How to setup a trust? How long does it take to setup? Is gifts from foreign sources to a trust taxable?: We are trying to buy a house for our kids and put it in a trust. How long does it take to setup a trust? Once the trust is setup, can their grand parents living abroad give a gift to this trust as a foreign gift?
Mark’s answer:
Trusts are a little like an estate planner's golf-clubs. There are many different trusts available to accomplish different goals. There are irrevocable trusts and revocable trusts, testamentary trusts and living trusts, each with its own purpose.
How long it takes to set up a trust will depend on a couple of things. First, how complex is the trust? Second, do assets need to be transferred into the trust? It can take longer to get investment accounts and real property transferred. Third, how motivated are you, as the client to get all the information to the attorney, and fourth, how busy is the attorney you retain. Overall, most trusts can be set up in a few weeks.
Regarding foreign assets, most of the US rules have to do with transfers of US assets into foreign trusts and foreign investments. The US does have rules on what foreign assets can be transferred. Additionally, the foreign jurisdiction may have its own set of rules about transferring assets out of their country.
I have been informed by my sister that my Mother left me $1.00 in her living trust. Am I entitled to a copy of the trust so I ca: Our family , obviously is very dysfunctional. My mother and I had issues, as did all of the members of our family. History of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, etc. My mother passed away four years ago. I just received a copy of her will; which names all of her children, and refers to her irrevocable living trust. According to one of my sisters I was left $1.00 by my mother in her trust. Am I entitled to obtain a copy of the trust? My brother is the executor, and will not communicate with me.
Mark’s answer:
I notice that your question was posted from Ellensburg, Washington. If your mother was a Washington resident, or the trust is administrated in Washington, because she gave you a dollar, you are a beneficiary of the trust, and the trustee is required to provide you with certain, very specific information under Wasshington's 2011 Trust Act. If you mother wasn't a Washington resident, then that state's laws would control.
Assuming your mother was a Washington resident, The Washington Trust Act of 2011 contains mandatory notice provisions regarding the creation and existence of irrevocable trusts. Within sixty days after the date of acceptance of the position of trustee of an irrevocable trust (revocable trusts become irrevocable upon the death of the trustmaker), or the date the trustee of a formerly revocable trust acquires knowledge that the trust has become irrevocable, the trustee must give notice to all trust beneficiaries of (a) the existence of the trust, (b) the identity of the grantor, (c) the trustee’s name, address, and telephone number, and (d) that the beneficiary has the right to request information that is reasonably necessary to enable the beneficiary to enforce the beneficiary’s rights under the trust. These notice requirements cannot be waived in the trust agreement and apply to all irrevocable trusts that are created or that come into effect on or after January 1, 2012, and to changes in trustees of all irrevocable trusts on or after January 1, 2012.
Under the Act, a trustee must keep trust beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and of the material facts necessary for beneficiaries to protect their interests in the trust. This requirement to provide information cannot be waived in the trust agreement and applies to all irrevocable trusts, not just those created on or after January 1, 2012.
The Act gives very specific guidelines for the preparation and distribution of a safe harbor report to satisfy this requirement. The Act sets forth eight categories of information that should be disclosed in this safe harbor report, including a statement of receipts and disbursements, the trustee’s compensation, compensation paid to agents such as attorneys and accountants, and a statement that claims made against a trustee for breach of trust must be brought within three years from the date the beneficiary receives the report.
The Act also provides that a beneficiary may request information “reasonably necessary” to enable the beneficiary to enforce his or her rights under the trust. The trustee must provide this information within sixty days of receiving the request.
You can look up the Act in Chapter 11.97.010 of the Revised Code of Washington
Why would an attorney send me a copy of my mother's will, in which she disinherited me, unless she was mean and evil?: I hadn't seen my mother or sister in 20 years, quit talking to them on the phone 5 years ago, never gave them my number and told them to stay out of my life. Then they were unlawfully harassing me with unwanted, unwelcome, obnoxious greeting cards, so I wrote them more letters and told them to cut it out. Then, my mother died and her attorney sent me her "death notice" and I felt harassed by that. After that, she sent me a copy of my mother's evil and sadistic will in which she disinherited me and made a huge, histrionic, dramatic "display" out of leaving everything to other relatives. I was SHOCKED and I had to go to the E.R. and get a sedative. What kind of CRAP was THAT?
Mark’s answer:
It really sounds like you had a terrible relationship with your family members. I don't think the attorney was trying to rub salt in your wounds, but, rather, to comply with the statutes for probate. The attorney was probably trying to follow the Washington Statute , RCW 11.28.237
which says that:
(1) Within twenty days after appointment, the personal representative of the estate of a decedent shall cause written notice of his or her appointment and the pendency of said probate proceedings, to be served personally or by mail to each heir, legatee and devisee of the estate and each beneficiary or transferee of a nonprobate asset of the decedent whose names and addresses are known to him or her, and proof of such mailing or service shall be made by affidavit and filed in the cause. If a trust is a legatee or devisee of the estate or a beneficiary or transferee of a nonprobate asset of the decedent, then notice to the trustee is sufficient.
(2) If the personal representative does not otherwise give notice to creditors under chapter 11.40 RCW within thirty days after appointment, the personal representative shall cause written notice of his or her appointment and the pendency of the probate proceedings to be mailed to the state of Washington department of social and health services' office of financial recovery, and proof of the mailing shall be made by affidavit and filed in the cause.
You may still be considered to be an heir, even if you were excluded from the will, and in order to give an excluded beneficiary the opportunity to review the will and have the opportunity to contest the will, they need to have notice. I'm guessing rather than an act of mean-ness, the attorney was being diligent in notifying all interested parties and you shouldn't take offense.