The difference between a will and a trust

Estate & Tax Attorney, Sonja Panajotovic, shares advice on estate planning and explains the difference between a Living Trust and a Will in terms of going through probate
The Difference Between A Living Trust And A Will
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The difference between a will and a trust

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The difference between a Living Trust and a Will, is that a Will ends up having to go through probate, but the Living Will does not. The requirements aren't that different in what they say, however, the state recognizes a Living Trust as a way to avoid probate, a Will does not. Assuming the decedent has assets -- in California -- $100,000 or property, the estate has to go through probate if a Living Trust is not set up. So, a Will does not avoid probate, and a Living Trust does.

Estate & Tax Attorney, Sonja Panajotovic, shares advice on estate planning and explains the difference between a Living Trust and a Will in terms of going through probate

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Sonja Panajotovic

Estate & Tax Attorney

In 1992, Ms. Panajotovic graduated from University of Colorado, Boulder with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration/Finance and with multiple honors as a scholar/athlete (tennis) and honored as Academic All Big Eight, and Scholar Athlete of the year. She earned her law degree from the Southwestern University School of Law and graduated Cum Laude, was an Associate Editor for the Law Review, and on the Dean’s List, and began her legal career as a law clerk for Magistrate Judge Margaret A. Nagle, United States District Court, Los Angeles, and as an associate at the prestigious law firm of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP.

Sonja Panajotovic’s estate planning services include the preparation of documents ranging from simple wills to advanced health care directives, asset transfers and living trusts. She also counsels many of her clients on the various types of trusts such as the marital deduction trust, special needs trusts, Q-TIP trusts, and charitable remainder trusts and helps her clients coordinate their trusts with their overall estate planning needs.

 Her probate and estate practice is also designed to provide full legal services to personal representatives of decedent's estates, trustees, and guardians/conservators for minors or incapacitated adults, including all proceedings in the probate court. She aids her clients with estate and trust administration to efficiently transfer assets from decedent's trusts or estates to intended beneficiaries at death.

Guardianship, Wills and Trusts
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