A single woman came to see me. Tragically, she was terminally ill.
I established a complete estate plan for her. She transferred her house, stocks and bank accounts into her trust. Her trust provided that upon her death, her property was to pass to her only child, a daughter. When she became too ill to care for herself, her daughter moved in with her. She chose to die at home, and because she had signed a Directive to Physician and a Durable Power of Attorney, her doctor respected her wishes.
After her mother’s death, my client’s daughter came to see me. We transferred her mother’s property into her name as trustee, and then as an individual. This was accomplished in the matter of a week.
The daughter still had to pay her mother’s outstanding bills, yet the trust had completed its purpose. If her mother had died without a trust, the property could have been in probate for years. A few weeks later, the daughter came to me to establish a trust for herself and her husband.
She realized the value of a trust. She wanted to protect her family in the same way her mother had protected her.
