Estate Planning & Administration

Southern Utah's
Estate Planning Specialists.

Witt Law is a Southern Utah law firm with the experience to help you be certain your wishes will be carried out when the time comes.

Our firm has the experienced staff to help you plan your estate and provide protection to you and those whom you love. Along with planning a will and trust, we can also help you set up trustees, guardians, and conservators.

No matter the value of your home or assets, it is necessary and important for everyone to make sure that their estate planning is in order.

Our specialists will help you choose the plans and options that best work for you and your family.

Trusts

There are a wide variety of benefits when you choose to transfer your assets to a trust. These benefits are helpful now and after your death. It helps to ensure that you and your family are taken care of.

There are other important steps as you grow older such as appointing a living will or a power of attorney. Whatever your choices are, we want to guide you on the path to making them happen efficiently. It is our goal to remove as much worry and stress from you and your loved ones as possible. We are here to take care of you.

What is a Trust?

The primary purpose of a trust is to establish a structured method of asset protection and management for someone’s assets and legacy after they have passed on from this life.

When creating a trust the original owner of the assets, called the grantor, trustor, or settlor, transfers ownership of their assets to a designated individual known as the trustee. The trustee then takes charge of the assets and manages them in your stead.

In essence, the trust is a vessel both to store and distribute your assets to your beneficiaries. There are many different types of trusts, and each one has its benefits and advantages. They are versatile and can be tailored to your specific needs and goals.

How Can a Trust Help Me?

Incapacity Conditions

When you create a trust you establish guidelines and a foundation for what to do with your assets when you are no longer able to manage them on your own. This includes after you pass away, however, there are many other situations where you might become incapacitated while still alive and will need directives in place that indicate your wishes on how you and your assets should be treated.
Living grantors can have protections for their health and well-being set in place if they have an accident or get sick, and are unable to verbally dictate what they would like done both for themselves, and their estate. Their trustee or trustees can act in their stead and give directives until such a time when they have recuperated and can take the reins again.

Distribution of Wealth.

You can’t take your assets with you, so before you go it is a good idea to decide who you want to be in charge of them after you are gone. Trusts make this easy because you can set up a structure for the terms of how, when, and to whom different pieces of your estate and other assets are distributed. Your chosen trustee will be in charge of managing this, but having it all spelled out makes the process easier, and smoother. It also helps avoid contention for family members and business partners, because the trustee must follow the outlines and instructions of the trust.

Avoid Probate and Creditors

Probate is the legal process by which a deceased person’s assets are distributed to their beneficiaries or heirs, usually under the direction of a will. The process of probate can take time and sometimes have unexpected costs, especially if the deceased had unpaid debts or other liabilities. One of the biggest reasons for choosing a trust over a will is that many of the different types of trusts allow your beneficiaries to avoid probate, and receive their inheritance in a more private, and secure fashion. Additionally, certain trusts, like irrevocable trusts, have ways to shield certain assets from potential creditors and other legal claims.

Meeting with an estate planning attorney to help you plan and establish your trust can save you and your beneficiaries a lot of time, and headache. At Witt Law, we have many years of experience in tailoring trusts to the personal needs and goals of our clients. We are positive that we can help ensure that your legacy and estate are taken care of after you are gone. Call Witt Law today to get started.

Wills

What is the Purpose of a Will?

Like trusts, the main purpose of a will is to facilitate the division and distribution of your estate and assets. You nominate your personal representative and state how you want your assets to be divided. However, there are a few key differences between wills and trusts.

How are Wills and Trusts Different?

Purpose and Functionality

Wills and Trusts both have the purpose and functionality of taking care of your estate, however, a will is a document, whereas a trust is an entity. Wills only come into effect after the owner has passed away. Trusts, on the other hand, can be managed while the grantor is still alive. Additionally, Trusts are more flexible and provide greater control and management of assets.

Probate

While not always the case, most wills will go through probate. There are ways to avoid probate when setting up assets, however, the majority of wills will go through probate. One benefit of trusts over wills is that asset distribution is set up to avoid probate.

Privacy

To help avoid potential inheritance fraud most wills become part of public record. The result of this is that anything related to the will, including assets, beneficiaries, and may also be placed on public record, and therefore accessible to the public.
Since trusts are not generally subject to probate, they offer greater privacy. Courts are not initially involved with trusts either so if confidentiality is a matter of concern for you, it may be that a trust is a better option.

Incapacity Planning

Wills cannot be used for any sort of incapacity planning. They only take effect when the will holder has passed away.
Trusts, on the other hand, do have options for incapacity planning. This flexibility is very important in cases of degenerative diseases, or bad accidents. Trusts allow a designated trustee to take over the company or estate until such a time when the grantor has recovered. However, in the case that the grantor never recovers, the trustee continues to manage things without a need for them to go through court or probate.

What Happens If I Don't Have a Will?

Without a will, your loved ones will not only have the grief of dealing with the loss of your life but will also have to let the court decide how to divide your assets. Probate will be required. This process generally will create even more grief and stress during an already difficult time. What will happen when you don’t have a will is that the court will appoint a personal representative. The representative will try their best to allocate and assign the remainder of your estate and personal belongings, but on ly as Utah law and the court will allow.

This eliminates your right to choose how this is handled. If you have no will, you can’t pass on family heirlooms to who would want to, or divide up the inheritance as you would wish. Without this simple step with the help of Witt Law, you will be leaving this to the courts.

Sadly, in many cases where there is no will found the process of probate can end up taking weeks or months to finally be completed. This can take a toll on family relationships, as well as make an already difficult and sad time more stressful than it needs to be. By working together with the estate planning attorneys at Witt Law you can be sure to have everything ready for your family when you pass away. Imagine how good it would feel to know that your family would be alright if something were to happen to you. We can make that happen dream happen.

Estate Admin

Estate administration is one of many processes that falls under probate or trust administration. Estate administration specifically refers to the process of collecting and managing the estate, paying any debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining property to the heirs of the estate. The heirs of an estate are determined by will, and if there isn’t a will, by the intestacy (which means dying without a will) laws of each state.

What are the Intestacy Laws in Utah?

In Utah, if you pass away without a will then your estate will fall under the jurisdiction of the Utah intestate succession laws. Under these laws, the probate court will attempt to determine who your closest surviving relative is. Utah, as a state, does its best to protect the rights of the family and keep ownership of assets within family ties. Very seldom does it happen in Utah where someone passes without having any relatives. On the off chance that it does, then the estate would “escheat” and ownership would revert to the state.

Utah Intestate Succession Laws

While it is a little more complicated than this, here are the basic inheritance scenarios according to the Utah intestate succession laws.

What happens if I die before my spouse?

If you pass away before your spouse then there are a few possibilities for inheritance with the varying factor being the existence of children.

Without children?

If you are married without children and pass away then your spouse will inherit all intestate estates.

With children?

If you are married with children and pass away then your spouse will inherit all intestate estates.

With children from my previous marriage?

If you are married but have children from a previous relationship and you pass away then your spouse will inherit the first $75,000 and half of the remaining balance. The children from your previous relationship will inherit the other half of the remaining balance.

What happens if both my spouse and I pass away?

If both you and your spouse pass away then the inheritance of intestate estates will go to closest relatives in the following order:

Children

If you have children but no spouse either to divorce or death, then your children will inherit equally among each other.

Parents

If you have no spouse or surviving children then your parents will inherit all of the intestate estates.

Siblings

If you have no spouse, children, or surviving parents then your siblings inherit all the intestate estates.

Why do they call them “Surviving”?

To qualify as an inheritor in Utah the individual must survive the decedent by 120 hours.

If my family is going to inherit my estate, why do I need an estate planning attorney?

While it may seem like a simple thing just to let the state court take care of distributing your estate to your spouse, children, or family, there are quite a few reasons why meeting with an experienced estate planning attorney from Witt Law would be beneficial to you.

Give people what you want them to have with Elder Law.

One of the most important parts of estate planning is that you get to decide where your belongings end up. If you have special mementos or heirlooms that you want to go to specific family members with estate planning you have the option to make that happen. By having a will or trust in place you can make sure that everything is distributed specifically how you want it to be, which not only helps avoid familial disputes after you have passed away but also saves your family time and court fees.

Minimizing taxes

Estate planning attorneys can help you minimize estate taxes and other expenses associated with settling an estate by using effective strategies. We know how to use different options including gifting, trusts, and charitable donations to help reduce the amount of taxes that you and your beneficiaries will have to pay. Additionally, on the topic of costs, these strategies can also help shorten or remove the need for probate, which also saves time and money in the long run.

Decide who will care for your loved ones after you are gone with Estate Planning

No one knows your family to the extent that you do, and in situations where you have someone who will survive you who still needs care, such as underage children, or family members with special needs, it will be better for them if you pick their next guardian instead of leaving it up to the court. Additionally, an estate planning attorney can help you set up accounts, trusts, and other safeguards under Elder Law to ensure that your loved ones are taken care of when you are gone.

Estate planning is a very important process of that is being left to the side by too many people who think they will have time to think about it later. The Estate planning attorneys at Witt Law invite you to think and take care of your estate planning now so that you don’t have to worry about it during moments of crisis. Let us help you establish a firm future for your family, business, or estate. Today is a good time to get this done.

Probate

The role of the probate court is to make sure that a deceased person’s debts are paid and assets are allocated to the correct beneficiaries. The term probate is used to describe the legal process that manages the assets and liabilities left behind by a recently deceased person.

Is probate mandatory?

No. There are ways, such as using the right kind of trust, that removes the need for probate. The purpose of probate is to make sure that your estate is properly distributed and handled. If that is already set up through a trust, then there is no need for probate.

I have a will, so my family won’t have to go through probate, right?

Wrong. While not always the case, the majority of wills will still go through probate. It is during probate that the will will be read, and its directions stated and followed.

Are There Any Benefits to Probate?

Yes. While probate is often seen as a difficult and time-consuming process, probate does bring some important benefits to the table, especially if you have a probate attorney on your side.

Legal Validation and Orderly Distribution:

The first benefit of probate is that it ensures the legal fulfillment of a will. The court verifies and authenticates the will, to make sure that the document is the true, legitimate word of the decedent (deceased). Once the validity of the will is established, the probate court then puts the wishes outlined in the will into effect. By fulfilling the wishes of the decedent the probate court may distribute the inheritance, establish guardianship of children, and help the family gain the closure that they need.

Protection against Creditors and Claims:

One of the best benefits of the probate court is that it creates a filter from creditors and other claims against the estate to make sure that they are legitimate. There is a limited amount of time for these claims to be brought forward. In Utah, this time limit is three months after the announcement of death. Any claims that are established during those three months are reviewed and evaluated by the executor of the estate and the court. This is important because it helps make sure that all valid debts are paid for, and that the beneficiaries and heirs aren’t burdened by the debts of the deceased.

Court Oversight and Due Process

The term “Court Oversight” refers to court supervision, meaning that the process of probate will be supervised by the court. This is an important factor of probate because it is a line of defense for the beneficiaries against potential mismanagement or misconduct by the executor or representative. Having court oversight in place helps the proceedings run smoother, and ensures that all the assets of the state are handled properly.

Due Process refers to the legal requirement for fair treatment of everyone involved including heirs, beneficiaries, and creditors. Under due process, each participant has a right to:

Be notified about all the probate proceedings.
Have an opportunity to be heard, whether by filing a claim, argument, or objection to the contents of the will.
Be legally represented by attorneys and other professionals who can give advice and counsel on the proceedings.

Probate is often considered to be a difficult, and time-consuming process. However, with the help of probate professionals at Witt Law, we can help make sure that your rights and interests as an heir, beneficiary, or creditor are protected. We have years of experience in probate court and are prepared to help you get the most out of the proceedings. Call us today to set up a consultation.

Estate Planning & Administration

Southern Utah's Estate Planning Specialists.

Trusts

What is a Trust?

How Can a Trust Help Me?

Wills

What is the Purpose of a Will?

How are Wills and Trusts Different?

What Happens If I Don't Have a Will?

Estate Admin

What are the Intestacy Laws in Utah?

Utah Intestate Succession Laws

If my family is going to inherit my estate, why do I need an estate planning attorney?

Probate

Is probate mandatory?

I have a will, so my family won’t have to go through probate, right?

Are There Any Benefits to Probate?

Contact Us Today

Southern Utah's
Estate Planning Specialists.