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E47: Common Mistakes People Make With Trusts
12 Plays1 month ago
Wondering if setting up a trust is the right decision for you? We're here to demystify how trusts can benefit anyone, not just the wealthy—from avoiding complicated probate processes to streamlining asset management.
More importantly, we'll also cover the key pitfalls to avoid, particularly the common mistake of not properly linking assets to your trust! (Think of it as trying to start a car without an engine.) Tune in to learn how to effectively use trusts in your estate planning.
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Transcript
Introduction to Estate Planning and Probate Law
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About and the other one is you. I'm Lori Burch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trusts, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining. Because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you.
00:00:27
Speaker
Let's dive in.
Common Mistakes in Estate Planning
00:00:40
Speaker
So our topic today is a really good one. And I was impressed because Sarah's like, hey, let's talk about things people forget to put in their trust and what happens. And i'm like, that wow, Sarah. ah And she said, well, that was actually a suggestion you had made. the Oh, wow.
00:01:01
Speaker
Now it's an even better idea.
00:01:05
Speaker
But this is true. this is This is a real problem that people don't put things in their trust. and that's, well, just like not having a trust at all.
00:01:16
Speaker
So by way of background, um've gone I've gone ahead of ourselves.
Living Trusts vs Testamentary Trusts
00:01:23
Speaker
um What is a trust? So there's this thing. There's there's hundreds of types of trusts, probably literally.
00:01:30
Speaker
And they boil down to two main types. There's what's called a living trust, which exists.
00:01:37
Speaker
While you're alive, set it up. And then the other kind is called a testamentary trust, which is a trust that would get set up upon your death. And then among those two main types of trusts, there are also millions of different types of trusts.
00:01:52
Speaker
But when we're talking about the idea of if you pass away, how do you want to make sure the things that you have go to the people you want and that the people that you want are in control of making that happen, paying off debts, getting into accounts,
00:02:08
Speaker
settling things, selling, transferring, doing all of that. You may be familiar with this concept, often called an executor in a will. And so when they come to us, they're like, well, you know, I want to get this done.
Will vs Revocable Living Trust
00:02:21
Speaker
then there are lots of different options, but two big kind of planning options are doing a will route or doing revocable living trust route. So that sounds super fancy and cumbersome.
00:02:34
Speaker
i could i could be fancier because I could call it by its like real name, and that's an inter vivos trust. Sarah, what is an inter vivos trust?
00:02:48
Speaker
I don't know You're already overthinking it. I literally just answered this. i just said it. What is an inter vivos trust?
00:02:58
Speaker
What do we do? i just said it. I know. And and now i forgot. What do we do? is you weren't listening? It just it escaped. Like, what what do we do? We do trust. We do living trust. trust yeah we There you go. Inter vivos means living trust. Okay.
00:03:16
Speaker
Living trust. took a great start Great, great start. Yeah. So anyway, um, and a lot of people have the misperception that this is something that you need to be wealthy or have a lot of assets and it really has nothing to do with that.
00:03:31
Speaker
Um, there are trusts that you set up to help offset estate tax and and other things, but that's not really the primary driver in deciding whether you want to have a revocable
Probate Process Complexities
00:03:43
Speaker
living trust. The revocable word is important because, uh,
00:03:46
Speaker
That means that it's something you can update, change, control just the way you can your your assets when they are not connected to a trust, which is the heart of the matter of what we're going to discuss today.
00:03:59
Speaker
um But what people don't often realize is that a will still has to go through a probate court process. which means there's some delay and there's some expense.
00:04:09
Speaker
um A judge has to say that it's a valid will. A judge has to decide that the executor you named is able to serve in that capacity. And then there are certain filings that you have to do reporting to the court as far as assets and notifying beneficiaries and all of that.
00:04:26
Speaker
Now, a will is still far and above better than anything else because it that process I just explained, multiply it by 10 as far as cost and time delay and paperwork when you don't. But the most important thing is a will, you still get to spell out all your wishes.
00:04:43
Speaker
Who gets what? Who does what? how you know Who takes care of your kids? Who gets your house? ah you know What age or ages do you think your kids can handle things? Or who do you want your... you know collections of things to go to, that sort of ah sort of thing.
00:04:59
Speaker
ah So it's important, but it still has to go through probate. So there's still a time and expense and it's a public record. So for people who want to go a step further and make this a more seamless, um efficient,
00:05:15
Speaker
private and less expensive process, then they can choose to do what's called a revocable living trust.
Benefits of Revocable Living Trusts
00:05:21
Speaker
And it basically is the same thing as a will in the sense that it says, you know, this is what I have, this is how it's distributed and this is who's in charge of doing that.
00:05:31
Speaker
But when you do the trust, you Then if your assets are connected to it, which is, again, the heart of the conversation today, which we're about to get to, but it's important to have this foundation because not even our marketing coordinator has the foundation.
00:05:47
Speaker
So ah is if everything's connected to the trust, then when you pass away, there's no need to go through that probate court process. So your trustee, not called executor in this case, called trustee because it's a trust,
00:06:03
Speaker
is able to step right in. They don't have to go to court, a court doesn't have to approve it, a court doesn't have to appoint them, they automatically are able to serve just by virtue of being the next in line and you're dead.
00:06:15
Speaker
Also, it is a it's a private matter because there's no public record of it, no no filing, so all of that. So ah really a lot of upsides to the trust. um Sometimes when we go through it, especially with how cumbersome and expensive and time-consuming probate has become in Texas over the last ah five, six, seven, eight years, um people will ask us, well, what's the downside? Why doesn't everybody do a trust?
00:06:43
Speaker
And frankly, in most cases, there is no downside and we don't know why not everybody does a trust. um There are some very rare, rare examples of where maybe a trust is kind of overboard, but that's something that you should be deciding with a qualified estate planning firm.
00:07:02
Speaker
Whether that's the case, it should not be something you should decide on your own because we're the ones who know of all these things that can pop up that that you could possibly never imagine.
00:07:13
Speaker
But for the most part, it's it is a good thing
Funding Trusts to Avoid Probate
00:07:17
Speaker
to do. However, ah little funny thing about the trusts is that if you don't connect your assets to it, then when you die, those assets will have to go through probate because there will have to be a will with your trust that will distribute it through it. But the goal of the trust is that you have to connect assets to it.
00:07:37
Speaker
Now, that's how we normally refer to it. But the technical phrasing of this is funding your trust. on when you hear that, you may understand why i have chosen to say connecting things to your trust, because what does funding your trust really sound like?
00:07:54
Speaker
I mean, and that's not an actual question. So Sarah, please don't even try. Thank you. I'm really excited over there. What does it mean? And so i like the expression connecting it to the trust because that is an essential piece.
00:08:10
Speaker
And it's it is the biggest mistake. It's the number one mistake that people make when they do living trust. It's also one of the biggest reasons that you should not do this DIY stuff or go the cheapest law firm that you can find is because what will happen is you will sacrifice the guidance and assistance with doing that piece.
00:08:34
Speaker
If but by doing that. And if you don't do that piece, then it's like, why did it wasn't even worth doing it in the first place. Like why i even have it, which Sam and Sarah have something special for us about things that,
00:08:48
Speaker
ah you know, what happens when you don't add things and then they're not as good or they're pointless. And so I, anyway, they're going to do something, which it's a really great topic and a really great idea. And I just hope you don't blow it because you've been served up You've been served up a topic that is a goldmine of ideas.
00:09:12
Speaker
But anyway, when it comes to the trust, it really depends on the assets that you have, that how you connect it. So
Real Estate and Trusts
00:09:22
Speaker
every asset...
00:09:24
Speaker
can conceivably be connected differently to your trust. And this is another big thing. It needs to be customized to you and your wishes. It's not a blanket, well, everybody who has a trust should do bank accounts this way, or everybody who has a trust should do a home this way.
00:09:41
Speaker
So we're gonna talk about generalities. So one of the biggest things that don't get properly connected to a trust is real property. Now, some people are thrown off by the expression real property.
00:09:58
Speaker
i don't i don't know why, but I've been doing this too long. So real property, I'm not gonna ask you, Sarah, i know when I'm beat. oh Real property is really like land, real estate, your home, mineral interests, since we're in Texas, and that seems to be something lots of people have.
00:10:17
Speaker
um So yeah, real estate, real property. And so those are all things that have a deed associated with it.
00:10:29
Speaker
And so in order to have the title connected to your trust, there are different considerations with real property. So anybody not named Sarah care to offer ideas of how real property could be connected to your trust?
00:10:48
Speaker
A transfer on death deed. A transfer on death deed. Sam, what is it? Actually, no. Sarah, let's redeem yourself. What is a transfer on death deed? this This is perfect for you the way you like to define things.
00:11:03
Speaker
it um It is a deed that transfers upon your death. Amen, sister. That is right.
00:11:12
Speaker
That is right. So a transfer on death deed is something that is somewhat newer to Texas and it doesn't exist in every state. So it's not a one size fits all, but there are some upsides to particularly doing your home as a transfer on death deed to a trust. Now, there may be reasons you want to just do a deed where it shows the name of your home in the trust, but there are a couple of reasons why a transfer on death deed may be preferable.
00:11:42
Speaker
um Sam or Cynthia care to offer some ideas as to, or examples as to why a transfer on death deed would be a beneficial way to transfer your home to a trust?
00:11:56
Speaker
Yes. So let's
Transfer on Death Deeds
00:11:58
Speaker
say, for example, you go ahead and do it while you're living. Well, what if your homestead exemption gets a little messed up because the county doesn't understand what you're There's a lot of things where it is not lost on us the nuance and complexities of things. Like we're saying, oh, yeah, probate, all these things. Oh, just put in your trust.
00:12:19
Speaker
It has to be done right. If you just ah was it go to the courthouse and or wherever and you're like, hi I'm going to put this in my the name of my trust. It can be seen as transferring ownership, even though It's still you.
00:12:33
Speaker
So you need to make sure that you're careful there. You can get rid of your homestead exemptions. We've seen the county accidentally on purpose, I guess, because they didn't read things, remove um exemptions for over 65. Yeah. Or we've yeah our we've had um People that have like certain disability exemptions that have been removed simply because the counties haven't been looking at the documents.
00:13:00
Speaker
And it's been becoming a more and more prevalent thing to where that's why we've switched over to predominantly doing transfer on death needs, just because we want to make sure that you're protected as much as possible and have less headaches to deal with.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, that really is the primary roadblock that we've discovered. And it really has only been in the last few years that this has been more of an issue where counties will remove your homestead exemption. You have to reapply. So I would say it's not a huge deal in the sense that you're going to get denied your homestead exemption now.
00:13:34
Speaker
But key about that, it's very important that the trust has the language in it that preserves your homestead exemption and that the deed has the language to preserve preserve your homestead exemption.
00:13:47
Speaker
That's actually one of the mistakes we saw with one of our DIY jobs that somebody did is where they successfully got their deed recorded, but it didn't have that language. And why would they know that it needs that language? And what what even is that language? It's not nearly as simple or as easy it set as it is.
00:14:04
Speaker
this preserves my homestead exemption. No, it doesn't even say anything like that at all, the clause that needs to be in there. So yeah, somebody lost their home state exemption by doing this.
00:14:16
Speaker
But it's just, it's more hassle. It's more work. um So it's it's worth it if it's important for your home to still show up in the name of your trust. But that is a consideration. And we actually had someone towards the end of the year wanted to do the general warranty deed.
00:14:35
Speaker
and the county removed the homestead exemption and said, no problem, just reapply for it. In the meantime, go ahead and pay
Refinancing Homes in Trusts
00:14:42
Speaker
your property tax in January without it, which was about $12,000. Just go ahead and pay that. And then in a few months, once we get to your file and add your home homestead exemption back on, then we'll send you a credit for the overage, which is like five grand or something like that.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And they're like, no, no, no. And then now sometimes they're also asking for copies of the trust or certification of the trust. And those are things that typically we we haven't seen. So, you know, it and we're talking specifically about the homestead.
00:15:18
Speaker
yeah. For other property that's not ah your homestead with the exemption, then maybe it's not as big of a deal to just do a general warranty deed. But the point being is that something has to be done.
00:15:28
Speaker
You can't just, i've I've seen these trusts, and again, it's always these DIY jobs or will kits or something where at the end it has like a schedule that says, or an exhibit that says, oh, this whole list is now in my trust.
00:15:42
Speaker
And it'll have your home and your bank account and your car. And it's that does not work. It has to be done while you're alive. you have The only thing that that sort of thing works with is personal property. And so we always do like an assignment of personal property. I intend for all my personal assets to be controlled by my trust because you can't retitle your furniture or your jewelry or your stamp collection or that sort of thing. but when it comes to other types of assets. So real estate ah is a big deal. And the other reasons why sometimes a transfer on debt deed might be better is your homeowner's insurance.
00:16:19
Speaker
If you do the transfer on debt deed, it's still in your name during your life. And so... you won't have to notify your homeowner's insurance.
00:16:30
Speaker
But if you put it into the name of your trust, you should let them know so that you don't have any problems with a claim. Again, there's not there's not going to be an issue. They're not going to change your rating or anything like that.
00:16:41
Speaker
But it's just another step. It's just something that maybe that's not important to do. Another thing that we see is when someone's going to refinance their home or they're going to get a home equity loan,
00:16:53
Speaker
To me, this is just title companies being lazy. Frankly, there's no legal reason this happens, but it does happen every time. They want you to take the home out of the trust.
00:17:05
Speaker
And then once you close on your refi or your loan... then you can retitle back from the trust. Again, easy peasy to do that. But why go through that hassle um if you know if you don't have to?
00:17:17
Speaker
And there's there's other things, but this isn't all about real estate and trusts and the ways to do deeds. um But that's something that gets missed a lot. And if you don't get the home in the trust, then you're going to have to go to probate.
00:17:31
Speaker
And just on behalf of personal experience, I'd like to tell everybody out there who either comes to Birch Law or goes to another qualified law firm to do this. It's a really good idea if you're doing a trust, if you let them know all the real estate that you own.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yes. Because firms like ours will do all the deed work and get it recorded in and make sure there's no problems. and far too often, something happens like, oh yeah, there was that other there's that other piece of property we had.
00:18:00
Speaker
Well, guess what, going to probate now.
00:18:05
Speaker
The other ah type of thing that doesn't always get done is we do recommend typically, but again, this can be specific to your circumstances and goals, but when it comes to things that have beneficiary designations, life insurance, retirement, investment accounts, those aren't typically things that you can or want to change the ownership name to your trust.
Beneficiary Designations for Minors
00:18:29
Speaker
but you do want to update beneficiaries more than likely. Again, there are exceptions. So, you know, what if you want everything to go to your spouse, that's what your trust says, but you're really wanting to make a cash cash distribution to your nephew because they're so important to you and all of that. Well, maybe a beneficiary designation is way to do that. Maybe on your life insurance, you do 20% to nephew and then 80% to your trust. So again, that's an example where this is specific and customized to your wishes,
00:18:58
Speaker
But in general, we like to do the beneficiary to the trust for anything that you want to be distributed that way because it'll avoid probate, which it does anyway if you put a named person.
00:19:10
Speaker
But the benefits of doing the trust is... One, if your beneficiary is a minor child, just naming them is going to cause a lot of issues because they your trust is what's going to say, okay, this is who will oversee it for them. And at age 25, they can have it.
00:19:28
Speaker
Well, if you don't connect it to the trust with the beneficiary and you just put you know the five-year-old's name on there, then the life insurance company is going to say, well,
00:19:38
Speaker
doesn't matter that there's this trust. You said this direct person, they're underage. So you can either um go to the court and get somebody appointed to oversee it for them. Money can go into the court registry. And at age 18, we're going to give it to them. one of my favorite things that life insurance companies will do is they'll say, or we'll just hang on to the money for now until they do turn 18 and then they can have it.
00:20:02
Speaker
So by connecting it to the trust, then it can go, you know, if there's a five-year-old that you want to be a beneficiary, then your trust is going to have all the parameters on how to handle that.
00:20:13
Speaker
and The other thing that a trust does that just naming a beneficiary doesn't do is it has contingencies. So what if you put person A as your beneficiary, but person A doesn't survive you? Are you going to remember to update your beneficiary?
00:20:28
Speaker
I don't know. um I can tell you my experience. Not often. ah What if you divorce person a Are you going remember to update your beneficiary? I don't have to tell you. In my experience, not often.
00:20:39
Speaker
But if you have your trust as the beneficiary, then your trust will have, well, person if not person A, then this, if not that, then that. So beneficiaries are typically um the way to handle connecting those type of assets to the trust.
00:20:55
Speaker
And then there's things like HSA accounts, health savings accounts, where you can put PODs, pay on death. I know Cynthia's probably going to have to pull ah a fast one on me and want to talk about e-bonds and other types of assets that I hate. I'll let you do that, but I have to talk about the most important one first.
00:21:14
Speaker
um Well, and then cars. Cars are kind of a... a tricky thing because, ah you know, it is kind of a pain to go and retitle the name of your car in the trust. So what we typically do is advise people, hey, you know, um let's do this assignment kind of like that personal property.
00:21:33
Speaker
It's not the most ideal thing, but there's other forms you can do at the DMV here in Texas where it's it's like a beneficiary designation. But unless it's like an antique or a classic car, and there is a difference, Aaron's, this is my heritage, everybody.
00:21:48
Speaker
There is a difference between classic and antique cars. um But something you're going to hang on to that actually has a great value, that is worth getting retitled in the name of the trust, typically.
Including Cars in Trusts
00:22:00
Speaker
hey um But for other cars that you're probably going to trade in, then what you can do is just wait until you're going to buy a new car and buy it in the name of the trust, if you so choose.
00:22:13
Speaker
um But you know make sure you're talking to your estate planning firm about the best way to do that because there's there's a lot of yeah buts, exceptions, that sort of thing when it comes to... vehicles um but let's talk about bank accounts or any accounts that are liquid accounts oh sarah what's a liquid account oh god
00:22:35
Speaker
what do you think of it is a liquid account uh it seems like something that's like more fluid and you can take money in and out as you please no penalties i don't know That is what it sounds like. That is more fluid. That's going to put on a pillow.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah. I, I dare say, I think that's an excellent definition, Sarah. Yeah. Yay. Where you can, you can take money in and out without any penalties.
00:23:07
Speaker
That's, that's pretty damn good. So this would be accounts that you would have, like where you would get money to pay for things. Right. And so checking savings, sometimes brokerage accounts, those are those accounts rather than doing a beneficiary or a POD pay on death or a TOD transfer on death, even though all of that would accomplish avoiding probate and um being distributed according to the trust.
00:23:36
Speaker
and this may be the biggest headache initially in setting up a trust, although I can tell you Capital One, not a sponsor, ah is one of the easiest banks to change over ah to a revocable living trust, to to have it retitled as a vocable revocable living trust because they have an internet form that you download, you fill out, you sign it with a notary and you send it back to them. And within a few weeks, boom, suddenly your accounts are in the name of the trial. I absolutely, in 20 years of doing this, do not know of another bank that does it so seamlessly, truly. And guys, we're not nice to banks typically.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, I know. No, and plenty there's plenty of things I can say about Capital One that's not so favorable, like about how all the Birch Law money disappeared for like four days earlier this year.
00:24:28
Speaker
that this year? Yeah. but Yeah. Dang. This was some third-party vendor but Yeah, it was. Yeah, so all the money was there, but you just couldn't see it.
Money in Banking
00:24:42
Speaker
Which, you know, that's so really the but just kind of as an aside, the funny thing about money in a bank is that you think it's real, but it's not real. Like, it's there. Wink, wink.
00:24:55
Speaker
When you lose access to being able to see it, it's this realization that doesn't even exist.
00:25:06
Speaker
I can kind of understand these people that stockpile cash because, but now you're getting, you're getting to where you can't even use cash in some places and Birch Law is one of them. Yeah, we are one of those places.
00:25:20
Speaker
I mean, we say that and yet, Sam, what do we do? Yeah, my bad. Okay. It's fine. Now I know. Explain why though.
00:25:32
Speaker
Well, back to Capital One. I think the reason why they make it so easy to transfer retitle account into a trust account is because there's basic basically no branches open anymore.
00:25:48
Speaker
yeah How else are they going to do it and still have customers? um That's the same thing that makes depositing cash very difficult. And so there are two branches that are still somewhat nearby.
00:26:03
Speaker
and i will begrudgingly say yes, if if my back's against the wall about accepting cash. But once those branches close, the answer is going to be no.
00:26:13
Speaker
Like we just can't do it. We just can't do it. This all has gone dark.
Connecting Bank Accounts to Trusts
00:26:17
Speaker
the crystal Yes. Yeah. So, but it, the problem, the problem with getting things transferred into the, getting bank accounts transferred into the name of the trust, even though that has so many great benefits and we recommend absolutely that you do it you go through whatever hoops, it has nothing to do with the legality of it. It's just the confusion of the people that at the bank that are supposed to be the ones doing Because if you, you have to understand, what do we say? 70 plus percent of people have no plans, nothing.
00:26:48
Speaker
So of that 30%, a very small percentage of them have trusts. And then an even smaller percentage of them actually do the work of trying to get things connected to their trust.
00:27:01
Speaker
So when you're talking about bankers, how often do you think they really encounter something that is so basic and common and easy
00:27:13
Speaker
but it seems really strange to them. And that's that's the problem. So we do a lot of assistance and guidance with clients. The good news is it's a one and done because once you have a trust, if you walk into a bank and say, I need to open up an account the name of this living trust, it's gonna be easy peasy, like no problem.
00:27:32
Speaker
So it's just the initial taking your accounts and getting them transferred to. But the benefits of doing that in lieu of just something that is super easy with pretty much every bank of a POD, a pay on death, is that yeah like the transfer on death deed, it still stays in your name. But what happens with the liquid account, Sarah, is that the quite often they find out that that person's passed, they'll freeze them.
00:27:58
Speaker
So if they have the mortgage payment or the utility payments or... streaming services that are coming out um of that, then that can cause some disruption.
00:28:10
Speaker
Whereas if if it's still in this trust and now we just have a new trustee that's managing it, then it's ah it's a more seamless process to be able to keep things paid.
00:28:22
Speaker
The other part of it is with a living trust, There's a benefit to it even while you're alive. If you become um disabled, ah Alzheimer's, dementia, something like that, the trust allows for your next in line, your successor trustee to step in and handle things for you.
00:28:41
Speaker
Well, they're not going to be able to handle things that aren't in the name of the trust. And what would be the most critical things for somebody like that to handle? it It'd be the money to help pay for things.
00:28:53
Speaker
essentially. So good idea a lot of the time. um We do have instances where, let's say it's a married couple and they keep separate accounts. Well, unless they want to really start treating those separate accounts as joint accounts,
00:29:09
Speaker
probably don't want to move it into the name of their joint trust because now you're going to have something that functions more like a joint account. So what we usually tell them is, you know, do the POD thing, do the pay on death. So it avoids probate and goes through the trust, but go ahead and open a joint account and keep maybe a month or two of living expenses in there. So that's the one that can stay active if something happens to both of you.
00:29:33
Speaker
yeah. Anyway, those those are the biggest things that are really important to make sure that get connected to your trust. And if you don't, like here's the bottom line.
00:29:45
Speaker
If you don't do that, then you're going to go through probate, which is why you have a will still with a trust, but it's will that we hope never gets used.
00:29:56
Speaker
um But you're going go through probate, which is the number one reason people get this revocable living trust.
Handling Various Asset Types in Trusts
00:30:03
Speaker
Now, there are many, many other types of assets we can talk about when people have businesses and depending on what the type of business it businesses are um stocks, e-bonds, all of that.
00:30:15
Speaker
Now, I will say a quick thing about stocks. if it's If you own stock and it's wrapped up in a portfolio, then that's going to fall in line typically with what we' we're talking about. that the It's usually a brokerage company or your financial advisor that you add ah beneficiary to.
00:30:29
Speaker
But if you own standalone stock, you typically can do a transfer on death deed. I'm sorry, a transfer on death on that. But you have to find out through these companies.
00:30:42
Speaker
And then I will say one last type of asset, just because it's near and dear to my heart, and it's so unique, is timeshares.
00:30:52
Speaker
It's, it's real estate, but not real estate. So it really depends on the timeshare on the company that you have it through what you can do. And so, um, usually it's going to cost some extra money, but it might be worth it so that they don't have to go through all the extra expense and doing that, um, when you're dead, because it's like having to go through probate in a separate state. So a lot of these companies are in Florida, for example.
00:31:19
Speaker
So then you're, you're, ah You're making it to where they have to go through a probate process in Florida unless you try and get this wrapped up. But timeshares really, really depend on the timeshare company itself and how that's and that's how that's managed.
00:31:35
Speaker
So if you're ever sitting one of these timeshare presentations and they get you, you might want to ask, you know what happens if I pass away? Well, let's go through my will. What if I have a trust? What if I get a trust?
00:31:49
Speaker
what What does that look like? Because if you don't get things connected to your trust, you're going to meet the fine probate court system that we have. And it's fun.
00:32:01
Speaker
um So good topic. Took mostly me to get through it. um But I think it's just one the things that you start and you go. we're just like, uh-huh.
00:32:12
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds great. I always i always try to think, what... could my colleagues here contribute to? And this one didn't feel like there was a lot of contribution that that could be made on now this topic, but still a good topic. still It's a very important one. like It's one of the most common issues that we see.
00:32:37
Speaker
It really is.
00:32:39
Speaker
Anything I could think of is um because, you know, I go through the memo checklist after or like during signings. What is it, Sam? Oh, yeah. So our memo checklist is, I mean, it's just essentially everything that Lori just mentioned, how to make your trust and everything.
00:32:55
Speaker
um You go through that at the signing? Well, just tell them to look through it, kind of like mark the ones that
Coordinating with Banks on Trusts
00:33:02
Speaker
are asking. but Because it's me saying, okay, real estate, we're going to be doing this for you, but please look at everything else.
00:33:09
Speaker
um It's a reading material as I and scan it properly. You mean whenever they're supposed to be leaving us a review, a five-star glowing review? They do both. um But I say usually um with bank accounts to essentially try to skip the teller and just go to like straight to a branch manager because we've learned it's like half the time tellers don't know what a trust is.
00:33:33
Speaker
That was the only other comment I had for it. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. Like the biggest thing I touched on in a little bit is that while Lori was talking about the probate steps and how it can take a long time, I was sitting here like, man, that does sound like a lot.
00:33:50
Speaker
But I've done it so many times for our clients. It's one of those things like it's not lost on us how much... nuance there is to things. And we do try to prepare everybody that comes through Birch Law for like, hey, these are the steps you're going to have to take.
00:34:07
Speaker
There's a lot of stuff that we cannot do for you because the bank is not going to allow us to go in your place and retitle your bank accounts.
00:34:18
Speaker
They're not going to allow us to do so many of those like little things that just require you. But we do try our best to make sure that you are aware of what you have to do. And that's why we ask questions. so We like none of it is just because we want to know it's no, we need to know how to best help.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah, because if we could, we would. i really would. I mean, I think it would cost because we had we'd have to do that. But seriously, if if we could just go to your bank and do all of this for you, there'd have to be a cost associated with it, but I would i would do it. i want I wouldn't do it. I'd have Sam do it.
00:34:58
Speaker
um but else know we We would provide that service in heartbeat because that's how important it is. And that's how big of a mistake we see people make. Yeah, it would be so much easier to go for us to gain the contacts at the different banks. So let's say we have a client that goes to Wells Fargo. We're like, okay, great.
00:35:20
Speaker
We have a contact there. If you go to Capital One, okay, great. We have a contact there. It would be so much easier, but that's not stuff we can do for you. Yeah, definitely.
00:35:32
Speaker
So speaking of things that don't work as well or at all, when something isn't added to them.
00:35:45
Speaker
Are you sure you shouldn't have run these by us? Listen, now I'm personally nervous. Personally, is there any other is there high or kind?
00:35:56
Speaker
Well, she might be nervous on behalf of you, too. I mean, we have the same brain cell. If you're nervous, usually I'm nervous, so... Well, why don't the two of you tell us what what thoughts you have to contribute? Yeah. Just go through it. Let's
00:36:12
Speaker
Again, now they sound, I mean, they are dumb. They're dumb, but now they feel dumber. ah So the first one is things that, you know, can't work without other things. um You can't have a car without an engine.
00:36:28
Speaker
That's good. Okay. Okay. Okay. That's true. True. and let it's Unless it's like a Fred Flintstone car. Yeah. Right. Got me there. Got me there. A little Fisher Price.
00:36:41
Speaker
ah um Another thing you can't have is ah toast without bread. You need bread. That's pretty important. Okay.
00:36:53
Speaker
All right, Sarah. yeah ah this This one is more symbolic. Master's degree at work there. Well, I came up with that one. Yeah, that was Sam.
00:37:06
Speaker
I also came up with this one. i joke I joked about this one, but Sarah laughed, so we kept it. ah You can't have freedom without the eagle.
00:37:18
Speaker
I really envision an eagle sound playing over that. should add Are you going to do that? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're the one who edits this, I hope. All right. that's You can't have Christmas and without Christ.
00:37:35
Speaker
It's just mass.
00:37:41
Speaker
so You go, Sam. I'm wondering if we're going to, like, how many I think our audience but should mostly be fine, but how many letters we would get if not?
00:37:52
Speaker
No? Yeah. ah um And on that vein, you can't have Easter without the Easter Bunny.
00:38:00
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Wow. I mean, you started off okay. Yeah, mean, we were a little rushed. Hopefully we finish strong.
00:38:10
Speaker
oh Yeah. You can't have Birch Law without Lori Birch. So that's all we have. I mean, it would literally stop working. so i it Excuse you.
00:38:24
Speaker
She's the one who runs it well, who pays the bill. Well, there's something much more fundamental at play here. and She's also the main attorney. Like, no, even more fundamental to that.
00:38:36
Speaker
Who would own Birch Law if something happened to me? That's the main part. ah Yeah. That's why you can't have Birch Law without Bory Birch. but how about How about you can't have Lori without the E?
00:38:51
Speaker
That too. That too. I guess I was thinking more like ingredients. Yeah. i We did have one on there where I said um you can't have cake without eggs.
00:39:03
Speaker
But you technically can. It's just kind of more fancy. Well.
00:39:10
Speaker
Or something that's not the same. Yeah. If you take an ingredient out. Like if you take gluten out of bread. Yeah. just sometimes to say yeah Not the same. we I don't think either of us bake or cook enough to be smart enough for that one. I gotta be honest.
00:39:31
Speaker
You can't have chicken pot pie without the chicken. Then it's just a vegetable pie. Yeah. yeah Like if you don't put the chicken in the chicken pot pie, then it's not chicken pot pie.
00:39:44
Speaker
Which if you don't put the assets into the trust, then the trust is not going to work. Yeah. It's just a shell of a thing.
00:39:57
Speaker
Right. If you turn your oven on but you don't put the food in, then you're not going to cook a meal.
00:40:07
Speaker
but all my examples feel food related okay yeah and i think further yeah that i think that was also our problem we were doing a lot of food ones and then so we were trying to come out with non-food ones what food ones did y'all do toast the eggs i feel like there was another one the eggs and you went with toast yeah yeah sarah laughed when i yeah sorry
00:40:33
Speaker
I mean, you can't have toast without bread. It's not toast. No, that's fine. i was just wondering, like, I feel like there's, you know what? Great job. We had limited time today. i think.
00:40:47
Speaker
I came out an hour and a half meeting. wanting to Was it a signing because you went through the whole memorandum? No, it was a James Cole. Oh. Shout out.
00:40:59
Speaker
Shout out. Not a sponsor. For real. ah ah Oh, was, oh. Yeah. We sponsor. You're a vendor.
00:41:12
Speaker
That's true. That's true. ah just Just to wrap up. So I feel like we've talked about this, but in and the idea of whether you should add something or not add something, where are each of you on the whole beans and chili?
Debate: Should Chili Contain Beans?
00:41:26
Speaker
Big fan. Like, is it chili if it doesn't have beans? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's why it's chili with beans. Everybody emphasizes, oh, it's chili with beans. That's what Pete Dalkus said yesterday.
00:41:41
Speaker
Fun fact. That's what it says on the can if you go to the grocery store, but I also don't. Okay, Luke likes to buy chili. I like to homemade chili. just don't like chili. I don't like chili.
00:41:53
Speaker
No. um But Pete Daukis, our local witherman, he was posting about the storm last week. Or was it yesterday? some Sometime in the last week. And then he just posted his chili recipe.
00:42:05
Speaker
And somebody said, it's not chili if it doesn't have beans. And he goes, if I wanted it with beans, I'd call it chili with beans. I mean, yeah. That's Pete.
00:42:19
Speaker
Wow. that Okay. Also, hold on. I know that Sam just said he's our local weatherman. The amount of times that Sam just sends like tweets, it's like, oh, Pete said this. I'm like, who the heck is Pete?
00:42:33
Speaker
And then I have to open my phone and like, oh, you're weather guy. yeah There's so many times I've been so confused. why' he I know. He doesn't know me, but I know him. That's fair.
00:42:44
Speaker
But still, just the way that you casually throw him around a conversation. Yeah, he's my guy. It's just one of those, like, should I know this person? and then the people at the next service of Fort Worth.
00:42:55
Speaker
My best friends. They just don't know it. but Well, i i think you I think you could have done better, two, with this topic. But that's okay. if If any of our fans have ideas of things that when they don't get added to something, then the something isn't as good or won't work, and then please let us know.
00:43:17
Speaker
Please. Thank you. Wait, are we not going to talk about the pineapple on pizza? No, we're done. I pineapple.
00:43:25
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
Conclusion and Social Media Call-to-Action
00:43:26
Speaker
And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry and you're welcome. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us.
00:43:38
Speaker
We do webinars and live events. The best way to stay up to date is to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Links are in the show notes.
00:43:48
Speaker
If there's a topic you'd like us to cover, maybe you have a question you'd like us to answer, or maybe you just want to say hi, hit the link in the show notes or go to birch-law.com forward slash podcast and fill out the contact form.
00:44:10
Speaker
Much better. Yeah, I thought that had a lot of energy.