Living Trust

Your surviving spouse inherits everything. If you die with children or other descendants from you and the surviving spouse, and your surviving spouse has descendants from previous relationships. Your surviving spouse inherits half of your intestate property and your descendants inherit the other half.

A Florida living trustallows you to transfer assets into a trust during your lifetime while you continue to use them, and then have them distributed to your choice of beneficiaries after your death. Living trusts have many benefits and are an appealing estate planning option.

In California, surviving spouses already receive all of the community property upon the death of their spouse.However, creating a joint will is still an option in California, and while it might help a couple save some time and money on their estate plan, it can also lead to some complex problems.

Typically, when a married couple utilizes a Revocable Living Trust based estate plan, each spouse creates and funds his or her own separate Revocable Living Trust. This results in two trusts. However, in the right circumstances, a married couple may be better served by creating a single Joint Trust.

The exact cost will depend on the attorney's fees, but you could end up paying more than $1,000. Before choosing an attorney to work with, make sure you understand the fees they'll charge and also note whether the attorney specializes in trusts.

Joint trusts are easier to fund and maintain.In a joint trust, after the death of the first spouse, the surviving spouse has complete control of the assets. When separate trusts are used, the deceased spouses' trust becomes irrevocable and the surviving spouse has limited control over assets.

Separate trusts may offer better protection from creditors, if this is a concern. For example, at the death of the first spouse, the deceased spouse's trust becomes irrevocable, which makes it harder to access by creditors. And yet the surviving spouse can still access it for income and other needs.

Q: Can a person have more than one trust? A: Yes, it is not that uncommon for a person to be the beneficiary of multiple trusts. However, caution should be used. Trusts come in many shapes and sizes and can serve multiple purposes and can be established by you or by someone else for your benefit.

The above scope of legal services for a married couple (first marriage) with two minor children, requiring no tax planning, will cost $1,500 $2,250.