Cost of Setting Up A Trust is this...

[Lynn CC]

reasonable? Just trying to see how this price we got from our lawyer sounds to you?

Wills 500
Durable Power of Attorney 250
Health Care Proxy 250
Living Wills...Free
Revocable Living Trust 1700

recording costs:
226 Trust
126 Deed

Total $3052

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

Unfortunately, I think it is reasonable. My FIL set up a trust that took over 5 years to put together-cost him a fortune.

 

[chrissyk]

Yes, very reasonable.

 

[Lynn CC]

I was always under the impression that one didn't need a will if they have a trust?

 

[bsnyder]

You still need a will.

And that's a very reasonable cost!

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

You still need a will.

And that's a very reasonable cost!

I agree...and probably on the inexpensive side of reasonable, at that! Of all the things that you spend your money on, I would say that this is one area that I, personally, wouldn't go cheap on.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

But do you really need all of those things?

What exactly should a person have incase something happens to them?
I am married and have one child

Is a just a Will good enough?

 

[ducklite]

But do you really need all of those things?

What exactly should a person have incase something happens to them?
I am married and have one child

Is a just a Will good enough?

It depends on how you want your estate handled.

We named a guardian for our son, and also set up a trust that he would be the beneficiary of. We named my brother as the trustee. Now that our son is an adult, the guardianship no longer applies, but the trust still does. The last thing I want is a 19 year old with a couple million in his pocket! My brother will not put up with any nonsense from our son, and will give him what he needs to live comfortably but not extravagantly. If my son called and said "Hey Uncle Tim, can I have $30k to buy a motorcycle?" he'd be met with hysterical laughter and then a deadpan "No, but I'll give you $200 to buy a bicycle." This particular brother is financially astute and a little "tight", so it seemed a good choice.

Our son is not ready to live independently, and has some hidden disabilities, so I'm not sure he ever will live entirely independently, so he would probably move in with my sister for the forseeable future. That works out well as well, we'd rather have the person he's living with not be the one controlling the purse strings.

BTW--Those prices seem quite reasonable.

Anne

 

[RUDisney]

But do you really need all of those things?

What exactly should a person have incase something happens to them?
I am married and have one child

Is a just a Will good enough?

It depends on your financial position. It is my understanding that if you don't have enough to exceed the federal limits for what you are leaving to your estate, you don't need a living trust. The benefit of that is that only the first generation must pay inheritance tax. All generations after that don't have to pay any because the trust is an entity of its own.

As for a POA, a Health Care Proxy and Living Will, those would be up to you. If you don't have anything in writing, the person whom you'd like to have making heathcare or other decisions may not be able to do so. If you're ever in a position such as that woman in FL whose husband wanted her starved to death, it's much easier to let the family know what you really want through a living will instead of letting family members decide for you while creating hard feelings among dissenting members.

 

[Galahad]

We have all of those things and didn't spend anywhere near that amount. We started by writing our own with Intuit's Quicken Lawyer and then just had the resulting documents reviewed. Total was no more that $500.

 

[EthansMom]

But do you really need all of those things?

What exactly should a person have incase something happens to them?
I am married and have one child

Is a just a Will good enough?

DH and I had simple documents made up by a lawyer before we had our first child. We knew what we wanted ahead of time and were very easy. We got Wills to designate who got our assets and who got guardianship of any children (had it written in general language to include any future children). We got Health Care Power of Attorneys to designate who got to make our health care decisions if we were incapacitated. We got Durable Power of Attorneys so that we could each sign legal documents for the other (say, if we were selling a house and one of us was suddenly in the hospital or something). We also got Living Wills that state that we don't want to be kept on life support in a vegetative state.

Since we didn't have a lot of assets, we didn't need a Trust, which is usually used to transfer assets without going through probate or paying estate taxes.

We got a referral from the State Bar for a lawyer and she charged us $250 for all of the documents six years ago.

 

[chrissyk]

It depends on your financial position. It is my understanding that if you don't have enough to exceed the federal limits for what you are leaving to your estate, you don't need a living trust. The benefit of that is that only the first generation must pay inheritance tax. All generations after that don't have to pay any because the trust is an entity of its own.

This is not correct. You DO need a trust even if you don't exceed the federal limits on the estate tax exemption...that is, unless you want the joy of giving some lawyer out there 3%+ of your estate to have it pass through probate Just because the estate is under the federal estate tax exemption limit doesn't make it exempt from probate. Why go through the hassle and expense of probate if you can avoid it by making a revokable living trust ahead of time

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Holy cow. You guys are making my head spin. I don't know where to begin.

But I really need to do something.

I don't want my DD to end up somewhere I wouldn't want her to be.

And who can I trust with her money?

 

[ducklite]

Holy cow. You guys are making my head spin. I don't know where to begin.

But I really need to do something.

I don't want my DD to end up somewhere I wouldn't want her to be.

And who can I trust with her money?

Think about someone you know and trust who has a parenting style you agree with. It doesn't have to be a relative. Talk to them about taking on the responsibility, and ask them to think about it for a few days before giving you an answer.

As far as who to handle her money, it can either be the person who will become her guardian, or another trusted person who has a good handle on financial matters. IMHO the person you trust your kid to and the person you trust their money two are often best being two seperate entities.

Anne

 

[EthansMom]

I don't want my DD to end up somewhere I wouldn't want her to be.

And who can I trust with her money?

For us, that was the hardest decision of all. We wanted our children to be raised as closely as we would raise them ourselves. And we also wanted someone who would also use and invest our children's money wisely. For us, my Mom and Stepdad have both attributes, so if anything happens to both DH and I, per our wills, my Mom and Stepdad will have guardianship of our children and be custodians of their money.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

Think about someone you know and trust who has a parenting style you agree with. It doesn't have to be a relative. Talk to them about taking on the responsibility, and ask them to think about it for a few days before giving you an answer.

As far as who to handle her money, it can either be the person who will become her guardian, or another trusted person who has a good handle on financial matters. IMHO the person you trust your kid to and the person you trust their money two are often best being two seperate entities.

Anne

That doesn't leave me much to work with.


I agree with that.

My Mom health is not the best and DH's parents are in their 80'a. So they are out of the question. DH does come from a large family 9 kids. But I guess I would have to go with DH's twin brother being the closest one to raising my DD if I couldn't.

 

[ZachnElli]

We paid about 3K a year ago, so yes that sounds right. Expensive peace of mind, eh?

 

[POB14]

I'm a lawyer, but not THAT kind of lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt, as with all others:

Good advice above. Yes, the costs are reasonable. But NOT every will goes through probate. Depending on the size of the estate and (most importantly) the state, some small estates do NOT need to go through probate, even if there is no trust.

Just like with a medical problem: get good professional advice, and follow it. That's the best thing to do.