My wife and I are about to go to several local attorneys to draft a living trust and other legal documents. Based on initial phone calls, we got quotes ranging from $999-$2500but all seem to be offering the same thing.
They say we need a A/B living trust. They said the dead spouse assets go to the B trust up to the federal exemption. The rest go to the living spouse A trust. I asked them what happens if the assets go above the A trust, and they said we have to pay taxes.
This the part I'm worried about. Isn't there some mechanism where if it goes over the federal exemption in the A trust, it can go to a C trust, or D trust???? Or since there are only two people, Wife and husband, there is pretty much 2 trusts dealing with federal exemption and if we have too much money, then we just have to pay the federal exemption tax on the A trust.
I just want to get my understanding correctly before I go into the office.
Sorry if I'm not making sense.
John
They say we need a A/B living trust. They said the dead spouse assets go to the B trust up to the federal exemption. The rest go to the living spouse A trust. I asked them what happens if the assets go above the A trust, and they said we have to pay taxes.
This the part I'm worried about. Isn't there some mechanism where if it goes over the federal exemption in the A trust, it can go to a C trust, or D trust???? Or since there are only two people, Wife and husband, there is pretty much 2 trusts dealing with federal exemption and if we have too much money, then we just have to pay the federal exemption tax on the A trust.
I just want to get my understanding correctly before I go into the office.
Sorry if I'm not making sense.
John
