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Do I Need a Will or a Trust? (Do I Need Either One?) - YouTube
Channel: Toby Mathis Esq. | Tax & Asset Protection
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- Hi guys, Toby Mathis here,
I'm one of the partners
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at Anderson Law Group
and Business Advisors.
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And the question we
oftentimes get, me personally,
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I've gotten this hundreds
of times over the years,
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is, do I need a will or a living trust?
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(upbeat music)
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Subscribe to the YouTube channel,
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click the bell notification icon
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so you know when a new video's uploaded.
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Tax laws are changing all the time,
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the laws are changing all the time,
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that's why you're first to
know, you're first to grow.
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And that's not to say
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versus, will or living
trust, that's just to say,
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do I need any estate planning whatsoever?
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And the answer is almost
always the same, which is yes.
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You absolutely need to
do something in writing
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'cause if you don't put it in writing
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and something happens, then it's too late.
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And I'm not saying death, this
is what's really important.
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There's lots of stuff that
could happen during our lives
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where we need some sort of documentation
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that needs to be in a estate plan.
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So step number one is making sure
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that you have somebody to
advocate for you, your body,
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in the event you're not able
to advocate for yourself.
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So for example, if you go into a hospital
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and you're going in for a procedure
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and the put you under general
anesthesia and you're out,
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you can no longer answer questions, right?
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So you gotta have somebody designated
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to answer those questions for you.
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And if you think it's automatic,
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here's news for ya: it's not.
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And so you're literally putting your life
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into somebody else's hands
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and for somebody else
to make that decision
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but you're not designating who
gets to make that decision.
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So first step is to make
sure that you put in writing
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who gets to make that decision,
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if it's your spouse or if it's
somebody who's a caregiver
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or if it's a sibling
or a child or a parent.
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Somebody that you're designating
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and then you're giving
them access to information
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so that they can make the
best decision for you.
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So for example, again, same scenario,
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I go into the hospital and
let's say that I'm going in,
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I've had knee surgery and
I was out for knee surgery,
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if something had come up
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and there was a decision
that needed to be made
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while I was out,
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they would have asked my spouse.
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But I also gave a HIPAA release
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so that my spouse could
get the medical information
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to make that decision.
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Now, it's really easy when it's a spouse.
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It gets far more complicated
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when it's a partner, fiance,
parent, child, sibling,
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third party, best friend, whatever.
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You need to have that
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or they're not going to
give you that information,
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they're not gonna give that individual.
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So that's number one,
it's always making sure
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that you have medical covered.
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Number two is finances.
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If I'm not able to make
decisions for myself,
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then I need to have
somebody appointed for me.
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Otherwise, the state's gonna get involved.
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And I don't want the state involved.
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That's almost never a good situation.
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And so, again, let's say
the most common example,
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nowadays we're just getting older,
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sometimes our bodies are
outliving our minds, right?
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Sometimes we need help,
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we are not good at
making our own decisions.
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In my family, we were touched by dementia.
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A lot of you are going
through that same thing.
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I had a parent that was not able
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to make decisions for himself,
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and luckily, in writing, had
already designated my mother
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to make those decisions.
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My mom, if it's same scenario,
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needs to have somebody appointed.
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It could be her sister, it
could be one of her kids,
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could be her attorney,
could be another fiduciary,
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could be her best friend.
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Having somebody appointed to
make decisions is critical
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because when you get to the point
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when you can no longer
make those decisions,
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it's too late to pick somebody else
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and now you're out of luck.
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Last point, and this is the big one
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that everybody immediately jumps to,
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is, what happens when I pass?
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And you have three options.
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You either have a will where you've said
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here's how I'm distributing my assets.
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And that requires that you
go through the court system.
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I have nothing, that's called intestate,
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and now your assets are divided
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under the laws of the
state in which you reside.
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Number three is I have a trust.
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And a trust is the only one of those three
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that does not require court supervision.
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So you tell me which one
you would rather have.
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Two of the three require that your heirs
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go through a court process
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and go through and deal
with a judge and lawyers.
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The third avoids it
entirely, can be much faster,
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and could have, again,
the expensive probate
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gets avoided completely.
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So if you're somebody, you
don't have much of anything,
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you still need an estate plan
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'cause you still have your body.
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Let's say I don't have a
lot of financial successes,
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I don't have a ton of assets, that's fine.
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You still need somebody to
answer questions for you,
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for your body and for your finances,
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should you not be able to.
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And I don't care whether
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you're just collecting Social Security,
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you still need to have somebody there
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to represent your interest.
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Because if you don't, that's
when bad things happen.
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And then for all of us, rare is the case,
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in fact, I've almost never seen it,
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when it's gonna make more
sense, all things being equal,
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to go with a will or nothing
versus a living trust.
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And I would say, if I had
to rank them in order,
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the best is always
gonna be a living trust,
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the secondary is a will
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with a good power of attorney for finances
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and a good power of attorney for medical
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and a good HIPAA release.
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And then, by all means, please make sure
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you're giving away your assets,
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things like your fine
china or your jewelry
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or thing like that to specific people,
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'cause that's where the
fights really occur,
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is when there's an
emotionally charged situation.
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Please, make sure you're doing that.
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And if it ends up in a court situation,
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that's usually where fights break out.
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And then the last one and the one to avoid
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is passing away with nothing.
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And frankly, I would say,
it's not just passing away,
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it's if you need help and you
need a third party to help you
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and not having documentation,
it could be just atrocious.
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And so I would say, again,
if I had to put 'em in order,
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number one, absolutely, is
gonna be a living trust,
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number two is gonna be the will
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with a good power of attorney
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and healthcare power of attorney,
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make sure there's one for
finances, one for healthcare,
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and a good HIPAA release
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to make sure they have
access to the information,
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and last and the one to
avoid is passing away
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with no paperwork whatsoever.
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So I hope this was helpful for you.
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And if you feel like it,
please share it with somebody
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who's struggling with these issues
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and has that common question, which is,
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what happens if I die with
nothing, or a will, or a trust?
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(gentle music)
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