FAQ
Zaremba Center for Estate Planning & Elder Law

A trust is a legal contract between two parties, the person who creates the trust (the “Grantor” or “Trustmaker”) and the person responsible for administering the trust (the “Trustee”). The Trustee manages the assets placed in the trust for the benefit of a third party (the “Beneficiary”). Most Trustmakers of a revocable trust serve in all three roles initially: that is, Trustmaker, Trustee, and Beneficiary.

Who wouldn’t hope to provide everyone we love with the means to enrich their lives? Trusts are a great way to achieve this lofty goal. Some families have even more specific goals they want to achieve: planning for long-term care, educating their grandchildren, or providing for a favorite charity. Sometimes life events mandate trust planning. If you have a disabled child or a family member who is not great with managing money, these people need special consideration and a trust is a great way to make sure their specific needs are met. One thing is for certain: if a trust is needed, the time to plan for it is now. Schedule a consultation with Zaremba Center for Estate Planning & Elder Care in Williamsburg today. 

It is something everyone should think about! Trusts aren’t just about death and taxes. Setting up a trust is an excellent way to stay in control of what happens to your estate, regardless of its size, to possibly reduce income taxes, and protect against the publicity, expense, and aggravation of probate. A well-written trust can also provide your beneficiaries with asset protection from creditors, predators, and divorce. It is also very flexible and, since it’s a living document, it can be modified easily if there are changes to your life or in the law. Once a trust is properly funded, there will be no need for the very public probate process to take place.

A big advantage of a trust is that it is generally the best strategy to avoid probate and protect financial privacy. Wills must be validated by the probate court, a lengthy and expensive process that can take six months to two years and, in some cases, even longer. Probating a will may involve attorney’s fees, executor’s commissions, administrative, and other court costs. Unlike wills, trusts are not subject to probate and therefore enable you to keep your affairs private and minimize settlement costs and estate taxes.

There are many reasons to set up trusts. Married couples often realign the ownership of their assets to save substantial federal income taxes and pass more on to their heirs. Rather than owning assets jointly, they choose to own assets individually so that they can each take full advantage of providing for one another while still providing a legacy to their children. This can be especially important in a blended family situation where there are children from prior marriages that each parent may want to provide for once both parents have died. 

If the time comes that you are no longer able to handle your own affairs, trusts can ensure that there will be someone who is experienced and objective to “mind the store.” If there is a serious illness or disability, a trust ensures that a plan is in place to take care of your needs and those of your loved ones. Think of a trust in this situation as your agent’s rule book; something an agent under a Power of Attorney simply doesn’t have.

If you think of a trust as a brand new automobile, the funding of the trust is the gas that powers the engine. Zaremba Center for Estate Planning & Elder Law is the only full-service law firm on the peninsula that assists you with A) transferring your assets into the name of your trust, or B) making your revocable living trust the beneficiary of your accounts at your death. A properly funded trust will leave no assets exposed to the probate process and virtually guarantees that your assets will go to who you want, when you want and how you want them to receive those assets. Contact us today to get started!

Your trust portfolio will include: Revocable Living Trust; Pour-Over Will; Personal Property Memorandum; Durable Power of Attorney; Living Will; Health Care Power of Attorney; Property Agreement; Certification of Trust; Asset Transfer Documents; and Maintenance Instructions.

At the Zaremba Center for Estate Planning & Elder Law, the relationship between the client and the office is paramount. We don’t stop being an advocate for you when the documents are signed. We offer complimentary trust reviews every three to five years, trustee tutorials for successor trustees,and are always available to answer any questions without asking for additional fees.

YES! 

Usually attorneys draft trusts.

Ultimately, it is the purpose of the trust that determines how the assets are invested, and it is the responsibility of the trustee to see that the purpose is carried out. Often, the person who creates the trust will name a professional investment manager to work with the trustee and make investment recommendations based on the goals of the trust, the needs of the beneficiaries, and the time horizon.

We offer initial consultations to answer all your questions and create your customized estate plan. Contact us today for additional information.

We offer a complimentary consultation for every estate planning client. Plan on dropping off copies of your existing documents at our office a few days ahead of your appointment so that we can review them prior to your arrival.

Estate planning is the process of converting your goals and concerns regarding your assets, how they’re owned, and your family structure, and creating a concrete legal strategy for actualizing your goals and preparing for the future.

If you die intestate (i.e., without a will), the distribution of your property is up to the state. In our case, that is the state of Virginia. In most cases, the distribution is shared between your spouse and children, or, if you have neither of those, to other family members. The state’s automatic plan may or may not reflect your personal wishes, which is one of the main reasons to create a will. If you want to get control over how your inheritance is distributed, a will is an important tool. Contact Zaremba Center to learn more about what you can do to adequately plan your estate. 

While a will covers most of the distribution of property after the time of your death, it doesn’t cover certain types of assets — which are called non-probate property. These include things such as your IRA or real estate, the latter typically being passed automatically on to the surviving owner.

A power of attorney allows specified persons to act on your behalf regarding your estate. These powers may be limited to specific things such as selling a property, or they may be general and include everything you yourself would be legally able to do. A springing power of attorney is when the power is specified to only come into effect once you are unable to make decisions for yourself due to physical or mental disability.

The main reason people use power of attorney is because the alternative is often a court appointed estate manager, who may not make decisions as you would want them to.

A living will is a legal document you can have created to specify how you should be treated in certain medical circumstances. The most common situation where a living will comes into play is when there is a decision to be made about prolonging your life for a limited period with treatment while you are incapacitated. A living will takes the burden of making these sorts of decisions off of your loved ones, making your wishes clear. 

Probate — the court-supervised administration of your estate and transference of your property— is rarely the misfortune it is spelled out to be by its naysayers. However, maintaining control of as many aspects of your estate is preferable, for most people. Even with a living trust in place, you are rarely going to be able to completely avoid probate. Living trusts have a lot of value for estate planning, however avoiding probate is not the top of that list. More important generally are things such as reducing the risk of elder financial abuse and having a plan for how assets will be managed in the event of disability or illness.

The fiduciary (the person who controls your trust) is responsible for determining when and how bills are paid. They are also responsible for notifying debtors of any temporary delays. Most bills present no issues, though in some cases it’s useful to consult with estate planning attorneys to properly spend estate and trust assets and protect them adequately. 

Absolutely. Leaving money in your charity is very common and can result in charitable tax credits of as high as 50%. In most cases, leaving money to charity reduces inheritance taxes. Make sure that the charity you donate to is government-recognized, though.

Elder law is a wide category of legal specialization that involves everything from the preservation and transferring of assets, guardianship, disability planning, Medicare claims, probate administration, nursing home issues, elder abuse and fraud cases, retirement issues, health law, and mental health law, just to name a few areas that it covers. Here at Zaremba Center for Estate Planning & Elder Law in Williamsburg, VA, we specialize in particular in the areas of:

• Trust and probate administration
• Medicaid planning & veterans benefits
• Special needs planning
• Guardianships/Conservatorships
• Incapacity planning
• Elder abuse and neglect cases
• And more

Contact us now to request a free consultation. 

The main reason to hire an elder law attorney is to leverage their experience in the appropriate area of elder law to achieve your goals and protect your rights.

A guardianship or conservatorship is when the court appoints an individual or entity to manage the affairs of someone who is incapacitated.

A revocable living trust only shields your assets from probate. An irrevocable living trust protects assets from both probate AND creditors, particularly from the most common type of creditor: nursing homes. 

Once your trust is set up, there is no annual fee associated with the maintenance of a trust. Fees occur only when amendments or other changes are needed to be made for the trust. 

Thankfully, you don’t need to know all the ins and outs of elder law and estate planning if you have an experienced lawyer on your side. Zaremba Center provides you with the expert knowledge and estate management you need to confidently go forward knowing your finances are taken care of, no matter what happens to you.