Читать книгу The Living Trust Advisor - Condon Jeffrey L. - Страница 5

The purpose of this book is quite simple. I want you to think of me as your Living Trust coach. Like any coach, I want to train you so you will be ready to play the big game, which, in this case, is living with your Living Trust with no financial, emotional, or practical upheaval in your life, and dying with a Living Trust that will adequately and effectively provide for your spouse, children, charities, and other heirs and beneficiaries with a minimum of conflict, diversion, tax, and expense.

• Like any football or basketball game, this big game takes place in a special arena.. the inheritance arena. The players are you, your spouse, your Living Trust lawyer, your assets, your children, your other beneficiaries, and, perhaps, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). And like any game, there is a warm-up period (which is where you are right now), four quarters of play, and a cool-down period. Think of The Living Trust Advisor as your playbook that describes how to play the big game during those different periods, which are: The First Quarter: Establishing Your Living Trust.

• The Second Quarter: Living with Your Living Trust during the Lifetimes of You and Your Spouse.

• The Third Quarter: Living with Your Living Trust after the Death of Your Spouse.

• The Fourth Quarter: Dying with Your Living Trust.

• Postgame: Review and Lessons Learned.

The big game begins the moment the concept of doing your Living Trust pops in your mind. That is when the whistle blows to start play. It ends when both you and your spouse have died and your Living Trust assets are in the hands of your children or other beneficiaries.

Between the beginning and end of the big game, though, there is a lot that happens.

• There is the selection of the Living Trust lawyer.

• There is the understanding of the nuts and bolts of the Living Trust document.

• There is the allocation of the assets – real estate, stocks, bank accounts, brokerage assets, businesses, personal effects – to the Living Trust.

• There is the operation and management of the Living Trust during the lifetimes of both you and your spouse.

• There is dealing with your Living Trust real estate when you sell or refinance that property.

• There is the selection of key players – the managers, agents, and protectors – upon which depends the success or failure of your Living Trust and your inheritance instructions.

• There is the operation and management of the Living Trust when the first spouse dies (the deceased spouse).

• There is the protection of the surviving spouse’s ownership and control of the Living Trust assets during that spouse’s incapacity or incompetence.

• There is the operation and management of the Living Trust when the last spouse (the surviving spouse) dies.

• There is the filing of the last spouse’s estate tax return and payment of estate taxes.

• There is the distribution of the Living Trust assets to your children without creating conflict and chaos between them.

• And there is the protection of your children’s Living Trust inheritance from the winds of their fates: their addictions, divorces, remarriages, mental disabilities, financial immaturity, and creditors.

It does not matter whether you have played the big game before or whether you already have your Living Trust. After you read The Living Trust Advisor playbook, you will know how to play the big game the way it should be played. If you follow my training and listen to my advice, I believe you will walk away from the big game a winner. In my book, winning means:

• Having a clearer understanding of your Living Trust.

• Opening your eyes to the numerous problems and issues in the inheritance arena that you must consider before your first meeting with your Living Trust lawyer.

• Maintaining ownership and control of your Living Trust assets while you and your spouse are both alive, and then after the death of one spouse.

• Facilitating the smooth transfer of your Living Trust assets to your children, grandchildren, and other heirs after your death.

• Identifying potential inheritance problem areas now so you have the opportunity to build solutions into your Living Trust in order to prevent those problems from arising during your life and after your death.