community property agreement.

[699574]

need help finding a "community property worksheet agreement" for ca. a community property st.

this is for a couple who bought a home in jt. tenancy and are preparing a living trust.

[qbteachmt]

ProSeries is going to have income tax preparation forms.

Did you try asking google this? community property worksheet agreement

[BobKamman]

Living trusts became popular in California so that people could avoid legal fees for probate.  The lawyers were like Realtors, they charged a percentage regardless of how much work was done. 

Now, Californians are avoiding legal fees for estate planning, by using do-it-yourself forms that may turn out to be correct when they die or get divorced.  

[sjrcpa]

@BobKamman Do you mean may turn out to be incorrect?

[BobKamman]

@sjrcpa   That too

[PATAX]

@BobKamman you hit the nail on the head... If someone passes away with a $500,000 home and $100,000 in a certificate of deposit, a 6% contingency fee applied to the assets, assuming the total amount of the assets would be subject to it , would be $36,000... If that same person with that same home had $1,000,000 in that certificate of deposit then the fee would be $90,000... Was there that much more work involved with the cd account? ...I don't know... I am just wondering ... Just my opinion...

[BobKamman]

What happened in California was that lawyers were charging too much so the Legislature set maximum percentage fees based on a percentage of the estate. There is no law setting minimums, but it was difficult to find a lawyer who would bill at a lower percentage, or at an hourly rate. So, the “living trust” industry arose.

Compared to what real estate agents ask, the rates are not that onerous: 4% of the first $100,000 of the gross value of the probate estate; 3% of the next $100,000; 2% of the next $800,000; and 1% of the next $9 million. Of course, in the “luxury home” market, few pay the high commissions routinely collected by Realtors on average homes. The wealthy can negotiate. I’ve been expecting that system to collapse for the last 40 years. I’m still sure the day will come, but maybe not in my lifetime. There are now some billionaires, though, trying to upset the industry by just buying homes and then selling them for a smaller markup than the agent commissions.

[699574]

maybe i did not ask the question right. How do you prepare a" community property death benefit

agreement" for a couple who  purchased a home in a community property state. This is needed

for the double stepped up basis for community property when one passes away for the surviving

spouse.. written evidence is needed to show that the property is considered community property

at date of death. 

 thanx 

[BobKamman]

Sounds like a marketing tool to get a foot in the door for other estate-planning services, possibly leading to selling investments like annuities.  What makes you think the place is not already community property?  Some states have added "community property with right of survivorship" as an alternative to "joint tenants with right of survivorship," because some legislators were concerned that IRS might change its mind about joint tenancy being consistent with community property.  Maybe you have some source that indicates that has happened.  Or maybe you are looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.  

[qbteachmt]

Why do you care about the issue of Community Property or Joint Tenancy, when you already told us this: "this is for a couple who bought a home in jt. tenancy and are preparing a living trust."

If the property is going into the Trust, then the other stuff doesn't apply.

A lot of people either don't need a Trust, or never bother to populate the Trust with the property the Trust would be protecting.

You can't have it both ways.