Not Everyone’s a Candidate for a Living Trust

This week we’re featuring a couple, Scott and Callista, who came in to our Oakland office initially to transfer title on several rather sizeable properties. Scott wanted to add his wife’s name to the title, making them co-owners; this is a fairly simple procedure, one that we can generally execute in a day.

Whenever couples transfer a deed, they are thinking about the future and eventualities—Scott wanted to make sure that if anything happened to him, Callista would be the legal owner of the property. This got Scott and Callista thinking about making other end-of-life plans. Here at California Document Preparers, we encourage all of our clients to get our comprehensive Living Trust package, which includes a Power of Attorney and Advance Healthcare Directive. This ensures that their heirs will avoid Probate, and that there will be a clearly identified plan if they become incapacitated.

The solution: a Will-based Estate Plan

Both Scott and Callista have successful careers (Callista sells real estate in San Francisco), they don’t have kids, and they now co-owned their real estate, so Probate wasn’t a concern. They did, however, see the need to create end-of-life documents. The solution for Scott and Callista? A Will-based Estate Plan. They recognized the need to create Powers of Attorney and Advance Healthcare Directives in the event either of them became incapacitated. They also recognized their mutual obligation to create Wills to provide guidance on what to do with their rather sizable estate after the second death, and like many of our animal-loving clients, they wanted to make sure their pets were taken care of.

We drafted up their documents and forwarded them for review, and Scott and Callista had very meaningful comments and feedback. Once they had decided to take this important step to ensure their end-of-life transition, they wanted to ensure that no detail was overlooked. “We looked at a lot of options, and we liked working with California Document Preparers for the real estate transactions so we felt this was a fast, cost effective means to meet our goals.”

While we generally recommend a Living Trust, it’s not appropriate for everyone. As with Scott and Callista, what is appropriate is creating the end-of-life documents that detail a transition plan. If you have questions, come into one of California Document Preparers’ three Bay Area locations. We’re here to help.