From the desk of Jeanne M. Kerkstra, Esq., CPA of Chuhak & Tecson, P.C.

Your work probably starts in the early morning hours and most likely does not end until the late evening. When are you expected to get to your personal issues? What if you don't?

On January 1, 2008, the new Illinois Employee Classification Act took effect. The Act is intended to address the practice of misclassifying employees as independent contractors.

You may find this morbid, but ask yourself, what will happen to your body after your death? Would you like to be buried? Cremated? Loaded into a cannon and fired into an open field, in the style of the late Hunter S. Thompson? Who will have the last word on this issue?

As of January 1, 2006, a new Illinois law allows you to sign an "Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains." This form describes your wishes as to the disposition of your remains, and allows you to appoint an agent to ensure that your instructions are carried out. To be effective, your signature on the document must be notarized.

You have signed off on your Will, revocable trust, Powers of Attorney, and perhaps an irrevocable trust. You feel a sense of accomplishment now that your estate plan is done. Years later, your loved ones receive the fruits of your labor as the beneficiaries of your planning. Unfortunately, you left them with a burden in the form of $8,000 in unnecessary costs to probate your estate.

Estate planning which involves trust documents is not complete until the trusts are funded. If this step is overlooked, the trust you signed is a meaningless stack of paper. The number one reason for executing a living trust (a/k/a a revocable trust) is to avoid the probate process, and you will not have met this goal if you do not have your assets transferred into the name of your living trust.

The average cost to probate an estate begins at $1,500, according to statistics published by the American Association of Retired Persons. If your Will is contested, this cost increases significantly. In Illinois, assets in excess of $100,000 which do not automatically pass per beneficiary designation require probate. Just the filing fees to probate an estate in Cook County are conservatively $500. Why even leave this amount for your heirs to pay, when properly completing your estate planning would avoid this cost? Working with your brokers and attorneys to transfer your assets into your living trust is time well spent, and leaves the money your living trust beneficiaries will not have to spend on probate in their grateful hands.

The Bottom Line

Funding your living trust is a crucial step in your estate planning. The trust documents supporting your estate plan which have been drafted and executed should not be considered complete until such trusts have been funded.

If you wish to discuss these issues in more detail, please contact Jill McNamara at jmcnamara@chuhak.com or 312-855-6408.