This session begins with a general discussion on the need for an estate plan and the legal documents, e.g., wills and trusts, required for its creation. To learn more about Internet Law purchase the text Wills, Trusts, and Estate Administration from Cengage Learning. Paralegal Power Breaks are short information packed sessions that provide useful career information to paralegals at all career levels. ​

1. The Estate Plan and the Purpose
and Need for a Will

2. Estate Plan
• An arrangement of a person’s assets using
the laws of various disciplines (wills, trusts,
taxes, insurance, and property) to gain
maximum financial benefit of all the laws for
the disposition of the person’s assets during
life (inter vivos) and after death

3. Will
• A legally enforceable written declaration of a
person’s intended distribution of property
after death

4. Requirements to Make a Will
• Capacity
– Legal capacity
• The age at which a person acquires capacity to
make a valid will, usually 18
– Testamentary capacity
• The sanity (sound mind) requirement for a
person to make a valid will

5. Terminology
of Makers of Wills
• Testator
– A male who makes and/or dies with a valid
will
• Testatrix
– A female who makes and/or dies with a
valid will

6. Requirements of a Will
• Written Document
• Witnesses
• Date (in most states)
• Signature of the Testator/Testatrix
• Sound Mind of the Testator/Testatrix
• Legal Capacity of the Testator/Testatrix
• Selection of Personal Representative

7. Formal Probate
• A court-supervised administration of
a decedent’s estate
– Decedent: A person who has died

8. Terminology of Wills
• Beneficiary
– A person entitled to receive property under
a will
• Devisee
– A person who receives a gift of real property
under a will
• Legatee
– A person who receives a gift of personal
property under a will

9. Terminology of Intestacy
• Intestate
– A person who dies without a valid will
• Heir
– A person who receives a gift of real property
from an intestate
• Next of Kin
– The closest blood relatives of a decedent

10. Terminology of Wills
• Ambulatory
– Subject to change
• Codicil
– A written amendment to a will
• Letter of Instructions
– A document that specifies a testator’s
intentions for organ donation and funeral
and burial plans but does not amend or
change a will

11. Residuary Estate
• The remaining assets of a decedent’s estate
after all debts have been paid and all other
gifts in the will have been distributed

12. Property Distributions
• Tenancy in Common
• Joint Tenancy

13. Structure of an Estate
• Beneficiary
Testator
Personal
Representative
Estate
Letter of
Instructions

14. Trusts
• Trust
– A right of property, real or personal, held by
one person for the benefit of another
• Testamentary Trust
– A trust created in a will; becomes
operational upon the death of its creator
• Inter Vivos Trust
– A trust that is effective during the life of its
creator; becomes operational immediately
after created

15. Structure of a Trust
• Settlor
Trust Estate
Trustee
Beneficiary
Inter Vivos
Gifts

16. Title
• Legal Title
– The form of ownership of trust property held
by the trustee, giving the trustee the right to
control and manage the property for
another’s benefit
• Equitable Title
– Provides the right to the benefits of a trust to
the beneficiary

17. Trustee
• The person or institution named by the
maker of a will or creator/settlor of a trust to
administer the property for the benefit of
another, according to the creator’s provisions
– Compare to an executor, who carries out
the terms of a will, and a personal
representative, who carries out the terms of
a will or administers an estate when there is
no will

18. Personal Representative
• A person who administers and distributes an
intestate or testate decedent’s estate
– Compare to an executor, who carries out
the terms of a will

19. Will Substitutes
• Joint Tenancy
• Life Insurance
• Inter vivos Trust
• Inter vivos Gift
• Community Property Agreement
• Transfer-on-Death Deed/Beneficiary Deed