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News Updated Date : |
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November 22nd, 2009 11:41am |
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California Living Trust Will Law
Firm Services
If you don't have one, a court decides
who gets your assets.
A will is a device that lets you tell the world whom you want
to get your assets. Die without one, and the state decides who gets
what, without regard to your wishes or your heirs'
needs.
So-called intestacy laws vary considerably from state to
state. In general, though, if you die and leave a spouse and kids,
your assets will be split between your surviving mate and children.
If you're single with no children, then the state is likely to
decide who among your blood relatives will inherit your
estate.
Making a will is especially important for people with young
children, because wills are the best way to transfer guardianship of minors.
You may amend your will at any time. In fact, it's a good
idea to review it periodically and especially when your marital
status changes. At the same time, review your beneficiary
designations for your 401(k), IRA, pension and life insurance
policy since those accounts will be transferred automatically to
your named beneficiaries when you die.
A will is also useful if you have a trust. A trust is a legal
mechanism that lets you put conditions on how your assets are
distributed after you die and it often lets you minimize gift and
estate taxes. But you still need a will since most trusts deal only
with specific assets such as life insurance or a piece of property,
but not the sum total of your holdings.
Even if you have what's known as a revocable living
trust in which you can put the bulk of your assets, you still
need what's known as a pour-over will. In addition to letting you
name a guardian for your children, a pour-over will ensures that
all the assets you intended to put into the trust are put there
even if you fail to re-title some of them before your
death.
Any assets that are not re-titled in the name of the trust
are considered subject to probate. As a result, if you haven't
specified in a will who should get those assets, a court may decide
to distribute them to heirs whom you may not have
chosen.
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