If you don’t write it down, it won’t happen. What does that mean? It means that if you have a beautiful piece of jewelry that your daughter would like after you pass, she may not get it.
If you don’t have any written plan and you die, you are said to die “intestate.” If that happens, a judge will determine who gets your beautiful piece of jewelry.
That’s why it’s so important to have a plan. A legacy plan. There are two basic plans that you can use. One is called a will and the other is called a trust. Let me show you the benefits and the negatives of both.
A will is very inexpensive. Some attorneys might only charge $100 to $200 if the will is called a “simple” will. That means you don’t have a lot of assets and you are leaving it to your family. If you have a lot of assets and you want to give it to a lot of people or organizations, the cost could go much higher.
The biggest negative of a will is that it is a public document. A public document means anyone can see what you have and who gets it. Plus, the person who is handling the distribution of your assets will be paid. The amount this person, or executor, is paid is determined by law. You have no control of how much the executor receives. The duties of the executor are to find all your assets, pay your last expenses, then distribute the bequest to the ones you designate.
The trust, or living trust, costs quite a bit more, but the benefits are worth it.
An attorney could charge several thousand dollars to write a living trust.
The trust is complicated because you must transfer ownership of all of your assets to the trust. That means your house, your cars, your investments and things like that must be named into the trust and the trust is the new owner.
A big benefit of this is that the administrator, the person who handles your estate, doesn't have to spend a lot of time trying to find all your assets because they are already in your trust.
Would you be open to a conversation about how your legacy can shape the future of BCA and the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS)? Contact Michiko Inanaga at minanaga@bcahq.org
Steve Okamoto is a San Mateo Buddhist Temple member and a BCA Endowment Foundation (BCAEF) board member. He has spent over 50 years in the financial industry, including at the American Cancer Society, where he was Director of Legacy Planning. After retirement, he spent four years as a City Council member of Foster City. On behalf of BCAEF, Okamoto is happy to speak with donors who have questions about how to set up their plans
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