Today, we wanted to take some time to talk about a lesser-known part of estate planning: Trust Funding! Here's what it is, how it works, and why it's important:

-You fund your trust by legally transferring your assets from you to your trust and/or making your trust the legal beneficiary of certain asset(s).
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-You do this by physically changing the titles of your assets from your name to the name of your trust and/or setting up a Transfer on Death process so that the asset remains in your name until your death when it will automatically be transferred to the name of your trust.

-Funding your trust with assets helps ensure that your assets will not be subjected to a probate process.

Funding your trust is one of the most critical - and most overlooked - steps of estate planning. Our team will ensure that yours is correctly funded and that you have nothing to worry about. Schedule a free consultation with us to learn more about this process and talk about your options. https://www.dalexander.com/estate-planning.html

The Law Offices of Daniel H. Alexander helps to draw up estate plans that will last for generations. How? Firstly, we ensure that all of our plans are comprehensive and personalized to your unique life by having a thorough conversation about your financial, familial, and medical needs. Then, we encourage you and yours to review the documents and request any alterations before you sign them in order to ensure their accuracy. 

As years pass and things inevitably change, our firm offers regular updates to your estate plan so that your documents remain reflective of whatever your current situation may be and become. This allows you the freedom to move through life and grow your family with the knowledge that everyone who exists within it will be protected and provided for. Schedule a free consultation to get started on your long-lasting estate plan today! https://www.dalexander.com/estate-planning.html

The Law Offices of Daniel H. Alexander help to draw up estate plans that will last for generations. How? Firstly, we ensure that all of our plans are comprehensive and personalized to your unique life by having a thorough conversation about your financial, familial, and medical needs. Then, we encourage you and yours to review the documents and request any alterations before you sign them in order to ensure their accuracy. 

As years pass and things inevitably change, our firm offers regular updates to your estate plan so that your documents remain reflective of whatever your current situation may be and become. This allows you the freedom to move through life and grow your family with the knowledge that everyone who exists within it will be protected and provided for. Schedule a free consultation to get started on your long-lasting estate plan today! https://www.dalexander.com/estate-planning.html

The Law Offices of Daniel H. Alexander is committed to estate planning for everyone. That's why we offer estate planning questionnaires for people in all different family structures and at various places in life. To get a personalized estate plan from our firm that accurately reflects your life and needs, all you have to do is fill out the questionnaire that speaks to you, schedule a free consultation with our attorney, and communicate any additional information about your life, needs, and goals. Then, just review and sign the plan! 

No matter who you are, how complicated or confusing you feel your finances are, or how busy you are, we can - and look forward to - helping you! Visit our website to download a questionnaire and book an appointment today! https://www.dalexander.com/estate-planning.html

Why trust Attorney Daniel H. Alexander with your estate planning and probate matters? On top of having over 20 years of legal experience and nearly 8,000 clients successfully helped to his name, he boasts this list of qualifications and titles: 

-Member of Butte County Bar Association
-Member of California State Bar Association
-Member of California Lawyers Association (CLA)
-Member of Trust & Estates Section of CLA
-Member of American Bar Association (ABA)

We took the time to share this information with you today because we believe that experience and knowledge are important and want you to feel confident and comfortable in your choice of lawyer. Give us a call to learn more and start working with the team today. https://www.dalexander.com/team.html

Attorney Daniel H. Alexander is committed to making the probate process as peaceful and smooth for you and yours as possible. He and his team know how quickly these matters can become emotionally charged, tense, and stressful due to the combination of loss, grief, and family. All of us are committed to keeping things calm, functional, and easy by taking care of the legal - and many of the additional personal - obligations that come along with being the executor of an estate. This will allow you and your loved ones to spend time together without having to think about court dates, official documents, and who's been left what in a will. 

Furthermore, our team hopes that our ability to work through a probate process efficiently and properly will provide your family with the closure you need in a timely manner. Schedule a free consultation to get the support necessary to make this difficult time easier today. https://www.dalexander.com/probate--civil-litigation.html

There's nothing that we value more than our clients. Ensuring their satisfaction, happiness, and comfort is our top priority, so we commit to doing everything in our power to achieve that, day in and day out. And, according to the testimonials they've left us, we're doing pretty well: 

-"Great professional service. I am impressed with his ability to convey information in a friendly, clear, and professional manner." 
-"We felt comfortable discussing the many hard decisions we had to make for the benefit of our family. We highly recommend him."
-"Daniel made the estate planning process simple and easy to follow. Great preparation and follow-through by him and his office team."

Click the link to read full testimonials and schedule a free consultation to speak with Attorney Daniel H. Alexander yourself today!
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 https://www.dalexander.com/reviews.html 

Do you need to create or update an estate plan? Ask yourself these questions: 

-Do I have an estate plan right now?
-Is the estate plan personalized to me and my loved ones?
-Does it address our current needs?
-Has our family gone through any major changes (births, deaths, marriages, divorces, relationship-altering disagreements, new health complications/developments, significant financial changes) lately? 

If you answered "No" to any of the first three questions or "Yes" to the last question, you should start your summer off right by contacting us so you can flip those answers right away! Having an estate plan is essential to being able to protect your assets and remain in control of your life in emergency situations - EVERYONE needs one. Ensuring that these essential documents always reflect your current life is critical for them to be able to be functional and effective when the time comes for them to be used. Schedule a free consultation to learn more. https://www.dalexander.com/estate-planning.html

Are you the parent of a high school grad? Congrats! We're willing to bet that you're a combination of excited, nervous, and incredibly busy getting them ready to move out and prepare for adult life - But we're here to add one more thing to your list of things to do: Have them draw up a will and power of attorney document!

When your child is 18, they are legally allowed to have their own will, name their own power of attorney for medical and financial matters, and be named as someone else's. This will allow them to remain in control of their life, decisions, and possessions in an emergency. Don't skip this important steppingstone to adulthood - Schedule a free consultation for your kid to start their own estate plan with Attorney Daniel H. Alexander today. https://www.dalexander.com/estate-planning.html

​Gift and Estate Tax Law Changes 2022:


Gift Tax Exclusion
The gift tax exclusion in 2022 has increased to $16,000 per individual or $32,000 per married couple splitting their gifts. With this you can give up to $16,000 to as many people as you wish without those gifts counting against your lifetime exemption which is stated below.


Federal Estate Tax Exemption
The Federal Estate and Gift Tax exemption increased to $12.06 million per individual. This means that a single person can give away $12.06 million of assets over the course of your life without owing any Federal Estate tax and for a married couple it is 24.12 million.


In 2026, the Federal Estate and Gift Tax exemption is to go down to approximately $5 million. The IRS has now clarified that they will not “claw back” gifts given between 2018-2025 that exceed $5 million, with regard to someone who dies in or after 2026.

Many people have heard of the probate, but most wonder what it is. Simply put, probate is the process the probate court uses to handle a decedent's estate and make sure the deceased person’s creditors are paid and that the deceased’s beneficiaries receive their share.

The probate process can be anything but simple, depending on the size and nature of the assets, the number of parties involved, how well the parties get along, and more. Complex probates are made worse by the fact that the family is mourning and under stress. The last thing most families want to deal with is probate.

The most common mistakes are:

1) Not communicating with the heirs. When you don't communicate others, they think the worst. It is crucial that all that are involved are on the same page so the estate can easily be handled.  Keep them informed. 

2) Not understanding the probate process.  Probate has many specific hoops to jump through in a certain order and if you don't hire an attorney, you are likely to fail.   Remember the Courts and the clerks cannot provide legal advice; they can simply tell you if you are doing it right or wrong.

3) Waiting too long to begin.  As time passes, so does the information.  Therefore, it is imperative to begin the Probate process right away while all the information is most available.

4) Not forwarding or picking up the decedent's mail.  Ask the post office to forward all mail to your (the representative) address so you don't miss out on notices, statements and claims. 

5) Failing to prepare an accurate inventory. The Personal Representative must account for everything and understand where and how those assets will be distributed to the heirs either under the Will or without a Will (intestate succession). 

6) Failing to finish and close the Estate.  The assets of the Estate are generally not to be distributed until the estate is finalized, an accounting completed and approved (or it's waived by the heirs) and a Petition for distribution is heard, and the order signed. Finally, the Personal Representative is not relieved of liability until the Court discharges you, which is done once the Estate is distributed and an Ex Parte Petition is filed.  

Tip #10:  Give your agent power to help you and your trustee power to help your heirs

Many times, I will see a Power of Attorney that does not give your agent the ability to do necessary planning if you become incapacitated such as making necessary gifts to an irrevocable trust, so you qualify for long term care or being able to get property into your trust that was left out called "funding your trust".  Without these types of specific powers in your Power of Attorney document your agent generally cannot do help.  Make the powers broad.

Further, many times I will see a trust that did not give the trustee the ability to hold property in a Special Needs Trust for a disabled beneficiary.  Maybe you don't have a disabled beneficiary now and don't think you need to plan, but what about in the future.  Can you tell the future?

Like I always say, I can get hit by a bus as easily as you or your beneficiaries. So do the advanced planning while you are setting up or amending your trust.  If you don't have a disabled beneficiary then good and the clause will not be used, but if you do in the future, they will be thankful that you did so they don't lose their benefits.

Finally, put a Trust Protector provision in your trust.  When you are gone your trust generally becomes irrevocable (e.g., non-changeable).  So, what happens if circumstances changed but you did not change your trust.  Well, a Trust Protector is a non-paid 3rd party that can update your trust to meet your wishes or needs.  Perhaps you forgot to plan for a disabled beneficiary - a Trust Protector could amend the trust to put in a Special Needs Trust provision to help.  Or what happens if your successor trustees are unable to act?  Your Trust Protector could appoint someone to act and keep it out of court.

The basics here is while you are doing the planning do it well.  Plan for the unknown.

​Tip #8:  Get organized. 

Many times, I will have clients come in with a stack of envelopes and papers that they got from their retiring attorney.  What a mess, help they say. 

That is why I prefer to put all estate planning documents in a binder that is tabbed out and then to shred all unnecessary documents (such as a power of attorney that was revoked and replaced). 

I then advise my client(s) to make copies of at least the first page of their financial statements, hole punch them, and put them in the back of the binder (I have a tab called location lists in the back). These statements have account numbers and contact information.  They also should stae they are in your trust, if they are.  If not, get them in your trust or be sure the trust is the beneficiary. 

Then every 3 to 5 years, review the binder for accuracy, make changes as needed and replace the statements in the back with new ones.

​Tip #7:  Beneficiary Simplicity.

People like to leave a legacy, I get that.  People like to have control, even beyond the grave, I get that too. However, many people will take this too far by coming up with a complicated beneficiary distribution.  You need to weight the purpose of the give against the practicality of administering the gift. Basically, a burden / benefit analysis. Keeping it fairly basic will make it easier and less expensive to administer and will make the trustee job more desirable.

Many times, when there are complex distributions, or when we hold the assets for many years, the trustee loses interest in being trustee.  Keep in mind, it can become a burden and can effect relationships.

So, reserve the complex planning for those beneficiaries that really need it, such as a disabled beneficiary. And if such complex planning is needed, be sure to pick a trustee that is willing to administer it - perhaps even a professional fiduciary instead of a family member.

​Tip #6:  Consider a Restated Amendment to Your Trust.
 
Many times, I will have a client come in and they will have 3, 4, 5... amendments to their trust.  Sometimes they will have them all, many times they will be missing one in the middle, and most of the time they are confused as to what all the amendments say.
 
Further, many times such trust and amendments will be many years old and the amendments addressed specific concerns of the client, such as successor trustees or beneficiaries, but they did not address the change in laws.
 
Usually a restated amendment (or a restatement of trust) provides one trust document to look at and follow. This is because the restatement replaces the original trust and all amendments with one document, yet you keep the same trust name and original date of signing so you don't have to go re-title assets already in your trust. It should also update the trust to the current laws.

Tip #5:  Consolidate accounts, diversify and reduce risk.

The fewer accounts you have the easier it will be for you to manage as you get older and the easier it will be for your successor trustee. However, be aware of the FDIC rules regarding amounts protected in banks.  Currently, each depositor is insured to at least $250,000 per insured bank.  That's per bank, not per account. 

Additionally, you need to be sure your accounts are diversified, especially if we are of retirement age or older.  Diversified accounts can weather the storm better and help to ensure the funds will be there when needed.

Finally, at retirement age or older, reduce your investment risk. Again, so that the funds will be there when needed.  Riskier investments usually have a potential for higher returns, but they also have a higher likelihood of losing.  We want to make sure your funds are there for you when you need them!