Self-help Trust
Mar 13, 2017OUTCOME: Satisfied customers, extremely affordable, peace of mind
Potential clients requested a review of the trust they created on an online self-help website. Unfortunately, it did not take long to see some glaring concerns and to demonstrate their money was wasted ... . The trust documents were poorly drafted, the instructions for how to "fund" the trust were lacking sufficient detail, and ultimately, the clients paid for expensive legal documents that produced no benefit. After our consultation and review of their current plan, it was clear that the clients never properly signed the documents and that no assets were transferred into the trust. In other words, they had no estate plan (other than that one the state gives everyone). Given the nature of the clients assets and their life circumstances, we did not create another trust as it was not vital to their plan. Rather, we discussed alternative means of transferring assets, PODs and TODs, as well as beneficiary designations. Ultimately, the only legal document I produced was a beneficiary deed to transfer their home to their adult child. Since their estate was rather small once all the TODs, PODs, and beneficiary designations were accomplished, the client decided they did not want to create a will (although it was recommended).
