The Revocable Living Trust packages available for assembly at Q4B Document Center are based on forms developed by an estate planning attorney with more than 30 years experience. These forms offer an extensive list of features and benefits:

QTIP Provisions For Married Couples
The trust packages utilize A-B-C (QTIP) trust forms, designed to fit a wide variety of families and a broad range of estate sizes. At the death of the first spouse, the trust will be divided into a Survivor's Trust (A), a Credit Shelter or Bypass Trust (B) and a Marital Deduction Trust or "QTIP" (C); the C trust will be created only if the deceased spouse's assets are sufficient to do so. If specific bequests are described at the first spouse's death, those specific bequests may be distributed outright, or held in trust for the heirs, at the estate owners' election.

Community Property For Married Couples
The trust forms specifically allow for the use of community property, wherever available, in order to provide the surviving spouse the maximum income tax benefits.

Creditor Protection For the Surviving Spouse and Ultimate Heirs
To the extent legally possible, the trust forms are designed to provide creditor protection, including divorce protection and bankruptcy protection, to the surviving spouse and ultimate heirs of the estate. This is accomplished for the heirs, in part, by holding their inheritances in individual separate trusts after the death of the surviving spouse.

GST Protective Trust Provisions
To the extent legally possible, the trust forms take advantage of the Generation Skipping Transfer Tax Exemptions in order for the heirs to pass their inheritances on to future generations estate tax-free. For a detailed description, refer to Generation-skipping Trusts.

IRA Conduit Trusts
The trust provisions create special "IRA Conduit Trusts", which can then be named as beneficiary of an IRA or other qualified retirement plan. Any IRA or other qualified retirement plan payable by beneficiary designation to the IRA Conduit Trust will be subdivided by the trustee among the heirs, in the same proportions as other assets. This special type of trust preserves "stretch" tax-deferral, but until the heirs reach the final age of control, the trustee (and not the heirs themselves) determines how much to take out of the account in any given year - the minimum required amount or more funds as needed. The IRA Conduit Trust is especially useful in cases where "stretch" benefits are desired and the heirs are immature or not financially responsible.

Special Needs Provisions
Provisions are provided for "special needs" beneficiaries so that their entitlement to public assistance benefits can be preserved.

Forfeiture Clause
The trust forms allow for an optional forfeiture clause that discourages trust beneficiaries from challenging the trust by providing that they will forfeit their inheritance if they do. There is also an option for disinheriting the challenging beneficiary's descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.). These clauses are not likely to be enforceable against a legitimate challenge, but should serve to discourage unwarranted challenges.

HIPAA Authorization
This authorization allows the successor trustees named in the trust to obtain medical information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") in order to be able to evaluate whether a trustor is mentally incapacitated, so that the successor trustee can take over the trust when necessary. Agents acting under the Health Care Powers Of Attorney are similarly authorized.

Annuities Payable To Surviving Spouse
The trust instructs the successor trustee to treat annuities payable directly to the surviving spouse as trust property, held by the surviving spouse as "nominee" for the trustee. This clause is intended to compensate for insurance companies that pay annuity proceeds directly to the surviving spouse even when the annuity policy is intended to be owned by the trust.

Use Of Schedules
The trust packages are designed to allow the estate owners to specify their intentions through the use of schedules. This feature provides a means to allow future changes to a trust without having to amend the trust itself.

Restatement Feature
The trust package can be used to restate an existing revocable living trust in its entirety. Retitling of existing trust assets is not necessary. For details regarding this feature, refer to General Guidelines For Document Assembly.

Movable Trusts
The trust forms contain provisions that allow the trustee to move the trust to any jurisdiction in which the trustee or a beneficiary resides, or where any trust assets are located. Thus the trustee is given significant discretion to select the state or country whose governing law will apply.

Estate Planning Document Package
The trust document package includes: a revocable living trust, pourover will, durable powers of attorney (financial and health care), living will, an abstract of the trust, an assignment of all non-titled assets to the trust and a simple-English explanation of the trust provisions.

Non-Citizen Surviving Spouse
The trustee is expressly authorized to amend the trust so that a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen may utilize the estate tax marital deduction.

Design Flexibility
Many options are available to match a variety of needs and objectives in important planning areas, such as: the division of assets among heirs, the age (or ages) when heirs receive control, the passing of inheritances when an heir fails to survive, and alternate choices for financial and health care powers of attorney.

Provisions For Arizona Trusts
Two optional trust provisions are available to Arizona residents or for trusts executed in Arizona:

1. Trustors can name an individual who has authority to resolve disputes between the trustee and a beneficiary. The purpose is to prevent the use of the court system when the trustee and the beneficiary are willing to abide by a private party's decision resolving their disagreement. (The decision is non-binding and may be subsequently resolved by arbitration.)

2. Married trustors have the opportunity to opt out of the Arizona notice requirement when the first spouse dies; this clause exempts a surviving spouse (or other trustee) from having to provide the heirs notice of their rights under the trust.

On-Line Document Assembly
The trust document package is assembled from an on-line questionnaire and the documents are retrieved securely over the Internet using state-of-the-art encryption technology. Q4B Document Center provides a unique service, available nowhere else. If there is anything we can do to assist you in making this site your work companion, please ask: support@Q4Bcenter.com