March 5, 2025 • 38 mins
Ever wondered what happens to your assets if you don’t have a plan? Or why a living trust might be your best friend in estate planning? In this episode of How I Met My BFF, hosts Leisa and Tamara kick things off with a cozy chat about a breakfast-themed pajama party before diving into an eye-opening discussion with estate planning expert Oscar Vasquez.
Oscar unravels the complexities of estate planning, highlighting why a living trust is crucial for protecting your assets and ensuring your wishes are honored. Whether you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, have special needs dependents, or just want to avoid the probate maze, this episode is packed with insights and practical advice. Plus, Oscar’s got a special offer for our listeners: a $1,000 discount on setting up a living trust with EstateDocPrep.
Tune in for peace of mind and take control of your legacy today!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leisa Reed (00:01):
Hey, besties. My name is Lisa.
Tamara Kindred (00:03):
And my name is Tamara, and we're BFFs.
Leisa Reed (00:06):
Tamara and I met when we were about 12 years old
growing up in good oldFairbanks, Alaska.
Tamara Kindred (00:11):
And we've been best friends forever since.
Leisa Reed (00:13):
That's right. And that's why we've decided to have
some fun, friendly conversationswith the bestest of best
friends.
Tamara Kindred (00:18):
We'll talk about how we became best friends, our
experiences together, and haveother best friends on the show
to share how they met. Whoknows? You never
Leisa Reed (00:27):
know when you'll meet your next BFF.
Tamara Kindred (00:30):
Now, let's get into it, how I met my BFF.
Leisa Reed (00:35):
Welcome to another episode of How I Met My BFF. Hi,
Tamara.
Tamara Kindred (00:39):
Hey, Lisa. How's it going?
Leisa Reed (00:41):
It's good. I miss you. I went to see you. So
tonight, I'm having a breakfastand pajama party, but we're
gonna do it in the afternoon.
Tamara Kindred (00:58):
Fun?
Leisa Reed (00:59):
Yeah. So one of my neighbors, we have I think I
think you might know, we havethe girls in the hood in our
neighborhood, and it's like agroup of us who gets together.
And for each person's birthday,someone will host at the house,
and then you get to decide,like, what kind of cake do you
want or what what kind ofexperience you want. So she
said, I want breakfast, and Iwanna be in my pajamas. And I
(01:20):
said, okay.
So that is what we're doingtonight, which will be kind of
fun. So I've got Bloody Marysand mimosas on deck and bacon.
And then I think people arebringing, like, breakfast
casseroles and who knows what?What quiche? I we've got
surprisingly, we've got a lot ofegg dishes considering the egg
considering the egg prices rightnow, but that's but, you know,
(01:40):
luckily, it's a small group ofpeople, so we should be good.
Well, that
Tamara Kindred (01:44):
sounds like fun.
Leisa Reed (01:46):
Yeah. And I know you are in a good position with your
chickens because now you haveeggs at home. Right?
Tamara Kindred (01:52):
Yeah. I mean, I I only am down to two hens, so
I'm not, like, rolling in eggs.
Leisa Reed (01:57):
But Okay.
Tamara Kindred (01:58):
That's what it is. But yeah. Kinda funny. I
don't I my con yeah. I I mean,eggs are, I guess, important,
but it's been other biggerconcerns lately.
So
Leisa Reed (02:09):
Obviously. Obviously, there's bigger
concerns. Alright. Well, I'mexcited because today we have a
guest who is an expert inplanning for your estate plan,
which a lot of times we don'treally think of. It's not one of
those like, oh, yeah.
I can't wait to do that. And yetwe and we don't do it really
(02:30):
more than once usually. Sothere's a lot of information
that's gonna be helpful. I thinkOscar's gonna share with us
today that'll help. And thenyou're wondering, like, well,
what does that have to do withbest friendship?
Well, Oscar, has this reallyunique take on it. Oftentimes,
our best friends might be theones who are there for us when
(02:52):
the, you know, things go downand they might need to know the
that important information. So,Oscar Vasquez, welcome to How I
Met My BFF. And, we're excitedthat you're here today.
Oscar Vasquez (03:05):
Well, thank you so much for how having me on
your platform and on yourpodcast. And, I just wanna say
thank you for, helping me on mycrusade to be able to bring
awareness to to estate planningbecause many people, even your
best friend, everybody needs it.68% of Americans that own a home
(03:27):
don't have an estate plan. AndI'm coming to learn more and
more that I speak to people thatit's it's not just to protect
your not just to protect yourassets, but it's also to inform
your loved ones or your bestfriends, your BFF. Right?
Tamara Kindred (03:42):
Mhmm.
Leisa Reed (03:43):
Yeah. And so just to give our besties that our
listeners, just to give ourbesties an idea of what we're
talking about, can you give a,like, real layman's terms,
what's an estate plan and whyshould why would anyone care if
they would have one or not?
Oscar Vasquez (03:59):
Yeah. I'll I'll break it down really easy. It's
basically, it's an estate planis a plan for when you're no
longer here, after you passaway. And I'll give you an
example. This we don't thinkabout these things because we
only think about what's gonnahappen right now or tomorrow,
(04:20):
but we don't think about whathappens without us.
So an estate plan, a k a, is itcomes with a bunch of what's
called end of life documents.Documents when things that are
on the unexpected comes that weneed, and it's documents that it
is. But in a nutshell, an an anACE estate plan, also known as a
(04:43):
living trust, protects yourassets from the government
deciding on who gets your thingswhen you die. Like, the
royalties on your books, yourdigital assets, your home, your
things of value that weaccumulate because everything
has mon everything has some typeof value whether emotional or
(05:08):
monetary. And an estate planprotects that because if you
don't if you meet the threshold,the government gets involved and
they make a decision on whathappens to your things.
And an estate plan prevents it.
Leisa Reed (05:22):
And so and and I'm happens to be some you know,
have a a better than the averageAmerican understanding of this,
and I think Tamara might too.But I know when I first learned
about it, there was a lot ofquestions that I had. And so a
person might go, well, well, Ihave a will. That's enough.
Right?
So what do you how do you combatthat, Oscar? Like, what
(05:45):
important How
Oscar Vasquez (05:46):
I explain the will versus a trust is in in the
simplest form is a will isusually a two page document. If
you pay an attorney five hundreddollars, it'll maybe be five
pages. And, basically, what thewill says is I love you. I leave
you everything. And it's a willis mostly used to give the judge
(06:07):
influence on what to decide onwhat happens to your things.
You still have to go to probate.A living trust is the only
document that prevents you fromgoing to probate. Now one thing
Leisa Reed (06:20):
that Hold on. What's just before they're for our
besties again, what's a probate?Like, why would you not wanna go
the to probate? What what doesthat mean?
Oscar Vasquez (06:29):
And I was gonna that was what I was gonna say.
So I want you guys to everybody,wherever you are in the country,
if you're on your phone, Googlethis. What is the threshold to
avoid? What's the threshold ofnet worth I need to have to go
to probate? K?
What's the threshold? So I'llgive you an example. California
is a hundred and $84.05. If youhave a hundred and $84,000, 5 a
(06:54):
hundred and $84,500, you and,you know, and $1 more, then the
court gets involved. In tech inin Utah, it's a hundred.
In in, in Arizona, it's ahundred. Colorado is 60,000. In
Indiana, it's $50,000. So thatmeans if you generate revenue,
(07:17):
from a book, a business, orsomething other than if you have
a retirement account, it can goto probate where
Leisa Reed (07:25):
the court can A home.
Oscar Vasquez (07:26):
Well, a % of homeowners exceed that
threshold. So that's the firstthing that you want. Do I do I
succeed that threshold? If youdo, then you're gonna go to
probate. And that what I callthe government plan.
Because the government alreadyhas a plan for us, but what they
don't what they don't tell whatthey don't educate us on is that
(07:49):
you have the right as a citizento create a living trust and
have your own plan, and you getto choose if you want the things
that you have to decide on whathappens to your things.
Leisa Reed (08:02):
Okay. So let's let's just but also keeping it real
super real here. This probateplan is not a great plan. Right?
Like, it is not what you want.
And from, like, the horrorstories that I've heard is,
like, you're you if your stuffis in probate, that means, they
take, like, the let's let's justsay your house is a value of
(08:25):
$600,000. I live in SouthernCalifornia too, so that's like a
one bedroom apartment.
Oscar Vasquez (08:30):
That's a whole home in the
Leisa Reed (08:32):
South. Yeah. But, and they want they take that
whole value, like, so you mightnot have $600,000 in the bank,
but you have a home worth$600,000. They're gonna say,
well, then that goes intoprobate and you owe taxes on
that money even though you don'tactually have that money. Isn't
is that is that am Iinterpreting it correctly?
Oscar Vasquez (08:54):
Yeah. But it gets worse.
Leisa Reed (08:56):
Okay. Yeah. That's why I think it's Well,
Oscar Vasquez (08:58):
like, well, figure this out. Let's say your
your best friend has a condo inSanta Monica, California as an
example. And I say this becauseI had I had a client. She didn't
have any kids, single mother,great, very successful. She had
a condo.
It was worth $800,000. Herbestie calls me and says, hey,
Oscar. You know, Cheryl passed,but you know what? I'm it's her
(09:22):
estate's going. She left thewill, and the attorney just
called and says we have to go toprobate.
It's gonna cost it's it's gonnacost $50,000 to go to probate.
But the attorney says that I canpay her pay him after I get
access to the title of thehouse. I could pay them when I
sell the house. But you knowwhat? Sheryl wanted me to keep
(09:43):
the house.
Mhmm. And now I'm gonna beforced to sell it. So that's the
first thing is whether your kidsor your bestie gets told that
they have to sell the asset thatyou that you intended for them.
Right? Because here's the thing.
You you can only take with youwhat you came to this earth
with, which is your soul. Right?You can't take anything else
(10:07):
with you. So somebody's gonnaend up with it, whether it be
your bestie, your kids, or yourloved ones, or a charity. Mhmm.
So one, the first thing thathappens is that, one, you have
to pay the attorney fees, whichcould be up to 8%. Okay? So
think about that. A milliondollar house is $80,000 that
gets lost in the probate, firstthing. Second thing that happens
(10:30):
in probate is that it getspublished.
It says, Oscar died and he leftall these assets. If you think
he owes you money, come forward.If you think you're a
beneficiary of his, comeforward. And then the judge
hears you out. And then thejudge decides.
The then after it getspublished, then the court
(10:53):
decides. The court decides onwhat happens to your stuff. Who
gets it? Now if there you see,I've always seen the judge go to
blood blood relatives first,then then caregivers or or very
close friends. Right?
And then if not, it goes to thestate or it gets goes to a
(11:16):
charity or something of of ofsomething that claims it. I've
never seen understood. So thenthe the third thing that happens
is the court decides on whathappens to your stuff, your
royalties, your books, yourhouse, your your digital assets,
everything. Then the next thingthat happens is if you don't go
to it, then you have and I saypossible tax implications, but
(11:41):
it's probably if you live inCalifornia, you're gonna have
them because we are a tax happystate. But you have there's tax
complications that happen.
One, that may happen. Because wedon't know everybody's tax
situation, but more likely,you're gonna pay taxes on them,
which is inheritance tax,capital gains tax, anything else
(12:02):
if there's a big gain. And thenthe the the fourth and final
thing or the final thing is thatonce the case gets settled, it
can take anywhere from twelve totwenty four months for the
assets to get distributed andsettled. So and I go like, wow.
That's the plan the governmenthas for us?
(12:22):
And when I when I was divingdeep, I would ask, like, why?
And it's all because we wannaprotect the government wants to
protect to make sure that yourassets go to the right people.
Right? So and then but let meguess. But they want but they
want us to pay for no.
No. The court don't charge you.The attorneys charge. So then
they said, well, everybody'sentitled to make a living. So in
(12:44):
California, there was a majorlawsuit about twelve years ago.
Now they cap it. They cap theamount attorney can charge. I
don't know any attorney thatcharges the minimum. Right? They
always charge and and the andthe cap is up to 8%.
It can be up to I think it's uplike, on a on a average house, I
think I did the after they dothis weird formula, I think it
(13:07):
on on, on $500,000, it was gonnabe, like, $36,000 or something
like that, including court costsand all that. So that's an
expensive and so you have twochoices. One, you decide or you
avoid probate, get a livingtrust, or two, go with the plan
that the government has providedfor us.
Leisa Reed (13:27):
Yeah. And so, thanks for explaining all that. And,
yeah, it that's what I couldbasically like, probate is
something you don't want. Youdon't want your family, your
friends, your kids, your spouseto have to go through that it
because it just it's not a greatplan. Thanks for
Oscar Vasquez (13:42):
Yeah.
Leisa Reed (13:42):
Clarifying all that. And then, Tamara, did you wanna
chime in with anything? Or Oh.Because I do a lot of talking.
Tamara Kindred (13:48):
Unfortunately, I've been through different
scenarios where everything wasleft in a will. And, needless to
say, some of those situations,even though it's been over five
years plus, probate still is notclosed. So that's, you know,
(14:11):
that's a very awful place to bein. So yeah, I definitely highly
recommend a living trust.
Oscar Vasquez (14:18):
Yeah. I always tell people, in a nutshell, a
living trust protects the twothings that are closest to our
hour. One is our loved ones.Right? And that can be your
bestie.
Because I know my bestie, Imean, I I he's my ride or die,
man. I mean, we grew uptogether. I've been we grew up
together since we went we wentto kindergarten school. Until
(14:42):
this time, even though we wenton different paths, we still
always reconnect at least once amonth. Because, you know, you
never can forget that the childand all the memories that you
have.
It's just it's it's re rerecommunicating about it is
reliving it. And reliving it isjust like living it again, I
think. You know? But I thinkit's so it's two things. The two
(15:04):
things that it protects isclosest to your heart is your
loved ones and your besties oryour loved ones.
And the second thing is yourmoney. Right? Because we all
work for to be able to be ableto enjoy the time that money
gives us and what's gonna happento it. So having a living trust
protects you from going toprobate, but protects more
(15:26):
importantly. The the and it'sfunny that Tamara said, you
know, it's been five years.
I've been doing, estate planningworkshops throughout Southern
California, and I had a ladylast night that said her estate
plan, it's been eight years. Andtheir father left six
properties. And they've alreadyspent $300,000 in in court fees
(15:52):
because of all the people thathave all the scammers that have
come forward that wanna get20,000, 5 thousand, 6 thousand,
or that all these false claimsthat they're fighting off for
the principle of it, but it'sbeen almost eight years. Imagine
that. You get published.
I mean, Southern California is abreeding ground for scammers,
(16:12):
man. I mean, you know, theythey're like, where do I go get
$510,000? Oh, go file a claim onan estate plan. They got money.
Right?
I mean, I just think they gotgreedy. They're paying they're
asking for too much. He said theaverage claim is, like, 20,000.
I said, wouldn't it be smarterif they just said 3,000? And
then you could just, like, givethey would get pay people would
(16:33):
probably pay that instead ofpaying the attorney to fight it.
Right?
Leisa Reed (16:37):
But So even having an estate plan doesn't protect
you from that?
Oscar Vasquez (16:41):
Well, yes. When you have a living trust, it's
private. Nobody knows.
Leisa Reed (16:45):
Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. Got
Oscar Vasquez (16:46):
it. So when you go to probate, it becomes
public. So you got you got yougot the
Leisa Reed (16:52):
Everyone in your pie. Their Yeah. Their fingers
in your pie.
Oscar Vasquez (16:55):
Yeah. And so then you got that. So in the state
plan is, one, it's private. Two,it has unlimited it has, the
limitation to a living trust islimited to the two the
imagination of the instructionsyou wanna give your loved ones.
(17:15):
Think about that.
That's the limitations. There'ssome teachers that have been I
work a lot with educators andsheriffs and and police in the
LAPD. And when we're doing theirestate plan, they come up with
some very creative and I waslike, wow. That's a great idea.
I'm gonna have to use that.
But so I'll give you a alayman's term of what a living
(17:36):
trust is and as simple as termsas possible. A living trust is
be is a contract. And the reasonwhy it's called the contract
because the courts involved andif somebody violates it, the
courts enforce it. That's thefirst thing. It's a contract
between you and your loved ones,and it's usually the parents and
(17:56):
the kids or the or the bestie.
Right? If if you if you onlyhave because sometimes our loved
ones are our besties. Right?They're our ride or dies. That
goes in and goes in and it doesit.
Now every state, in order for itto be has every state has legal
(18:17):
provisions that enforces theliving trust. And the only thing
that is different between allliving trust are the two things,
the instructions, one, and two,the assets they put into the
living trust. Right? So you cangive special instructions and
(18:38):
unlimited instructions in there,but they all have to have the
provisions. Now warning to all.
Warning to all. Not all livingtrust are created equal. The the
to have maximum protection, youraverage living trust should
have, in the state of Californiaor throughout the state, should
have a minimum of about a 20pages. This is how you'd like
(19:01):
how do we know if it coverseverything? I said, listen.
If it has every legal provisionin it, then you the more
provisions you have, the moreprotected you are. Right? One.
Two, if it has less, it's there.So that's in layman's terms,
it's a legal contract betweenyou and your beneficiaries or
your loved ones.
That's it.
Leisa Reed (19:22):
Yeah. Thanks for sharing all that. And, I mean, I
have I have one. I've actuallyI'm on my second one because I
had one with my first husband.And then, you know, now our
daughter's 18.
I'm remarried. He has been, inremarried and such and had
different situations. And sowent with my current husband. We
(19:43):
have one, and now my daughter'sover 18. So, yeah, we've shifted
and changed, and we we weretogether for a while, but, we
didn't own property.
So it was kinda like, well, youknow, it's not as important. But
once we started once we ownedproperty, that was like, okay.
We gotta, like, make sure thisis dialed in.
Oscar Vasquez (20:02):
It's protected. Right? And I think here's the
thing. Right? It's not foreverybody.
Like, I'm I'm a tell you. If Ihad to limit it down on who has
to have one, I would limit it totwo sections. One, if you meet
the threshold in your state andnet worth, that means your
business that means yourbusiness, your income, your net
(20:23):
worth. Right? And that's yourdigital assets.
Those people, if you do it, youhave to have it. Two, if you
have a family member or somebodythat has special needs and
they're going to be abeneficiary. A special needs
trust is so important because itprotects the loved ones that
(20:45):
have the special needs. So thoseare the two people that have it.
And now if you're in a diff ifyou're in a in the LGBT
community, you're gonna need ittoo because you know what?
Your spouse, your partner, thoserights could change if they if
you don't have the right legaldocuments to protect that your
partner, then that's what you'regonna need those on there. And
(21:09):
those are probably the threepeople or the three categories
you say. These are the one youand other than that, you can
think about it and maybe get oneif you haven't. But if you hit
those three things, you're gonnahave you you you're gonna need
to protect your family or yourloved ones, right, more
importantly than anything else.Because the money's secondary,
but but the loved ones is what'sgonna happen to them.
Leisa Reed (21:32):
Yeah. Yeah. You wanna make it it's already hard
enough that you've passed away.You don't wanna make it more
stressful on the per on your onyour people.
Oscar Vasquez (21:41):
Yeah.
Leisa Reed (21:42):
The more clear it can be. Go ahead, Tamara.
Tamara Kindred (21:44):
So, Oscar, how do we set up a living trust? And
I'm asking this. I mean, I Iknow, but just in general
because I have witnessed it'skind of a a interesting
situation because a lot oftimes, you know, you have to go
through a lawyer to set up aliving trust. However, most
(22:05):
lawyers push you to do a will tostay in probate because in the
long run, that's how they makemore money. So what what what's
the steps to set up a livingtrust?
Oscar Vasquez (22:16):
I'm gonna define there's three ways on how you
can create a living trust. K?You know, my my lawyers that I
work with and my CPA, they I'mI'm one of those people that
challenges everything. Andthey're like, why do you always
tell I said, because I'm likeRonald Reagan. I believe
everybody, but I wanna verifyit.
(22:37):
Right? I believe everybody. Butso there's three ways on how to
get it. One is the goldstandard, and that's the done
done for you, and that is ausing an attorney. Now here's
the things that you have tounderstand.
The advertisement that theyadvertise is not always the
price because they use that tojust keep increasing it. Because
imagine this, you're gonna say,would you pay 8,000 today if you
(23:02):
know you're gonna pay 8 yourkids are gonna pay or your loved
ones gonna pay 80,000 to go tocourt. Absolutely. So they
always get you to come in at thelowest price and then they come
in, one. Second thing, anattorney will then charge you
what's called a restatement.
A restatement means the changesthat you do to your to your
(23:22):
living trust. Now when you whenyou when you're hiring one, you
need to know these things beforeyou do it. And that way, you can
put that on your agreement, whatyour restatements cost will be
for the lifetime. Because thisis why most people that created
living trust don't go back tothe attorney because they charge
$8,000, and then they wannachange, and now it's 4,000. And
(23:45):
they're like, well, you knowwhat?
I'll just leave it the way itis. Right? Not do that change,
one. Two, they don't have acomplete comprehensive well, now
most attorneys now are startingto give you a complete trust and
doing it for one flat fee. Lotof them are still using the
sales the old car sales game,and they keep going up.
(24:06):
So that's the first way. Thesecond way and the second way is
is to be able to get it onlineand do it yourself. But here's
an interesting statistic. Whenwe started the state.prep, we we
did a lot of research and wesaid we wanna differentiate
ourselves. Because 95% of thepeople that start on a state
(24:29):
plan online on the do ityourself, the legal zones, and
all the other websites on do ityourself, 95% don't complete it
because there's complicatedbecause they don't take into
effect the, the thing that Icall the human element of delay.
Like, what if this happens, whatdo you want to have happen?
(24:49):
Well, what are my options?Right? And then they they they
get stuck and they say, youknow, I'll do it tomorrow. And
tomorrow never arrives becausetomorrow will be today and
tomorrow will never be here.
Right? So they have that delay.That's why they finished that.
So what we did and your thirdoption is to find a company like
(25:10):
Estate dot prep. We do threecalls.
We walk you through the entireprocess. We are a software
company that makes estateplanning affordable to the
masses. And we have we havepayment plans. We you name it.
You got it.
We make it super easy, but weget you on there. We get you
protected as soon as possible.What what we do different than
(25:32):
everybody else is two things,and we pride ourselves on that.
One is that we we meet with youat least three to four times,
three to four times with thesoftware so you don't have no
learning curve about how to usethe software. Start with this
section and then start with thissection.
And then when it comes to thissection, we're gonna get on
(25:52):
another call because these arethe trust provisions that you
wanna know. And I'll give youone of the biggest trust
provisions that most people golike, I need to think about
that. We didn't discuss it. Andthe one trust provision that
people think about is when youdie, do you want your partner or
spouse to make changes to thebeneficiary? Well, I can tell
(26:15):
you.
If you're married and you're ayoung couple, the wife always
says no. Because the day I die,this guy's already gonna be
picking somebody out. He's gonnaget married, and the wife's not
gonna like my kid. They're gonnajust hit her head hurt my kid.
No.
The husband is just like,whatever, man. I I mean, she
ain't gonna die. Right? Butthat's what I've seen happen.
(26:35):
That's the one provision that Ialways say, listen.
You guys need to think aboutthat. That's the first one. The
second the second one is whathappens that is a human delay.
The second one is what happensto your assets if your
beneficiary, your loved one,your BFF, or anybody like that
passes before you? Where do youwant those assets to go?
(26:58):
And they're like, why didn'tthink about that? Well, that's
something that is is a possiblething that can happen. So do you
want it to go to your kids, yourgrandkids? Or and I say this
because the majority of thepeople that plan is for their
kids. Right?
And but now we're starting tosee a lot more single success,
successful people starting toplan for this because they're
(27:20):
saying, man, I'm there's morepeople accumulating assets.
Right? There are more peoplebecoming homeowner. So then they
say, well, or do you want it togo to your son-in-law or your
daughter-in-law? Like, no.
I want it to go to my grandkids.Or if they have no grandkids, I
want it to be divided amongstthe other kids. But a lot that's
a one question that people getstuck at. We always say, hey.
(27:42):
That's why we do this on a on aon a several different calls.
Write that down. That's ahomework. That's called like a a
prayer, a higher power, whateveryour religious beliefs are, and
what makes you feel better.Those are the things you really
need to think about. Then that'sso that's the element that we
bring to the table by beingable, one, not to have a
(28:05):
learning curve on the software,one.
And two, we bring hundreds andhundreds of estate planning
experience on how people havecreated them. Because sometimes
we get in I mean, you know, Icould tell you there's there's
probably one of the the mostcreative that I thought was
creative from a was a teacher inNorth Hollywood. She had one
(28:26):
son. He lived back east, but,she said he has he's a
recovering alcoholic and andopioid user. And one of the
provisions that she put is thatthe house to be sold, but he
were to get payments, but heneeded to take a drug test every
month before he got there.
(28:47):
And I said and I I I my firstthought was like, man, you wanna
control them? And she said andshe goes, what are you thinking?
And and I said, well, honestly,miss Gerald, I it's kinda like
control even from the thing. Shegoes, no. He's my son, and he's
going to stay sober whether I'mdead or alive, and he's not
(29:07):
gonna use drugs with my money.
And I'm like, wow. Committed.Right? I mean, it was one of
those things. And then and thenI went back and I go, you know,
that's a whole different levelof love to think of that kind of
instruction.
Right? So I share that with you.I don't wanna I don't mean to go
(29:27):
too too far into that, but thoseare the three sections on how
you can do it by using estateplanning. You could do it. Some
of us say, hey.
You know what? And it if you doall the answers and you could do
it, if you sat down on thesoftware, you could do it, like,
in thirty five, forty fiveminutes. But it doesn't take
that. I haven't seen anybody.Not even the people that are the
(29:47):
mostly prepared do it in onesitting and knock it out.
It I haven't seen it. But, youknow, there's always a first.
Leisa Reed (29:55):
What what's what's is it a flat fee?
Oscar Vasquez (29:59):
Yes. What we do is we have a special we have a
special gift offer for yourlisteners. For the first ten
listeners, they could they cancome in and they can get a
onetime fee for life. They canget unlimited updates. I mean,
you get if you're in yourthirties or forties or you can
get for the first ten listeners,you get $1,000 off, which means
(30:22):
you get you can use the code youcould use the code my b f f, and
you will at checkout@ estatePrep, you use the checkout, my b
f f, and the first ten listenerswill save $1,000 off of the
lifetime value.
Now Wow. For a year, there's noupdates because everything has
(30:45):
been updated every year. Now youeverybody knows laws change. But
if you let's say three yearsfrom now, you wanna make a
change, you pay $1.29 to forbecause we share the cost of the
attorney cost for every state tobe able to update the trust, the
law provisions. Because a livingtrust cannot be amended.
(31:07):
It goes January of twentytwenty, the trust was created by
Oscar and Delia Vasquez. InFebruary of twenty twenty five,
he decided to add hisgrandchildren, and this is the
trust that he did. And then itwent in this. The older the
younger you are when you startyour trust, the bigger your
trust will become because of allthe chain. You can't change it
(31:30):
to the document.
You have to amend it and add it.So there's a there's a long
list. There's a long of all thechanges and things that get on
there. Now you don't always likeI'll give you an example. A lady
said, hey.
I'm a I bought a house. I addit. I said, you don't need to
pay a provision. Don't don't letthe attorney charge you for
that. You don't need it.
Because you can as a revocabletrust, you can add and delete
(31:53):
things, and they call themfunding letters. With our
software, you get unlimitedfunding letters for the rest of
your life. You can go in thereand you print it. Boom. Wanna
print the letter?
It's done. It normally cost itnormally cost $500. Attorney's
charge for a funding letter of$500. Had a lady, had nine
(32:14):
properties in Winnetka. And shewanted to do the living trust
because she goes, you know what?
I'm gonna get long health longterm care, and I was told that
Medicare can attach my houses. Isaid, yeah. She goes, but I was
told that Medicare won't attachit if they're in the trust. And
I wanna give these to ninedifferent shelters, but I don't
wanna give it to them until Idie. And I said, okay.
(32:36):
We can do that. Because Medicarethat's another thing about
living trust, but I'll go backinto the the benefits of that.
The the the the the living trusthas what's called funding
because there's three things. Ifanything you take away, know
this. One, it avoid it's gonnaavoid probate, but it needs
(32:57):
three things.
If you have a living trust, knowthis. 95% of attorneys give you
a nine page document that goesin your trust and says this is
what you need to do next. Nobodyreads it. But it I mean, I've
had people come to the workshop,say, here's my trust. Is it
correct?
And I said, well, did you everread this section? She goes, no.
(33:19):
Why? What's it say? It says, youneed to fund your trust.
It doesn't protect nothing ifnothing's there. Like, if you
have a YouTube channel, you needto put it into the trust that it
owns it. So I always tell peoplethis, a trust, in a nutshell,
when it comes to assets, it'syou own nothing but control
everything in a nutshell. And ifthe trust needs three things,
(33:44):
one, it needs to be signed infront of an notary. Two, it
needs to be signed in front oftwo witnesses.
So it's it's signed by you bybeyond reasonable doubt. Every
time you do major changes, thatneeds to happen. And the third
thing, you need to put assetsinto the trust. 95% of attorneys
don't do funding because ittakes long. Now we help you with
(34:08):
funding because, one, we are weare real estate agents.
One, so we always wanna meetowners. So we always say, hey.
We do this extra stuff. We'llwalk you through it. But we're
gonna one, we're gonna help you.
If you know anybody that wantsto buy or sell, we use us. Two,
We help people with theirfinancial retirement plans. And
then by us helping you fund themand getting them in there, one,
(34:30):
we're protecting them. And two,we if we find there's so many
people in the world that have alazy or lazy or nonperforming
$4.00 1 k money. And so if wefind that money, we could wake
it up, give it an injection oflove or a pill to get out of
work, and then we do that.
So that's the I I don't wantanybody to think, oh, it's an
(34:53):
extra service. No. We don'tcharge for that. But the
benefits we get by helping youbecause you guys ever hear, you
give more than you get. Right?
And then you expect you alwaysget an abundance. So the
abundance is that we that we getis by helping people protect
their assets, funding them inthere. So it's really important.
If you have a trust, plea openit up. Do yourself a favor.
(35:17):
Read it. If there is fundinginstructions letters, 99.9% of
the time, it's not protectinganything. That means the money
that you have is not protectingyour asset. Think about that.
Leisa Reed (35:29):
Great tips. Wow. Okay. So hopefully Sorry.
Oscar Vasquez (35:32):
I I went off. I'm a little passionate
Leisa Reed (35:35):
about what
Oscar Vasquez (35:35):
I do.
Leisa Reed (35:35):
So I'm That's okay. I get it. No. And you're
fighting the good fight forpeople. And, so I I mean, I've
learned a lot, and I I hope thatthis episode inspires someone to
go like, oh, yeah.
I've been meaning to do that. Igotta do that. So, in case, our
besties didn't catch thatwebsite, it's estatedocprep,
(35:58):
meaning doclikedocument,d0c.
Oscar Vasquez (36:00):
That's right.
Leisa Reed (36:00):
Estatedocprep.com, and you can use the code my b f
f to save a thousand dollars,which is awesome, for the first
ten people. And then there's afree gift as well if you're just
like, okay. I need a little bitmore information, And, Oscar was
kind enough to share this withme. It's, a free comprehensive
(36:24):
estate guide, and it's at andthis is all gonna be in our note
show notes too, butestatedocprep.com/guide. And
then there's this other coolthing, and I know we gotta wrap
it up here, but, you have a a247 client assist AI phone
number for audience questions,which, I mean, that's pretty
(36:44):
cutting edge, very impressive.
So I'm gonna give that phonenumber out. So you're basically
I'm imagining you get you cancall it up and ask an AI
representative to say, like,okay. Here's my question. How do
I do this? What do I do that?
How what does this mean? And andthe AI person will be super
patient with you. So that phonenumber is (805) 909-4689. So
(37:08):
that's (805) 909-4689, and itwill be in the show notes as
well.
Oscar Vasquez (37:15):
Great. Thank you so much.
Leisa Reed (37:17):
Yeah. Alright. Right. Wow. Wow.
What a unique episode we hadtoday and very educational.
Thank you, Oscar Vasquez. You'reamazing.
Oscar Vasquez (37:26):
Thank you for having me.
Leisa Reed (37:28):
Bye. Hey, bestie. Thanks for listening. If you
like this episode, be sure tohit that subscribe button to get
notified of new episodes andcheck out cool bestie gift ideas
at howImetmybff.com.
Tamara Kindred (37:45):
That's right. And, also, leave us a review.
Those reviews help us out a lotand are one of the best ways to
support us.
Leisa Reed (37:51):
Yes. And if you have a fun story about how you met
your BFF, send us an email atinfo@howImetmybff.com. We would
love to hear about it.
Tamara Kindred (38:00):
Definitely. And, hey, maybe we'll
Leisa Reed (38:02):
have you on our next episode. That would be awesome.
Until next time.
Tamara Kindred (38:07):
Love you, BFFs.
Hey, besties. My name is Lisa.
Tamara Kindred (00:03):
And my name is Tamara, and we're BFFs.
Leisa Reed (00:06):
Tamara and I met when we were about 12 years old
growing up in good oldFairbanks, Alaska.
Tamara Kindred (00:11):
And we've been best friends forever since.
Leisa Reed (00:13):
That's right. And that's why we've decided to have
some fun, friendly conversationswith the bestest of best
friends.
Tamara Kindred (00:18):
We'll talk about how we became best friends, our
experiences together, and haveother best friends on the show
to share how they met. Whoknows? You never
Leisa Reed (00:27):
know when you'll meet your next BFF.
Tamara Kindred (00:30):
Now, let's get into it, how I met my BFF.
Leisa Reed (00:35):
Welcome to another episode of How I Met My BFF. Hi,
Tamara.
Tamara Kindred (00:39):
Hey, Lisa. How's it going?
Leisa Reed (00:41):
It's good. I miss you. I went to see you. So
tonight, I'm having a breakfastand pajama party, but we're
gonna do it in the afternoon.
Tamara Kindred (00:58):
Fun?
Leisa Reed (00:59):
Yeah. So one of my neighbors, we have I think I
think you might know, we havethe girls in the hood in our
neighborhood, and it's like agroup of us who gets together.
And for each person's birthday,someone will host at the house,
and then you get to decide,like, what kind of cake do you
want or what what kind ofexperience you want. So she
said, I want breakfast, and Iwanna be in my pajamas. And I
(01:20):
said, okay.
So that is what we're doingtonight, which will be kind of
fun. So I've got Bloody Marysand mimosas on deck and bacon.
And then I think people arebringing, like, breakfast
casseroles and who knows what?What quiche? I we've got
surprisingly, we've got a lot ofegg dishes considering the egg
considering the egg prices rightnow, but that's but, you know,
(01:40):
luckily, it's a small group ofpeople, so we should be good.
Well, that
Tamara Kindred (01:44):
sounds like fun.
Leisa Reed (01:46):
Yeah. And I know you are in a good position with your
chickens because now you haveeggs at home. Right?
Tamara Kindred (01:52):
Yeah. I mean, I I only am down to two hens, so
I'm not, like, rolling in eggs.
Leisa Reed (01:57):
But Okay.
Tamara Kindred (01:58):
That's what it is. But yeah. Kinda funny. I
don't I my con yeah. I I mean,eggs are, I guess, important,
but it's been other biggerconcerns lately.
So
Leisa Reed (02:09):
Obviously. Obviously, there's bigger
concerns. Alright. Well, I'mexcited because today we have a
guest who is an expert inplanning for your estate plan,
which a lot of times we don'treally think of. It's not one of
those like, oh, yeah.
I can't wait to do that. And yetwe and we don't do it really
(02:30):
more than once usually. Sothere's a lot of information
that's gonna be helpful. I thinkOscar's gonna share with us
today that'll help. And thenyou're wondering, like, well,
what does that have to do withbest friendship?
Well, Oscar, has this reallyunique take on it. Oftentimes,
our best friends might be theones who are there for us when
(02:52):
the, you know, things go downand they might need to know the
that important information. So,Oscar Vasquez, welcome to How I
Met My BFF. And, we're excitedthat you're here today.
Oscar Vasquez (03:05):
Well, thank you so much for how having me on
your platform and on yourpodcast. And, I just wanna say
thank you for, helping me on mycrusade to be able to bring
awareness to to estate planningbecause many people, even your
best friend, everybody needs it.68% of Americans that own a home
(03:27):
don't have an estate plan. AndI'm coming to learn more and
more that I speak to people thatit's it's not just to protect
your not just to protect yourassets, but it's also to inform
your loved ones or your bestfriends, your BFF. Right?
Tamara Kindred (03:42):
Mhmm.
Leisa Reed (03:43):
Yeah. And so just to give our besties that our
listeners, just to give ourbesties an idea of what we're
talking about, can you give a,like, real layman's terms,
what's an estate plan and whyshould why would anyone care if
they would have one or not?
Oscar Vasquez (03:59):
Yeah. I'll I'll break it down really easy. It's
basically, it's an estate planis a plan for when you're no
longer here, after you passaway. And I'll give you an
example. This we don't thinkabout these things because we
only think about what's gonnahappen right now or tomorrow,
(04:20):
but we don't think about whathappens without us.
So an estate plan, a k a, is itcomes with a bunch of what's
called end of life documents.Documents when things that are
on the unexpected comes that weneed, and it's documents that it
is. But in a nutshell, an an anACE estate plan, also known as a
(04:43):
living trust, protects yourassets from the government
deciding on who gets your thingswhen you die. Like, the
royalties on your books, yourdigital assets, your home, your
things of value that weaccumulate because everything
has mon everything has some typeof value whether emotional or
(05:08):
monetary. And an estate planprotects that because if you
don't if you meet the threshold,the government gets involved and
they make a decision on whathappens to your things.
And an estate plan prevents it.
Leisa Reed (05:22):
And so and and I'm happens to be some you know,
have a a better than the averageAmerican understanding of this,
and I think Tamara might too.But I know when I first learned
about it, there was a lot ofquestions that I had. And so a
person might go, well, well, Ihave a will. That's enough.
Right?
So what do you how do you combatthat, Oscar? Like, what
(05:45):
important How
Oscar Vasquez (05:46):
I explain the will versus a trust is in in the
simplest form is a will isusually a two page document. If
you pay an attorney five hundreddollars, it'll maybe be five
pages. And, basically, what thewill says is I love you. I leave
you everything. And it's a willis mostly used to give the judge
(06:07):
influence on what to decide onwhat happens to your things.
You still have to go to probate.A living trust is the only
document that prevents you fromgoing to probate. Now one thing
Leisa Reed (06:20):
that Hold on. What's just before they're for our
besties again, what's a probate?Like, why would you not wanna go
the to probate? What what doesthat mean?
Oscar Vasquez (06:29):
And I was gonna that was what I was gonna say.
So I want you guys to everybody,wherever you are in the country,
if you're on your phone, Googlethis. What is the threshold to
avoid? What's the threshold ofnet worth I need to have to go
to probate? K?
What's the threshold? So I'llgive you an example. California
is a hundred and $84.05. If youhave a hundred and $84,000, 5 a
(06:54):
hundred and $84,500, you and,you know, and $1 more, then the
court gets involved. In tech inin Utah, it's a hundred.
In in, in Arizona, it's ahundred. Colorado is 60,000. In
Indiana, it's $50,000. So thatmeans if you generate revenue,
(07:17):
from a book, a business, orsomething other than if you have
a retirement account, it can goto probate where
Leisa Reed (07:25):
the court can A home.
Oscar Vasquez (07:26):
Well, a % of homeowners exceed that
threshold. So that's the firstthing that you want. Do I do I
succeed that threshold? If youdo, then you're gonna go to
probate. And that what I callthe government plan.
Because the government alreadyhas a plan for us, but what they
don't what they don't tell whatthey don't educate us on is that
(07:49):
you have the right as a citizento create a living trust and
have your own plan, and you getto choose if you want the things
that you have to decide on whathappens to your things.
Leisa Reed (08:02):
Okay. So let's let's just but also keeping it real
super real here. This probateplan is not a great plan. Right?
Like, it is not what you want.
And from, like, the horrorstories that I've heard is,
like, you're you if your stuffis in probate, that means, they
take, like, the let's let's justsay your house is a value of
(08:25):
$600,000. I live in SouthernCalifornia too, so that's like a
one bedroom apartment.
Oscar Vasquez (08:30):
That's a whole home in the
Leisa Reed (08:32):
South. Yeah. But, and they want they take that
whole value, like, so you mightnot have $600,000 in the bank,
but you have a home worth$600,000. They're gonna say,
well, then that goes intoprobate and you owe taxes on
that money even though you don'tactually have that money. Isn't
is that is that am Iinterpreting it correctly?
Oscar Vasquez (08:54):
Yeah. But it gets worse.
Leisa Reed (08:56):
Okay. Yeah. That's why I think it's Well,
Oscar Vasquez (08:58):
like, well, figure this out. Let's say your
your best friend has a condo inSanta Monica, California as an
example. And I say this becauseI had I had a client. She didn't
have any kids, single mother,great, very successful. She had
a condo.
It was worth $800,000. Herbestie calls me and says, hey,
Oscar. You know, Cheryl passed,but you know what? I'm it's her
(09:22):
estate's going. She left thewill, and the attorney just
called and says we have to go toprobate.
It's gonna cost it's it's gonnacost $50,000 to go to probate.
But the attorney says that I canpay her pay him after I get
access to the title of thehouse. I could pay them when I
sell the house. But you knowwhat? Sheryl wanted me to keep
(09:43):
the house.
Mhmm. And now I'm gonna beforced to sell it. So that's the
first thing is whether your kidsor your bestie gets told that
they have to sell the asset thatyou that you intended for them.
Right? Because here's the thing.
You you can only take with youwhat you came to this earth
with, which is your soul. Right?You can't take anything else
(10:07):
with you. So somebody's gonnaend up with it, whether it be
your bestie, your kids, or yourloved ones, or a charity. Mhmm.
So one, the first thing thathappens is that, one, you have
to pay the attorney fees, whichcould be up to 8%. Okay? So
think about that. A milliondollar house is $80,000 that
gets lost in the probate, firstthing. Second thing that happens
(10:30):
in probate is that it getspublished.
It says, Oscar died and he leftall these assets. If you think
he owes you money, come forward.If you think you're a
beneficiary of his, comeforward. And then the judge
hears you out. And then thejudge decides.
The then after it getspublished, then the court
(10:53):
decides. The court decides onwhat happens to your stuff. Who
gets it? Now if there you see,I've always seen the judge go to
blood blood relatives first,then then caregivers or or very
close friends. Right?
And then if not, it goes to thestate or it gets goes to a
(11:16):
charity or something of of ofsomething that claims it. I've
never seen understood. So thenthe the third thing that happens
is the court decides on whathappens to your stuff, your
royalties, your books, yourhouse, your your digital assets,
everything. Then the next thingthat happens is if you don't go
to it, then you have and I saypossible tax implications, but
(11:41):
it's probably if you live inCalifornia, you're gonna have
them because we are a tax happystate. But you have there's tax
complications that happen.
One, that may happen. Because wedon't know everybody's tax
situation, but more likely,you're gonna pay taxes on them,
which is inheritance tax,capital gains tax, anything else
(12:02):
if there's a big gain. And thenthe the the fourth and final
thing or the final thing is thatonce the case gets settled, it
can take anywhere from twelve totwenty four months for the
assets to get distributed andsettled. So and I go like, wow.
That's the plan the governmenthas for us?
(12:22):
And when I when I was divingdeep, I would ask, like, why?
And it's all because we wannaprotect the government wants to
protect to make sure that yourassets go to the right people.
Right? So and then but let meguess. But they want but they
want us to pay for no.
No. The court don't charge you.The attorneys charge. So then
they said, well, everybody'sentitled to make a living. So in
(12:44):
California, there was a majorlawsuit about twelve years ago.
Now they cap it. They cap theamount attorney can charge. I
don't know any attorney thatcharges the minimum. Right? They
always charge and and the andthe cap is up to 8%.
It can be up to I think it's uplike, on a on a average house, I
think I did the after they dothis weird formula, I think it
(13:07):
on on, on $500,000, it was gonnabe, like, $36,000 or something
like that, including court costsand all that. So that's an
expensive and so you have twochoices. One, you decide or you
avoid probate, get a livingtrust, or two, go with the plan
that the government has providedfor us.
Leisa Reed (13:27):
Yeah. And so, thanks for explaining all that. And,
yeah, it that's what I couldbasically like, probate is
something you don't want. Youdon't want your family, your
friends, your kids, your spouseto have to go through that it
because it just it's not a greatplan. Thanks for
Oscar Vasquez (13:42):
Yeah.
Leisa Reed (13:42):
Clarifying all that. And then, Tamara, did you wanna
chime in with anything? Or Oh.Because I do a lot of talking.
Tamara Kindred (13:48):
Unfortunately, I've been through different
scenarios where everything wasleft in a will. And, needless to
say, some of those situations,even though it's been over five
years plus, probate still is notclosed. So that's, you know,
(14:11):
that's a very awful place to bein. So yeah, I definitely highly
recommend a living trust.
Oscar Vasquez (14:18):
Yeah. I always tell people, in a nutshell, a
living trust protects the twothings that are closest to our
hour. One is our loved ones.Right? And that can be your
bestie.
Because I know my bestie, Imean, I I he's my ride or die,
man. I mean, we grew uptogether. I've been we grew up
together since we went we wentto kindergarten school. Until
(14:42):
this time, even though we wenton different paths, we still
always reconnect at least once amonth. Because, you know, you
never can forget that the childand all the memories that you
have.
It's just it's it's re rerecommunicating about it is
reliving it. And reliving it isjust like living it again, I
think. You know? But I thinkit's so it's two things. The two
(15:04):
things that it protects isclosest to your heart is your
loved ones and your besties oryour loved ones.
And the second thing is yourmoney. Right? Because we all
work for to be able to be ableto enjoy the time that money
gives us and what's gonna happento it. So having a living trust
protects you from going toprobate, but protects more
(15:26):
importantly. The the and it'sfunny that Tamara said, you
know, it's been five years.
I've been doing, estate planningworkshops throughout Southern
California, and I had a ladylast night that said her estate
plan, it's been eight years. Andtheir father left six
properties. And they've alreadyspent $300,000 in in court fees
(15:52):
because of all the people thathave all the scammers that have
come forward that wanna get20,000, 5 thousand, 6 thousand,
or that all these false claimsthat they're fighting off for
the principle of it, but it'sbeen almost eight years. Imagine
that. You get published.
I mean, Southern California is abreeding ground for scammers,
(16:12):
man. I mean, you know, theythey're like, where do I go get
$510,000? Oh, go file a claim onan estate plan. They got money.
Right?
I mean, I just think they gotgreedy. They're paying they're
asking for too much. He said theaverage claim is, like, 20,000.
I said, wouldn't it be smarterif they just said 3,000? And
then you could just, like, givethey would get pay people would
(16:33):
probably pay that instead ofpaying the attorney to fight it.
Right?
Leisa Reed (16:37):
But So even having an estate plan doesn't protect
you from that?
Oscar Vasquez (16:41):
Well, yes. When you have a living trust, it's
private. Nobody knows.
Leisa Reed (16:45):
Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. Got
Oscar Vasquez (16:46):
it. So when you go to probate, it becomes
public. So you got you got yougot the
Leisa Reed (16:52):
Everyone in your pie. Their Yeah. Their fingers
in your pie.
Oscar Vasquez (16:55):
Yeah. And so then you got that. So in the state
plan is, one, it's private. Two,it has unlimited it has, the
limitation to a living trust islimited to the two the
imagination of the instructionsyou wanna give your loved ones.
(17:15):
Think about that.
That's the limitations. There'ssome teachers that have been I
work a lot with educators andsheriffs and and police in the
LAPD. And when we're doing theirestate plan, they come up with
some very creative and I waslike, wow. That's a great idea.
I'm gonna have to use that.
But so I'll give you a alayman's term of what a living
(17:36):
trust is and as simple as termsas possible. A living trust is
be is a contract. And the reasonwhy it's called the contract
because the courts involved andif somebody violates it, the
courts enforce it. That's thefirst thing. It's a contract
between you and your loved ones,and it's usually the parents and
(17:56):
the kids or the or the bestie.
Right? If if you if you onlyhave because sometimes our loved
ones are our besties. Right?They're our ride or dies. That
goes in and goes in and it doesit.
Now every state, in order for itto be has every state has legal
(18:17):
provisions that enforces theliving trust. And the only thing
that is different between allliving trust are the two things,
the instructions, one, and two,the assets they put into the
living trust. Right? So you cangive special instructions and
(18:38):
unlimited instructions in there,but they all have to have the
provisions. Now warning to all.
Warning to all. Not all livingtrust are created equal. The the
to have maximum protection, youraverage living trust should
have, in the state of Californiaor throughout the state, should
have a minimum of about a 20pages. This is how you'd like
(19:01):
how do we know if it coverseverything? I said, listen.
If it has every legal provisionin it, then you the more
provisions you have, the moreprotected you are. Right? One.
Two, if it has less, it's there.So that's in layman's terms,
it's a legal contract betweenyou and your beneficiaries or
your loved ones.
That's it.
Leisa Reed (19:22):
Yeah. Thanks for sharing all that. And, I mean, I
have I have one. I've actuallyI'm on my second one because I
had one with my first husband.And then, you know, now our
daughter's 18.
I'm remarried. He has been, inremarried and such and had
different situations. And sowent with my current husband. We
(19:43):
have one, and now my daughter'sover 18. So, yeah, we've shifted
and changed, and we we weretogether for a while, but, we
didn't own property.
So it was kinda like, well, youknow, it's not as important. But
once we started once we ownedproperty, that was like, okay.
We gotta, like, make sure thisis dialed in.
Oscar Vasquez (20:02):
It's protected. Right? And I think here's the
thing. Right? It's not foreverybody.
Like, I'm I'm a tell you. If Ihad to limit it down on who has
to have one, I would limit it totwo sections. One, if you meet
the threshold in your state andnet worth, that means your
business that means yourbusiness, your income, your net
(20:23):
worth. Right? And that's yourdigital assets.
Those people, if you do it, youhave to have it. Two, if you
have a family member or somebodythat has special needs and
they're going to be abeneficiary. A special needs
trust is so important because itprotects the loved ones that
(20:45):
have the special needs. So thoseare the two people that have it.
And now if you're in a diff ifyou're in a in the LGBT
community, you're gonna need ittoo because you know what?
Your spouse, your partner, thoserights could change if they if
you don't have the right legaldocuments to protect that your
partner, then that's what you'regonna need those on there. And
(21:09):
those are probably the threepeople or the three categories
you say. These are the one youand other than that, you can
think about it and maybe get oneif you haven't. But if you hit
those three things, you're gonnahave you you you're gonna need
to protect your family or yourloved ones, right, more
importantly than anything else.Because the money's secondary,
but but the loved ones is what'sgonna happen to them.
Leisa Reed (21:32):
Yeah. Yeah. You wanna make it it's already hard
enough that you've passed away.You don't wanna make it more
stressful on the per on your onyour people.
Oscar Vasquez (21:41):
Yeah.
Leisa Reed (21:42):
The more clear it can be. Go ahead, Tamara.
Tamara Kindred (21:44):
So, Oscar, how do we set up a living trust? And
I'm asking this. I mean, I Iknow, but just in general
because I have witnessed it'skind of a a interesting
situation because a lot oftimes, you know, you have to go
through a lawyer to set up aliving trust. However, most
(22:05):
lawyers push you to do a will tostay in probate because in the
long run, that's how they makemore money. So what what what's
the steps to set up a livingtrust?
Oscar Vasquez (22:16):
I'm gonna define there's three ways on how you
can create a living trust. K?You know, my my lawyers that I
work with and my CPA, they I'mI'm one of those people that
challenges everything. Andthey're like, why do you always
tell I said, because I'm likeRonald Reagan. I believe
everybody, but I wanna verifyit.
(22:37):
Right? I believe everybody. Butso there's three ways on how to
get it. One is the goldstandard, and that's the done
done for you, and that is ausing an attorney. Now here's
the things that you have tounderstand.
The advertisement that theyadvertise is not always the
price because they use that tojust keep increasing it. Because
imagine this, you're gonna say,would you pay 8,000 today if you
(23:02):
know you're gonna pay 8 yourkids are gonna pay or your loved
ones gonna pay 80,000 to go tocourt. Absolutely. So they
always get you to come in at thelowest price and then they come
in, one. Second thing, anattorney will then charge you
what's called a restatement.
A restatement means the changesthat you do to your to your
(23:22):
living trust. Now when you whenyou when you're hiring one, you
need to know these things beforeyou do it. And that way, you can
put that on your agreement, whatyour restatements cost will be
for the lifetime. Because thisis why most people that created
living trust don't go back tothe attorney because they charge
$8,000, and then they wannachange, and now it's 4,000. And
(23:45):
they're like, well, you knowwhat?
I'll just leave it the way itis. Right? Not do that change,
one. Two, they don't have acomplete comprehensive well, now
most attorneys now are startingto give you a complete trust and
doing it for one flat fee. Lotof them are still using the
sales the old car sales game,and they keep going up.
(24:06):
So that's the first way. Thesecond way and the second way is
is to be able to get it onlineand do it yourself. But here's
an interesting statistic. Whenwe started the state.prep, we we
did a lot of research and wesaid we wanna differentiate
ourselves. Because 95% of thepeople that start on a state
(24:29):
plan online on the do ityourself, the legal zones, and
all the other websites on do ityourself, 95% don't complete it
because there's complicatedbecause they don't take into
effect the, the thing that Icall the human element of delay.
Like, what if this happens, whatdo you want to have happen?
(24:49):
Well, what are my options?Right? And then they they they
get stuck and they say, youknow, I'll do it tomorrow. And
tomorrow never arrives becausetomorrow will be today and
tomorrow will never be here.
Right? So they have that delay.That's why they finished that.
So what we did and your thirdoption is to find a company like
(25:10):
Estate dot prep. We do threecalls.
We walk you through the entireprocess. We are a software
company that makes estateplanning affordable to the
masses. And we have we havepayment plans. We you name it.
You got it.
We make it super easy, but weget you on there. We get you
protected as soon as possible.What what we do different than
(25:32):
everybody else is two things,and we pride ourselves on that.
One is that we we meet with youat least three to four times,
three to four times with thesoftware so you don't have no
learning curve about how to usethe software. Start with this
section and then start with thissection.
And then when it comes to thissection, we're gonna get on
(25:52):
another call because these arethe trust provisions that you
wanna know. And I'll give youone of the biggest trust
provisions that most people golike, I need to think about
that. We didn't discuss it. Andthe one trust provision that
people think about is when youdie, do you want your partner or
spouse to make changes to thebeneficiary? Well, I can tell
(26:15):
you.
If you're married and you're ayoung couple, the wife always
says no. Because the day I die,this guy's already gonna be
picking somebody out. He's gonnaget married, and the wife's not
gonna like my kid. They're gonnajust hit her head hurt my kid.
No.
The husband is just like,whatever, man. I I mean, she
ain't gonna die. Right? Butthat's what I've seen happen.
(26:35):
That's the one provision that Ialways say, listen.
You guys need to think aboutthat. That's the first one. The
second the second one is whathappens that is a human delay.
The second one is what happensto your assets if your
beneficiary, your loved one,your BFF, or anybody like that
passes before you? Where do youwant those assets to go?
(26:58):
And they're like, why didn'tthink about that? Well, that's
something that is is a possiblething that can happen. So do you
want it to go to your kids, yourgrandkids? Or and I say this
because the majority of thepeople that plan is for their
kids. Right?
And but now we're starting tosee a lot more single success,
successful people starting toplan for this because they're
(27:20):
saying, man, I'm there's morepeople accumulating assets.
Right? There are more peoplebecoming homeowner. So then they
say, well, or do you want it togo to your son-in-law or your
daughter-in-law? Like, no.
I want it to go to my grandkids.Or if they have no grandkids, I
want it to be divided amongstthe other kids. But a lot that's
a one question that people getstuck at. We always say, hey.
(27:42):
That's why we do this on a on aon a several different calls.
Write that down. That's ahomework. That's called like a a
prayer, a higher power, whateveryour religious beliefs are, and
what makes you feel better.Those are the things you really
need to think about. Then that'sso that's the element that we
bring to the table by beingable, one, not to have a
(28:05):
learning curve on the software,one.
And two, we bring hundreds andhundreds of estate planning
experience on how people havecreated them. Because sometimes
we get in I mean, you know, Icould tell you there's there's
probably one of the the mostcreative that I thought was
creative from a was a teacher inNorth Hollywood. She had one
(28:26):
son. He lived back east, but,she said he has he's a
recovering alcoholic and andopioid user. And one of the
provisions that she put is thatthe house to be sold, but he
were to get payments, but heneeded to take a drug test every
month before he got there.
(28:47):
And I said and I I I my firstthought was like, man, you wanna
control them? And she said andshe goes, what are you thinking?
And and I said, well, honestly,miss Gerald, I it's kinda like
control even from the thing. Shegoes, no. He's my son, and he's
going to stay sober whether I'mdead or alive, and he's not
(29:07):
gonna use drugs with my money.
And I'm like, wow. Committed.Right? I mean, it was one of
those things. And then and thenI went back and I go, you know,
that's a whole different levelof love to think of that kind of
instruction.
Right? So I share that with you.I don't wanna I don't mean to go
(29:27):
too too far into that, but thoseare the three sections on how
you can do it by using estateplanning. You could do it. Some
of us say, hey.
You know what? And it if you doall the answers and you could do
it, if you sat down on thesoftware, you could do it, like,
in thirty five, forty fiveminutes. But it doesn't take
that. I haven't seen anybody.Not even the people that are the
(29:47):
mostly prepared do it in onesitting and knock it out.
It I haven't seen it. But, youknow, there's always a first.
Leisa Reed (29:55):
What what's what's is it a flat fee?
Oscar Vasquez (29:59):
Yes. What we do is we have a special we have a
special gift offer for yourlisteners. For the first ten
listeners, they could they cancome in and they can get a
onetime fee for life. They canget unlimited updates. I mean,
you get if you're in yourthirties or forties or you can
get for the first ten listeners,you get $1,000 off, which means
(30:22):
you get you can use the code youcould use the code my b f f, and
you will at checkout@ estatePrep, you use the checkout, my b
f f, and the first ten listenerswill save $1,000 off of the
lifetime value.
Now Wow. For a year, there's noupdates because everything has
(30:45):
been updated every year. Now youeverybody knows laws change. But
if you let's say three yearsfrom now, you wanna make a
change, you pay $1.29 to forbecause we share the cost of the
attorney cost for every state tobe able to update the trust, the
law provisions. Because a livingtrust cannot be amended.
(31:07):
It goes January of twentytwenty, the trust was created by
Oscar and Delia Vasquez. InFebruary of twenty twenty five,
he decided to add hisgrandchildren, and this is the
trust that he did. And then itwent in this. The older the
younger you are when you startyour trust, the bigger your
trust will become because of allthe chain. You can't change it
(31:30):
to the document.
You have to amend it and add it.So there's a there's a long
list. There's a long of all thechanges and things that get on
there. Now you don't always likeI'll give you an example. A lady
said, hey.
I'm a I bought a house. I addit. I said, you don't need to
pay a provision. Don't don't letthe attorney charge you for
that. You don't need it.
Because you can as a revocabletrust, you can add and delete
(31:53):
things, and they call themfunding letters. With our
software, you get unlimitedfunding letters for the rest of
your life. You can go in thereand you print it. Boom. Wanna
print the letter?
It's done. It normally cost itnormally cost $500. Attorney's
charge for a funding letter of$500. Had a lady, had nine
(32:14):
properties in Winnetka. And shewanted to do the living trust
because she goes, you know what?
I'm gonna get long health longterm care, and I was told that
Medicare can attach my houses. Isaid, yeah. She goes, but I was
told that Medicare won't attachit if they're in the trust. And
I wanna give these to ninedifferent shelters, but I don't
wanna give it to them until Idie. And I said, okay.
(32:36):
We can do that. Because Medicarethat's another thing about
living trust, but I'll go backinto the the benefits of that.
The the the the the living trusthas what's called funding
because there's three things. Ifanything you take away, know
this. One, it avoid it's gonnaavoid probate, but it needs
(32:57):
three things.
If you have a living trust, knowthis. 95% of attorneys give you
a nine page document that goesin your trust and says this is
what you need to do next. Nobodyreads it. But it I mean, I've
had people come to the workshop,say, here's my trust. Is it
correct?
And I said, well, did you everread this section? She goes, no.
(33:19):
Why? What's it say? It says, youneed to fund your trust.
It doesn't protect nothing ifnothing's there. Like, if you
have a YouTube channel, you needto put it into the trust that it
owns it. So I always tell peoplethis, a trust, in a nutshell,
when it comes to assets, it'syou own nothing but control
everything in a nutshell. And ifthe trust needs three things,
(33:44):
one, it needs to be signed infront of an notary. Two, it
needs to be signed in front oftwo witnesses.
So it's it's signed by you bybeyond reasonable doubt. Every
time you do major changes, thatneeds to happen. And the third
thing, you need to put assetsinto the trust. 95% of attorneys
don't do funding because ittakes long. Now we help you with
(34:08):
funding because, one, we are weare real estate agents.
One, so we always wanna meetowners. So we always say, hey.
We do this extra stuff. We'llwalk you through it. But we're
gonna one, we're gonna help you.
If you know anybody that wantsto buy or sell, we use us. Two,
We help people with theirfinancial retirement plans. And
then by us helping you fund themand getting them in there, one,
(34:30):
we're protecting them. And two,we if we find there's so many
people in the world that have alazy or lazy or nonperforming
$4.00 1 k money. And so if wefind that money, we could wake
it up, give it an injection oflove or a pill to get out of
work, and then we do that.
So that's the I I don't wantanybody to think, oh, it's an
(34:53):
extra service. No. We don'tcharge for that. But the
benefits we get by helping youbecause you guys ever hear, you
give more than you get. Right?
And then you expect you alwaysget an abundance. So the
abundance is that we that we getis by helping people protect
their assets, funding them inthere. So it's really important.
If you have a trust, plea openit up. Do yourself a favor.
(35:17):
Read it. If there is fundinginstructions letters, 99.9% of
the time, it's not protectinganything. That means the money
that you have is not protectingyour asset. Think about that.
Leisa Reed (35:29):
Great tips. Wow. Okay. So hopefully Sorry.
Oscar Vasquez (35:32):
I I went off. I'm a little passionate
Leisa Reed (35:35):
about what
Oscar Vasquez (35:35):
I do.
Leisa Reed (35:35):
So I'm That's okay. I get it. No. And you're
fighting the good fight forpeople. And, so I I mean, I've
learned a lot, and I I hope thatthis episode inspires someone to
go like, oh, yeah.
I've been meaning to do that. Igotta do that. So, in case, our
besties didn't catch thatwebsite, it's estatedocprep,
(35:58):
meaning doclikedocument,d0c.
Oscar Vasquez (36:00):
That's right.
Leisa Reed (36:00):
Estatedocprep.com, and you can use the code my b f
f to save a thousand dollars,which is awesome, for the first
ten people. And then there's afree gift as well if you're just
like, okay. I need a little bitmore information, And, Oscar was
kind enough to share this withme. It's, a free comprehensive
(36:24):
estate guide, and it's at andthis is all gonna be in our note
show notes too, butestatedocprep.com/guide. And
then there's this other coolthing, and I know we gotta wrap
it up here, but, you have a a247 client assist AI phone
number for audience questions,which, I mean, that's pretty
(36:44):
cutting edge, very impressive.
So I'm gonna give that phonenumber out. So you're basically
I'm imagining you get you cancall it up and ask an AI
representative to say, like,okay. Here's my question. How do
I do this? What do I do that?
How what does this mean? And andthe AI person will be super
patient with you. So that phonenumber is (805) 909-4689. So
(37:08):
that's (805) 909-4689, and itwill be in the show notes as
well.
Oscar Vasquez (37:15):
Great. Thank you so much.
Leisa Reed (37:17):
Yeah. Alright. Right. Wow. Wow.
What a unique episode we hadtoday and very educational.
Thank you, Oscar Vasquez. You'reamazing.
Oscar Vasquez (37:26):
Thank you for having me.
Leisa Reed (37:28):
Bye. Hey, bestie. Thanks for listening. If you
like this episode, be sure tohit that subscribe button to get
notified of new episodes andcheck out cool bestie gift ideas
at howImetmybff.com.
Tamara Kindred (37:45):
That's right. And, also, leave us a review.
Those reviews help us out a lotand are one of the best ways to
support us.
Leisa Reed (37:51):
Yes. And if you have a fun story about how you met
your BFF, send us an email atinfo@howImetmybff.com. We would
love to hear about it.
Tamara Kindred (38:00):
Definitely. And, hey, maybe we'll
Leisa Reed (38:02):
have you on our next episode. That would be awesome.
Until next time.
Tamara Kindred (38:07):
Love you, BFFs.
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