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Plain English Estate Plans for the Smaller Estate  

The complete package includes a manual and tutorial for creating Plain English estate plans for your clients. 

The working papers include a worksheet listing all of the options that can be selected, with space for all the persons being named, which will give your staff all the information needed to actually generate the documents you specify.

The  package also includes a word processing file that, when printed, gives you a complete hard copy of all of the forms in the package, so that you can review them and see for yourself what how the various provisions  read, prior to assembly.

We recommend going through the HotDocs tutorial for assembling documents prior to trying to assemble an estate plan.  However, we have also included a tutorial that goes directly to the estate plans, and guides you through assembly of a simple plan.

The following is a listing of all of the documents and the various distributions provisions that are included in the complete package:

Documents Included:

I. Wills
    A. Will
     B. Codicil 

II. Trusts
    A. Living Trust (for one person) 
    B. Living Trust Intro (Cover sheet, summary, certificate) 
    C. Joint Trust (for a married couple) 
    D. Joint Trust Intro (Cover sheet, summary, certificate) 
    E. Amendment of Trust (one person) 
    F. Amendment of Joint Trust (married couple)

III. Powers of Attorney
    A. Montana Statutory Durable Power of Attorney 
   B. Uniform Laws Power of Attorney 
   C. Limited Power of Attorney - Pourover to Trust 
   D. Health Care Power of Attorney 
   E. Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will 
   F. Delegation of Parental Authority 
   G. Durable General Power of Attorney (not state specific) 
   H. Durable Limited Power of Attorney (for specific assets) 
    I. Revocation of Power of Attorney
   J. Appointment of Trust Agent

IV. Other Estate Plan Documents
     A. Montana Premarital Agreement 
    B. Personal Property List 
    C. Declaration of Gift 
    D. Living Will 
    E. Organ Donation and Funeral Instructions 
    F. Designation of Successor UTMA Custodian 
    G. Declaration of Trust Ownership 

V. "Packaging" Documents (for one person or married couple)
    A. Estate Plan Cover Sheet
    B. Table of Contents 
    C. Summary of Estate Plan 
    D. Property Schedules
    E. Other Information 

VI. Client Letters
     A. Initial draft of estate plan documents 
    B. Initial draft and explanation of premarital agreement 
    C. Revised draft of documents 
    D. Reminder that documents need to be signed

 Distribution Provisions Included:

I. Provisions for Spouses (Will, Living Trust or Joint Trust)
    A. Outright distribution to spouse 
    B. Trust for Spouse 
    C. Disclaimer-Funded Trust for Spouse
    D. Special Needs Trust for spouse 

II. Provisions for Trusts for Spouses
    A. Distribution Provisions 
            1. Discretionary for spouse
            2. Discretionary for spouse and others
            3. QTIP for spouse
            4. Income only (restricted principal) for spouse
            5. Spouse’s 5 or 5 power to invade
            6. Spouse’s lifetime power to appoint to others
            7. QTIP savings clauses
      B. Termination Provisions 
            1. Distribution to descendants
            2. Special power of appointment
            3. General power of appointment
            4. Distribution to spouse’s estate
            5. Distribution to others

III. Joint Trust Provisions
      A. Administration after the first death
            1. A Trust: continues as one trust 
            2. A-B Trust: divides into Decedent's and Survivor's Shares 
      B. Administration after both have died
            1. Common distribution of entire trust 
            2. Separate distribution of the two shares 

IV. Provisions for Descendants (Will, Living Trust, or Joint Trust)
      A. Outright to Child/ren 
            1. With UTMA provision for issue of predeceased child
            2. With trust for issue of predeceased child
            3. With retention by trustee for issue of predeceased child
      B. Separate Share Trust for Child/ren 
      C. Pot Trust for Children 
      D. Lifetime Trust for Child/ren
            1. With power of appointment
            2. With remainder distribution specified
      E. Special Needs Trust for descendant

V. Provisions for Trusts for Descendants
      A. Distribution Provisions: 
            1. Discretionary income and principal
            2. Discretionary to stated age, then educational
            3. Mandatory income after a stated age
            4. Educational only
      B. Termination Provisions:
            1. One distribution
            2. Two distributions
            3. Three distributions
            4. Discretionary termination
      C. Premature death provisions: 
            1. Remainder to descendants
        2. Remainder to estate

VI. Provisions for Others
      A. Distribution to persons other than spouses and children 

VII. Miscellaneous Distribution Provisions
      A. Co-owned property is confirmed 
      B. Co-owned property is administrative only
      C. Offset of debt
      D. No contest clause
      E. Omitted spouse
      F. Omitted child
      G. Omitted heirs