Benefits of Living Trusts

Kevin Staker is the president and principal lawyer of his law firm, Staker Law-Tax and Estate Planning Law Corporation. Kevin Staker uploads webinars called on his website educating his clients about living trusts in California. His webinars regularly receive positive reviews from his audience; they proclaim that his videos are beneficial introductions to estate planning. 

A living trust is a legal document that places your assets in a trust for your benefit. When the trustee dies, their assets are transferred to their chosen heirs. Living trusts have several benefits that can save families substantial amounts of money and time. 

Unlike wills, living trusts are not subject to probates. Probates are legal processes that take place when someone passes. Probates require that potential inheritors handle the deceased’s debt and, property, and prove the validity of their will in court. Living trusts allow for assets to automatically release to beneficiaries upon the passing of the trustor, helping them avoid delays and unnecessary fees.

How Probate Works

As principal of Kevin Staker Probate and Trust Mediation, Kevin Staker guides individuals and families in the process of estate distribution. Kevin Staker comes to this role with extensive experience in estate law, having led the StakerLaw Tax and Estate Planning Law Corporation for more than 30 years.

A revocable living trust, also known simply as a living trust, allows an individual to determine ownership of his or her estate throughout the phases of independent living, potential incapacitation, and death. Most trusts allow the trustmaker to control and spend the assets placed in the trust for as long as he or she can do so. This provision includes the right to change the trust by removing assets, adding new assets, or change the identity of beneficiaries.

The trust also designates the identity of a trustee, who assumes responsibility for handling the assets in trust after the trustmaker passes away. Some trusts direct the trustee to distribute assets to beneficiaries, while others ask that the trustmaker continue to manage assets on beneficiaries' behalf. 

A trustmaker may also authorize his or her trustee to manage his or her assets should the trustmaker lose the ability to do so during his or her lifetime. This way, if the trustmaker loses the mental ability ot manage his or her affairs, the trustee can take over finances without needing to go through the court process of becoming a guardian.

Medi-Cal Has Announced 2017 Average Private Pay Rate for Long Term Care in California by Kevin Staker

Medi-Cal Has Announced 2017 Average Private Pay Rate for Long Term Care in California by Kevin Staker

The Average Private Pay Rate ("APPR") for 2017 for Medi-Cal, the California equivalent of Medic-Aid, has been announced.  The amount is $8,515.  The authority/confirmation for this amount can be found at www.canhr.org/medcal/PDFs/RateCOLA.pdf.

The APPR is the average amount the California Department of Health Services believes nursing homes charge each month for a patient in long term care in a facility.  The APPR is also very important in planning to qualify for Medi-Cal to pay for long term care for an individual in a nursing home.  If you give $8,515 to an individual, not your spouse or a disabled child, it will result in one month of ineligibility from Medi-Cal.

Hence, any gift causes ineligibility for months based on the amount of the gift divided by the $8,515.  The strange quirk in California law is the period of ineligibility is the number of months rounded down.  Thus, a gift of $8,514.99 or less will result in no period of ineligibility.  This is a tremendous loophole. 

An individual who needs to go into a nursing home can give away under $8,515 per account per day per individual and it will not cause any period of ineligibility. 

For more information go to the Medi-Cal planning page of the website of Kevin Staker at StakerLaw.  This page is found at .

By Kevin Staker