Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Alabama

if you are putting a beneficiary on a document and you have a will and inside the will it states that you have a testamentary trust do you have to state on the form that the beneficiary is the Trustee to the Trust in accordance to my last will and testament or can you simply put my last will and testament. The document would have to be provided in the event of the death either way right?


Asked on 7/08/10, 9:04 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

William Nolan Nolan Elder Law LLC

If you have an asset that requires a beneficiary to be named, and if your estate plan includes a testamentary trust, you would generally want to name the trustee of your trust as the beneficiary rather than naming your estate as the beneficiary. You would want to avoid if possible the asset passing through your probate estate,which it would do if you named your estate as the beneficiary. If this doesn't answer your question, please contact me directly.

William G. Nolan

www.NolanElderLaw.com

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Answered on 7/08/10, 12:21 pm
Dean Stein Harville-Stein Law Offices, LLC

I think you would want to name the Testamentary Trust as the beneficiary. Trustee's may and do change, and even beneficiaries to the Trust may change. If you would like to discuss further, you may contact us. This response is to provide general information, is not legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice to the reader and should not be relied on as such, nor is it intended to create an attorney-client relationship. ALABAMA RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT REQUIRES THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT: "No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers."

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Answered on 7/08/10, 2:15 pm


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