Review of Existing Trusts
Are your estate planning documents more than five years old? Has your estate size or estate plan changed, have your children grown up, or has your spouse passed away since your estate planning documents were prepared? We review existing trusts and other estate planning documents to determine whether they are appropriate for your current circumstances. Changes may be necessary under the following circumstances:
- You want to change beneficiaries or trustees.
- You have moved since your trust was created and you are not sure whether it is properly funded.
- Your children may have grown up and should be named as trustees.
- If your spouse has passed away, your trust should be reviewed. Your trust may contain a "bypass" or "exemption" trust which must be funded. Your spouse may have been appointed your agent under a power of attorney and you may now have to appoint new agents.
- A new estate tax law was enacted in December 2010. See The New Estate Tax Law. If you have existing estate planning documents, it is important for you to contact an estate planning attorney to determine how this new law impacts your estate plan.
Incapacity Planning
Is your spouse or elderly parent facing possible incapacity, or do you have a developmentally disabled child? We can assist you in determining how this person’s affairs can best be handled by others. There are several options to be considered.
If the person has sufficient capacity to understand and execute documents, he or she can execute powers of attorney to allow a trusted agent to handle his or her affairs without court supervision. If an elder person facing possible dementia has created a living trust, it may be appropriate for that person to resign as trustee to allow an adult child to take over management of trust assets. In addition, many trusts provide that, if a physician certifies that a trustee has become incapacitated, the trusteeship will pass to the successor trustee. We can represent either the elder parent or the adult child in this situation (but not both) and assist our client in determining the best course of action.
If the individual has already become incapacitated, a court conservatorship can be established to handle the person's affairs. We are very experienced in representing conservators in establishing conservatorships under court supervision.
