And the answer is yes, you can be the beneficiary of a trust that you create. Most people will create what’s called a revocable living trust. That is a trust that they create during their lifetime and that they continue to have the ability to change at any point in the future so long as they are not incapacitated and have the ability to do so.

Now, when someone creates a trust, they actually wear three hats. The first hat is the role of the creator. They create the trust. The technical name for this is grantor. They are the grantor of the trust, meaning the person who creates the trust.

The next role that most people have is they are the trustee. The trustee is the manager of the assets that are owned by the trust. So an individual who creates the trust is usually also the trustee of the trust.

And then third, and finally, if you create a trust, you are also the beneficiary. That means that during your lifetime you will have the benefit of the assets that are owned by the trust.

Frequently, when you create a trust, you will transfer certain of the property to the trust. An example is your house. You’ll sign a grant deed transferring your house from you as an individual to you as trustee of your trust, as the creator of the trust, what’s sometimes called the grantor, you have complete control over the trust to change it, modify it, or dissolve it, or revoke it.

So when you talk about who owns property, there are actually two types of title. There is legal title, and then there is equitable title. Legal title is whose name is on the deed or who has ownership of the property. Equitable title is who receives the benefit of the property.

And so, with a revocable living trust, if you were to transfer your house to the trust, legal title would be owned by the trust, but equitable title would continue to be owned by you as an individual.

And again, remember, with a revocable living trust, you always retain the ability to modify the trust if you change your mind in the future.

One of the questions that I get is whether you need an attorney to set up a trust, and the answer is yes. I recommend that you hire an attorney to help you set up a Revocable Living Trust.

The reason for this is a trust is a complex document. And as a complex document, there are a lot of things that go into it and a lot of things to consider. If you’re not fully versed within the world of the probate law and within the tax code, you would want to rely on a trained and trusted professional to help you set up your estate plan with a Revocable Living Trust as the foundation.

The answer to this question is no. An inheritance is not community property or marital property in California.

California is a community property state, which means that all property received during the marriage is community property unless it is received by gift or inheritance. And so if you inherit money from a family member and you inherit that money in your name alone, that money is your separate property.

If you live in California and prepare a will or a trust and then move out of state, you may need to update your estate plan. Now, this doesn’t mean that you would have to recreate your will or your trust. Most states, like California, have rules that say that a will from another state can be probated in that state. A trust written anywhere in the United States is valid in all 50 states.

When it comes to your power of attorney and your advanced health care directive, however, that is another story. Those documents, by and large, are state specific, which means that each state has its own individual rules about what is required for a power of attorney or a healthcare directive. So, if you move to another state, your will and your trust will still work the way that you want them to work, but you may need to update your power of attorney or your advanced healthcare directive.

Quick Question Corner is a video segment where we answer common questions about estate planning and elder law. If you have similar questions, leave them in the comment section and we can feature them in one of our videos in the future.

Well, there are several categories of assets that are not included in probate in California. The first category are assets that are owned by a revocable trust. If someone created a revocable trust during his or her lifetime and transferred assets to that trust, then those assets that are owned by the trust are not part of the probate case.

The other class of assets that are not part of a probate case are assets where there is a designated beneficiary. So, an example of these will include life insurance and most retirement accounts.

A third category of assets that are not included in a probate case are assets that are held jointly, such as a joint checking or savings account. The law says that when one person dies on a joint financial account, the other person is the sole owner by operation of law.

And so those types of assets, the jointly owned assets, most retirement accounts or beneficiary designated assets, and any assets that are held by a revocable trust are, are not part of the probate estate.

Quick Question Corner is a video segment where we answer common questions about estate planning and elder law. If you have similar questions, leave them in the comment section and we can feature them in one of our videos in the future.