The Living Trust
by James V. Quillinan, Attorney at Law
The Letitia Building
70 South First Street
San Jose, California 95113-2406

• Unlike a Living Trust, the cost of administering a probate estate is set by law. For example, the California statutory attorney fee for:

PROBATE ESTATE OF FEE* $100,000 $3,150 $250,000 $6,150 $500,000 $11,150 $700,000 $15,150 $1,000,000 $21,150

By contrast, a Living Trust is adiministered on a time basis which often would be considerably less, thereby increasing your net estate.

Balanced against the post-death cost savings are the legal costs incurred in the creation of the trust agreement. In this era of computerization, however, the cost to prepare a Trust agreement is generally no greater than the cost to prepare a Will.

Must Transfer Titles

An unfunded Living Trust is as good as a Will, but no better.

There is paperwork required to fund a Living Trust. You must transfer your assets to the trust. If you do not wish to take the time and effort to transfer your assets to the trust, or pay an attorney to do it, then a Living Trust is not the correct estate planning vehicle for you.

Most title transfers are as easy as:

• Opening a bank account. . .
• Registering an automobile...
• Buying or selling stock...
• Or designating a new beneficiary on an insurance policy or retirement plan.

Because, of the complexities involved in transfer of real property to your Trust and to avoid errors, it may be advisable to consult and retain an attorney to transfer real property titles to your trust, rather than doing these yourself.

Note: The creation of a Living Trust always entails the creations of a companion "pour-over will" to "catch" those assets which may not yet be in your trust at the time of death, so you have the luxury of funding your trust over time until all your assets are transforred, knowing that the "pour-over" Will operates to place the untansferred assets into the Trust. Of course, to the extent the pour-over Will has untransferred assets, a probate estate would be created, with its statutory fee and possible delay.