{"id":3149,"date":"2026-03-06T15:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/?p=3149"},"modified":"2026-06-25T17:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T21:19:31","slug":"estate-planning-you-have-your-estate-docs-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/estate-planning-you-have-your-estate-docs-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"ESTATE PLANNING: You have Your Estate Docs. Now what?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You have your Will and Trust set up.\u00a0 So, is that it?\u00a0 Almost … but there are<\/em> a few other things for you to consider.<\/h4>\n

Your Will<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Some clients choose to have only a Will<\/a> prepared, as opposed to a Will and Trust combination<\/a>.\u00a0 Having a will does not avoid the need for a probate, but it does let the Court know whom you want to appoint as your personal representative, whom you want as your beneficiaries, and your other wishes included in the Will.\u00a0 So, it is<\/em> helpful.\u00a0 And, there may be times where a simple Will, without more, makes the most sense — such as with clients who have the bulk of their assets in another country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just be aware that your US estate will still need to go through probate, and it is through that lawsuit that the Court will provide all appropriate authorizations and transfers.<\/p>\n

Will + Trust Combo<\/strong><\/h1>\n

This is the combination HLA tends to recommend in most cases because it generally allows you to avoid your estate going through probate at all.\u00a0 That said, there can be some extenuating circumstances of which you should be aware.<\/p>\n

Third Party Providers<\/u><\/em> \u2013 As a general disclaimer, bear in mind that banks, annuity companies, insurance companies, retirement funds, etc. are private third parties that have their own rules.\u00a0 It would not be possible to anticipate the policies and procedures of every company out there, but we will try to give you some general guidance.<\/h5>\n

Banks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The most seamless option would be to establish a bank account in the name of your trust.\u00a0 That way, when you pass away, the successor trustee should be able to simply take over, and nothing else changes.<\/p>\n

If you resign as trustee prior to your death, then the process is even simpler still.\u00a0 Absolutely nothing would need to be done after your passing.\u00a0 \u00a0A trust, like a company, does not die.\u00a0 So, as long as you have an authorized person in place, your passing should have not effect on the Trust’s bank account.<\/p>\n

If you find it convenient to have a personal bank account, then your estate (i.e.<\/em> your Personal Representative) will need to deal with the bank\u2019s rules regarding the beneficiary(s).\u00a0 Hopefully, it will be a simple matter of presenting a Death Certificate and a copy of the estate documents (i.e.<\/em> Will and Trust).<\/p>\n

Annuities, Retirement Accounts, Insurance, etc.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

These types of accounts generally ask you to name a beneficiary(s).\u00a0 Most often, the beneficiary(s) you name on the account will be the same as in your Trust.\u00a0 In that case, there may be no reason to do anything.<\/p>\n

If, upon your death, the account will simply cash out and be paid to your beneficiary(s) \u2013 and assuming that is what you want to happen \u2013 then you are probably all set.<\/p>\n

Caveat<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 It would be wise nonetheless to double-check with your account manager and let him\/her know about your new estate documents.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if you have set up an account that will continue after your death \u2013 as opposed to being cashed out (i.e.<\/em> liquidated) \u2013 then you probably will want to make some changes while you are still alive.<\/p>\n

For example, you may want to change the beneficiary(s) you named previously to the account by substituting in your Trust as the beneficiary.\u00a0 That way, the benefits will flow to your Trust and be managed or dispersed by your Trustee.<\/p>\n

Also, for continuing accounts, there could be other complications, such as determining who will have authority to direct the account manager, make certain decisions, etc.\u00a0 More than likely, you will want your Trustee to take over this role.\u00a0 In order to know what needs to be done to make that happen, you will have to talk to your account manager or representative.<\/p>\n

The one thing you do not want to do is leave some loose thread that will require a probate to resolve, even though you have gone through the trouble of setting up a Pour-Over Will and Trust. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At HLA, we believe that just about everyone should have a Will and Trust as basic estate planning, so we strive to make that set up very cost-effective.\u00a0 Obviously, the low, fixed rate\u00a0 does not include anything beyond drafting your estate documents and presiding over execution.<\/p>\n

If you would like some help tying up other loose ends, such as those described herein, we are happy to do so.<\/p>\n

~ Jeff Harrington, Esq.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Executing your will and\/or trust are the first steps to your estate planning. This article focuses on a few loose threads that you need to be aware of after you have your basic planning in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[105,106,510,509,508,507,511],"class_list":["post-3149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wills-trusts","tag-estate-planning-attorney","tag-estate-planning-law-firm","tag-estate-planning-lawyer","tag-estate-plannning","tag-trust","tag-will","tag-wills-and-trust-attorney"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3363,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149\/revisions\/3363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}