April 20, 2025 • 30 mins
Estate planning attorney Brittany Britton from Best Coast Law joins Justin Worsham for the full hour to break down the essentials of trusts, wills, and probate—plus she takes listener questions live on-air. From protecting your kids to preparing your home for the next generation, this hour is packed with smart, actionable advice for anyone thinking ahead
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand it
I AM.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. This is
justin Worsham talking southern California real estate. Joining me in
studio is my estate planning attorney, Britney Britton from Best.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Coast of State Law.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And I wanted to have her in here for multiple reasons,
but I think the biggest one is because when my
wife was doing home loans, she learned about all the
bad things that can happen for people who don't have
a trust right. And then more recently, I've discovered that
I thought my dad had a trust and then I
(00:39):
found out he did not about two years ago, and
so I proceeded to every time I talked to my
dad at least every two weeks, and every time he
would call me and he would say hello, and I
would say, hey, Dad, do you have a trust yet?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And he'd be like, Nope, not yet.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So I'd be like cool, and I just kept doing
that until finally he was like, what is your big deal?
Do you think I'm going to like die or something?
And I was like, no, I don't think you're going
to die. But I go my understanding, you don't make
a trust or an estate plan to plan to die.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
You make it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Because things don't always go according to plan. And as
much as it breaks my heart in this moment, my
dad found out last year that he had stage four
pancreatic cancer and three months later he was gone and sorry,
and he was my best friend. And the sad part
(01:31):
about it was that there was fighting. Within twenty four
hours of my dad being gone. My brother called me,
yelling because I was The plan was for me to
take care of the financial stuff. Sorry, I will rally
from that point on. You must deal with this all
the In fact, even Brittain, I'm sorry. I will let
you talk eventually, Brittany.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Brittany is great.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
When she sat down to do our estate plan, we
did it via zoom, and she actually said, you might
want to have some Kleenex nearby because almost everybody cries,
and both my wife and I were like, yeah, sure,
and then sure enough, we got to a point where
we started talking about who's going to take care of
our kids if something happened to us, and I got
choked up.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I got choked up.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So anyway, so it has been my goal since that
my Dad didn't have a trust, and I really believe
that there would have been just no fighting if that
had been the case. I want people to have this information.
So Britney, tell me who should have a trust? Like
what what kind of person needs to have a trust?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Hi? Justin?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Hi? Get up? Sorry, I get closer to the micuit.
There you go.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Who needs a trust? I say, in California, definitely.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Anyone who owns real estate, anyone who might own a business,
and definitely anyone who has minor children.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Because what I've learned is it's one hundred. It's if
you have an estate that is valued at one hundred
and eighty four five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Am I right?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Look at me go. I could pass your quiz, Brittany,
I could pass your quiz.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
So that's just any house whatsoever in southern California, probably
even some cars in southern California. If you just own
that alone. That means if something happens to you and
you do not have a trust or an estate plan
in place, then you're going to be susceptible to going
to probate court.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Correct, right, and it is cumulative assets up to one
hundred and eighty four thousand dollars. So that could be
your checking account, that could be.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
UH investments, retirement.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
An account retirement, an old life insurance policy you forgot about,
and your car.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
So if all of that adds up to.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
One hundred and eighty four thousand, your family is likely
going to be opening a probate for you.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And because my dad didn't even have like because one
of the assignments you get from Brittany when she helps
you put together your trust, so she says, now you
go to all of your bank accounts and you have
your trust named as a pay on death so if
something happens or it's also called beneficiary upon death, so
if something happens to you, you just go in with
a death certificate and the bank has instructions to basically
(03:58):
liquidate those accounts and cut checks to whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It could be a person.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
But in this case, my dad love him, he's my
best friend, but he had accounts that were just in
his name and they had the majority of their savings.
So there was about forty thousand dollars worth of savings
that I couldn't touch to take care of my mom
for three plus months because and that wasn't even probate.
That didn't qualify for probate. But just dealing with that
hassle with the bank was just frustrating, and it put
(04:25):
me in a spot where I had to float her
financially to keep her caught up on her bills. So
we were lucky that I had that money saved up myself,
and I had to pay her. I think it was
like I had to pay for his funeral arrangements. I
had to pay a lot of her bills. So after
about two months she owed me about nine grand.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Wow, Yes, we see this a lot.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
And beneficiary designations with a trust just give you so
much flexibility, like you have two minor kits right justin
a lot of people make the mistake of putting their
children as the beneficiaries of that life insurance policy. But
I don't know anyone that wants their seventeen year old
having access to a million dollars.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Nobody, right, not me?
Speaker 4 (05:02):
So yeah exactly.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
And then the other mistake they say, oh, well, I'm
just going to name my brother as the beneficiary. I
know he'll do the right thing with the money. That's
not how we want to set it up. We want
to name your trust as the beneficiary. Your brother can
be the trustee of that trust in charge rolling it
out to your kids for their college expenses.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
But we want safeguards in place.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Now, I'm going to say something that I think you
probably maybe you aren't allowed to say or shouldn't say.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
But so these are just the opinions of me.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Is that much like I think people who tune into
the show are oftentimes they're trying to figure out what
the process of buying a home right. That's unfamiliar to
most people when you buy a home, and so they
rely on me, somebody who does it every day and
is just used to the process, to guide them through
that process. This kind of a thing in my I've
not done it any other way than used you. But
this is not the kind of thing that you want
(05:50):
to go find a template online and download it, because
there are a lot of intricacies to your life. And
I could just tell you that as a guy who
considered himself to have a pretty good idea of what
a state planning was and the benefits of a trust.
Before my wife and I met with you, there were
questions that you asked us that we're and suggestions that
you made because of scenarios you've seen with other clients
(06:11):
and your history doing this right that we would have
never thought of.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Yes, Legal Zoom can't do that for you. Google can't
do that for you.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Chat GBT definitely cannot see that.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's only good for medicine.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Right now, doctors are hosts, but the state attorneys are
still locked in.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You're still good to go.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
And also it is a specialty. I mean, estate planning
is what we do. I do probate administration and estate planning.
Don't go to a corporate attorney who says, oh, I
can throw a trust together for you. That's not what
they do every day. You definitely want to go to
someone who has that experience and has these conversations on
a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So when we come back, I want to talk more
about like what kind of debts can be forgiven upon death,
and I want to talk about other ways to avoid
probate as well. We're here with Britney Britton from Best Coast,
a state law.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
justin Worsham with you talking Southern California real estate two
to four. Going to be back next Sunday again two
to four, but right now with me in studios. Britney Brittain,
a state planning attorney from Best Coast, a state law
we were talking about. I wanted to talk about like
avoiding probate, but you even mentioned in the break that
(07:24):
you want to talk about why probate is so bad,
which is why that's a much better idea.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
It has such a bad reputation and people call me
and sort of expect me to dispel those.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Rumors, but they're all true.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It's rible.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
It really is that bad. I would never wish it
upon anyone. So we do help clients go through the
probate process. I think we're in seven or eight counties
right now throughout the state of California, so I see
how all the different counties work. And for my clients
here in LA, I tell them to expect a twelve
to eighteen month long.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Process and what about Orange County?
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Orange County solid two years and that's an ease.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So just to correct me where I'm wrong, to break
this down for people who are listening to this. What
that means is is that like let's say my dad
had a million dollars right and now he doesn't have
it a trust. So now that means I'm waiting eighteen
months before I have any access to any of those funds.
And the entire time that I'm doing that, if my
dad owns a house with a mortgage payment, I am
(08:23):
paying property taxes, insurance, and mortgage payments on all of
those properties to be able to hang on to things
while I'm waiting to get access to the funds.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
That is, yes, if you want to hold on to them,
then that's absolutely true. If you want to or need
to sell, you're able to sell during the probate process,
so you don't necessarily need to wait until the end
to do that. But probate is so expensive that what
we see as people are forced to sell because they
don't have the cash on hand to pay the attorney,
to pay the court, the appraiser published in the paper
(08:54):
courier fees. I mean all the thing's creditor claims, I
know you want to talk about that, all the things
that come up. They don't have the cash, so they're
forced to sell. Mom and dad's home. You know that
was in the family for fifty years, and it's just
a shame because a trust can completely avoid that. So
I think what people really need to know is if
you only have a will, your family's going to probate.
(09:15):
A will does not avoid court. A trust is how
you avoid probate in.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
California because what happens when you put your property And
I want to say this real quick before I say this,
I've helped people and I know you have too, but
I do it more on the agent side, where you
list a home that is in a probate sale, and
let me just tell you that that is also less
than ideal, like unless you have I think what you
call the letters of confirmation.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Well authority, letters of administration.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Administration thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
So if you have that as an administrator of an estate,
right that makes it to where you could sell it
in a more traditional fashion. But if you have to
do a court confirmed probate, that means whoever is buying
that home is buying it without any contingencies. They're not
buying it in the traditional way that most of the
people I represent buy a home. They have to do
all their due diligence in advance. They have to come
(10:04):
to a court date with ten percent of the value
of the property in a cashier's check made out to
the estate just to participate in an auction, and.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
They could lose to an investor right.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
There, right there in court.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And so it's just and what I started off the
show with talking about what Zilla was doing is that
the best thing that you could do to get the
best bang for your buck is everybody needs to be
able to buy your house that can afford it. But
not everybody's going to be comfortable buying a house in
southern California without the ability to inspect it or to
make sure it to a praises or even get a loan.
Like it also could be hard to get a loan
(10:37):
because you don't know what the timeframe is that you
have to close that house.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Necessarily, Yes, it is not attractive to buyers, and I
think we're usually selling at a lower price than we
would have if it had been.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
In a trust.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I would agree with that, yes, and so so now
let's go back to this the probate and the time frame.
The other thing that is interesting to me is that
in on average, what I have heard is that a
trust probably costs around five thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Is that fair to say for a single person?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Three? Yeah, for a couple, yes, five, about five thousand exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And then if you could tell me this is none
of my beeswax. But let's say you represent me in
a probate. My understanding is that in a state planning attorney,
traditionally maybe this isn't a blanket statement, but they actually
make what I would call a commission on the estate right.
It's a percentage of the overall value of the.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Estate rights California code.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Oh yes, every probate attorney in California makes the same
percentage as a bare minimum. We can also charge extraordinary
fees if we are, for instance, involved in the sale
of real estate, if we negotiate settlement of debts. There's
all sorts of things that could result in me charging
an hourly rate on top of that statutory fee.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
So what's that percentage on a million?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Oh, you're yeah, it's public record on a million dollars.
Let's call it twenty five grand Yeah, cheesey.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So you know, not that you don't deserve it, but
it's this When I say, g lou, what I'm just
fascinated by is. Again, I'm sure you deal with this
all the time. This is These are the things that
people should be learning in like an ancillary course in
high school.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Yes, So here's how I like to explain it.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
If there's a little place in Bourbank worth a million
dollars flat just for easy math, and single person wants
to hire me to do a trust, they're spending thirty
five hundred dollars on that, or they don't do a
trust and they pass away, then their family can pay
me twenty five to thirty grand in probate.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
So I always say, I feel really great about the value.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Proposition that we offer with a trust because I'm minimum
saving your family ten ten x on what you're paying
me for that trust.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The other thing you said in the break when we
were chatting was the we I kind of joked about
the DIY estate planning and it's sad, and I know
so much of your job can often it's a sad
kind of thing because you're very rarely like you, very
rarely do people come to you with happy news unity,
right like, especially if.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
They're in a probate.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
I imagine, Well, what I'll tell you is that my
average client is fifty three years old. So I have
clients in their thirties, I have clients in their nineties.
A lot the majority of my clients are just kind
of trying to get ahead and trying to plan while
they're healthy. So you know, my job is not deathbed signings.
Have I done a deathbed signing? Yes, it is not common.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah my dad did that to my grandfather. Yeah, he
did a deathbed signing just to get just to save things. Yes,
and I didn't even have. I wouldn't have. I didn't
even know, and I'd have time for that. It was
I again, I'm not I don't want to freak people out.
I don't want to scare them. I want to educate
them because I really think if you take the time
to connect with a Brittany and have somebody walk you
(13:43):
through the process, it makes the morning process for everybody
you leave behind so much easier. Because what you said
is that there are people who have done these DIY
estate plannings and trusts and then they pass away thinking
that they've done right by their family members and they
have no idea that they're in probate and they're you know,
going through help.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
And justin it's not just after death.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
I mean I have a client right now whose dad
attempted to diy his own power of attorney and then
he became incapacitated. He unfortunately has dementia, and when his
family went to go use that power of attorney at
the bank, you know, he signed the wrong line.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
It wasn't executed properly.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And now here they are with a man who's very
vulnerable and needs help, and they don't have the legal
documentation in place because he felt confident printing something off
Google and walking into a.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
UPS and using a notary at that UPS.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
You helped us with a friend who who signed an
advanced healthcare directive, but one of the people that he
named as his agent signed as a witness, which avoided
the healthcare directive. So he completely died of a heart
attack by himself. Didn't like. Didn't like, wasn't anticipating it coming,
and the nightmare that we had to go through just
to be able to take care of his remains, Yes,
(14:57):
just to take care of his remains. He was sitting
in a morgue for a month while we try to
figure out a way, and they couldn't find a next
of kins, so.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
We don't DII why these things? You know, Let experts
do what they do.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, that's what I would say.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
All right, I got so much more to talk to
you about, so let's take another break. We'll be back
with more with Britney Britton and Best Coast of State
Law talking you're estate planning.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I Am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
justin Worsham with you talking Southern California real estate. But
right now we are talking with Britney Britton from Best
Coast Estate Law. She is my estate planning attorney, and
we're we have a question from the talkback roll.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Can you hit me with that question?
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Please?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Question for Brittany.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
My wife has been bugging me for saying we need
a trust. I told her we don't need a trust
as long as one of us is alive because the
other one will all automatically inherit the house.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
We have a house, it's worth over.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
A million bucks and miscellaneous stuff and it's all paid for.
But anyway, could you answer that question? If you're married,
do you absolutely have to have a trust because if
one of us guys the other one gets everything anyway.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
What a great question. Yeah, I get that question every day.
Here's what I would say.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
I would say, you're right in that if you jointly
own your home, then when the first spouse dies, the
surviving spouse will automatically own that home.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Okay, so he's correct in that.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
But to our listener, I would say, what if God
forbid something happens to you and your spouse at the
same time, or what if when your spouse passes away
you no longer have the legal capacity to put a
living trust together. And finally, just from sort of a
more emotional perspective, is don't you want to make those decisions.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
With your spouse?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
So you've built this life together, You've earned this million
dollar plus home together.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Don't you want to sit down and decide what the two.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Of you want, put that in writing and protect you
both during your life so that no matter what the
circumstance is, when the first spouse passes away, the two
of you are all set up.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, and with all due respect I think Matt told
me his name was Brad. But with all due respect
to you, Brad, but you sound honestly a lot like
my dad did. In that you were like, well, I
already have a plan in place, because I'm clearly going
to kick the bucket first, and then she's going to
get the.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
House, and then she'll have to do all the work
of creating a trust by herself at that time when
she's grieving you.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Which is what I had to do.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Two weeks after my dad passed away, we met with
the We finished my dad. He had started an estate planning,
he'd met with an attorney at the beginning of the year,
but then it just got pushed to the He was
actually more focused on my grandmother's trust and updating hers
because she was in hospice. And so all of this
is to say, which I think is also part of
your point. We think we have an idea of how
(17:39):
things are going to go. But the whole point of why,
if you own a home or have anything that is
cumulative valued more than one hundred and eighty four five
hundred dollars, just get a trust.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
The time is now.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
The time is now.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I don't care if you're twenty seven, I don't care
if you're eighty six. You should have it, yes, right
like it needs to be there for the sake of
everybody who gets left here afterwards.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
You know what every single client says at our signing
meetings when everything is signed and notarized and the trust
is done, one percent of my clients sigh relief and sa,
I'm so glad we did that. I'm so glad this
is done. It's peace of mind. So let's give that
to your wife now.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yes, you know, I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Telling you, I look at my other family members with smugness, Brittany.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I look down my.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Nose at them because they have the part of the
fight that I had with my brother was I yelled
at and rubbed into his face that I go. I've
been telling you for damn near a decade now you
need to have a trust. And if something happens to
you and your wife and you don't have your house
and a trust.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You've screwed your children.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You've royally screwed them because neither one of them have
the ability to navigate this.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
They have no idea what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Only one of them owns a home at that point, like,
it's just yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Can put guardrails in place, and you can choose someone
you trust to protect your hard earned assets for your
children and it can be one of your adult children
can serve in that role if you trust them.
Speaker 7 (18:56):
To do so.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
But I would talk my clients through thinking of how
those kids are going to work together, and trying to
get ahead of any arguments, and just making your wishes
very very clear so that we're not asking those questions
after you're gone.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Some of the things I like that you helped us
with our trust is that we both felt like our
kids needed to stay in the home if something happened
to us. We didn't want too much of their life
to have to change, and so we have. What you
suggested is that there's somebody who's in charge of the kids.
I believe you call them guardian and guardian, and then
you have people who are in charge of the money trustee,
and that I was going to combine them and make
(19:29):
them both my father, and you suggested that it's best
to have them separated because it kind of creates a
little bit of checks and balances. And when you looked
at it, I was like, no, my dad can handle
all of it. But when I really looked at it,
when you pointed that out to me, I was like,
but that's again, if things go to my plan, my
dad was going to be the one, but we had
a second and a third string option, and we didn't
know that those people would do. You could handle both,
(19:52):
and so having it separated makes the most sense. We
also have instructions in there that says that they keep
the house until my younger son is thirty three, because
both my wife and I felt like once the boys
are in their thirties, they can handle getting this large
amount of money. There's one point five million dollars worth
of life insurance that would be coming their way. I
don't want that given to a twenty seven year old. Yes,
I don't care how responsible I think he is.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
And we put that in the trust and now your
success or trustee has that cash on hand to make
sure that until your youngest son is thirty three, homeowners
insurance is being paid, property taxes are on time, the
HVAC is getting cleaned when it needs to. You know,
you have a responsible adult who's protecting your kids.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
And then I had a conversation. I gave him a
shout out last week. But he's a mutual friend of ours.
Chris Reddick at Edward Jones here in Burbank. He's my
financial guy. He is in my trust. He is in
my trust that all of the funds that come in
from the life insurance and anything else ghost and he
manages it from an investment standpoint, and that talking about
that relief, I had a conversation with my sixteen year
(20:51):
old son after my father had passed away, and to
see the comfort in his eyes, to know because he
thought he would have to just go get a job
and take care of his brother. And I go, no,
there's enough money that you could live for like ten
years and finish school, do whatever you want to do.
And he goes, well, I wouldn't know what to do
with that. I go, that's what Chris is there for.
And and I can't tell you enough, bringing I can't
thank you enough, because it is comforting. It is comforting
(21:13):
to know that there's a plan in place and that
they're going to be okay after I'm gone, right, you.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Know exactly, And you know what we want is that
your kids are sixty seventy when you passed it, right,
of course, but you have peace of mind that you
and your wife can go off to Mexico, get a
little vacation together or whatever and have no you know,
thoughts in the back of your head, you know, are
we leaving a mess?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
There's even comfort. We have a plan that if something
happens to all four of us. Unfortunately, because what happens
If everybody goes, then at least this is my ignorant understanding,
it all just goes to the state, right.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
No, it would end up going to what we call
your intestate air. So that's who the State of California
says would inherit from you. So if you have a
parent who's living, you know, it would be your parent, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Or if no, so there'd be like a next of
kin search.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
Absolutely next of kin search. Okay, I have a case
right now. Little old lady passed away and Pasadena, never married,
no kids, and we have sixty eight heirs from southern
California to Poland who are all inheriting a tiny little
percentage of her condo. In fact, she really easily could
(22:18):
have just written a will or a trust leaving everything
to her favorite charity or her best friend's kids, you know,
something like that.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, yeah, she could have had that plan.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
But because of the way the probate law is written, Yes,
this is how it has to be done.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Yes, a random cousin in Poland is getting a nice
little check of.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
What might be eight hundred bucks or two or three grand,
like nothing, maybe significant, but it could have been significant
if a trust people exactly exactly are there?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Oh man, I'm blown through these breaks.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
We're gonna I want to talk more about not just probate,
but what are the other benefits of a trust when
we come back, before we wrap up this show.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Justin Warsham here talking southern California real estate. Closing out
the show with my friend and a state attorney personal
my own estate planning attorney Britney Britain from the Best
Coast Estate law firm, and we have another talkback question
real Can you hit us with it?
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Can you talk about Tod's transfer on deaths. I've done one.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
For my house and for my bank accounts and because
they had some stocks that I've got.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Is there?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
How does that figure in all this that you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
You?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Thank you, thank you. Mark.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
All right, Well, TODs, that's a transfer on death You
can do that from everything from your checking account to
your stocks, just like this gentleman suggested. And a TOD
does avoid probate provided the person that you named actually
does survive you, because that doesn't always happen, right, and
then you need a backup as well. So we always
(24:00):
recommend that the benefit of a trust over that is
that the trust will always survive you, and the terms
of the trust will have contingencies for who inherits right.
So I leave everything to Justin, but if Justin doesn't
survive me, it goes to his kids. I don't need
to remember to update my TOD if it's my trust.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
If Justin predeceases me.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
The trust becomes the catchup.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
Because the trust is the catch all for me. Now
I want to also talk about.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
He said he did a TOD on his house.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
And there is something called a transfer on death deed
in California. There are only a few years in. It's
relatively new law. There are very very specific ways that
that deed needs to be executed, and it needs to
be recorded in the county. And if there's even one
error on that deed, the legal description is wrong, the
(24:49):
parcel number is wrong. Well anything, it wasn't signed properly,
your family's going to go to probing. So I want
to also mention that when you do a tod D,
you're leaving that house in your name as an individual
during your life and what happens if you become incapacitated.
You need to have a power of attorney. You need
to have incapacity planning documents that will protect that asset
(25:13):
during your period of incapacity. Again, a trust can provide that,
but we need powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives as.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Well, which allows you to select who.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Should be in charge of managing your affairs if you
are ever living but incapacitated, And a power of attorney
is our financial affairs, and the healthcare directive is our
medical decisions.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
And I know justin you wanted to talk about that
right now.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yes, adult children, right because when a kid turns eighteen,
if in theory right, they could be in a hospital
in Kansas City. And if that particular hospital administrator or
doctor says I don't want to violate HIPPA and talk
to mom or dad or let you make healthcare decisions now,
I'm sure that most of us would probably think that
most of the time the doctor is going to be
willing to work with you. But that's not again, why
(26:01):
you do this. You don't do it for the thing
that you think is going to happen. You do it
for the to avoid all the things you can account for.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Yes, yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
This is a really common request I've been getting from
clients who have college age kids, And so we will
do a power of attorney and an advanced directive for
your eighteen nineteen twenty year old child who doesn't have
a significant other, who doesn't have a child of their
own right, and mom and dad are the right person
to step in God forbid, there's an emergency.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
You want to make sure.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
That you have the ability to speak to your child's
physician and their college even you know, I mean, a
power of attorney would allow you to step into their
shoes if something occurred.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
So an advanced healthcare directive really only gives me access
to medical decisions, but a power of attorney, in addition
to that advanced health care directive gives me I could
go get money out of the bank to pay their
rent while they're in a coma a.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Ject if I needed to correct A general durable power
of attorney would allow you to speak with their employer,
their lane and lord, their insurance carrier. You know, anyone
from a financial, legal, or government position that you would
need to speak to.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
On behalf of your child. That's the power of attorney.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
And the advanced directive is yes, it's just limited to
medical decisions.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
And I think a lot of people listening to this
might be like, especially if you're a single person, like
what we went through with my wife's friend, Like he
was just a guy who was by himself, and they
did they went through like a legal zoom, got a
next an advanced healthcare directive, but they didn't execute it
correctly because they weren't being guided by somebody who understands
how this has to happen and how to help them
avoid the problems, because you've seen so many problems, right like.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Yeah, yeah, it is a mistake to say I don't
have children, so I don't need an estate plan. That
is a mistake. You will end up like my little
old lady in Pasadena who has sixty eight heirs and
random people in Poland inheriting from you.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
So you get to decide.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
It can be your favorite charity, it can be your
best friend, It can be your dog.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That's another that's a big one.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Really.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Oh yeah, oh man, we're gonna have to do this again.
If I get this show, We're gonna do it again. Brittany,
how could people find you?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Please?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Please give us a call.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
We're based here in Burbank, Best Coast Estate Law dot com.
We offer free consultations and we have our Palm Springs
office up and running now as well.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
And then you're doing something for people with the Eaton fires.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
You were saying, yes, yeah, I'm working together with this
phenomenal organization, Neighborhood Legal Services. We are doing a pro
bono estate planning clinic on May twentieth in Altadena.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
Happy to guide you to that.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
And again it's Neighborhood Legal Services who's putting that on.
And I will be doing pro bono estate planning for
individuals who lost their homes in the Altadena fire.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Thank you, Brittany, thank you for being here today, but
also thank you for everything you did for my family.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Chris Meryl, sorry if that's going to give you whiplash coming,
but I'm coming to you, my friend. You got what
you got coming up in the show.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
I'm actually running a down't so of sound mind and
body hereby.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Direct all krillers of was durable attorney durable? I don't.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I don't think you listened at all to anything that
happened in the last hour. If I could be honest
with you, my friend dog.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Is ni no dy statements.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
I got your wife. I pity your wife and kid, Chris,
I pity your wife and kid. Big fat dog. She's
pretty good to me. She's like a giant canine body pillow.
I think she should have everything just I mean all
of it. Friend of friend, Hi, Brittany, and get Millie
taken care of. Just do it right. Not on the napkin,
my guy.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Just imagine I die and my dog was What am
I going to do with the microphone?
Speaker 1 (29:37):
A dog?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Chris Marrel Milly's podcast. I can't wait to hear it. Unbelievable. Yeah,
what do you got? What else you got coming up?
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Well?
Speaker 7 (29:43):
Listen, the pope is called for peace, which obviously that
pope is getting a little old. He is out of it,
calling for peace and nice things to other people. I
don't know who he thinks he is. So we'll talk
about that right out of the gate, and then, Uh,
I'm so glad to hear you guys talking about what's
going on with you know, your little old lady in
Pasadena and so many other people that were affected by
(30:03):
the fires. We'll talk about that new evidence for the
eating fire. And State Farm is getting slammed. It's almost
like State Farm sent baitman when people needed batman. Weird,
and California visas are going away. The question is do
you even know that your visa has been revoked? So
that's all coming up in the first hour. We'll talk
(30:24):
politics as usual and as always at six o'clock. There's
no business like show business.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yes, good stuff, all right, we'll look forward to that.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Chris, always a pleasure to chat with you. We'll see
you again next week. Appreciate it and we are.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Thanks guys, KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand it
I AM.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. This is
justin Worsham talking southern California real estate. Joining me in
studio is my estate planning attorney, Britney Britton from Best.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Coast of State Law.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And I wanted to have her in here for multiple reasons,
but I think the biggest one is because when my
wife was doing home loans, she learned about all the
bad things that can happen for people who don't have
a trust right. And then more recently, I've discovered that
I thought my dad had a trust and then I
(00:39):
found out he did not about two years ago, and
so I proceeded to every time I talked to my
dad at least every two weeks, and every time he
would call me and he would say hello, and I
would say, hey, Dad, do you have a trust yet?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And he'd be like, Nope, not yet.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So I'd be like cool, and I just kept doing
that until finally he was like, what is your big deal?
Do you think I'm going to like die or something?
And I was like, no, I don't think you're going
to die. But I go my understanding, you don't make
a trust or an estate plan to plan to die.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
You make it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Because things don't always go according to plan. And as
much as it breaks my heart in this moment, my
dad found out last year that he had stage four
pancreatic cancer and three months later he was gone and sorry,
and he was my best friend. And the sad part
(01:31):
about it was that there was fighting. Within twenty four
hours of my dad being gone. My brother called me,
yelling because I was The plan was for me to
take care of the financial stuff. Sorry, I will rally
from that point on. You must deal with this all
the In fact, even Brittain, I'm sorry. I will let
you talk eventually, Brittany.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Brittany is great.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
When she sat down to do our estate plan, we
did it via zoom, and she actually said, you might
want to have some Kleenex nearby because almost everybody cries,
and both my wife and I were like, yeah, sure,
and then sure enough, we got to a point where
we started talking about who's going to take care of
our kids if something happened to us, and I got
choked up.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I got choked up.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So anyway, so it has been my goal since that
my Dad didn't have a trust, and I really believe
that there would have been just no fighting if that
had been the case. I want people to have this information.
So Britney, tell me who should have a trust? Like
what what kind of person needs to have a trust?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Hi? Justin?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Hi? Get up? Sorry, I get closer to the micuit.
There you go.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Who needs a trust? I say, in California, definitely.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Anyone who owns real estate, anyone who might own a business,
and definitely anyone who has minor children.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Because what I've learned is it's one hundred. It's if
you have an estate that is valued at one hundred
and eighty four five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Am I right?
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Look at me go. I could pass your quiz, Brittany,
I could pass your quiz.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
So that's just any house whatsoever in southern California, probably
even some cars in southern California. If you just own
that alone. That means if something happens to you and
you do not have a trust or an estate plan
in place, then you're going to be susceptible to going
to probate court.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Correct, right, and it is cumulative assets up to one
hundred and eighty four thousand dollars. So that could be
your checking account, that could be.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
UH investments, retirement.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
An account retirement, an old life insurance policy you forgot about,
and your car.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
So if all of that adds up to.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
One hundred and eighty four thousand, your family is likely
going to be opening a probate for you.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And because my dad didn't even have like because one
of the assignments you get from Brittany when she helps
you put together your trust, so she says, now you
go to all of your bank accounts and you have
your trust named as a pay on death so if
something happens or it's also called beneficiary upon death, so
if something happens to you, you just go in with
a death certificate and the bank has instructions to basically
(03:58):
liquidate those accounts and cut checks to whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
It could be a person.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
But in this case, my dad love him, he's my
best friend, but he had accounts that were just in
his name and they had the majority of their savings.
So there was about forty thousand dollars worth of savings
that I couldn't touch to take care of my mom
for three plus months because and that wasn't even probate.
That didn't qualify for probate. But just dealing with that
hassle with the bank was just frustrating, and it put
(04:25):
me in a spot where I had to float her
financially to keep her caught up on her bills. So
we were lucky that I had that money saved up myself,
and I had to pay her. I think it was
like I had to pay for his funeral arrangements. I
had to pay a lot of her bills. So after
about two months she owed me about nine grand.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Wow, Yes, we see this a lot.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
And beneficiary designations with a trust just give you so
much flexibility, like you have two minor kits right justin
a lot of people make the mistake of putting their
children as the beneficiaries of that life insurance policy. But
I don't know anyone that wants their seventeen year old
having access to a million dollars.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Nobody, right, not me?
Speaker 4 (05:02):
So yeah exactly.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
And then the other mistake they say, oh, well, I'm
just going to name my brother as the beneficiary. I
know he'll do the right thing with the money. That's
not how we want to set it up. We want
to name your trust as the beneficiary. Your brother can
be the trustee of that trust in charge rolling it
out to your kids for their college expenses.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
But we want safeguards in place.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Now, I'm going to say something that I think you
probably maybe you aren't allowed to say or shouldn't say.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
But so these are just the opinions of me.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Is that much like I think people who tune into
the show are oftentimes they're trying to figure out what
the process of buying a home right. That's unfamiliar to
most people when you buy a home, and so they
rely on me, somebody who does it every day and
is just used to the process, to guide them through
that process. This kind of a thing in my I've
not done it any other way than used you. But
this is not the kind of thing that you want
(05:50):
to go find a template online and download it, because
there are a lot of intricacies to your life. And
I could just tell you that as a guy who
considered himself to have a pretty good idea of what
a state planning was and the benefits of a trust.
Before my wife and I met with you, there were
questions that you asked us that we're and suggestions that
you made because of scenarios you've seen with other clients
(06:11):
and your history doing this right that we would have
never thought of.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Yes, Legal Zoom can't do that for you. Google can't
do that for you.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Chat GBT definitely cannot see that.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's only good for medicine.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Right now, doctors are hosts, but the state attorneys are
still locked in.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You're still good to go.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
And also it is a specialty. I mean, estate planning
is what we do. I do probate administration and estate planning.
Don't go to a corporate attorney who says, oh, I
can throw a trust together for you. That's not what
they do every day. You definitely want to go to
someone who has that experience and has these conversations on
a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So when we come back, I want to talk more
about like what kind of debts can be forgiven upon death,
and I want to talk about other ways to avoid
probate as well. We're here with Britney Britton from Best Coast,
a state law.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
justin Worsham with you talking Southern California real estate two
to four. Going to be back next Sunday again two
to four, but right now with me in studios. Britney Brittain,
a state planning attorney from Best Coast, a state law
we were talking about. I wanted to talk about like
avoiding probate, but you even mentioned in the break that
(07:24):
you want to talk about why probate is so bad,
which is why that's a much better idea.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
It has such a bad reputation and people call me
and sort of expect me to dispel those.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Rumors, but they're all true.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
It's rible.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
It really is that bad. I would never wish it
upon anyone. So we do help clients go through the
probate process. I think we're in seven or eight counties
right now throughout the state of California, so I see
how all the different counties work. And for my clients
here in LA, I tell them to expect a twelve
to eighteen month long.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Process and what about Orange County?
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Orange County solid two years and that's an ease.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So just to correct me where I'm wrong, to break
this down for people who are listening to this. What
that means is is that like let's say my dad
had a million dollars right and now he doesn't have
it a trust. So now that means I'm waiting eighteen
months before I have any access to any of those funds.
And the entire time that I'm doing that, if my
dad owns a house with a mortgage payment, I am
(08:23):
paying property taxes, insurance, and mortgage payments on all of
those properties to be able to hang on to things
while I'm waiting to get access to the funds.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
That is, yes, if you want to hold on to them,
then that's absolutely true. If you want to or need
to sell, you're able to sell during the probate process,
so you don't necessarily need to wait until the end
to do that. But probate is so expensive that what
we see as people are forced to sell because they
don't have the cash on hand to pay the attorney,
to pay the court, the appraiser published in the paper
(08:54):
courier fees. I mean all the thing's creditor claims, I
know you want to talk about that, all the things
that come up. They don't have the cash, so they're
forced to sell. Mom and dad's home. You know that
was in the family for fifty years, and it's just
a shame because a trust can completely avoid that. So
I think what people really need to know is if
you only have a will, your family's going to probate.
(09:15):
A will does not avoid court. A trust is how
you avoid probate in.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
California because what happens when you put your property And
I want to say this real quick before I say this,
I've helped people and I know you have too, but
I do it more on the agent side, where you
list a home that is in a probate sale, and
let me just tell you that that is also less
than ideal, like unless you have I think what you
call the letters of confirmation.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Well authority, letters of administration.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Administration thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
So if you have that as an administrator of an estate,
right that makes it to where you could sell it
in a more traditional fashion. But if you have to
do a court confirmed probate, that means whoever is buying
that home is buying it without any contingencies. They're not
buying it in the traditional way that most of the
people I represent buy a home. They have to do
all their due diligence in advance. They have to come
(10:04):
to a court date with ten percent of the value
of the property in a cashier's check made out to
the estate just to participate in an auction, and.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
They could lose to an investor right.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
There, right there in court.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And so it's just and what I started off the
show with talking about what Zilla was doing is that
the best thing that you could do to get the
best bang for your buck is everybody needs to be
able to buy your house that can afford it. But
not everybody's going to be comfortable buying a house in
southern California without the ability to inspect it or to
make sure it to a praises or even get a loan.
Like it also could be hard to get a loan
(10:37):
because you don't know what the timeframe is that you
have to close that house.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
Necessarily, Yes, it is not attractive to buyers, and I
think we're usually selling at a lower price than we
would have if it had been.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
In a trust.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I would agree with that, yes, and so so now
let's go back to this the probate and the time frame.
The other thing that is interesting to me is that
in on average, what I have heard is that a
trust probably costs around five thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Is that fair to say for a single person?
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Three? Yeah, for a couple, yes, five, about five thousand exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And then if you could tell me this is none
of my beeswax. But let's say you represent me in
a probate. My understanding is that in a state planning attorney,
traditionally maybe this isn't a blanket statement, but they actually
make what I would call a commission on the estate right.
It's a percentage of the overall value of the.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Estate rights California code.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Oh yes, every probate attorney in California makes the same
percentage as a bare minimum. We can also charge extraordinary
fees if we are, for instance, involved in the sale
of real estate, if we negotiate settlement of debts. There's
all sorts of things that could result in me charging
an hourly rate on top of that statutory fee.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
So what's that percentage on a million?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Oh, you're yeah, it's public record on a million dollars.
Let's call it twenty five grand Yeah, cheesey.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So you know, not that you don't deserve it, but
it's this When I say, g lou, what I'm just
fascinated by is. Again, I'm sure you deal with this
all the time. This is These are the things that
people should be learning in like an ancillary course in
high school.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Yes, So here's how I like to explain it.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
If there's a little place in Bourbank worth a million
dollars flat just for easy math, and single person wants
to hire me to do a trust, they're spending thirty
five hundred dollars on that, or they don't do a
trust and they pass away, then their family can pay
me twenty five to thirty grand in probate.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
So I always say, I feel really great about the value.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Proposition that we offer with a trust because I'm minimum
saving your family ten ten x on what you're paying
me for that trust.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The other thing you said in the break when we
were chatting was the we I kind of joked about
the DIY estate planning and it's sad, and I know
so much of your job can often it's a sad
kind of thing because you're very rarely like you, very
rarely do people come to you with happy news unity,
right like, especially if.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
They're in a probate.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
I imagine, Well, what I'll tell you is that my
average client is fifty three years old. So I have
clients in their thirties, I have clients in their nineties.
A lot the majority of my clients are just kind
of trying to get ahead and trying to plan while
they're healthy. So you know, my job is not deathbed signings.
Have I done a deathbed signing? Yes, it is not common.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah my dad did that to my grandfather. Yeah, he
did a deathbed signing just to get just to save things. Yes,
and I didn't even have. I wouldn't have. I didn't
even know, and I'd have time for that. It was
I again, I'm not I don't want to freak people out.
I don't want to scare them. I want to educate
them because I really think if you take the time
to connect with a Brittany and have somebody walk you
(13:43):
through the process, it makes the morning process for everybody
you leave behind so much easier. Because what you said
is that there are people who have done these DIY
estate plannings and trusts and then they pass away thinking
that they've done right by their family members and they
have no idea that they're in probate and they're you know,
going through help.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
And justin it's not just after death.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
I mean I have a client right now whose dad
attempted to diy his own power of attorney and then
he became incapacitated. He unfortunately has dementia, and when his
family went to go use that power of attorney at
the bank, you know, he signed the wrong line.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
It wasn't executed properly.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And now here they are with a man who's very
vulnerable and needs help, and they don't have the legal
documentation in place because he felt confident printing something off
Google and walking into a.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
UPS and using a notary at that UPS.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
You helped us with a friend who who signed an
advanced healthcare directive, but one of the people that he
named as his agent signed as a witness, which avoided
the healthcare directive. So he completely died of a heart
attack by himself. Didn't like. Didn't like, wasn't anticipating it coming,
and the nightmare that we had to go through just
to be able to take care of his remains, Yes,
(14:57):
just to take care of his remains. He was sitting
in a morgue for a month while we try to
figure out a way, and they couldn't find a next
of kins, so.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
We don't DII why these things? You know, Let experts
do what they do.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, that's what I would say.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
All right, I got so much more to talk to
you about, so let's take another break. We'll be back
with more with Britney Britton and Best Coast of State
Law talking you're estate planning.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I Am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
justin Worsham with you talking Southern California real estate. But
right now we are talking with Britney Britton from Best
Coast Estate Law. She is my estate planning attorney, and
we're we have a question from the talkback roll.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Can you hit me with that question?
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Please?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Question for Brittany.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
My wife has been bugging me for saying we need
a trust. I told her we don't need a trust
as long as one of us is alive because the
other one will all automatically inherit the house.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
We have a house, it's worth over.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
A million bucks and miscellaneous stuff and it's all paid for.
But anyway, could you answer that question? If you're married,
do you absolutely have to have a trust because if
one of us guys the other one gets everything anyway.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
What a great question. Yeah, I get that question every day.
Here's what I would say.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
I would say, you're right in that if you jointly
own your home, then when the first spouse dies, the
surviving spouse will automatically own that home.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
Okay, so he's correct in that.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
But to our listener, I would say, what if God
forbid something happens to you and your spouse at the
same time, or what if when your spouse passes away
you no longer have the legal capacity to put a
living trust together. And finally, just from sort of a
more emotional perspective, is don't you want to make those decisions.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
With your spouse?
Speaker 5 (16:41):
So you've built this life together, You've earned this million
dollar plus home together.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Don't you want to sit down and decide what the two.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Of you want, put that in writing and protect you
both during your life so that no matter what the
circumstance is, when the first spouse passes away, the two
of you are all set up.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, and with all due respect I think Matt told
me his name was Brad. But with all due respect
to you, Brad, but you sound honestly a lot like
my dad did. In that you were like, well, I
already have a plan in place, because I'm clearly going
to kick the bucket first, and then she's going to
get the.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
House, and then she'll have to do all the work
of creating a trust by herself at that time when
she's grieving you.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Which is what I had to do.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Two weeks after my dad passed away, we met with
the We finished my dad. He had started an estate planning,
he'd met with an attorney at the beginning of the year,
but then it just got pushed to the He was
actually more focused on my grandmother's trust and updating hers
because she was in hospice. And so all of this
is to say, which I think is also part of
your point. We think we have an idea of how
(17:39):
things are going to go. But the whole point of why,
if you own a home or have anything that is
cumulative valued more than one hundred and eighty four five
hundred dollars, just get a trust.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
The time is now.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
The time is now.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I don't care if you're twenty seven, I don't care
if you're eighty six. You should have it, yes, right
like it needs to be there for the sake of
everybody who gets left here afterwards.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
You know what every single client says at our signing
meetings when everything is signed and notarized and the trust
is done, one percent of my clients sigh relief and sa,
I'm so glad we did that. I'm so glad this
is done. It's peace of mind. So let's give that
to your wife now.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yes, you know, I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Telling you, I look at my other family members with smugness, Brittany.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I look down my.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Nose at them because they have the part of the
fight that I had with my brother was I yelled
at and rubbed into his face that I go. I've
been telling you for damn near a decade now you
need to have a trust. And if something happens to
you and your wife and you don't have your house
and a trust.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You've screwed your children.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
You've royally screwed them because neither one of them have
the ability to navigate this.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
They have no idea what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Only one of them owns a home at that point, like,
it's just yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Can put guardrails in place, and you can choose someone
you trust to protect your hard earned assets for your
children and it can be one of your adult children
can serve in that role if you trust them.
Speaker 7 (18:56):
To do so.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
But I would talk my clients through thinking of how
those kids are going to work together, and trying to
get ahead of any arguments, and just making your wishes
very very clear so that we're not asking those questions
after you're gone.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Some of the things I like that you helped us
with our trust is that we both felt like our
kids needed to stay in the home if something happened
to us. We didn't want too much of their life
to have to change, and so we have. What you
suggested is that there's somebody who's in charge of the kids.
I believe you call them guardian and guardian, and then
you have people who are in charge of the money trustee,
and that I was going to combine them and make
(19:29):
them both my father, and you suggested that it's best
to have them separated because it kind of creates a
little bit of checks and balances. And when you looked
at it, I was like, no, my dad can handle
all of it. But when I really looked at it,
when you pointed that out to me, I was like,
but that's again, if things go to my plan, my
dad was going to be the one, but we had
a second and a third string option, and we didn't
know that those people would do. You could handle both,
(19:52):
and so having it separated makes the most sense. We
also have instructions in there that says that they keep
the house until my younger son is thirty three, because
both my wife and I felt like once the boys
are in their thirties, they can handle getting this large
amount of money. There's one point five million dollars worth
of life insurance that would be coming their way. I
don't want that given to a twenty seven year old. Yes,
I don't care how responsible I think he is.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
And we put that in the trust and now your
success or trustee has that cash on hand to make
sure that until your youngest son is thirty three, homeowners
insurance is being paid, property taxes are on time, the
HVAC is getting cleaned when it needs to. You know,
you have a responsible adult who's protecting your kids.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
And then I had a conversation. I gave him a
shout out last week. But he's a mutual friend of ours.
Chris Reddick at Edward Jones here in Burbank. He's my
financial guy. He is in my trust. He is in
my trust that all of the funds that come in
from the life insurance and anything else ghost and he
manages it from an investment standpoint, and that talking about
that relief, I had a conversation with my sixteen year
(20:51):
old son after my father had passed away, and to
see the comfort in his eyes, to know because he
thought he would have to just go get a job
and take care of his brother. And I go, no,
there's enough money that you could live for like ten
years and finish school, do whatever you want to do.
And he goes, well, I wouldn't know what to do
with that. I go, that's what Chris is there for.
And and I can't tell you enough, bringing I can't
thank you enough, because it is comforting. It is comforting
(21:13):
to know that there's a plan in place and that
they're going to be okay after I'm gone, right, you.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Know exactly, And you know what we want is that
your kids are sixty seventy when you passed it, right,
of course, but you have peace of mind that you
and your wife can go off to Mexico, get a
little vacation together or whatever and have no you know,
thoughts in the back of your head, you know, are
we leaving a mess?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
There's even comfort. We have a plan that if something
happens to all four of us. Unfortunately, because what happens
If everybody goes, then at least this is my ignorant understanding,
it all just goes to the state, right.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
No, it would end up going to what we call
your intestate air. So that's who the State of California
says would inherit from you. So if you have a
parent who's living, you know, it would be your parent, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Or if no, so there'd be like a next of
kin search.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
Absolutely next of kin search. Okay, I have a case
right now. Little old lady passed away and Pasadena, never married,
no kids, and we have sixty eight heirs from southern
California to Poland who are all inheriting a tiny little
percentage of her condo. In fact, she really easily could
(22:18):
have just written a will or a trust leaving everything
to her favorite charity or her best friend's kids, you know,
something like that.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, yeah, she could have had that plan.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
But because of the way the probate law is written, Yes,
this is how it has to be done.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
Yes, a random cousin in Poland is getting a nice
little check of.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
What might be eight hundred bucks or two or three grand,
like nothing, maybe significant, but it could have been significant
if a trust people exactly exactly are there?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Oh man, I'm blown through these breaks.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
We're gonna I want to talk more about not just probate,
but what are the other benefits of a trust when
we come back, before we wrap up this show.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Justin Warsham here talking southern California real estate. Closing out
the show with my friend and a state attorney personal
my own estate planning attorney Britney Britain from the Best
Coast Estate law firm, and we have another talkback question
real Can you hit us with it?
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Can you talk about Tod's transfer on deaths. I've done one.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
For my house and for my bank accounts and because
they had some stocks that I've got.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Is there?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
How does that figure in all this that you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
You?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Thank you, thank you. Mark.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
All right, Well, TODs, that's a transfer on death You
can do that from everything from your checking account to
your stocks, just like this gentleman suggested. And a TOD
does avoid probate provided the person that you named actually
does survive you, because that doesn't always happen, right, and
then you need a backup as well. So we always
(24:00):
recommend that the benefit of a trust over that is
that the trust will always survive you, and the terms
of the trust will have contingencies for who inherits right.
So I leave everything to Justin, but if Justin doesn't
survive me, it goes to his kids. I don't need
to remember to update my TOD if it's my trust.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
If Justin predeceases me.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
The trust becomes the catchup.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
Because the trust is the catch all for me. Now
I want to also talk about.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
He said he did a TOD on his house.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
And there is something called a transfer on death deed
in California. There are only a few years in. It's
relatively new law. There are very very specific ways that
that deed needs to be executed, and it needs to
be recorded in the county. And if there's even one
error on that deed, the legal description is wrong, the
(24:49):
parcel number is wrong. Well anything, it wasn't signed properly,
your family's going to go to probing. So I want
to also mention that when you do a tod D,
you're leaving that house in your name as an individual
during your life and what happens if you become incapacitated.
You need to have a power of attorney. You need
to have incapacity planning documents that will protect that asset
(25:13):
during your period of incapacity. Again, a trust can provide that,
but we need powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives as.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Well, which allows you to select who.
Speaker 5 (25:23):
Should be in charge of managing your affairs if you
are ever living but incapacitated, And a power of attorney
is our financial affairs, and the healthcare directive is our
medical decisions.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
And I know justin you wanted to talk about that
right now.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yes, adult children, right because when a kid turns eighteen,
if in theory right, they could be in a hospital
in Kansas City. And if that particular hospital administrator or
doctor says I don't want to violate HIPPA and talk
to mom or dad or let you make healthcare decisions now,
I'm sure that most of us would probably think that
most of the time the doctor is going to be
willing to work with you. But that's not again, why
(26:01):
you do this. You don't do it for the thing
that you think is going to happen. You do it
for the to avoid all the things you can account for.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Yes, yeah, so.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
This is a really common request I've been getting from
clients who have college age kids, And so we will
do a power of attorney and an advanced directive for
your eighteen nineteen twenty year old child who doesn't have
a significant other, who doesn't have a child of their
own right, and mom and dad are the right person
to step in God forbid, there's an emergency.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
You want to make sure.
Speaker 5 (26:30):
That you have the ability to speak to your child's
physician and their college even you know, I mean, a
power of attorney would allow you to step into their
shoes if something occurred.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
So an advanced healthcare directive really only gives me access
to medical decisions, but a power of attorney, in addition
to that advanced health care directive gives me I could
go get money out of the bank to pay their
rent while they're in a coma a.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Ject if I needed to correct A general durable power
of attorney would allow you to speak with their employer,
their lane and lord, their insurance carrier. You know, anyone
from a financial, legal, or government position that you would
need to speak to.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
On behalf of your child. That's the power of attorney.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
And the advanced directive is yes, it's just limited to
medical decisions.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
And I think a lot of people listening to this
might be like, especially if you're a single person, like
what we went through with my wife's friend, Like he
was just a guy who was by himself, and they
did they went through like a legal zoom, got a
next an advanced healthcare directive, but they didn't execute it
correctly because they weren't being guided by somebody who understands
how this has to happen and how to help them
avoid the problems, because you've seen so many problems, right like.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Yeah, yeah, it is a mistake to say I don't
have children, so I don't need an estate plan. That
is a mistake. You will end up like my little
old lady in Pasadena who has sixty eight heirs and
random people in Poland inheriting from you.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
So you get to decide.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
It can be your favorite charity, it can be your
best friend, It can be your dog.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
That's another that's a big one.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Really.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Oh yeah, oh man, we're gonna have to do this again.
If I get this show, We're gonna do it again. Brittany,
how could people find you?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Please?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Please give us a call.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
We're based here in Burbank, Best Coast Estate Law dot com.
We offer free consultations and we have our Palm Springs
office up and running now as well.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
And then you're doing something for people with the Eaton fires.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
You were saying, yes, yeah, I'm working together with this
phenomenal organization, Neighborhood Legal Services. We are doing a pro
bono estate planning clinic on May twentieth in Altadena.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
Happy to guide you to that.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
And again it's Neighborhood Legal Services who's putting that on.
And I will be doing pro bono estate planning for
individuals who lost their homes in the Altadena fire.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Thank you, Brittany, thank you for being here today, but
also thank you for everything you did for my family.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Chris Meryl, sorry if that's going to give you whiplash coming,
but I'm coming to you, my friend. You got what
you got coming up in the show.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
I'm actually running a down't so of sound mind and
body hereby.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Direct all krillers of was durable attorney durable? I don't.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I don't think you listened at all to anything that
happened in the last hour. If I could be honest
with you, my friend dog.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Is ni no dy statements.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
I got your wife. I pity your wife and kid, Chris,
I pity your wife and kid. Big fat dog. She's
pretty good to me. She's like a giant canine body pillow.
I think she should have everything just I mean all
of it. Friend of friend, Hi, Brittany, and get Millie
taken care of. Just do it right. Not on the napkin,
my guy.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Just imagine I die and my dog was What am
I going to do with the microphone?
Speaker 1 (29:37):
A dog?
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Chris Marrel Milly's podcast. I can't wait to hear it. Unbelievable. Yeah,
what do you got? What else you got coming up?
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Well?
Speaker 7 (29:43):
Listen, the pope is called for peace, which obviously that
pope is getting a little old. He is out of it,
calling for peace and nice things to other people. I
don't know who he thinks he is. So we'll talk
about that right out of the gate, and then, Uh,
I'm so glad to hear you guys talking about what's
going on with you know, your little old lady in
Pasadena and so many other people that were affected by
(30:03):
the fires. We'll talk about that new evidence for the
eating fire. And State Farm is getting slammed. It's almost
like State Farm sent baitman when people needed batman. Weird,
and California visas are going away. The question is do
you even know that your visa has been revoked? So
that's all coming up in the first hour. We'll talk
(30:24):
politics as usual and as always at six o'clock. There's
no business like show business.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yes, good stuff, all right, we'll look forward to that.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Chris, always a pleasure to chat with you. We'll see
you again next week. Appreciate it and we are.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
This is KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Thanks guys, KFI AM six forty on demand
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