Hi. Lee Phillips here.
Lately I've had a series of clients who have wanted to have the
trust designed so that
there were specific assets that went to specific people
and I don't like that.
I try and talk them out of it, real hard.
One, it's very difficult to write -
Two, you don't know what your assets are
10, 20 years from now when you actually get around to dying
so I really try and stay away from specific bequests.
And I've got a lady who just came to me this week
and she wants the house to go here
and and this and this and this to her four kids
and I know she's got ten kids
what about the other kids?
are you going to just straight-up disinherit them?
Normally the provision in the trust
which says how the trust assets are going to be distributed after you die
is general, it says we're going to divide the
assets so as to provide one share for each living child
and one share for each deceased child who has left issue
so
their kids would get the share that their mom or dad would have gotten
had she or he
must be early in the morning
had he or she then been alive
so that makes it easy
the trustee divides it equally
amongst the children
and they all get their share
if one of them wants the house
then they can take their entire share as just the house
or they can buy out the other children's interests in the house
or something can be worked out
so that that child gets the house
but where you want to specifically say
and this lady wanted one kid to get the car
well you may not have that car
by the time you die in fact I'll bet money you don't have that car
by the time you get around to dying
so naming all of these assets is almost ludicrous.
You're gonna sell the assets and go into the rest home
then what do the kids get?
You're gonna do this or that or the other.
So I just don't like specific bequests
of property in the trust
and that would be the same for the will
but you're not gonna have a will
that says Johnny gets this Mary gets that
blah blah blah
you're gonna have a pour-over will remember that
doesn't specifically state how the assets are divided
if anything needs to be probated
the will is used to probate
and then the assets pour over
into the living revocable trust
and then they're distributed by the trustee according
to the terms of the trust.
Hopefully the trust is kind of general
and says each share, each kid gets their share
rather than trying to go through
Now that being said
there is a provision in the trusts that I usually write
which says that you can get rid of what I call the dollies and doilies
the treadle sewing machine
things that are not
signatured assets as I would call them
things that don't require your signature to sell them or to give them away
so you can list those on what we call, in my trust, a Schedule B
and you just simply make out a list
and the painting of so-and-so in the living room
Mary gets that
the hammers and saws
John gets that
and we go on down like that
and you can distribute as many of those assets as you want
my rule of thumb is
if I can buy it at Walmart I don't care about it
you do not need them on Schedule B
but if there's something that's absolutely unique
then yes
Decide who gets it
put their name by it
and make sure the description is accurate
it can't be "the blue lamp in the bedroom"
because there might be a blue lamp in the bedroom and one in the living room
and then somebody goes in and switches those two around
so it has to be a description that a stranger could find that
not in the house
but in a big pile but in a big pile out on the front lawn
and then you can say
Johnny gets this Mary gets that and go on down that way.
So those are specific bequests
and I like that
because that avoids the family fight.
As far as getting rid of the general assets
the real estate
the bank accounts
that sort of stuff
make it general.
Don't try and get down specific
because by the time you get around to dying
the specific is gonna have changed.
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