While Standard Legal cannot speak directly to a specific personal situation, generally cash money or other highly-liquid assets placed or maintained in a revocable Living Trust are not exempt from creditors and their collection efforts. [ Read More… → ]

Joint accounts are owned only by those specifically participating in the account. In most cases, upon the death of one joint account holder, the remaining account holders continue to own the contents of the account.

Standard Legal has drafted its Living Trusts so that the children of the maker(s) of the Trust, who are presumed to be the ultimate beneficiaries of the Trust in most instances, are not named as Trustees or Successor Co-Trustees.

That may seem contradictory to many families since the primary reason a Trust has been considered is to provide protected assets to a family’s heirs, but this limitation in structure is based in sound logic. [ Read More… → ]

What actions a Co-Trustee can take in regards to the assets of that Trust depends upon the language contained within the Trust document itself.  [ Read More… → ]

A Trust is a stand-alone legal entity, separate from a person and the liabilities created by an individual. [ Read More… → ]

If a person’s estate is worth in excess of $1.5 million (i.e.  $1,500,000), with the proper planning a married couple can take advantage of a marital tax credit, thereby reducing (or reducing the likelihood) of significant federal estate taxes. [ Read More… → ]

The decision as to which type of Deed a person should use to transfer property to another depends upon the type of guarantee the person making the transfer wishes to provide. [ Read More… → ]

It is not possible to create a stipulation within a Last Will and Testament that prevents access to the distributed assets of an estate by your heir’s spouse. But there are other options. [ Read More… → ]

The Trustee may transfer property and manage the Trust assets without re-executing the Trust each time.  [ Read More… → ]

If by ‘represent’ you mean in court or in a lawsuit, the answer is no.

A non-lawyer cannot represent a separate legal entity (in this case, a Trust) in any legal proceeding.

And an executed Power of Attorney document would have no bearing on this restriction. [ Read More… → ]

While a Durable Power of Attorney vests the person named attorney-in-fact with very broad powers and authority, revoking or modifying a Trust may be outside the scope of such document. [ Read More… → ]

Like a Last Will and Testament, a Living Trust can provide the court with a suggestion as to whom the Grantors would recommend as guardian for minor children.

Standard Legal’s Living Trust legal forms software and documents allow the Grantors to make such a suggestion.

But it is the court that has the ultimate authority for determining who will act as the guardian for a child, based upon the “best interest of the child.” [ Read More… → ]

A Living Trust document that was valid and effective at the time it was executed should be effective in another state.

However, this statement is not intended to suggest that the information or directions contained in your existing Living Trust document are still current; without a full professional review of the Trust documents, it is impossible to know. [ Read More… → ]

No, such a restriction cannot be accomplished through a standard Last Will and Testament. But there may be a somewhat complex solution if such a requirement is truly desired. [ Read More… → ]

Standard Legal’s Living Trust legal forms software package contains Donor-Based Living Trusts.

A Third Party Discretionary Trust is not a highly common Living Trust format frequently used by the general public, and thus not a good candidate for an offering of pro se legal documents. [ Read More… → ]

Trusts are structured with liability in mind, to keep the beneficiaries removed from the assets involved. Most Trusts are set up with personal property assets like land, or homes or vehicles, and their liabilities are somewhat limited. But some trusts hold assets like fully operating businesses, LLCs and corporations. So if a business held by a Trust ‘goes bad’, can the beneficiaries of that Trust become personally liable for any portion of the debt generated by any operational business assets within a Trust — especially if that debt exceeds the value of the assets in the trust? [ Read More… → ]

Remember, ‘Ask Standard Legal’ was created to respond only to ‘questions of fact’ for the legal topics listed at the left. So it follows that we cannot respond with suggestions on how a person might structure something or how to proceed; that’s the very definition of legal advice.

You can certainly create an LLC at your discretion with any members you choose to involve. Details about the formation of an LLC can be found here. You might also wish to review the “BUSINESS LAW AND INCORPORATION ARTICLES” at our Standard Legal Law Library to see if an LLC is the best structure for your needs.

But we simply cannot advise you (or even make suggestions) as to the tax or estate issues related to such a decision, or even whether an LLC would function in a certain capacity. In pro se (i.e. “self-help”) law, these are the very types of decisions that must come from the individual “helping themselves”.

If you want or need legal advice, find an attorney. If you need to have a discussion of options on how best to proceed, find an attorney. Unless YOU yourself are 100% certain of the structure you wish to create and the end results of those decisions, find an attorney. To find a local attorney for FREE who specializes in either Estate Planning or Business Law, visit Standard Legal’s Attorney Finder page.

To consider making such a critical long-term financial decision based on some free advice you receive from a faceless person at a legal forms website truly is a bad idea…

Vehicles can be transferred into a Living Trust so that the Trust holds the title or ownership to the vehicles. Upon the death of the Grantor of the Trust, the vehicle continue to be owned by the Trust and do not need probate court or bureau of motor vehicle approval to transfer title to the beneficiary named in the Trust document. [ Read More… → ]

The abbreviation TTEE is shorthand for the word “Trustee” — the person who executes the terms contained within a Trust.

Typically, there are two options to changing the name on an existing Trust, assuming the existing trust was validly executed and properly funded:    [ Read More… → ]