June 20, 2023

Six Reasons to have a Trust and not a Will (Episode #283)

Not sure if you need a Trust or a Will? Here are six reasons for choosing the Trust

Spreaker podcast player iconApple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconiHeartRadio podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player icon

Not sure if you need a Trust or a Will? Here are six reasons for choosing the Trust

WEBVTT

1
00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:38.640
Well, good afternoon, Michiganders.
Today is Tuesday, June twentieth, twenty

2
00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:44.399
twenty three. Summer is here,
and of course this is Tuesday with Tom

3
00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:49.280
Michigan's Only, the weekly podcast where
we answer your questions about a state planning

4
00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:53.399
and a state settlement in Michigan.
I'm your host, Tom Doyle, a

5
00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:58.759
state planning attorney, lifelong Michigan resident, and ambassador for all things good in

6
00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:06.840
this great state of Michigan. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to today's program.

7
00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:11.000
Well, a brief recap of the
last episode. Actually took a couple of

8
00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:15.840
weeks off trying to enjoy some of
the summer weather. But last episode was

9
00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.120
Don't Die because of Confusion about your
end of life wishes. So I invite

10
00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:29.640
you listen to that show because I
discussed some confusion that can sometimes be caused

11
00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:34.560
when you're in the hospital if your
documents don't match up with what their records

12
00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:38.760
are at the hospital, and in
that situation, it was a tragic outcome

13
00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:44.680
for the individual. So I invite
you encourage you listen to last week last

14
00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:53.239
episode about don't Die because of Confusion
about your end of life wishes. Today's

15
00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:59.120
show six reasons to have a trust
and not a will. But please remember

16
00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:04.920
that what I'm about to discuss during
their program is, as always for educational

17
00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:08.919
purposes only. It is not intended
to be legal advice. You need to

18
00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:15.199
work with your attorney to determine what
is appropriate for you and your estate plan.

19
00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.520
Six reasons to have a trust and
not a will. What I'm actually

20
00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:38.240
going to do for today's show I
covered this topic way back in May of

21
00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:46.479
twenty twenty one. That was episode
two thirty one or something in that range,

22
00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:55.240
And what I'm going to do today
is replay that discussion from back in

23
00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:00.800
May of twenty twenty one when I
talked about six reasons to have a trust

24
00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:07.800
and not have a will, So
please listen, and or you've attended seminars

25
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:13.080
and a man and I have done
a number of these reasons I've talked about

26
00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:20.360
during episodes previously, and or we
oftentimes talk about them during seminars on a

27
00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:24.520
state planning start first, and these
aren't necessarily an order priority, but it's

28
00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.240
simply six reasons why you might consider
choosing a trust over having a will.

29
00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.759
Number one, eighty percent of us
eighty percent of us are likely going to

30
00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:42.080
become disabled at some point in our
lives well. A will does not provide

31
00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:47.800
any disability planning because they only take
effect on death. A living trust,

32
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:55.919
however, is in effect while you
are alive and is a component of disability

33
00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:03.080
planning because you will name a trustee
who will manage the trust for you if

34
00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:12.360
you become disabled. So again,
the trust is a disability planning tool where

35
00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:17.360
a will is not. Also,
trust help to avoid guardianship proceedings, because

36
00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:21.879
a will doesn't avoid a guardianship.
But if all of your assets are being

37
00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:29.680
managed effectively by a trustee, there
might not even ever need to be a

38
00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:36.439
guardian appointed as well. So again
disability planning Number two wills, and I've

39
00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:44.240
talked about this repeatedly. Wills are
meaningless documents until you die and a probate

40
00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:50.800
estate is opened. What does that
mean? That means wills do not avoid

41
00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:57.959
probate. On the other hand,
a living trust comes into existence during your

42
00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:05.600
lifetime, owns a sets during your
lifetime, and thus is used frequently as

43
00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:13.399
a tool to avoid the expense of
probate, the delay of probate, and

44
00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:25.160
protecting your privacy that is otherwise given
up during that probate process. So wills

45
00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:33.319
don't avoid probate. Trust avoid probate. Number three. A will does not

46
00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:40.680
protect assets from nursing home cost.
I've talked about previous episodes about the Medicaid

47
00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:50.720
lookback period and the importance of using
an irrevocable Medicaid Asset protection trust to protect

48
00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:58.000
assets from nursing home cost once they
are in that trust four five years.

49
00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:05.000
Again, if Medicaid planning is apprope
is important to you, preserving assets are

50
00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:12.079
important for you, then another reason
to choose a trust over a will is

51
00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:18.040
to take advantage of that five year
lookback rule. Number four. A trust

52
00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:28.920
for children can protect their inheritance from
your children's divorces and keep the inheritance in

53
00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:33.800
your bloodline. Again, I talked
about that previous episode. I think it

54
00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:39.759
was about episode number one forty eight
in that range. Anyhow about using a

55
00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:46.319
trust to protect inheritance from your children's
spouses. On the other hand, if

56
00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.800
you leave the inheritance outright to your
child, such as under a will,

57
00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:56.519
they will likely leave the money to
their spouse, who may remarry. They

58
00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:02.480
leaving the inheritance earmarked for somebody else, and in fact, because the assets

59
00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:08.000
will become part of their estate at
the time of your death, they could

60
00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:15.680
well be under certain circumstances subject to
division with their spouse in the event of

61
00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.079
a divorce. So again, number
four, a reason to have a will

62
00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:28.000
over a trust has to do with
protecting the inheritance from your children's divorce.

63
00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:36.079
Number five, trust can be used
to avoid out of state probates. Now

64
00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.839
he talked about just a moment ago, wills do not avoid probate. Trusts

65
00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:46.000
can be used to avoid probate.
Well, if you die as a resident

66
00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:53.199
of Michigan and you have real estate
in Michigan and you have real estate in

67
00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:59.000
another state, then you are going
to have two probate proceedings because real estate

68
00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.600
is abated in the state where the
real estate is located. So in that

69
00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:07.519
case, let's say you have your
vacation property in Colorado. Well, if

70
00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:11.519
you die in Michigan and all you
have is a will, you're going to

71
00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.519
open a probate estate here, and
it's going to control the Michigan real estate,

72
00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:20.279
and then you're going to have to
open an ancillary probate in Colorado to

73
00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:24.319
handle the Colorado property. On the
other hand, if you had a trust,

74
00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:30.800
you could transfer your Michigan property and
your out of state property in that

75
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:39.159
case Colorado to your trust, thus
avoiding multiple probates when you die, saving

76
00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:50.279
your family time and money and complications. Number six, trust can protect assets

77
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:58.879
from a spouse's remarriage after your death. A will does not in fact in

78
00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:05.080
Michigan. If I have a will
and I attempt to disinherit my spouse under

79
00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.919
my will, my spouse can choose
to ignore what I have said in my

80
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:16.279
will and take what they have under
the statute as their rightful share of my

81
00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:22.639
estate. On the other hand,
a trust can be used to keep my

82
00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:26.480
estate from going to my spouse.
If that's what I choose to do.

83
00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.440
Maybe it's going to be used to
take care of my spouse, but isn't

84
00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:35.480
going to be owned by my spouse, thus making sure that upon my spouse's

85
00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:41.440
death whatever is left does go to
the children. Because if it goes to

86
00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:48.039
my spouse and my spouse gets remarried
or your spouse gets remarried, then in

87
00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:56.080
that case that new spouse might well
be inheriting what was your estate, which

88
00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:05.960
means it might well then not go
to your children. So reason number six

89
00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:15.759
is to keep the assets in your
going to your children. If that is

90
00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:20.720
a concern to you in your state
plan. So again, recap wills do

91
00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:26.879
not provide disability planning where trusts do. Wills do not avoid probate where trust

92
00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:33.600
can. Wills do not protect assets
from nursing home cost where an irrevocable trust

93
00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:41.840
can. Wills don't protect an inheritance
from children's divorces where trust can. Wills

94
00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:48.159
do not avoid out of state probate
with real estate involved out of state where

95
00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:54.399
a trust can. Wills do not
protect assets from a spouses remarriage after your

96
00:10:54.519 --> 00:11:24.279
death where a trust can. Well. Before we conclude today's show, just

97
00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.600
a reminder though, that A man
and I would be honored to have the

98
00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:33.039
opportunity to help you protect your loved
ones by either putting together your state plan,

99
00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:37.120
amending a current plan, or assisting
you in settling a loved one's estate.

100
00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:43.080
For information on how to schedule appointment, simply head on over to Doyle

101
00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:48.000
LAWPC dot com. There you'll find
information on how you can schedule an in

102
00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:54.759
person consultation at the New East Lansing
office or virtual consultations via zoom or telephone

103
00:11:56.200 --> 00:12:01.039
wherever you happen to be in the
state of Michigan. Reminder too that we

104
00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.639
do have the Legal Store at doilawpc
dot com. If you're just looking to

105
00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:09.519
have one individual document prepared, maybe
all you need is a new power of

106
00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:15.000
Attorney for healthcare. Head on over
to the Legal Store and find out how

107
00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:22.279
you can order individual documents to be
prepared and delivered to your email box.

108
00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:26.279
But now that is going to be
it for today's show. As always,

109
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:30.879
though, if you have a comment
about the program, a topic that you'd

110
00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:33.279
like to have me discuss, or
questions that you would like to have answered,

111
00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.399
please send me an email. That's
at Tom at Tuesday with Toom dot

112
00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:41.600
com. Please follow us on Facebook
and invite your family and friends to follow

113
00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:46.159
us at Tuesday with Tom. Also
at the office doil Law PC. Remember

114
00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:54.840
too do Tuesday with Tom is available
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google podcast,

115
00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:58.480
iHeartRadio, Spreaker wherever it is that
you listen to your favorite podcast,

116
00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:05.440
and you can always ask your smart
speaker to play Tuesday with Tao. Thank

117
00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:09.200
you again for spending some of your
time with us today, and as always,

118
00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:16.320
I hope you have an awesome day
and an awesome week in Michigan.

119
00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:24.279
Stay safe. Tuesday with Tom has
been brought to you by the estate planning

120
00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:28.840
attorneys at Doyle Law PC. To
learn how we can help you with your

121
00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:33.639
estate plan or with settling a loved
ones estate, please call us today at

122
00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:39.240
five one seven three two three seven
three six six. That's five one seven

123
00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.600
three two three seven three six six