A Last Will and Testament, is a legal document that serves the purpose of planning, managing and distributing a person's property, estate and assets based on his approval.
The Last Will and Testament can be classified into two categories that take care of different significant roles regarding the usage and management of the related assets, estates and funds.
These categories are listed as below: 1) Will Based Plan: Will Based Plan will help an individual in deciding the distribution of his estate and in clearly enlisting the details about who will get what, in case of his death.
The Last Will and Testament document under the Will Based Plans covers many substantial points including the following major ones: a) Deciding the person who will be authorized to serve as his Personal Representative/Executor.
b) Deciding on the powers and authorities to be granted to his Personal Representative/Executor.
c) Deciding on the individuals/parties who will acquire his property.
d) Deciding on the terms, conditions, modes and other necessary details regarding the transfer of property to the donees.
In case, the beneficiaries include minor children, then another important point of identifying and considering the legal Guardian of the children who will take care of children and their share, needs to be defined until the children get off age.
This property will be handed over to the children once they become legal adults.
2.
Trust Based Plan: A Trust Based Plan covers an individual's Revocable Living Trust that takes care of the areas with respect to the points discussed in "Will Based Plan", and apart from that, attends to the certain other aspects of an individual's property and estates.
In this plan, the person to be held responsible for an individual's Personal Representative/Executor will instead be called his Administrative or Successor Trustee, once the individual dies.
One needs to have his last will and testament document, even with having a Revocable Living Trust to manage the unfunded property.
He has to finance his assets into the trust before he dies, so that the trust agreement can take care of further actions regarding the trust assets, after the individual's death.
In case, he fails to fund even one of his assets into his trust, then the Last Will and Testament will be required to take care of the unfunded asset and channelize it into the trust.
The Last Will and Testament will work as a "Pour Over Will" function and will allow for the unfunded property to pour over into the trust, after his death through the probate process, which consists of a judicial certificate saying that, the will is genuine and conferring on the executors the power to administer the estate.
This "Pour Over Will" covers two significant views: 1) Defining the person who will be held responsible as Personal Representative/Executor for the unfunded assets.
2) Defining the powers and rights for the Personal Representative/Executor.
Similar to the "Will Based Plan", if there are minor children involved, the "Pour Over Will" also covers the decision of who will be the legal Guardian of the children until they become adults.
The possession of the unfunded assets is finally decided by the terms and clauses mentioned in the individual's Revocable Living Trust.
The Last Will and Testament should be designed and prepared under the jurisdiction of an attorney in command, who guides and directs the concerned individual through all the estate plans and legal conditions regarding the whole documentation.