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Old April 11, 2007, 11:11 AM   #14
p99guy
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Join Date: November 4, 2004
Location: Haslet,Texas(DFW area)
Posts: 1,506
You are the "Grantor and Trustee"
the cost involved..if you go to a lawyer about 250.00 for a simple Trust, if you do it your self...53.00 for Quicken willmaker, and if your notery charges 5.00 bucks (your bank will likely notorize for free) that is you total expense.

there are no yearly reups/fees like involved with the corporate route, in texas
a trust isnt filed with the local courthouse or state...so its really a private matter (unlike corporate)

a basic trust as done on Quicken isnt going to allow you to put multiple trustees on the trust...It will be you,
and a person that becomes the trustee upon your death or serious incapatation to over see the items in the trust..in my case my wife....but I have sole control over the trust items, its not a shared...(ONE trustee at a time) there is no "co-trustee"....


If you want something more complicated a lawyer will have to be consulted. likely if you want a way for 15 people to be able to use a NFA item , a trust isnt the instrement that will work. You will have to incorporate
and the others become officers in your corporation. But then comes getting an employer tax ID number, keeping books, reporting wages to SSI on your employees and generating W4's or 1099's for the corporate officers, paying a fee every so often to renew the corporatation with the state..and so on and so on


b. Comparing Wills and Basic Trusts
Both wills and basic living trusts let you leave your property to the people you want to inherit it. You can revoke or change a will or living trust at any time, for any reason, before you die.

The big difference is that assets left in trust don't have to go through probate court proceedings at your death. This is because when you create a living trust, you must transfer ownership of the designated property to yourself as "trustee" of the trust. During your lifetime, you still have control over all the property transferred to your living trust and can do what you want with it -- sell it, spend it or give it away. Then, after your death, the person you named to take over as trustee distributes the property to the family and friends you named.
Why avoid probate? In a nutshell, because for most families it's a waste of time and money. It typically takes from nine to 18 months to file a deceased person's will with the court, gather the assets, pay debts and taxes and eventually distribute what is left as the will directs. Fees for attorneys, appraisers, accountants and probate court can reduce by about 5% the amount left for survivors to inherit. Unless relatives are fighting over who gets what, or there are big claims against the estate, a court-supervised process is seldom necessary.

Making a living trust involves more paperwork than making a will, because you must transfer ownership of the property to yourself as trustee and conduct future personal business in the name of the trust. But there is no need to file a separate tax return for the trust. All transactions, such as the sale of trust property at a profit, are reported on your personal income tax return.

A trust also offers a way that the trust property can be taken care of if someday you can't handle it yourself. If you become incapacitated, the person you appointed in your trust to take over after your death can step in and manage trust property. If you don't have a trust, close family members may have to go to court to get that kind of authority. (You can also arrange for property management in a durable power of attorney for finances, discussed in Chapter 22.)

A will can do one important thing that a living trust can't: let you name someone (called a personal guardian) to raise your young children in the unlikely event that neither you nor the other parent is available.

Another difference that may matter to you: Unlike wills, living trusts are not made public at your death.
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