Living Trust Software

Living Trust Builder for Windows

Protect Your Family Estate and Business

The Easy Affordable Way To Manage Your Estate With An Effective Living Trust

Developed by expert estate planning attorneys, here's everything you need to write your own living trust quickly, easily and affordably.
: A carefully written living trust is the solution most well-informed people today are choosing to protect themselves, their estates and their heirs. Why? A living trust means security: it puts you in complete control so your wishes will stay yours and can't be changed by courts, greedy heirs, business associates or legal technicalities.; Unlike a will, a living trust avoids the long delays, publicity - and expense of probate, which can cost you from 5% to 20% of your estate in lawyers' fees and court costs. Your estate will be distributed to your heirs immediately so you won't have to sell the family farm to pay off the court.
: Living Trust Builder is the most complete and up-to date trust package on the market, developed by experienced estate planning attorneys who've been preparing living trusts for 30+ years. Living Trust Builder includes a choice of 5 trusts, net estate calculation worksheet, plus what you need to know about gifting. It also provides the crucial supporting documents, like Pour Over Wills and Powers of Attorney, which you need to complete an effective, living trust.
: Each document also includes expert comments to explain the meaning and purpose of the text. It's not hidden behind a help key because we wanted to make sure that you see everything you need to know before you edit or make any changes. We even provide a mini-course in estate planning to make it easy for you to make your decisions and work with trust concepts. It's a lot of practical knowledge condensed into just 40 pages. And, it's a must to know.
: Your insurance policies may cover you financially, but to assure the uninterrupted continuation of your business management, you must Formulate a succession plan. Even if you were only temporarily incapacitated, your succession plan would assure that your instructions would be followed to the letter.
: Also included is a succession plan primer to help you map out your wishes and get all the paperwork in order. We've added a general partnership and "Buy-Sell" agreements to help you protect your partnership interests from personal problems. What if your business partner's evil ex-spouse wants to rake over your business...?
: Best of all, you don't have to learn a new software program. All the documents you need are on disk as typed text files that work with your existing word processing software. And, much of the legalese has been translated into plain English. Just follow the step-by-step instructions to edit and personalize your documents.; That way you can use them right away and have complete control over the text and formatting. You can then direct your attorney to review and approve them or make necessary adjustments for unique circumstances. When you're done, you'll have a solid understanding of your trust and a complete set of documents.

Living Trust Builder contains a complete set of sample documents that you can use to build your own living trust. These sample documents include; To create your living trust, you simply replace the place holding insertion codes in the simple documents with text that is appropriate for you. Then, have the completed documents reviewed by a qualified attorney who specializes in estate planning. We've even included a letter for you to give to your attorney that explains your request for assistance.; Please note that Living Trust Builder is deliberately designed to cover a variety of living trust situations. At the present hum, you may not need to use all of the material that we have provided, but it may be of assistance to you at a later date.; Following is our recommendation for how and where to begin the process of building your own living trust.
: The Living Trust Builder sample documents are templates that are designed to be accessed through and used with your word processor. Use your word processor's Search and Replace function (sometime referred to as Find and Change) to replace the insertion codes in each document with the text that you define in the "Insertion Codes For Documents" worksheet .
: Next, use your word processor's Search (or Find) function to look for the place holding characters [x]. Following each [x] we have placed a description of the text you will need to insert. Replace the [x] and the description. For example, the most common instance will be: [x] (Month Day, Year). Replace all of this text with the appropriate date (e.g., September 1, 1995.)
: Many sections are followed by several lines of comments preceded by [ ]. These comments are provided by the attorneys who prepared these documents and serve to explain the section and provide guidance. We recommend that you leave these comments in place until your document is complete. Then before printing your final draft, use your word processor's Search (or Find) function to locate the '[ ]" characters that begin each comment and delete these comment sections before printing your final draft.
: ( Do not change any of the remaining text in the documents without consulting an estate planning attorney!)
: Contrary to popular belief, there are no legal statutes demanding that your trust be printed on "legal" paper in extra small type, or in a courier font. Your trust documents (except for the ASCII version for PCs) have been formatted to provide for 1" margins all around on a standard 8.5" x 11" page. With the exception of the ASCII version, we have selected a variation of the font "Times" appropriate for use with your computer. The font has been set to a very legible 12 point type.; You may change the font, font size, margins or paper size using the page formatting commands for your word processor. Print the final document as you would any document you prepared yourself
: You can even print the documents in larger type for those who have difficult' reading.

Why Should You Consider a Living Trust

Someday all this will be yours...

You may have a will and feel that everything is under control. Why should you change anything? Besides, your heirs should be happy with whatever they get. Right? That's certainly true, but today things are different. Things have changed.

My grandmother has a will, but I've convinced her to change it to a living trust. First, I told her to go spend all of her money and have a good time!

However, if my grandmother won't go live it up, I would like to hold on to as much as I can of what she's saved. And keep it in the family. I'm not a vulture, but I hate seeing things go to waste (my grandfather instilled that in me with stories from World War I, the Depression, and World War II).

Without going into details here, let's talk about why it makes sense to consider replacing your will with a living trust. This is important to your family because you (and your spouse) have worked long and hard, and have gone to a lot of trouble to preserve what you have. Obviously, you want your family to get the maximum benefit from your efforts.

Some attorneys are completely satisfied to leave your will alone. They may even say that it will be very expensive to change to a trust. Like surgery, you should get a second opinion.

What Do l get?

With a living trust, you don't necessarily have to tell anyone in your family who is going to get what that's between you and your attorney. You still retain control of your assets while you are alive and your heirs won't have to pay probate fees! When you understand the basics of a living trust, it won't seem like such a big deal. It wasn't a big deal for my grandmother and my family.

I feel a lot better knowing we've done the right thing for her. She knows our family will be left with a lot more - we don't have to sell her things at fire-sale prices to pay off the courts and government. After all, she's been telling me for years, "Someday this will all be yours." We would both like to know that that will really happen.

I think you'll find that a living trust will be worth the little effort it takes. Enjoy knowing that you've done the right thing for yourself and your family.

Otherwise, spend it! Hawaii is nice this time of year.

Contributor

The Table of Contents of the Reference Guide

Section 1 First Things First

lntroducing Living Trust Builder

	Where to Start
	Words of Caution
	How to Use the Sample Documents
	Printing Your Trust Documents
	Signing Your Trust Documents

Insertion Codes for Documents

Finding an Attorney

Organizing Your Estate

	Information Collection Form
	Net Estate Worksheet

When Someone Dies

After-Death Checklist

Section 2 Wills, Taxes and the Living Trust Alternative

Probate, Estate Taxes, Incompetence and Other Bad Things

	Probate
	Estate and Gift Taxes
	Business Succession Planning
	Management of Your Affairs: Incapacity, Long-Term Illness and Disability
	Guardianship for Minor Children

What Is a Living Trust and How Does It Work

	Terminology
	What Is a Living Trust?
	How Does a Living Trust Differ from a Will?
	What Are the Benefits of a Living Trust?
	What Savings Can My Heirs Expect with a Living Trust?
	Are There Disadvantages to a Living Trust?
	Which Trust Do I Need?
	Who Will Manage My Living Trust?
	Who Will Receive My Assets after I'm Gone?
	Transferring Property to Your Trust
	Living with Your Living Trust

Section 3 The Basic Trusts and Supporting Documents

Creating Your Trust, will and Powers of Attorney

Creating Your Trust

	Single Person's Living Trust Agreement
	Abstract of Single Person's Living Trust Agreement
	Married Living Trust Agreement without A-B Provisions
	Abstract of Living Trust Agreement without A-B Provisions
	Married Living Trust Agreement with A-B Provisions
	Abstract of Married Living Trust Agreement with A-B Provisions

Creating Your will

	Single Person's Pour-over Will
	Husband's Pour-over Will for Married Trust without A-B Provisions.
	Wife's Pour-over Will for Married Trust without A-B Provisions
	Husband's Pour-over Will for Married Trust with A-B Provisions
	Wife's Pour-over Will for Married Trust with A-B Provisions

Creating Your Powers of Attorney

	Husband's or Single Person's Durable Power of Attorney for Asset Management
	Wife's Durable Power of Attorney for Asset Management
	Husband's or Single Person's Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
	Wife's Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care

Creating Your Directive to Physicians

Transferring Property to Your Trust

	Transfer of Assets Letter
	Sample Quit claim Deed for Married Persons
	Sample Quit claim Deed for Single Person
	Sample Assignment of Deed of Trust for Married Persons
	Sample Assignment of Deed of Trust for Single Person

Changing or Revoking Your Trust

	Sample Amendment to Married Trust Agreement
	Sample Amendment to Single Person's Trust Agreement
	Sample Revocation of Married Trust Agreement
	Sample Revocation of Single Person's Trust Agreement

Section 4 Advanced Estate and Business Planning

Do I Need Advanced Estate and Business Manning?

	Married A-B-C Living Trust Agreement
	Abstract of Married A-B-C Living Trust Agreement
	Living Trust Agreement for Married Persons with Non-Citizen Spouse
	(Qualified Domestic Trust)
	Abstract of Qualified Domestic Trust

Reducing Your Estate Taxes through Gifting

	Family Limited Partnership
	lrrevocable Children's Trust
	Irrevocable Insurance Trust for Married Persons
	Irrevocable Insurance Trust for Single Person

Planning for Your Business

	What Is My Business Worth?
	Who Do I Want to Manage or Control My Business?
	Who Do I Want to Receive the Value of My Business?
	Developing and Implementing Your Plan
	General Partnership Agreement
	Corporate Buy-Sell Agreement