Vacation Destinations for the Retired

Senior travel is increasing in popularity. It is becoming easier to travel around the globe, and senior citizens are becoming more active than ever before. Here are some vacation destination ideas for the retired:

If you are an avid golfer, treat yourself to a vacation at a golf resort. Pebble Beach in northern California is one of the world’s top golf courses. Being near the ocean, this beautiful resort is certain to give you a memorable golfing experience.

Why not venture out to a continent you have never explored before? Europe is a popular destination with great architecture. Utilize your time and thoroughly explore Europe—Eiffel Tower and the Louvre in Paris, Colosseum in Rome, the Tower of London—the possibilities are endless. Renting a vacation cottage can be an option for a longer vacation.

For a great vacation without the hassle of flying, consider taking a Caribbean cruise. You can enjoy great scenery and all the amenities you need while traveling to your destination.
Want to stay on a budget? Consider a local vacation. San Diego is full of beautiful scenery. Consider a relaxing weekend of staying at a local hotel, strolling the beach, and visiting museums. This could also be your chance to explore a city you have not had a chance to visit.

There are various websites and agencies dedicated to retired and senior travel, which can help you plan your vacation destination or find companions.

These tips are brought to you courtesy of Walters & Ward, A Professional Corporation. We specialize in estate planning in California and understand that clients have a wide range of needs. As San Diego estate planning attorneys, we offer advice on a wide range of topics. Our focus is helping clients avoid probate, reduce taxes, and keep family matters private. But we're not opposed to offering advice on vacations every now and again either!

Living Trusts

A living trust is a popular way to avoid probate, which can be a very expensive and time consuming process. A living trust is created while a person is still alive who names a trustee to the assets of the trust. By setting up a living trust, probate is not needed for the trustees to inherit the assets of the trust. Anything that is transferred into the living trust before death doesn’t go through probate and can avoid any lawyer and court fees. The beneficiary simply transfers the named assets and once the assets are transferred, the living trust ceases to exist.
It is still a smart decision to have a will in addition to a living trust for any property that is acquired shortly before death or any property that is mistakenly forgotten to be included in the living trust. By setting up a will in addition to a trust, you can simply name a person to inherit any assets and property that is not already left to a different specific beneficiary. This will ensure that all of your assets are dispersed in a manner that you approve of rather than it being determined by the state.
Here at Walters and Ward, we have years of experience in helping individuals and couples set up living trusts and wills to protect their family from costly fees and headache after they pass on. We can explain all of your different options that you may have for your specific circumstances as well as all of the benefits and negatives of each option in order to assist you in making the right decision for your assets and family. Call us today for a free consultation that will help lead you in the right direction and leave you feeling confident and informed about your future and your family’s future.

How to Avoid Probate and Death Taxes

There is a lot of hassle that comes with drawing up a will. It seems like it might be impossible to avoid the large sum of taxes that come with transferring your estate and belongings to your family and friends. But what may come as a surprise is, with the right San Diego trust attorneys, you can create a solid trust that will allow you to pass on your estate free of taxes and probate.

The first step of probate is when the court decides whether the will is invalid or not. If it is deemed invalid, the probate court applies the state inheritance laws to the estate. If the will is deemed valid, the court then oversees the process of settling the will. This includes overseeing the distribution of assets (including payment of state and federal taxes), hearing contested claims by creditors and others seeking to collect from the estate, deciding which possessions are subject to estate administration, and supervision of many more actions that may have even been specified within the will.

Probate can lead to large taxation of your estate and unwelcomed assistance in the distribution of your possessions. To avoid these death taxes and the long process of probate, it is important to set up a trust along with your will. San Diego probate lawyers are able to set up solid trusts that prevent probate and allow you to pass on your possessions free of estate taxes.

Estate Planning is extremely important in ensuring that your estate and belongings are passed on to whom you want and how you want. Setting up a trust is invaluable and it’s the only way to make sure your family and friends avoid probate and death taxes. Walters and Ward are great San Diego lawyers that will help you further understand the importance of trusts and help you start the process of protecting your estate.

What Issues Need to be Addressed during the Estate Planning Process?

Estate planning often becomes a confusing and overwhelming process because it involves legal documents such as wills, trusts, and power of attorney. The best way to approach estate planning is by determining all the issues that need to be addressed. Once you have worked out all of your focus areas, everything should fall into place without a problem.

What are the issues that need to be addressed? Asking who, what, when and how of transferring responsibilities when you can no longer perform them because of disability or death is a great way to start. Appointing individuals or professionals that you trust to carry out your responsibilities is very important. These individuals will perform the responsibilities concerning the people in your life and the property of your estate.

The best way to get started is making a list of people who are important to you and depend on you. These people include your children, friends, spouse, and employees, etc. After that has been completed, a list of properties that you own and control over must be made. Then you have to decide which individuals will have the responsibility of taking care of your assets, and be sure to have a set of guidelines that you want the individuals you select to follow.

These are the issues that any estate plan should address. There is never a truly perfect solution when it comes to estate planning, but if it is not done properly and in an orderly fashion, a judge will be making the decisions for you instead. Consulting an attorney, like those at Walters and Ward, LLC, can help guide you through the process.

Estate Planning in California

Being prepared for anything is very important these days. You never know what tomorrow will bring. The problem is, many people neglect one very significant part of life – people forget about death. What do you have to worry about if you’re gone, right? Wrong. Dying has never been more complex. The State and Federal courts will prowl through your estates in search of their share of what you've worked and saved for. That is, unless you have the right documents in place.

If you’re smart, you’ll protect yourself and your family now. Living trusts in California guarantee you and your heir’s privacy upon your death as well completely eliminating Probate. At Walters and Ward, we can do just that. Without the proper documents, prepared by a credentialed lawyer to meet your specific needs, your heirs might wait three years or more, and potentially spend hundreds of thousands of dollars going through probate.

You've worked hard all your life and you love your family. Protect them and everything you’ve worked your whole life for. You should be able to find a qualified Californian estate lawyer in your community. They will help take inventory of your estate, and ensure that all of your assets will be protected.

The bottom line is that California living trusts offer your family privacy, and can save a significant amount of time and money upon your death by avoiding probate

You Have a Will, But You Also Need a Trust

A will is simply a testament that defines which heirs will receive what assets. On the other hand, a trust is a property management arrangement in which one person (the trustee) manages assets for the benefit of another person (the beneficiary). When you have a will and a trust, court supervision during probate is eliminated. You no longer have a need for a court Executor to manage your assets for people whom you’ve already named as recipients to your assets. After-death distributions under a living trust are usually implemented privately, and avoid probate. This works because the trust creator, while still living, transferred assets into the name of the trust.

There are also other benefits that may make the process of losing a loved one a little easier. Having a trust eliminates the cost of a second state probate proceeding where there is out of state property. There also will be no automatic court supervision to deal with disputes, and all of your affairs remain private.

It is also important to note that you do have the option to create a trust in which you are able to change and modify throughout your life. This gives you the freedom to change your will and trust according how your life changes.

Though this may be hard to think about now, it is essential to plan for the future now. It’s important to make sure your loved ones are secured in the assets you’re giving them, and trusts give you the security you need.

Walters & Ward, A Professional Corporation specializes in estate planning in California. As San Diego estate planning attorneys, we have completed over 11,000 wills and trusts packages in thirty years of business. Our focus is helping clients avoid probate, reduce taxes, and keep family matters private.

What are the Differences between Wills and Trusts?

One of the surest things in life is that over time, people acquire stuff. Call it stuff, things, money, property, whatever – the point is that if something were to happen to you and you no longer own or posses this “stuff”, it’d be a good idea to already have a plan in place to disperse your belongings as you wish. This is the idea behind wills and trusts – to have your things divided up amongst recipients as you please, so that you can still have a say in matters once you cannot speak for yourself. Although it seems like something everybody should have, over 66% of Americans do not have a will or trust established in case of their death.

The main difference between a will and a trust is how your stuff is given out to beneficiaries. While a will explains your testament that simply designates who gets what, a trust establishes an intermediary, or trustee, who owns and administers your stuff for the beneficiaries. While a will can contain and establish a trust, a trust typically deals with real estate, shares, or cash.

A trustee can be a company, individual, or organization (such as a charity). For example, if a charity is chosen as a trustee, they own whatever is designated in the trust, but only on behalf of the beneficiaries, which would most likely be friends or family members of the donor. The beneficiaries get a revenue stream for a period of time, and then the charitable foundation gets the remainder of the trust. This is called a “split interest” trust and avoids income and capital gains taxes if it is shared with a charity.

While a will costs less and is easier to create, it will only pertain to the property that is specifically outlined in writing. On the other hand, a trust establishes a trustee that will make any other decisions that need to be made. Other important decisions include the area of health care, such as whether to keep you on life support - a decision that can be very difficult and emotional for your spouse or family to make for you.

Although wills and trusts are a very complicated legal matter, I hope you’ve learned something from this article and are more enlightened as to whether you’ll need just a will or a trust as well. Either way, Walters & Ward Estate Planning is ready to help you. Visit our website today at WaltersTrustInfo.com.