There are certain misconceptions that circulate with regard to estate planning. One of them is the belief that trusts are only useful for very wealthy people. High net worth individuals do have a unique set of estate planning concerns. Asset transfers that exceed the amount of the federal estate tax exclusion can be taxed at a maximum rate of 40 percent. At the time of this writing late in 2015, the estate tax exclusion stands at $5.43 million, but it is going up to $5.45 million next year … [Read more...] about Are Trusts Only for the Rich?
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Five Numbers
80%: The likelihood that a person age 65 will need nursing home, assisted living, home or community care during their lifetime.[1] $109,500: This is the average cost per year of a private room in a Nursing Home in Los Angeles in 2021. That's more than $9,000 per month. [2] 2.5 years: The median length of stay in a nursing home (901 days).[3] $225,000: The average cost per year of a private room nursing home multiplied by the median length of stay.[4] $5,518: Median household wealth … [Read more...] about Five Numbers
What an Unfunded Trust Is
When setting up a trust, preparing the documents does not finish the process. If the person who sets up the trust fails to properly transfer their assets into it, it can become an underfunded or unfunded. This lack of proper funding can lead to a failure of a person’s estate plan, and also increases the potential for disputes throughout the process of probating the estate. What an Unfunded Trust Is A trust is a legal construction that involves a trustor, a trustee, and a beneficiary. The … [Read more...] about What an Unfunded Trust Is
The Pitfalls of Unfunded Trusts
Funding the Trust is an essential but often overlooked step towards avoiding a lengthy and expensive probate. Creating a trust instrument, with all of the appropriate instructions, provisos and expressions of intent, is worse than useless if no step is taken to fund the trust by transferring assets into the trust. Even when attorneys draft the trust instrument, they have been known to assume that clients will take this important step without explaining to them the need and … [Read more...] about The Pitfalls of Unfunded Trusts
