A living trust is legal to avoid probate and control who inherits your property after death. It also can help you avoid conservatorship if you become incapacitated. Setting up a living trust in California requires you to:
- Complete a Declaration of Trust.
- Sign your trust agreement.
- Notarize the agreement.
- Create a pour-over will.
- Attach schedules to the trust agreement.
- Trust and transfer assets.
Complete a Declaration of Trust
The Declaration of Trust is the document that establishes your trust. It is a legal document, which means that it must be signed by you and witnessed by a minimum of two other people who are not beneficiaries of the trust. It is recommendable to sign in the presence of an elder law attorney Los Angeles official. A declaration of trust also explains what your trust is and how you want it to be managed. It also shows how your beneficiaries will receive their portions of the trust.
Sign Your Trust Agreement
The next step is to sign the trust agreement. It may seem a little intimidating at first, but it’s not as complicated as you think. Always remember the following when signing your trust agreement:
Signing a trust is a serious commitment. You will be committing yourself and your assets to this legal document for the rest of your life.
The best way to avoid probate is by signing a living trust with witnesses or in front of a notary public. This eliminates confusion about who owns what. Your estate’s beneficiaries and trustees (managers) plan to distribute assets according to its terms after death.
Notarize Your Agreement
Notarization is the process of involving a notary public to verify your identity. Must confirm that you are signing the trust agreement voluntarily and without duress. Your signature on the document must be authentic. A notary public is an independent official appointed by their state to authenticate documents so that they can be used in court as evidence. They also serve as impartial witnesses when someone signs an agreement in front of them.
Create a Pour-Over Will
The pour-over will is a document that transfers property, or assets, to another person after your death. For example, if you have a house, not in your living trust, and want it to go to one of your children after you die. This would be the right tool for the job.
Attach Schedules to Your Trust Agreement
After signing and notarizing your trust agreement, you will be required to attach a schedule of assets, beneficiaries, and powers of attorney.
Power of Attorney confers power to another person to decide your health care and finances if you become incapacitated. It must be appointed before it takes effect.
A trustee is a person or institution (such as a bank or trust company) that manages property for another person called the beneficiary.
Beneficiaries include the people receiving money from your estate at death.
Transfer Assets to Your Living Trust
Transferring assets to your trust is an important part of the process. Your trust will become the owner, beneficiary, and trustee of all your assets. This means that you are no longer controlling them, as your trust now controls them.
The following is an overview of what responsibilities each role entails:
Trustee – manages all property owned by the living trust or its beneficiaries. They make decisions about how such property should be used for their benefit. A trustee may be required to pay certain expenses on behalf of beneficiaries. However, they cannot ever use any remaining funds for their benefit without permission from the court or all beneficiaries.
Protector, make sure that your established rules remain unchanged after your death. The rules remain until someone else becomes responsible for managing those assets. You can also appoint multiple protectors if necessary. This will ensure there’s always someone available when needed.
Conclusion
Setting up a living trust in California is not as complicated as it may seem. As long as you have all of your paperwork in order, setting up a living trust should be fairly easy. With the guidance of an experienced lawyer like our firm, everything can get done smoothly. If you would like to learn more about how we can help set up a California revocable trust, call us at (888) 781-3556 or contact us online.
