As you will likely notice on your visit through our website, we believe very strongly that if you have any property or family, you should have an Estate Plan. Perhaps you already know this and you’ve already created your own Estate Plan. That’s great!
Now, not to throw cold water on our kudos, we have to ask you…
Is your Estate Plan still valid?
When the time comes that you or your loved ones need to put your Estate Plans into action, will they be able to?
There are many things that can interfere with the effectiveness of a Trust, the validity of a Will or of other papers.
With ever-changing tax laws and state regulations regarding Medi-Cal benefits, with changes in your family and changes to your assets, you can run into some serious problems.
- An out-of-date Trust can create significant hurdles when you need that Trust most of all. Trusts often come into play during times of crisis, including sickness and death. An out of date trust can bring an additional level of worry and stress to an already difficult situation. You can easily remove the stress by keeping your Estate Plan up to date.
- Changes in your financial situation or property ownership require updates. Property not accounted for in your Estate Plan will have to go through Probate.
- Beneficiaries not clearly defined, such as new wives, husbands, and children can cause question and create extra steps. It’s important to remember marriages, new family members, divorces, and deceased family members.
You want your wishes to be carried out when you are no longer able to express them and fight for them.
We can help — by offering our Client Maintenance Plan, an on-going Estate Plan maintenance plan — in order to ensure that your critical documents are always up to date. It costs a little to have your Estate Plan reviewed on a regular schedule, but it can cost your family a lot more if they can’t carry out your wishes or end up in probate. And it can cost you your freedoms if you end up living under a conservator.
If we find a problem, we can fix it — and if there are no problems, you gain peace of mind.
Your peace of mind now is worth the time now.
The peace of mind for your loved ones is likely worth even more to you.
What our Client Maintenance Program covers
This Client Maintenance Program covers the following matters:
- Annual plan review
Upon request, we will annually review your existing plan and will advise you of any suggested changed prompted by changes in law or your life circumstances. - Plan amendments
We will amend your plan to accommodate simple alterations made necessary by changes in the law or your life circumstances. This service does NOT include amendments that require substantial alterations to an existing plan or the preparation of additional documents. Such services will be provided upon request at 10-25% discount from our standard fees. - Access to Legal Experts
Unlimited telephone calls for questions about your estate plan
Without any additional charge, we will be accessible telephonically to answer your legal and financial questions to the best of our ability. If your situation requires assistance beyond our expertise, we will help you find an appropriate professional to address your needs. - Preparation of an asset inventory spreadsheet
To help ensure that your trust is properly funded, we will create and maintain an asset spreadsheet to help you keep track of your assets, legal ownership of those assets and any applicable beneficiary designations. (This does NOT include actual transfers of assets into your Trust.) - Deed transfers in event of refinancings
Transfer of Newly Acquired Real Estate to Trust and Re-financing of Trust Property: We will prepare a grant deed to help you transfer to your trust the title of any real estate you acquire while you are an active participant in our CMP. We will also cooperate with your escrow company regarding any refinancing of trust property to insure that all property remains in the trust after any re-financing. - Discounts for family members
We will create estate plans for members of your family at a 25% discount from our standard fees. For any probate or trust administration for your estate or the estate of a family member, we will discount 10% of our normal fee or the fee set by state statute.
Do a quick review with us once in a while, then go relax.
Please call and set up a time to come in.
We’d be happy to talk to you and suggest the best way for us to proceed.