The start of a new year is a time for recapping the previous year and making plans for the future. It’s also the logical time to review your living trust and San Luis Obispo’s We Help You Legal can assist. Periodic reviews of estate documents, including the revocable living trust, are recommended. This important task is easily overshadowed by daily events and too often keeps moving down the list of things to do.
Before starting the review, if you have not yet done so, take a little time to become familiar with the terminology that is used in trusts. Here are some helpful definitions:
- Grantor is you, the person who created and controls the trust.
- Trustee is the person whom you designate to administer the trust assets upon your death.
- Successor trustees are the people you have designated to administer the trust assets in the event the primary trustee is unable to do so.
- Beneficiaries are the people or organizations you designate to receive assets from the trust upon your death.
These are only a handful of the terms that might appear in your trust. A couple of ways to become familiar with all of the terminology are to ask the person who prepares your trust, visit your local library and review a legal dictionary, or look up the terminology online.
Tips for an easy review
The most thorough way to review your trust is to read it. Make a copy and make notations where changes are needed. Every part of the trust is important. The team from We Help You Legal suggests that paying particularly close attention to the following items can help:
- Is it time to change trustees?
- Do the duties and responsibilities of the trustee need to change?
- Is it time to make any changes to beneficiaries?
- Do assets need to be removed or added?
- Are there any changes to how assets are distributed?
- Don’t forget to also review your will, Advanced Health Care Directive (AHCD), and all powers of attorney. Make any necessary changes.
When you have completed the review, We Help You Legal, with offices in Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo can assist with the living trust update.
Why do I want to review my trust?
Things change. Even when you are diligent about periodically reviewing your trust there may have been events during the year that means changes need to be made. A review is also a reminder to make important changes, which may include:
- Changes to tax laws that might affect the trust and beneficiaries.
- Any changes in the structure of your or your beneficiaries’ families, such as marriage, divorce, birth, adoption, or death.
- Any changes in charitable organizations listed as beneficiaries.
- Changes in assets held by the trust such as the sale of real property or other assets, or acquiring new assets.
- You retired, got a promotion at work, or have started a business.
- You want to remove, change or add beneficiaries.
Can I make changes myself?
Yes, you can amend your trust and any other estate document yourself.
If you are pressed for time or only need the correct amendments completed and prepared for your signature, rely on the legal document services for living trusts from San Luis Obispo’s We Help You Legal.
We Help You Legal is a legal document assisting service, providing assistance from offices in Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo for living trusts, divorce, custody matters, healthcare directives and power of attorney, landlord and tenant issues, name changes, and more. The company is licensed and bonded in California, San Luis Obispo County.
We Help You Legal is a “self-help” legal document assistance company that provides document preparation without the high cost of an attorney. We Help You Legal, Inc. is not a law firm. We cannot represent you in court, advise you about your legal rights or the law, or select forms for you.
