New Trustees

“I can’t believe we need a Will after we spent all that time doing our Trust!” Fred exclaimed.  “Well, Fred,” Wilma answered, “Sam Solid, our lawyer said that it’s just like having another job title, which will be Testator.” 

“I guess it’s all right, but why would we need it?” Fred asks, “After all, Sam said that after we transfer all the property into our Trust, it will say who gets it after we die.”

Fortunately, Wilma was listening more closely than Fred.  “When we die, Fred, some things might not be in the Trust, like our last pension check.”  Sam also them that if the Flintstones had a lawsuit against a driver who had rear-ended them still pending when they died, that probably wouldn’t be in the Trust until the case was done.

“Plus, the Will we need is really simple,” Wilma remembers, “because it just says that all our remaining property should be ‘poured over’ into our Trust.  The Trust will still control where everything goes.”

So Fred became a “testator,” otherwise known as a person who has made a Will, and of course was heard to be bragging around the Rubbles’ house about it later that week.

For advice about whether a Living Trust suits your needs and how to plan your estate, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

Fred worried a little as he gave Wilma the letter from their lawyer, Sam Solid.  “Wilma, what if someone has sued us?” he asks.

“Fred, this should be something good, probably about our new Trust,” Wilma tells him.  “I’m right!  Our house is now officially owned by our Trust,” she says as she opens it to see a copy of the recorded Deed they signed about a month earlier at Sam’s office. 

“I’m glad that we already told our homeowners insurance agent to add the Trust onto our policy as an additional insured,” Wilma says. ‘Why?’ asks Fred.

“Sam told us we needed to do that so we would be sure to have our whole house insured in case a rock slide wiped it out,” Wilma explains. 

Sam told them their homeowner’s insurance pays up to the value of their ownership interest in the house, but that once they signed the deed transferring the house, their Trust would own it, not them.  “So if we didn’t list the Trust on our policy, the insurance company could deny our claim if the house was destroyed, because we technically don’t own it anymore,” Wilma remembers.

For advice about safeguarding your assets when you transfer them into your living trust, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

“Now we have it!” Fred was flushed with success as he left his lawyer’s office.  “We are now Trustees, Beneficiaries and Grantors of the Flintstone Family Trust.” 

“Not so fast, Fred. Right now our Trust only has our household furniture, appliances and gardening equipment in it,” Wilma reminded him.  “We can’t exactly say that is worth getting very high and mighty about yet.”

Two weeks later, Fred wonders why he must fill out yet another form for his Trust.  “It sure does take a lot of work to be Grantor of our Trust,” he complains.  “It seems I’ve been signing letters and filling out transfer forms practically every night.”

 “That’s the price of owning so many different things,” Wilma points out.  “But it’s really important that each asset we have be formally transferred into our Trust, and it will be over pretty soon.”

“Yes, after all, from now on,” Fred agreed, “we will be able to put our stuff into the Trust right away and not have to ask for any changes to transfer it later.”

For advice about whether a Living Trust suits your needs and how to transfer all your assets into it properly, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

“Wilma, you won’t believe what our lawyer Sam said at the seminar he gave at the Lodge tonight!” Fred exclaimed, “We heard all about the best Living Trust.”

“We wouldn’t just be Trustees and beneficiaries of the Trust like Barney and Betty are in the Rubble Trust,” Fred explained.  “We would be both of them and the Grantors.”

“I can’t wait to get to our appointment with Sam next week and get us that living trust.  I swear, Barney was just turning green with envy, because he can’t afford to redo the Rubble Trust to make him a Grantor,” he gloated. 

“What does being a Grantor mean?” Wilma finally managed to interrupt to ask.  “It means,” Fred said, importantly, “that we are the people who fund the Trust.”

“Oh, so it will be our property, like our house and savings accounts that we will transfer into the Trust?” Wilma asked out loud.  But, as she later told Betty, she did manage to keep from blurting out that the Rubbles had done just that too.

“Exactly!  Without Grantors transferring property to a Trust, a Living Trust is nothing, just plain useless!” shouted Fred triumphantly.

For information on all the roles in a Living Trust and whether a Trust suits your needs, call our office at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment.

©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

When Fred heard Wilma and Betty talking about the Rubble Trust, he decided he should find a way to convince Wilma that he’d been planning to have one for the Flintstones all along. 

“Wilma,” Fred called after his Water Buffaloes meeting the next week, “I finally managed to catch Sam Solid after the meeting tonight, so your belated surprise birthday present will come soon!”

“Who is Sam Solid?” asks Wilma.  “Just the best estate planning lawyer in the greater Bedrock area,” Fred replies. 

“So what’s my present, Fred?” asks Wilma, beginning to suspect that her plan to have Fred reconsider his hasty “no” to a living trust has worked.

“You almost ruined the surprise a few weeks ago by talking to me about a trust,” Fred tells Wilma.  “But I bet you’re really surprised now that I’ve been trying to talk with Sam about one ever since your birthday back in June!”

“Oh, I guess you could say I’m surprised, Fred,” says Wilma. “But why not go to Ralph, who did the Rubbles’ trust?”

“Because Sam concentrates his law practice in estate planning,” Fred answers. “Sam spends most of his time figuring out how to help families like us plan for now and what might happen in the future. Just wait till Barney hears!”

To go over your estate with attorneys who concentrate their practice on trusts, wills and estates to plan for today and tomorrow, call us at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment

©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

“The best part of the Rubble Trust, really, is that Barney and I are the beneficiaries of the Trust,” Betty was happy to explain to Wilma again, this time while Fred was listening around the corner.  “Being the trustees was just not enough for us.”

“What does that mean?” Wilma asks innocently. 

“Barney and I get to use all the stuff that we decide to buy as trustees/managers of the trust.” Betty answers, “We are the ones who get to drive our car, and then we are the ones who get to drive the new van we plan to buy when we sell the car.”

She also explained that after they died, their son BamBam would be named as the next beneficiary of the Trust.  “Because, you see, the Trust is just a piece of paper, not a person, and so doesn’t die just because both of us are gone.

“That means BamBam will get the income from the Trust property long after we die, and we even put in directions to allow him to be given the property in the Trust outright once he marries Pebbles.”

Fred could barely contain himself.  But he did, because after all he’d already put a quick but effective end to Wilma’s idea that the Flintstones get a Trust.  Now he would just have to find a way to get her to believe he was only joking before…

For information on all the roles in a Living Trust and whether a Trust suits your needs, call us at (815) 436-1996 for an appointment. ©2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.

"Don't talk to me about a Trust," Fred scolded his wife, Wilma.  "I'm not so far gone that I'm ready to give up control of my own money."

But Wilma asked her friend Betty to mention the Trust the Rubbles had when Fred would have to overhear.  Betty, who was glad to help, later told Wilma that she and Barney were really more in control of their money and property now than before.

"We're our own trustees," she explained confidentially.  "We didn't hire a bank or add BamBam on our accounts or other stuff. Instead, we just asked the Bedrock Bank to change the names on our accounts to the Rubble Trust.  We are still on the signature cards, and nobody else is."

"If Barney and I want to sell our house," she continued, "we just sign our names as trustees on the deed at the closing." 

"Oh, Betty, you just sound so important!," Wilma exclaimed. "Is it a lot of work to be a trustee?  And do you get paid?" Wilma asked.

"It's no harder than being myself, after we got all our stuff transferred into the Trust's name, Wilma.  But you know how much trouble it is to have to convince Barney of anything good?  It's still an awful lot of trouble, and still for no pay!"

For information on rock-solid estate planning that suits your situation, call us at (815) 436-1996 to set an appointment. © 2013 Gruber Law Office, Ltd.