Trusts Attorney in Menlo Park, California
Are trusts just for the super rich?
Are trusts just for the super rich?
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00:03
well the trust that most people talk
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about our living trusts which are a
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substitute for a will and when we talk
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about just living trusts if you have a
00:14
cell phone you should have a trust I
00:15
mean there is no reason not to have a
00:17
trust a trust avoids court at death so I
00:22
can’t think of a reason someone would
00:24
opt to go with a will or no will and
00:27
just not have a trust even if you don’t
00:30
use white law you should have a trust
00:33
the reason is this a trust avoids court
00:38
and not only deaf but incapacity people
00:41
don’t think about that they think well I
00:43
don’t have children I’m not married I
00:45
don’t care somebody will sort it out my
00:46
brothers sister whatever but you know
00:48
what if you become incapacitated the
00:50
court is the one that’s gonna sort it
00:52
out and for the rest of your life
00:53
there’s going to be a court
00:54
conservatorship proceeding for every
00:56
check you write they’re everything
00:58
that’s written for you has to be
01:00
approved by the court it’s horrendous
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and it’s hard to find an attorney to
01:03
even do that work cuz the court won’t
01:05
pay attorneys for the time so a living
01:08
trust works like this you sign a
01:10
document and then unlike a will you put
01:14
your assets title in that document so
01:16
for me I’d be the Mary white trust Mary
01:19
white is trustee of the Mary white trust
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now I’ve transferred my assets one by
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one into that trust so when Mary white
01:26
dies the judge doesn’t have anything to
01:28
do my name’s not on anything the trustee
01:31
of my trust can hand everything out and
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they can hand it out right away if you
01:35
go to probate court there is a two month
01:39
period wait just to get appointed as an
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executor and if you don’t have a will
01:44
you get appointed anyway but you still
01:46
have the two month wait then there’s a
01:48
four month period where creditors have
01:50
to file claims and during that time the
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court appoints someone to value your
01:54
assets and then at the end of that four
01:56
months there’s another two month period
01:57
where the court will finally release the
01:59
assets so usually it’s over a year to
02:02
get through probate attorneys get paid a
02:04
percentage of what the person’s worth
02:06
and it’s all public record the
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beneficiaries where they live what they
02:10
got and you have no control and the
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value of your asset
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so it has nothing to do with what you’re
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worth it has to do with whether you own
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any abscess if you own any assets you
02:19
transfer them to the trust done it’s a
02:21
very simple process yeah there are a lot
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of other types of trusts that people do
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but that basic living trust there’s no
02:29
reason not to have one trusts are great
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and I think that they have a bad
02:33
reputation in so many ways but it’s our
02:37
job as attorneys to teach people the
02:39
wonder of trusts and the magic of trusts
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and and how much they benefit people
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[Music]
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you
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Menlo Park, CA estates and probate lawyer Mary White explains why trusts are so important and why they’re not simply for the super rich.
