An Estate Plan Is the Best Gift You Can Leave Your Family

Are you aware of the fact that a large portion of your estate may be taken by estate taxes and probate fees when you die? Without an estate plan, a judge will decide how to distribute your assets among your heirs by following California’s laws of intestate succession. This probate process can take over a year to complete and will cost your family thousands of dollars. Furthermore, the government may impose an estate tax on the transfer of your assets to your heirs when you die if your estate is over the applicable exclusion amount. This tax could cost your estate hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Create an Estate Plan Now. Your Family Will Thank You Later

Without an estate plan, your children will be forced to endure an expensive and lengthy probate procedure, wait a year or more to receive their inheritance, and may be required to pay thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in estate taxes. Don’t leave your children wondering why you burdened them with these delays and expenses when they could have been easily avoided if you had done just a minimal amount of planning.

Beware of Trust Mills

A living trust for $399.00. Sounds too good to be true. Well it usually is. Some companies or firms put on seminars at local hotels or meeting rooms, advertising living trusts at low prices. Usually an attorney will give the presentation and offer you a special deal if you sign up that day. You fill out a questionnaire form and give them your check, which are sent to their computer processing center, usually in another city. Data entry clerks input your information and a computer-generated form living trust is printed based on your responses. Sometimes the final documents are delivered to you by their representative, who may be an annuity sales person, who will then try to convince you to convert your savings, IRAs, 401Ks, stocks, bonds and other investments to annuities with the promise that these annuities will give you a good return on your money, protect your estate from creditors and exempt your assets from Medi-Cal requirements if you need long term care in a nursing home. Such promises are rarely true, but these annuities generate large commissions that are split with the trust mill that you hired to do your trust. That’s where they make their money. Don't rely on these assembly lines to create the best estate plan for you.

For information on a class action lawsuit that was filed in November 2004 by the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform against certain trust mills, click on the following link: canhr.org - Trust Mill Lawsuit

Imagine an Attorney That Actually Returns Your Phone Calls

Many attorneys do not return phone calls. You end up spending more time speaking with their secretary than you do speaking with the attorney you are paying good money for. Furthermore, many estate planning firms only have a very limited number of estate planning document forms that they use for their clients’ estate planning needs. If your needs to not fit those documents, you’re out of luck. You may end up signing documents that do not meet your needs or intentions and this fact may not come to light until after you have died. Unlike many attorneys, the attorneys at the Kisner Law Firm will actually return your calls and draft documents that are flexible enough to meet your unique financial profile and your specific goals and needs.

You can rely on the Kisner Law Firm to create an estate plan that saves you substantial amounts of money, prevents unnecessary complications, eliminates probate expenses and minimizes or eliminates estate taxes. Contact the Kisner Law Firm today.