trustees

Does a Name Change Mean I Should Update My Estate Plan?

Does a Name Change Mean I Should Update My Estate Plan?

Most people have the same questions about estate planning. What is the difference between a will and a trust? or do I need to go through probate? or will I need to pay estate taxes?

Since one of the goals of this website is to help you learn more about estate planning, I figured that I would share one of those common questions recently sent to me by a client:

I created a trust several years ago which provides that my daughter will receive 1/2 of my estate. But since my trust was created, my daughter gotten married and changed her last name. Do I need to update my trust in order for her to receive her inheritance?

It is not uncommon for people to change their names. A name change is most often due to marriage or divorce, but as the hit TV show Friends taught us, you can also change your name whenever you feel like it. (Author’s note: The episode where Phoebe changes her name to Princess Consuela Bananahammock and Mike changes his name to Crap Bag is pretty accurate. That is actually a legal thing that people can do.)

Considering all the time and care and money you have spent on your estate plan, it is important to make sure that name changes (for whatever reason they happen) do not mess it up.

What is "Funding" My Trust and How Do I Do It?

What is "Funding" My Trust and How Do I Do It?

So you’ve created a living trust. Awesome. You are super responsible. Spectacular. Your estate is so planned. Excellent.

Reveling in your excellence, you may be thinking to yourself, “You did a great job, Self. You are so responsible, and your estate plan (which is very much planned) is good to go!”

But guess what? Yourself would be wrong.

Is my trust useless?

When you sign a trust document, you just have some sheets of paper. It may be fancy paper — and it’s definitely expensive paper — but it’s still just paper. And paper alone (usually) does not avoid probate. In other words: By itself, a signed trust can be pretty useless.

Think of a trust like a box. When you sign the trust, you have an empty box. To avoid probate, you want to fill that box with all your “stuff,” your assets. Anything that’s in the box at your death doesn’t have to go through probate. Anything that’s not in the box at your death does.

What's the Difference Between a Will and a Trust?

What's the Difference Between a Will and a Trust?

Estate planning is a very broad (and often confusing) topic.

There are countless estate planning options available, and the “best” estate planning option for you may depend on hundreds of different factors.

At bottom, though, estate planning can be boiled down to a simple definition:

An estate plan ensures that the right people are able to care for your SELF in the event you become incapacitated and that the right people are able to get your STUFF after your death.

The second part of that equation — what happens to your stuff, i.e., your assets — is what most people have in mind when they think about estate planning.

And when it comes to deciding what happens to your stuff, there are two main options:

  • a Last Will and Testament

  • a Living Trust

While there are other estate planning options that can control what happens to your assets after your death, I will save those topics for another day.

For now, let’s focus on the main differences between Wills vs. Trusts.

Why Do You Need an Estate Plan?

If you died today, what would you want to happen to your assets?

Married With Children: Estate Planning for Young Families

Married With Children: Estate Planning for Young Families

When you have a kid, everything else usually takes a back seat.

Sleep? Forget about it.

Free time? Never heard of it.

There's often no time for fun things like hobbies or other activities — which means that it can seem like there is definitely no time for un-fun things estate planning.

But what if something unexpected happens:

  • What happens to your child if you or your spouse suddenly die or become incapacitated?

  • Who takes care of your child's medical needs and daily care?

  • Who manages your assets until your child reaches adulthood?

You might think that the answer to these questions is obvious, but the law might not agree. And your own written notes or spoken instructions generally aren’t legally enforceable.

To address these sensitive questions, you should have an estate plan.

Why do I need an estate plan?

I have talked a lot about the importance of having an estate plan. That doesn't change when you have kids.

In fact, having children makes having an estate plan even more important.