Estate Planning Seminar

I attended the Free Estate Planning Seminar given by Mark Tippins this weekend. The information given was very eye-opening. What I found out was this:

• If I die without a will the state of AL gets to decide what happens to all of my assets including who takes care of my minor children (if my husband died as well).
• If I die with a will things will probably be divided up correctly, but my will still has to be probated which is very expensive and time consuming...I'm talking a minimum of 6 months in AL and could be much longer.
  
• If, however, I create what is called a living trust (and still have a will for some other reasons) then my assets can be distributed as I chose immediately upon my death with little or no cost to my relatives.
  

There of course was much more information given, including what a living trust is all about. How to protect your assets from frivolous lawsuits, and a lot of other things that seem really nifty if you have a little more money to worry about than I do :-)

All in all, I though it was time well spent. And in case you are interested Mark Tippins has an office located near Auburn Bank, and offers a free 2-hour consultation to anyone interested in discussing their estate planning needs.