King Fear

For all King Fear's anger at two of his daughters, Goneril  and Regan, who were behind the intentional blinding of his best friend, Duke Loyal, Fear realizes he has reason to be thankful.  His other daughter, Delia, and Loyal continue to stand by him, even though they know his Will leaves all to Goneril and Regan.

Fear knows Delia and Loyal's love for him is true, because they don't even know about his secret plan to leave them everything.  He's thankful they've passed the test he set for them, but he doesn't want him to know about the plan yet. 

So he plans to give each of them special birthday gifts this year to show his appreciation and deep love without tipping them off about his plan.  But, as you may remember, Fear has now divested himself of formal title to nearly all his assets.  On the other hand, he is not poor in any way.  He has the beneficial interest in numerous valuable land trusts that he can sell off or give away anytime.

Plus, all of the assets he has put into his living trust also remain his to sell, give away or use as he pleases.  He can do anything with the trust assets that he could have done before he created the trust, except now he act and signs "as trustee" instead of as King Fear.

Therefore, Delia will think she and Loyal have received a unique Faberge egg from Fear, but they will actually be receiving them from King Fear's Living Trust.  

It makes no difference to them now.  But it will make a world of difference after King Fear dies, and the rest of the things in his Trust go to Delia and Loyal rather than Delia’s two nasty sisters. 

To set up a well-thought plan that is simpler or even more complex than King Fear’s, please call our office to schedule an estate planning consultation. 

©2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear feels at peace now that he has made detailed provisions for what will happen to his property after his death. His evil daughters Goneril and Regan will receive a shed full of coal and his luggage set by inheriting "everything" under the terms of his Will. 

And good daughter Delia and his friend Duke Loyal will actually inherit everything under his Living Trust, but their generous natures will be reined in by the provisions of the Trust.  The Trust prevents them from giving any of the property they inherit from the Trust to Goneril and Regan. 

Fear took the time to catalog all of his assets and who was on the title to each.  Then, he changed the title designations and bought and sold property to fit what he wanted to do now.  Having put just about everything in his Living Trust, he has been able to designate in one place just who is to get what, and how much. 

He can also change who will receive his property in just one place, the Living Trust.  Most important, he can deal with his property while he is alive just like he did before he had his Trust.  As both Trustee and Beneficiary, he can spend and save money, sell property, buy property or even give it away. 

Having fully planned for the present and future, Fear has nothing left to fear, except maybe himself.

For a Living Trust tailored to your situation and wishes for the future, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment. © 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear now wants to simplify.  One way would be to put all his land trust real estate either into his new Living Trust by naming the Trust the beneficiary instead of himself, or instead naming the Living Trust as successor beneficiary.

In his Living Trust, he can prevent his successor (after-death) trustees from giving any of the Trust assets to Goneril or Regan.  Right now, his loving daughter Delia and his friend Duke Loyal are named as successor trustees to his Living Trust and also as successor beneficiaries on all of his many land trusts.

Fear can meet his goal of keeping the real estate from benefiting his evil daughters Goneril and Regan by means of his Living Trust, without changing the Will that has convinced them that they will inherit everything he has when he dies. 

Plus, if his Living Trust will end up controlling almost all his assets after his death, it will be simpler while he's alive to keep track of exactly who will end up with how much and to change the beneficiaries if he wants.

You see, one of Fear's shortcomings is impulsiveness.  He long remembers his grudges against people, but he also constantly tests those he trusts. 

So if after his next test, he decides to cut Delia's share of his assets down and give some to his grandson, Edmund, he only has to amend his Living Trust, not change dozens of land trusts.

For a Living Trust tailored to your situation and wishes for the future, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment. © 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear now has actual title to only two properties, his luggage and a small shed full of coal, which he is leaving in his Will to his daughters Goneril and Regan.  But he is still rich, as the beneficiary of his land trusts and Living Trust. 

Fear does not regret his decision to leave all other assets to his daughter Delia and his friend Duke Loyal by naming them the successor beneficiaries of his land trusts and the successor beneficiaries and co-trustees of his Living Trust. 

But Fear worries that Delia's bottomless capacity to love and forgive might thwart his plan to keep Goneril and Regan's hands off his riches.  Even though Loyal hates Goneril and Regan after being brutally blinded by them, he would not be able to withstand Delia's desire to be kind to her sisters for very long.

By writing in the proper provisions, Fear can prevent Delia and Loyal from giving anything from his Living Trust to Goneril and Regan, even after his own death.  On the other hand, if he simply names Delia and Loyal as the successor beneficiaries of his land trusts, he cannot prevent them from giving the land to Goneril and Regan.  

To fix this, Fear could instead name his own Living Trust as the successor beneficiaries of his land trusts.  Then, he can portion out all his property to whomever he chooses in his Living Trust and also exert some control over the property from his grave.

For an estate plan tailored to your situation and wishes for the future, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

©2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear has put many of his assets into his own Living Trust. As we explained last week, he still has full control over all of those assets, because he is the named trustee who manages his assets and makes all decisions about them.

Plus, he is the beneficiary of the trust, which means all the assets in it are there for his benefit.  But, as we know from his secret decision to leave almost nothing to two of his three daughters, King Fear is very worried about losing control in his life. 

His attorney had already explained that he could change his trust anytime by going through certain formalities.  But King Fear needed more – he just had to know whether he could “kill” his trust if he wanted to later.  His trust is fully revocable, which means he does have that ultimate control.  He can revoke, or cancel, the trust any time he wants to. 

To do that, he would destroy the original signed trust and then work to change the title on all those assets back to his own name.  That would restore his status as owner of the assets as himself rather than as trustee.  It would not increase or lessen his power over his property.  But knowing he could go back comforts King Fear. 

Most estate plans allow for plenty of changes if you want them later.  After all, life is uncertain and throws us plenty of curves.  For help creating your own estate plan, please call my office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

©2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear has put his real estate into land trusts and the rest of his assets into his own Living Trust. He still has full control over all of the assets owned by his Living Trust, because he named himself trustee of the trust.  As trustee, he manages his assets and makes all decisions about them. 

Plus, he’s also the beneficiary under his Living Trust.  So as trustee, all of his decisions have to be, in his own judgment, in his own best interest.  This all sounds a lot like the power he had over his assets before he transferred them into his Living Trust, which is no coincidence.  That’s exactly what he intended when he created his Living Trust. 

He’s simply using his Living Trust to pass his assets after his death outside of probate court procedures and outside of what is written in his Will.  That way, he can continue to trick his vicious daughters, Goneril and Regan, into pampering and catering to him in order to remain in his Will. 

Of course, the only things he plans to have in his probate estate at his death to be given to the daughters named in his Will is a coal shed and his suitcases. The rest will go to his loving daughter and his good friend Duke Loyal under the terms of his Living Trust and his land trusts. 

Estate planning can help you make sure your money goes were you want it to go after your death, in whatever way you decide is fair.  For help creating your own estate plan, please call my office at (815)436-1996 for an appointment.

© 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear put many of his assets into his own living trust. But he still has full control over all of the assets owned by his living trust, because he can amend it at any time so long as he follows a few formalities.

The amendment must be in writing and, of course, be dated. It should be signed in a manner similar to the signing of the original trust, including witnessing of his signature. After all, Fear can change how much each person receives, whether a bank or a relative will serve as the next trustee and change any other provisions in his trust.

In fact, if he wants, he can “restate” his trust and change everything about it by replacing it with all new provisions.
Only he can amend his trust, though, because he is the only grantor of the trust. No one else can ever serve as grantor of the trust.

“Grantor” is the label that his living trust puts on the person who decided what the terms of the trust were going to be, in other words, the person who created the trust and put his property into it. Other common terms used for the grantor of a living trust are settlor, trustor, and maker.

So only King Fear can amend his trust. And he can amend anything about it. But on his death, it may as well be cast in stone, because no other person will ever be able to amend it.

Estate planning can help you make sure your money goes were you want it to go after your death, in whatever way you decide is fair. For help creating your own estate plan, please call my office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

© 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear’s decision to leave all his extensive property to his daughter Delia and Duke Loyal, and virtually nothing to his cruel daughters, Goneril and Regan, must remain secret. After all, he wants to be pampered during his planned rotating month-long visits with all his daughters.

He has put all his real estate into land trusts with banks, and left them to Delia and Loyal. But he knows there are still things he owns that would pass according to his Will, which names Goneril and Regan. So he must quietly clear out just about everything from being officially titled in his own name, because that stuff would get put in his “probate estate,” which is the legal label for the property that would pass under his Will to Goneril and Regan.

Fortunately, he does not have to give up control of his things in order to do this. Instead, he can create a living trust, which avoids probate and the Will, but preserves his authority to control his own assets. He can name himself to be Trustee of the trust.

As trustee, he could buy, sell and use his assets just the same as he could before. Why? Because he can write the trust that he himself is funding to say that he can.

Saying what you want in an estate plan can make all the difference for making your wishes a reality. For help planning the future of your own property and assets, please call my office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

© 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear’s decision to leave all his extensive property to his daughter Delia and Duke Loyal, and virtually nothing to his cruel daughters, Goneril and Regan, must remain secret. After all, he wants to be pampered during his planned rotating month-long visits with all his daughters.

His Will leaves everything to Goneril and Regan. But he has secretly sold most of his various pieces of property and bought new properties. He put all the new properties into secret land trusts held by a bank, who is the owner shown in public records.

His daughters now cannot find out what properties Fear has recently bought, even if they suspect he’s been buying new property. It would be difficult to shake it out of the bank, because the bank would be breaking its land trust contract with Fear if it told anyone.

Fear’s “ownership” of the property is actually called a beneficial interest in the land trust.

The best part of it from Fear’s perspective is that with the land trusts, he can designate a successor beneficiary of his interest in each land trust.

All the properties in land trusts can pass to his designated beneficiaries, Delia and Loyal, without Goneril and Regan even knowing about it, outside his Will and probate court procedures. So Goneril and Regan won’t even know what properties to vandalize to take out their rage until after they find out they’ve been had.

For help with your own estate plan, please call my office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

© 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear has decided that he wants to leave all his extensive property to his daughter Delia and Duke Loyal, and leave only a shed full of coal and his tattered luggage to his cruel daughters, Goneril and Regan.  But he doesn't want them to know about it, because he intends to be pampered during his planned rotating month-long visits with all his daughters. 

He's asked them to prove their love for him in exchange for a large share in his Will. And he plans to write his Will as he promised, leaving Goneril and Regan each half of his property.    But he also plans to secretly sell his various pieces of property and put them in land trusts.  In those trusts, he will authorize a bank to be the official title holder on the properties, as Trustee for him.  The bank's power will be limited to holding title and following Fear's directions to sign documents that affect title, such as a mortgage or deed. 

Only the bank will show in the public records as the owner of the property.  Even the tax bills can be sent to the bank, to be forwarded to Fear.  So Fear's name will not be on the public records at all and what property he owns will be his secret.

Next week we'll talk about how the land trusts allow Fear to secretly leave his secret properties to Delia and Loyal.  Meanwhile, for help with your own estate plan, please call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.  © 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

King Fear is rich with property, a multimillionaire on paper. In fact, his three daughters can't even keep up with all the holdings he has.  That's just the way he likes it, especially after he discovered that two of them, Goneril and Regan, were behind the brutal intentional blinding of his best friend Duke Loyal.

The enraged Fear wants to force Goneril and Regan to publicly declare their love for him and for Loyal in order to receive a large share in his will.  In fact, he has told them that whomever can convince him she loves him most will receive the biggest share. Since then, he has already heard some incredible love descriptions from both of them.

But Fear plans to secretly leave nothing to Goneril and Regan except title to a shed filled with coal and the tattered luggage he plans to use when being pampered by each of his daughters during his month-long visits.  He will leave all of his valuable property to Loyal and Delia, who he knows truly love him, although neither will make any public statements about it. 

In the next few weeks we'll describe a couple of ways Fear can do what he wants.  Meanwhile, for help with your own estate plan, please call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment. © 2014 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.