Wills Trust and Estates

     Hello, Today I am gonna be talking about What I've learned so far in Wills Trusts and Estates Class of situations in life that could arise, that I was not aware of. When someone passes away,  if they dont have a will or a trust, all of their property has to go through Probate Court, which could be very expensive, and stressful. Because the purpose of probate court, is to figure out who of the decedents family will get what?  Now Property is divided in to two categories, Real & Personal. Real Property is Buildings, fixtures, and rights to air and land.  Personal Property is Cars, Money, and so forth. Personal Property is broken further by Tangible and Intangible Property. Tangible Property is things that you can move physically like cash, cars, furniture.  Intangible Property are considered to be Bank Accounts, and Saving Accounts. Intangible Property is broken down Even more by Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property has three types, (1) Copyrights, (2) Patents, and (3) Marks. I will get into details about Intellectual Property in a later Blog.

      
      Now  before I continue, As a student that I am, I have enough information about Wills & Trust that could go on for Pages, and Pages. I will provide information about what I have learned in segments. Now there are many ways that you can make sure that your family gets the property that you want them to have. They are:  Gifts, Title Transfers, Wills, and Living Trusts, Trusts to name a few. The Gift method is the most common method of transferring property during life from a donor to a donee without consideration. There is a tax imposed on a Gift, and its tax free up to $675,000(back in 2001, which might be the current cut-off point).

   Title Transfer is another way to transfer property with minimal estate taxation, there are five types of  ownerships which I will get into another time. Another method is by having a Trust or a Living Trust. A trust is when you transfer your property to a trust and upon death, the Trust takes ownership of the property. A living trust is a trust established by a person that takes effect during his or her life. This is another way to avoid estate taxation, but a trust may have its own tax consequences.  Remember Consult with an Attorney when wanting to make a Will or a Trust.  This is just the basics, and it only gets deeper from here.  Thank You for reading my blog, I will be sure to update periodically.  Bye