Irvine, CA Estate Planning Blog

Trustees are responsible for administering a trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries. In some instances, multiple trustees may administer a trust as co-trustees. Occasionally, issues arise causing the beneficiaries of a trust or the co-trustees to pursue removal of a trustee. These issues could be general unhappiness with trust accounting or failure of the trustee or co-trustee to provide information when requested. In short, the grantor (creator) of the trust, co-trustees, the trust beneficiaries,  and the  probate court have the ability to remove a trustee

Reasons a Trustee Can Be Removed

The reasons for removal of a trustee depend upon the trust documents and applicable state law. Generally, a trustee can be removed for:

• Incapacity – Trustees may be removed if they become incapacitated, whether due to medical issues or self-inflicted incapacity due to drug and alcohol abuse.
• Violating the terms of the trust – Trustees may be removed if they violate the terms of the trust, such as not consulting with a co-trustee in a decision.
• Failure to account or report as required – Trustees have an obligation to account for trust activity and report as required by the beneficiaries. Failure to accurately report the requested information is grounds for removal.
• Self-dealing – Trustees owe beneficiaries fiduciary duties which require them to always act in the best interest of the trust and the beneficiary. Selling trust property to one’s self at a discount constitutes self-dealing and is grounds for removal.
• Theft of trust property – Due to the fiduciary duties described above, theft of trust property is a violation of those fiduciary duties and is grounds for removal.

Retirement planning is essential given ever-increasing life expectancies in the United States. Unfortunately, many Americans fail to save adequate amounts to make it through retirement. Often, individuals believe that they will be fine on Social Security. However, Social Security is only designed to compensate for 40% of your income; Social Security is designed to be an income supplement rather than a sole income source. To make matters worse, workers tend to overestimate how late into their life they will be able to work. Inadequate savings and an inability to work produce an exceptionally stressful retirement. Remember, it’s never too late to start saving.

401(k) Plans

401(k) plans are employer-sponsored retirement plans that offer tax advantages to investing. When investing through a 401(k) plan, you will declare how much of your paycheck you would like to contribute to the 401(k). The employer will then contribute the designated amount before taxes to your 401(k) account. The contributions made to your 401(k) account are non-taxable meaning that your taxable income is decreased by the amount contributed. As of 2018, the maximum amount that a taxpayer can contribute to a 401(k) account is $18,500. The tax advantages of the 401(k) plan mean that if the taxpayer earns $80,000 annually in salary and contributes $10,000 to his or her 401(k) plan, then the taxpayer’s taxable income for that year would be decreased to $70,000. When the taxpayer begins to withdraw from the 401(k) account, those withdrawals will be treated as taxable income.

However, money contributed to a 401(k) plan may not be withdrawn before the age of 59.5 without incurring a penalty unless certain exceptions apply. Unfortunately, not all employers offer 401(k) plans. If your employer doesn’t offer a 401(k) program, make sure to take advantage of other retirement plan options such as a Traditional IRA or a Roth IRA.

Traditional and Roth IRA

The Traditional IRA functions very similar to a 401(k) plan except that it does not have to be employer-sponsored. This means that if your employer doesn’t offer a 401(k), or you’d like to contribute more than the 401(k) contribution limit, you can set up a Traditional IRA. From a tax perspective, a Traditional IRA functions the same as a 401(k): the amounts contributed are not taxed and distributions are taxed.  However, unlike a 401(k), the contributions to your Traditional IRA are made by you. As a result, whatever you contribute to your Traditional IRA will then be deducted from your taxes when you file.

While advances in medicine allow people to live longer, questions are often raised about life-sustaining treatment terminally ill patients may or may not want to receive. Those who fail to formally declare these wishes in writing to family members and medical professionals run the risk of having the courts make these decisions.

Today, it is impossible to put together even a simple estate plan without the assistance of an experienced estate planning attorney. Why? Because estate planning laws vary greatly from state to state and these laws are extremely convoluted and constantly changing. 

When it comes to estate planning, many individuals believe that dividing assets equally among adult children is the best choice. However, there are situations in which leaving each child the same amount might not be practical. For this reason, it is important to know the difference between an equal inheritance and an equitable inheritance, in which each child receives a fair share based on his or her circumstances.

While the main objective of estate planning is to help individuals protect their assets and provide for  loved ones, there are other important considerations, such as planning for incapacity. In short, it is crucial  to plan for the type of medical care people wish to receive if a serious accident or illness makes them unable to make or communicate these decisions. By putting in place advance medical directives, such as a durable power of attorney for healthcare and a living will, it is possible to plan for these unexpected events.

If you’ve set up a Revocable Living Trust, congratulations!  You’re definitely on the right track. But…you’re only half way there. Many believe because they took the time to create a Trust, their estate will automatically avoid probate.  Unfortunately, this is a false sense of security.

Trying to unravel all the ins and outs of the estate planning process can make your head spin. Most people associate wills with estate planning, but there are so many more legal tools that can be put in place to help plan for the future health and financial well being of you and your family. An IRA inheritance trust is one such valuable legal tool that may be beneficial to you and your loved ones. Find out of an IRA inheritance trust should become part of your estate plan.

The majority of the time, the money held in an IRA account will be distributed to the person you list on the beneficiary designation form. This is one of the forms you will fill out when you open or amend an IRA account. Not many people are actually aware that you do not necessarily have to name an individual as the account beneficiary. You may list a trust as the beneficiary. This trust is what is referred to as an IRA inheritance trust.

When considering whether or not to utilize an IRA inheritance trust, you really need to think about who would benefit from establishing such a trust. This means considering who would be the designated beneficiary of the IRA proceeds. An IRA inheritance trust can be very beneficial if you are considering designating an IRA beneficiary who may:

A power of attorney is an estate planning document that has a variety of uses. There are several types of these documents available, and each one performs a slightly different function. One or more of these plans may be a good idea to include as part of your estate plan.

What is a Power of Attorney?

A power of attorney gives another person permission and authority to make decisions regarding various aspects of your life if you can’t make those decisions yourself or if you just want to hand over control to a friend or loved one for any other reason.

A power of attorney gives someone else, who does not have to be an attorney, the ability to make decisions for you. You are essentially authorizing this other person to act on your behalf either generally or if certain conditions are met.

You must complete a document to give this power to someone else. This document may need to be notarized or go through another type of authentication process.

Types of Powers of Attorney

Several kinds of powers of attorney may be useful for your estate plan. These often overlap in many circumstances.