Cameron Kelly has featured three videos on his bio page which contain the following text.
Video Transcript:
How can I avoid probate?
The easiest way to avoid a probate, or the most common maybe, is to create a trust while you’re living and that’s called a revocable living trust. When my clients create a trust like that, they are something called a trustee. They put the property into the trust and we help them to do that. We create the terms of the trust and then while they’re living there isn’t much of a difference to them with how they manage their property. They can still make all the decisions that they need to with that property.But the advantage is when they pass away, someone else takes over as the trustee and that is what avoids the probate, is the probate is often started in order to try to retitle assets where there are no instructions or where the only instructions are a will. Instead, the trustee who takes over this property can distribute it and takes over control of those assets pretty quickly. It’s probably the most common estate planning that we do for people is put in place a revocable living trust and oftentimes it’s to do just that, avoid probate.
How can I avoid probate?
The easiest way to avoid a probate, or the most common maybe, is to create a trust while you’re living and that’s called a revocable living trust. When my clients create a trust like that, they are something called a trustee. They put the property into the trust and we help them to do that. We create the terms of the trust and then while they’re living there isn’t much of a difference to them with how they manage their property. They can still make all the decisions that they need to with that property.But the advantage is when they pass away, someone else takes over as the trustee and that is what avoids the probate, is the probate is often started in order to try to retitle assets where there are no instructions or where the only instructions are a will. Instead, the trustee who takes over this property can distribute it and takes over control of those assets pretty quickly. It’s probably the most common estate planning that we do for people is put in place a revocable living trust and oftentimes it’s to do just that, avoid probate.
Video Transcript:
What is a “Revocable Trust”?
A trust that’s revocable is one that you can continue to make decisions about while you’re living. There are a number of really important people when it comes to trusts. The person that created the trust, but the next important person is the trustee; and the trustee is the person that manages all of that property in the trust. While our clients are still alive, if they form a revocable trust, they’re going to appoint themselves as that trustee; and the document will take care of who is going to succeed and who is going to be the new trustee if something happens to them, whether they become disabled or pass away. But with the revocable trust, as long as the client’s living and capable of taking care of their own property, they’re going to be the one that gets to make the decisions, gets to use the property for the things that they want to use it for, which could be anything from everyday living expenses to vacations or giving it away to family or charities.
What is a “Revocable Trust”?
A trust that’s revocable is one that you can continue to make decisions about while you’re living. There are a number of really important people when it comes to trusts. The person that created the trust, but the next important person is the trustee; and the trustee is the person that manages all of that property in the trust. While our clients are still alive, if they form a revocable trust, they’re going to appoint themselves as that trustee; and the document will take care of who is going to succeed and who is going to be the new trustee if something happens to them, whether they become disabled or pass away. But with the revocable trust, as long as the client’s living and capable of taking care of their own property, they’re going to be the one that gets to make the decisions, gets to use the property for the things that they want to use it for, which could be anything from everyday living expenses to vacations or giving it away to family or charities.
Video Transcript:
How do you protect assets in a second marriage or blended family? What is a QTIP trust?
The issue that we encounter with a second marriage is that the spouses, if they were to pass away, still want to take care of each other but they also might have other objectives like children from past relationships, you know from a first marriage. And when that happens there is this pull between wanting to make sure that your spouse is taken care of and providing for your children after you pass away. And so what we’ll typically do is use a trust in those cases and we will leave some property in a special type of trust called a QTIP. And the QTIP trust is actually a trust where your spouse is provided for while she’s still living or he’s still living, but then you get to choose who that property is going to go to once the spouse passes away. It’s a nice way of balancing the two objectives where your spouse is taken care of but you still know that the property is going to go to the proper person, your children, after you pass away.
How do you protect assets in a second marriage or blended family? What is a QTIP trust?
The issue that we encounter with a second marriage is that the spouses, if they were to pass away, still want to take care of each other but they also might have other objectives like children from past relationships, you know from a first marriage. And when that happens there is this pull between wanting to make sure that your spouse is taken care of and providing for your children after you pass away. And so what we’ll typically do is use a trust in those cases and we will leave some property in a special type of trust called a QTIP. And the QTIP trust is actually a trust where your spouse is provided for while she’s still living or he’s still living, but then you get to choose who that property is going to go to once the spouse passes away. It’s a nice way of balancing the two objectives where your spouse is taken care of but you still know that the property is going to go to the proper person, your children, after you pass away.
