TRUSTS: Your Friend Can Inherit Your Property Without Probate

By Deloughery Law Office, PLC

Trusts help avoid probate and can also save taxes.  A trust is the best way to ensure that your friend can inherit all your property without having to go through probate or pay taxes. This is especially important if you are naming a friend (rather than a family member or spouse) as your beneficiary. 

Spouses, for example, have some special protections under the law.  Friends don't.

If you want your friend to inherit all your property upon your death, contact an estate planning attorney to help your create a trust. You will then transfer your property to the trust.  By property, I mean all your "stuff":  homes, vehicles, checking and savings accounts, personal possessions, etc.

I say that the best way is to have an estate planning attorney create a trust because if you use an online service, you never know what you are getting. The trust will name your friend as the beneficiary. Then the attorney can help you transfer your assets (your "stuff") to the trust. (The attorney can explain how to do this or help you do this.)

A related issue is how to prevent your family from raising Cain after you die. (You don't want your family suing your friend after your death, right?) One possible solution is to have your attorney send a letter to your "next of kin" saying that your have created a trust that names your friend as the sole beneficiary. You will want to keep copies of those letters with your estate planning documents. This will arguably start the statute of limitations for any family members who might file claims after your death. 

If you have any questions about trusts or how to enforce a trust after someone has died, let us know. We deal with these situations all the time.

To learn more visit our website at:  www.delougherylaw.com 

Preserving Resources for Well Spouse

Preserving Resources for Well-Spouse

Question: I was told that my ALTCS application was denied because I, the “well spouse”, had more than the one-half of the marital resources that ALTCS allows a well spouse to keep.  We are now in the process of reapplying, but now that I have spent my spouse’s one-half, I will also spend much of my spouse’s one-half during the months in which the new application processes.  Could this dilemma been prevented?

Answer: Given that ALTCS can take several months to process an application, the issue of who will pay for care while the application processes oftentimes arises.  In cases in which the applicant is married, the concerns are at least two-fold:  Obtaining care for the applicant is of paramount importance, but it is also critical that the well spouse preserves enough funds to sustain the quality of life to which he or she is accustomed.

The best way to preserve resources for a well spouse is to make sure that everything is in order before submitting the application.  It could take ALTCS several months to process an application, whether or not the application is ultimately approved.  And if ALTCS denies the application, you will have lost those months in which the application processed, and have to start the process anew.

While the general rule is that a well spouse can keep about one-half of the marital assets, there are oftentimes planning strategies to help the well-spouse maximize his or her resources.  But here again, the best way for a well spouse to accomplish this goal is to be proactive and engage in planning well before submitting the application to ALTCS.

For more information about Jackson White Elder Law, or to download any of their free resources, feel free to visit us at:  http://www.arizonaseniorlaw.com/resource,  http://www.arizonalongtermcare.com  or
http://www.myAltcs.com