Free Trust Funding Available
As CTLivingTrust.com continues to grow we have another exciting announcement: funding of your Connecticut Revocable Living Trust is now available for free in many cases. Free funding is available through approved funding organizations only when certain eligibility criteria are met.
If you are tired of law firms claiming they complete the Connecticut Living Trust funding for you while they only give you generic instructions and send you on your way to do all the work yourself, this could be the solution for you.
Update: Due to changes in the structure of CTLivingTrust.com Funding is no longer included with Connecticut Revocable Trust prices. Your Attorney can still prepare funding for you at a separate fee or you can save more and complete the funding without an attorney.
Myths & Realities of Revocable Trusts
Today we are continuing to look at some common myths and realities of Connecticut Revocable Living Trusts.
I sometimes hear people say “everything in Connecticut goes through probate anyway, so there is no way to avoid probate with a living trust.” This is either not true, or not accurate depending on how you look at it.
Connecticut has an interesting system in place when a person passes away. Every estate, with assets in probate or outside of probate jurisdiction, must file a Connecticut Estate Tax Return regardless of value. The Connecticut legislature has used this tax return to calculate what they call a “probate fee.” This one fee is based solely on the taxable value of the estate and not whether any assets actually pass through probate. This “probate fee” is in practical terms a tax on every estate to support the Connecticut probate system. This tax you can not avoid with a Connecticut revocable living trust or any other device that keeps the assets in your taxable estate. If the person making the comment “everything goes through probate anyway” is thinking of this tax, then they are correct although inaccurate.
If we take the “everything goes through probate anyway” statement on its face then it is wrong. Not everything goes through Connecticut Probate administration when a person passes away. The only assets that go through Connecticut Probate administration are assets not otherwise disposed of or within someone else’s control. The most common example of probate assets are solely owned bank accounts and other assets which have no legal owner after the person passes away.
On the other hand, joint accounts in survivorship, life insurance with a beneficiary that is alive and well, retirement accounts with a beneficiary that is old enough to claim their own share of the account, and assets owned by a Connecticut Revocable Living Trust all pass outside of probate. Yes, assets owned by a Connecticut Revocable Living Trust are not distributed under the probate court’s authority – they are administered outside of probate which can lead to significant savings. We will take a look at those potential savings in a future post.
So the next time you hear someone say “it all goes through probate anyway,” make sure they know what they are talking about before accepting their claim at face value.
Holiday Sale
CTLivingTrust.com is offering a 10% discount on Connecticut Revocable Living Trust estate plans from today through July 5, 2008. To take advantage of this offer, simply enter the coupon code “july4″ at the checkout screen.