Your Trust, Your Family

"The minute you read something you can't understand, you can 
almost be sure it was drawn up by a lawyer."

-Will Rogers

Yesterday afternoon, roles were reversed for me as I sat by my dad's bed while he underwent some regular tests at the doctor's office.  They asked him all the standard questions that you get from a doctor, but one caught my ear, "Do you have an advanced directive?"  For some reason, I didn't see my father as old (sorry, dad!) until they asked that question and it made me think of the bigger picture.  What if my kids were in the same situation and I didn't have my affairs laid out so they could manage if something happened to me?  Confronting my own mortality aside, I think that preparing these documents, more so a family trust, is one of the most important things we can do for those that come after us.

As many of you know, I don't prepare family trusts, but I have seen a lot of them as I've unfortunately had around seventy clients pass over my fifteen years in the investment business.  Last week, one stood out.  While sitting with the successor trustee (the person that comes after you to take care of business once you slip on the banana peel), we realized that the attorney who had "taken care" of preparing the family trust had not only misspelled the names of the beneficiaries, but had left one off entirely!  With my client now passed on, this is about the second worst thing that could happen, the first thing being dying without having a living trust in place.  No one I know, young or old, has any plans of dying anytime soon, but good old father time can sometimes produce the unexpected!

One of my colleagues in the estate planning business called the probate court of California "the armpit of the court system", not a place where anyone would want their family to wind up if they suddenly passed on.  In that fun court, all of your affairs are made public, all of your finances now readily available for all to see.  No one wants the government or their neighbors examining their personal affairs, but those that pass without having a trust in place can bank on their heirs winding up there. 

If you do have a trust in place, it's a great idea to review it as it is critically important that the work that was done was done right.  If on the other hand you don't have one, it's time to get started.  While I'm not an attorney, I am surrounded by extremely knowledgeable folks who will make sure that your families are properly protected, so please reach out to me if you have any questions. If there are others that you can think of that would benefit from understanding the importance of taking action and being proactive, please forward this on to them too.  It's my pleasure to help!

Best,

Mike

Michael M. Knittel
Lagunitas Asset Management
1024 Iron Point Road, Suite 100
Folsom, CA 95630
916.357.6656
www.LagunitasMoneyIQ.com

"Helping Smart People Make Smart Investments"™

Securities offered through J.W. Cole Financial, Inc. (JWC) Member FINRA/SIPC.  Advisory services offered through Lagunitas Asset Management.  Lagunitas Asset Management and JWC are unaffiliated entities.