a copy of that anywhere.

Good luck!

Diana