Page 72 - Ultimate Guide to Estate Planning

into the revocable living trust. However, you're
not asking them to make decisions on fair
market value, how it should be sold, who

should be hired to do the selling, and if it is
reasonable.

If there is a lawsuit about the reasonableness
between siblings, you don’t determine whose
professional evaluation should prevail. All

you're saying is, "We're taking this asset and
we're pouring it into the trust." That's it. It’s
very quick and very expeditious because the
judge doesn't have a lot of decisions to make.

We do a summary of the trust because we find
it helps the client understand it without having
to pour through the entire document.

Again, there are formalities associated with the
execution of the will and the trust. You've got

to make sure that you adhere to those
formalities. If you don't adhere to the
formalities, the will/trust gets thrown out the
window. The do-it-yourselfers are hoping

they've done it right. If you use a lawyer, they
should be able to make sure you've executed it
with the requisite formalities.

71