Every case will have certain hurdles, and we’re here to help you learn to overcome these with our resources.
Unless your client is opting to completely use the system on their own, or opt to use a liaison, we have made getting help easier for our licensee team with our simple submission form button.
You’ll also find help from others in the field by browsing the FAQs collected below.
Q: Webinar process — What do we need before recording the event?
A: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/5fc072e2768c4211bbce8b47c08ace98
Q: Should I go to training …..
A: Yes …..
Q: How to use asset-map and cost
A: $195 per month …. one year contract under our master license
Q: Why doesn’t the spouse show up as an option for my primary healthcare agent?
A: We would need access to your account with username and password to help with that question
Q: Does this mean that assets in the trust are locked up upon the death of the first spouse and the surviving spouse can only use trust funds for certain things?
A: Yes, 50% of trust assets are added to an irrevocable trust at the death of the first spouse and beneficiaries cannot be changed on those assets. The spouse can use the funds in the Irrevocable trust for health, welfare and maintenance purposes.
Q: Does the software have the capabilities to do an Irrevocable Trust, for clients that want to shield their assets from nursing home spend-down?
A: Our software only supports Revocable Trust and not Irrevocable. In most cases, Irrevocable trusts are more complicated and best done with an attorney.
Q: My client’s residence is in FL. It is a primary residence. I guess I need to know how to have it where the children can claim ownership upon death. Would it be in trust to them or something else?
A: You can use a Lady Bird Deed (similar to beneficiary deed) making the children beneficiaries at death of homeowners.
Q: I have a question with an existing client. His son currently has a POA and is the successor trustee. However, the client wants to make sure, while he is living, his son has the authority to make all decisions while he is alive. It appears that his annuity company is giving him grief and will not allow the son to take care of everything.
A: We only create documents for Springing POA which takes effect when someone becomes incapacitated. If they need any one of the other three they would need to seek out an attorney.
He would most likely want a General POA
Here are the four different types of power of attorney: Limited; General; Durable; and Springing.
As the name implies, these POAs are for when you need someone to do things for you for a limited purpose. For that reason, these documents usually specify a date and time period after which the POA ends.
For example, an author might use a limited POA so that their book agent could cash checks made payable to the writer during a specified time. That way, the agent could take their commissions out of the author’s check and write a new check to the writer.
Or let’s say you had plans to go on a vacation on the same day that the deed for your new house needs to be signed. You could assign a limited POA to someone else for that function that only lasted for one day.
Not surprisingly, a general POA is more comprehensive. This essentially assigns all of your powers and rights to someone else. A general POA can also be used when people don’t have the time, skills, or desire to handle financial matters. Unless you choose to revoke a general POA, it applies as long as you’re alive, or until you become incapacitated.
There are many uses for a general POA, like:
Collecting debts
Applying for government benefits
Managing financial and business matters
Buying, selling or making investments on your behalf
Filing lawsuits on your behalf
The major difference between the general and durable POA is that the durable version lasts even if the assignor becomes incapacitated. In other words, you’d use a durable POA if you wanted to give your agent authority once you’re unable to act for yourself. Because of this, many consider a durable POA to be the most powerful type of power of attorney.
One example may be if you’ve been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s
This type of POA serves roughly the same purpose as a durable POA, but it only comes into effect once a specific event happens, such as when the assignor becomes incapacitated. With these types of POAs, it’s very important to clearly define what “incapacitated” means.
Q: pt 1 of 2 – I have a client that has listed her mother and father in-law lumped together as her Secondary for her trustees after her spouse – Do I need to separate these into Secondary and Alternate?
Pt 2 of 2 – She has her sister currently listed as the Alternate so I don’t think she wants to lose that option in case the parents are gone.
If they need to be separated, I assume I just need to ask her which is “above” the other?
A: pt 1 of 2 – They can be listed as a committee together or separate as secondary and then alternate. It is really up to the client on what they want to do.
Pt 2 of 2 – Yes, correct
Q: My client attempted to fill out the Bequest part of the will. They noticed you can only give one person an individual item. They wanted all jewelry, furniture etc to be sold and the funds divided equally to the children. How do they document that in that section?
A: You can just manually write this bequest on the Assignment of Personal Property on the lines pages at the back of Revocable Living Trust section.
Q: How can a client list a second healthcare durable POA alternate in case their parents are not alive – currently they have listed each other/spouse, then the parents as an organization. They are concerned if they are in an accident together, for example, and the parents have passed at this point before updating the trust, or if they are not able themselves to make a decision due to their age, could they have an additional person added. They see the second alternate as an option everywhere else, so they are wondering if this could be possible.
A: They will need to update the will and trust once they feel like the parents need to step down from this position, or at the point of their passing.
Q: Client Lives in the state of North Dakota and has a Campground timeshare that he has purchased to keep as a family heirloom.
How does the client protect or keep the timeshare for an inheritance? He wants to make sure that if his son passes his son’s future spouse cannot sell the timeshare.
A: All timeshare transfers are done through the timeshare company(similar to beneficiary form for other assets)
Q: About financial POAs: the website states that the FPOA has control over assets outside of the trust. Let’s say that someone retitled their bank account into the name of their trust and then went into a coma. Their FPOA would be responsible for paying their bills. Would the FPOA have access to the grantor’s bank accounts that are in the trust or would they need to find funds outside of it?
A: The successor trustee has access and authority over assets in the trust. The FPOA has access over assets in the trustees name and not the trust. For this reason, most people appoint the same person to be FPOA and successor trustee so they have access to all assets if the trustee is incapacitated.
Q: Can we set up the trust to where the beneficiary gets a monthly, quarterly, or annual stipend? Or can we just split it into thirds based on ages? She is curious because one of her beneficiaries has an addiction problem and she doesn’t want him to have access to such large sums.
A: Yes, when setting up beneficiary you can select the following options in interview under Beneficiary Selection Tab:
Yes, override all other provisions & restrict distribution to income only.
(Overrides Joint Trust for Children for this beneficiary)
No additional distribution limitations
(lump sum, spendthrift and Joint Trust for Children provisions still apply.)
If you select Yes, override all other provisions & restrict distribution to income only. This will give control to the successor trustee to distribute the money to that beneficiary at their discretion. The beneficiary will not receive a lump sum.
Q: This person owns 1/3 of her parents’ home who passed away. Currently, her brother is living there so they have not sold. When they do sell, she will have 1/3 of the proceeds. Is there any way to put her portion of the home in the trust before they sell?
A: She can transfer her 1/3 ownership into her trust instead of her name at any time.
Q: Since I just inherited our home, my sister passed away and probation recently completed and can not locate a deed online even though I can see the owner as being myself. Can you please find out if I pay the extra fee to get copy of deed attached to my trust, would your third party Co be able to do this?
A: Deedwerx can do deed research on the property for $55. However, if the probate court order has not been recorded; she will need to obtain a copy of that order and provide it to the deed preparer to get a new deed prepared.
Q: We have a prospective client who has an odd question. She was wondering if there was any way to ensure a house she is leaving to her son will not be rented out. She would either like a family member to keep it or have it sold.
A: She has a legal right to do anything she chooses. To legally enforce her wishes then she would need to hire our paralegal to draft an amendment to be added to the trust with that particular language. Anytime a client needs to add specific language or directions then they would need to hire our paralegal to draft amendments to add that language. Each amendment is a flat $200 Contact information: Carol Larinto Cell Phone: 661-333-6640 Email: clarinto@yahoo.com
Q: Question from a client. A little background. They are married. The wife has a son that is not with her current husband. She wants to make sure if he passes away that the beneficiaries cannot be changed. I know you can make the trust irrevocable upon the death of the first spouse, but they do not want to lose any access to their assets at that point in time. I was wondering if it would be better to add an amendment to the trust to say that the beneficiaries cannot be changed or something along those lines.
A:When they need to protect children from previous relationships, there are only 3 options, and it sounds like they don’t want to do the first one, but that might be because they don’t understand the surviving spouse does have authority to manage the trust & its assets.
Cheapest option, least flexibility (most popular): Make the trust irrevocable upon the first spouse to die (so the surviving spouse can’t remove/change any beneficiaries). This is the most affordable option, which is why it’s more popular than the other two options. The surviving spouse also gets creditor protection once their spouse dies, but loses the ability to remove assets from the trust except for health, welfare & maintenance (essentially maintaining their household). Now some people ask, can a surviving spouse buy & sell assets, downsize their home? YES, they can manage the assets just as they did before, the only restriction is they can’t take principal out of the trust. So if they sell their home and buy a condo and save $350,000; those funds are trust funds and have to stay within the trust (the spouse can’t just pocket the money). But those funds can also be invested & the proceeds used to maintain the spouse’s standard of living.
More Flexibility, more complexity, highest long term cost (very rare due to operational complexity & expense): One trust. Mark the A/B option. Under this scenario the surviving spouse’s half of the trust STAYS revocable, only the deceased’s half becomes irrevocable. The spouse could still update their half of the trust by amendment when the first spouse dies. However, the A/B trust option has legal & accounting requirements that essentially require hiring an accountant upon the first spouse to die to do the work of dividing all the assets, and separately filing taxes on the irrevocable side. This option is the most complex to administer and therefore is rarely used anymore except by those who are very wealthy and already have accountants, or those who live in a handful of states where they don’t have portability for the state level estate tax credit and their assets are large enough that the savings make it worth it.
Most Flexibility, Easiest to Use, higher short term cost, lower long term (somewhat common for people in similar situations who can afford it): Three trusts. Each spouse purchases a single grantor trust of their own, and the married couple purchases a two grantor trust. This option allows each spouse an easy way to place their own separate assets they want to go to their children from a previous relationship(s) into a separate trust. In the single grantor trust, they disinherit the other spouse and kids to keep these assets independent. No need for complex bequests because the entire trust is separate. For the married two grantor trust, they also have the option to disinherit the children from previous relationships (who get stuff from the other trusts), and fund the trust with the joint assets from the current marriage. Basically keeps everything simple, clean and separate. Licensees with clients who do three trusts for one client, often give the client a significant discount on the two single grantor trusts. If a client can afford it, this option is very popular.
