What types of documents do I need to cover the estate planning basics?
The primary goal of basic estate planning is to insure the orderly management and disposition of assets upon your incapacity or death. For estates in excess of $2,000,000, or estates in excess of 3,500,000 as of January 1, 2009 (including life insurance, retirement plans and joint tenancy property), another important objective may be estate tax planning. The appropriate means for you to accomplish these objectives will vary somewhat depending upon the size of your estate, the composition of your assets, the nature of your ultimate beneficiaries, and other factors. However, in California, the “flagship” for most basic estate plans is a funded revocable living trust. A funded revocable living trust permits the management and disposition of trust assets during the settlor’s life if the settlor should become incompetent and after the settlor’s death, at which point the revocable trust will establish the terms for the distribution of the trust assets to individual beneficiaries, to continui
