Lowell Dale Young, LLC

Wills and Trusts

Our firm is here to help you with all of your wills and trusts needs, including:

• Wills
• Trusts for Children and other Heirs
• Estate tax planning
• Health care directives (for terminal conditions)

What would a Will and/or Trust do for you, if anything? What does complete estate planning include?

• Avoids uncertainty and confusion among those you will leave behind and eases the burden for your loved ones in your absence.
• If you are married, provides a way for your surviving and grieving spouse to avoid probate upon your death.
• Determines who (and in what percentage), will inherit your possessions, property and investments, rather than the person(s) the state legislature determines.
• If you have children, determines who will raise them in your absence as their legal guardian.
• Determines who holds your child's or children's inheritance if they are too young or immature to hold large sums of money or property.
• If during your life you become disabled or unconscious, complete estate planning determines who will look after your property, personal and business affairs in the meantime.
• If you become terminally ill or your condition becomes otherwise hopeless, you can state in writing ahead of time who makes the decision on your life support systems. You can avoid what happened in Florida just a short time ago, a family feud and a prolonged court fight.
• Leaves no doubt for those you leave behind what type of ceremony and burial arrangements you prefer.

Estate planning is something many clients (and attorneys) like to put off . It’s like thinking about the unthinkable. Our, hopefully far off, personal demise is a like Hurricane Katrina. You’ve had plenty of warning that’s coming some day, you can’t stop it, so all you can do is some common sense planning for those who may be left behind. The City of New Orleans failed to plan for those left behind and we all know the tragedy that engulfed the citizens of that city.

Sooner or later we are all going to leave our loved ones and friends behind and planning now can prevent frustration and heartache for them and may prevent a tragedy. Our firm’s goal is to prevent that.

This subject is a bit broad and complex for a webpage, so let’s narrow it down to one question. What is and what is not probate.

There are 5 main ways to leave you property to those you leave behind and they are illustrated by the diagram below. All 5 have the same goal, to leave property to your relatives and/or loved ones. This firm is experienced in all 5 estate planning methods. Four out of the Five.. are ..not ..probate. Probate is the one in the box, the others are attempts, if you will, to think outside the box.

To complicate matters, in Washington we have categories of property: personal property vs. real estate and non-probate property vs. probate property.

Non-probate property, # 1 on the below diagram, includes life insurance, pension and retirement death benefits, survivorship bank accounts, 401ks, IRAs, and stockbrokerage accounts. Transferring this property upon your death is not controlled by your will or your executor but rather by the beneficiary form you’ve already filled out. Your beneficiary just gets a check in the mail and it’s over.

Probate property is everything else, your home, all real estate, vehicles, ordinary bank accounts, stock certificates, the contents of your house, your jewelry, your wallet, and the money under your mattress. Despite the name, probate property does not have to go through probate.

The second way to transfer probate property works if the total us under $100,000 net and if you own no real estate. No court is involved, you just sign a specialized affidavit, called an Affidavit of Successor, drafted by my office.

The third way also transfers probate property, even works on real estate and has no dollar limit. Bill & Melinda Gates could use it. It’s called a Community Property Agreement abbreviated as a CPA on my diagram. The agreement says in so many words all your property belongs to your spouse on your death, end of story. The catch is, you have to be married. Plus, preparing this document can be tricky, so if you try to do it yourself, you get what you pay for. We will do if for you at minimal cost.

The fourth method of leaving property is controlled by your will. If you have no will, then your property goes to your closest relatives. Either way, your executor is in charge. This is probate which is discussed in more detail on the probate page. Many say you must avoid it at all costs. But probate is not the problem it’s poor planning and/or drafting and personality. If you have relatives that like to fight, plan ahead to deal with them now, with the help and expertise of our firm.

The last of the 5 ways to leave property to those you will leave behind is the Living Trust, where you transfer all your property into a trust while your are living and you appoint a back up trustee to take over when you are gone. This trustee’s job is much like that of an executor. The living trust has the advantage of avoiding probate and maintaining privacy. The trust agreement is not filed with the court. The disadvantage is the complexity of putting all your property in trust and managing your trust like you would have to manage a corporation. It can be an expense to set up and administer. It is particularly popular in California, where probate expenses are higher. Yet, even if you do not live in California, it may be the best choice for you and we can advise you to help in your decision making process.