Tag Archives: Attorney

Estate Planning

What We Can Learn From Actor Paul Walker’s Estate Plan

Forbes recently had an interesting article entitled Five Estate Planning Lessons from the Paul Walker Estate. It provides an interesting insight into the estate plan of the late actor that was valued at 25 million dollars. His untimely death at 40 years old also shows that estate planning can never be done too early. His first will was signed when he was 28 years old. 

Paul Walker had a revocable living trust, which is highly recommended for most people who would come to visit me for a consultation. His will left all his assets to his revocable living trust. In addition to avoiding the publicity and costs of probate, his revocable living trust greatly assists in passing assets to his fifteen year old child in a controlled fashion. Although we don’t know exactly what his revocable living trust says on giving assets to his child, a good estate plan for someone with significant assets will distribute assets to children in a controlled fashion and not simply give all assets to them when they turn 18.

As discussed in previous posts, having a revocable living trust is only the start. The revocable living trust must be funded with your property meaning that deeds for real estate must be transferred to the revocable living trust and personal property such as bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and individual stocks must be transferred to the name of the trust.

In addition to having the revocable living trust, you will also need a will. For individuals and couples with minor children, a will is the only method to name a guardian after your death. In Paul Walker’s case, he named his mother as the guardian for his daughter. Although a grandmother will not take custody rights over a parent, it is smart estate planning to name a back up if the need would arise.

Estate planning is not just for celebrities and those with significant assets. The issues raised by Paul Walker’s estate could arise in the average middle class family’s estate particularly when young children are involved.

Please contact Attorney Anthony Marinaccio at (818) 839-5220 to set up a free initial consultation to discuss your estate plan or amending your estate plan.

Estate Planning

The Benefits of Hiring an Attorney to Draft Your Estate Plan

This article from Forbes Magazine, entitled What Could Happen If You Write Your Own Living Trust provides an interesting glimpse into the challenges faced by heirs or by someone still alive when attempting to draft their own estate plan. Hiring an attorney upfront to draft an estate plan can often be a more cost effective process than if you do nothing and allow your heirs fight it out.

In addition, particular when dealing with real estate as the article discusses, there can be mistakes that can cause unneeded time and money to be spent to correct the mistakes. Even if you have drafted your own estate plan, you could bring it to an attorney to review to ensure that it will properly fulfill your wishes.

Everyone has a different estate plan, so it is difficult to get a one size fits all estate plan that you can purchase or draft yourself from a form. At a minimum you should discuss your estate plan with an attorney and then decide to hire an attorney to draft or do it yourself.

Attorney Anthony Marinaccio offers a free initial consultation to discuss your estate plan. Please contact him at (818) 839-5220 to set up an appointment.