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A Living Trust can be made up of the property owned by just one person, a married couple, or two people not married to each other.
An “Individual Estate Plan” is prepared for an unmarried (i.e., single, divorced or widowed) Me only
For the “Joint Estate Plan for a Married Couple”, the questionnaire will include questions and options for both you and your spouse. Me and my Married Spouse
If you choose "Me and another person" (e.g. family member, domestic partner, etc.) who desire to hold their assets in a joint trust the questionnaire will include questions for both of you The person will be called a Co-Grantor. Me and another person
If you are married and reside in one of the 35 states that recognizes same sex marriage, choose Married as an option Your final document will treat your relationship like any other marriage and will refer to your partner as your spouse.
Registered domestic partner.
If you've registered your partnership in a state that offers a registry for same-sex couples, and you still live in that state, choose registered domestic partner. "Domestic partner" is used generally to refer to a member of a registered same-sex couple
If you have not registered your partnership in the state where you live, you should choose the single option.
Click here for same Sex marriage or Click here for registered domestic partner
If you and your spouse are legally separated as declared in a legal document, you are still considered married for Living Trust making purposes.
Amending a Living Trust
One of the most attractive features of a revocable living trust is its flexibility. There may be occasions when you may want to amend a Living Trust after the Trust has become "operational. There are 2 ways to amend an existing Living Trust.
1] Living Trust Amendment
For minor changes such as adding or withdrawing small assets or making petty changes to provisions of the existing living trust.
It’s simple to amend your trust document download the "Living Trust Amendment" form and have it notarized, and then attach it to your original trust document in effect its simply continuing the current, existing Trust with minor changes but with the same Trust name.
2] Amending and Restating
For major and/or numerous changes, however, it is recommended that the Trust be "amended and restated" in its entirety. Here are some events that normally require amendment of a trust. You Marry or Have a Child, You Move to Another State, You Change Your Name, You Want to Change Ownership of Trust Property, name a different Trustee, or add a new provision.
For such cases, this document offers an optional sentence that can be included in the Living Trust. This sentence provides that the Trust agreement is "amending and restating" the existing Trust agreement. By including this citation to the existing Trust agreement, the new agreement has the effect of simply continuing the current, existing Trust which was established under the prior agreement, but with the desired changes.
This "continuation" means that a new trust is not being created, and therefore, it is not necessary to transfer assets from an "old" trust into a "new" trust. In order to amend and restate the Trust, you must deliver to the Trustee an appropriate written amendment/restatement, signed by the Grantor and the Trustee that restates the Trust to incorporate the desired changes.
In most situations, you will want to amend or amend and restate your living trust document, not revoke it because if you revoke your living trust and create another one, you must transfer all the trust property out of the old living trust and into the new one.
If Individual Trust example: Barak Obama Living Trust
If Join Trust example: Bill & Hillary Clinton living trust.
These are just the examples but you can have any name as long as it’s not too long. In general, a revocable trust's name includes some reference to the last name of the grantor or grantors.
Please note that you cannot have more than one trust with the same name.
Ones you sign, witness n’notarize (executing) the Living trust that is when the trust is considered created or executed. In case of new or amended trust make sure you enter a date here when you will get it signed witness n’notarize. You will transfer the asset into the trust after it’s executed.
If you do not know the date when you shall execute it just choose No to Specify date and you can handwrite the date along with you signature on your trust documents.
For example, if you are amending the Robinson Family Trust, which was executed on June 2, 1998, your new trust will title the Amendment, “May 13, 2012 Amendment to the Robinson Family Trust dated June 2, 1998.”
Sometimes we use nicknames instead of our first name, like "Tom" instead of "Thomas. If you are known by a name other than your legal name, please enter that name here.
Same Sex
Married
Registered domestic partner
Single.
If you and your spouse are legally separated as declared in a legal document, you are still considered married for will making purposes.
Please list all your living naturally born or adopted children whether adults or minors.
In the future if you decide to have children or adoption you can always amend this Living Trust.
The Living Trust offers a distinctive planning opportunity for parents with minor children to create a Children Trust and name a guardian should both parent die those question will come later in the questioner.
Select "Yes" if any references in this Trust to your children should include any adopted or biological children you may have after you sign this Trust.
Even though you can't identify them now, if you or co-grantor has children in the future and does not revise the trust to include them, these children will be entitled to a share of your co-grantor's property in accordance with state law.
What about my stepchildren whom I have not adopted?
A child who is not yours by birth and whom you have not adopted should not be listed.
If you have multiple residences, enter the address on your driver's license.
Often, the Grantor's spouse (Me and my Married Spouse) or the Co-grantor (Me and another person) if any, serves as Joint-Trustee cause' if either of the grantor(s) become incapacitated or die, the other can continue to remain trustee and handle financial affairs of the trust without interference from the court.
The trustee should be dependable and capable of handling financial matters. Many banks have trust operations that provide trustee services.
By and large, the grantor of a living trust serves as the initial trustee(s) until such time as (i) the grantor wants to turn over the trustee responsibilities to a successor trustee, (ii) the grantor is physically or mentally unable to serve as trustee, or (iii) the grantor dies.
If you choose someone other then yourself or your spouse to be the trustee of your trust be very wise in choosing a trustee for most others are adult son, daughter, trusted friend or other close relative to be the initial trustee of your trust.
Note: In Texas and Wisconsin, exercise caution before designating the Grantor as the sole Trustee and the sole lifetime beneficiary. This is because, in those states, the trust may be considered "void" where all three interests -- grantor, trustee, and beneficiary -- "merge" and therefore the trust has no legal significance. Consult an attorney for advice.
Successor Trustee
A successor trustee should be named to serve when the initial trustee, after having initially served for some period of time resigns, or otherwise becomes unable to serve as trustee, or dies.
It’s common to choose a spouse, grown child, or close friend. If you don’t think a family member could handle the responsibility well, or you fear family conflict, you can avoid these problems by hiring the trust division of a bank, or a trust company to serve as trustee? Maybe. A competent professional trustee can provide investment knowledge prepare tax returns, provide accounting, Good recordkeeping, and unbiased decision making when it comes to giving money to beneficiaries. Banks typically charge percentage of assets under management 1-5%.
If the trust will include a children's trust that will take effect at some point, it is recommended that you NOT choose one of the children as a trustee, even if that child is of adult age, because doing so can lead to conflicts among the children regarding distributions.
Trusts that hold the property of two people are managed by both people as co-trustees. When one of the co-trustees is unable to serve the other co-trustee serves alone. Once both initial trustees are unable to serve, the people you identify here will serve as successor trustees.
Bond
You may wish to require that your Successor Trustee obtain a bond. A bond is similar to an insurance policy in that it covers against losses from misappropriation of assets by the Trustee.
However, most people choose not to require a bond because bonds:
are expensive,
frequently are not necessary if a bank is the Successor Trustee because banks are already bonded,
& may necessitate greater court involvement.
If a court is involved with the trust, it will require that Trustees obtain a bond before they are given authority to act as a Trustee, UNLESS you state in your Living Trust that no bond is required. Note: These bonds are also known as "fiduciary bonds." A fiduciary is a person or organization that is given the authority and responsibility over assets which are not owned by that fiduciary. For example, the Trustee has control over the trust assets.