FAQs

Getting started is simple. Choose the plan that best fits your needs, then answer a few guided questions about your assets, family, and preferences. Once completed, your documents are generated instantly and ready for download. After signing and notarizing (if required), your estate plan is complete, giving you immediate peace of mind.

That’s completely normal. If you have minor children, own a home, or want to avoid probate, the Legacy Plan is usually the better fit. If you’re single or just need the basics covered, the Essentials Plan is a great starting point.

Yes. Although the platform is not a person and no attorney-client relationship is being established, all of your documents are Michigan-specific, have been reviewed by a Michigan attorney, and comply with current state law. When you complete your plan, our system guides you through the proper signing and witnessing requirements.

Most people finish in about 15 minutes. The process is streamlined and guided, so you can move quickly while still making thoughtful decisions about your future.

Once your documents are ready, you’ll need to print them and then take them to a notary public to have them signed and dated. Many of the documents also require two witnesses to sign. Once done, your estate plan is legally effective.

You can help guide someone through the process, but each plan should be completed using that individual’s information and decisions. Estate planning is personal, so the person creating the plan must understand and agrees with everything included.

• The Legacy Plan (which includes a Trust document) is $499.
• The Essentials Plan (which includes a Will document) is $399.

• Think of a Trust as a separate entity (or business) you create. It can hold and manage assets (money and property) after you pass away. The Trust can set age limits, and other conditions, on assets before a child or a beneficiary receives the asset from the Trust. A Trust also benefits you by insulating and protecting your assets from people that may take advantage of you when you lack the mental capacity to make decisions for yourself. Finally, Trusts can provide some tax advantages to the ultra-wealthy.

• Think of a Will as a set of instructions telling the Probate Court what you want to happen with your assets. So long as your Will is properly executed and your intentions are clear, your instructions should be followed by the Court.  

• A Trust starts working as soon as it’s signed and funded. It allows your assets to pass directly to your beneficiaries without Probate Court. A Trust provides privacy, speed, and flexibility. Trusts are especially helpful if you own a home or have minor children.
• A Will takes effect after you pass away. It outlines who receives your assets and who will handle your Estate, but it must go through Probate Court, which can be public and time-consuming.

Think of a Pour-Over Will as a component of your Trust. The Pour-Over Will is very similar to a traditional Will, except the distribution portion of the Pour-Over Will distributes (passes) assets to your Trust (it Pours assets into your Trust!). For example, if you forget to title an account or real estate to your Trust, your Pour-Over Will indicates that those assets be placed into your Trust. Thus, ensuring any forgotten or recently acquired asset will be put into your Trust!

• Once a Trust is signed, dated, and notarized, it becomes effective. Assets funded (or held in Trust) will be distributed pursuant to the terms of the Trust, thus avoiding Probate Court.
• A Will takes effect when you pass away. The Will functions as instructions for the Probate Court. This means a Will must be probated in Probate Court.

Major life events, like divorce, marriage, the birth of a child, the death of a beneficiary, usually require Amending (changing or updating) your Trust or Will.

Yes. The Grantor is you, the person that creates and funds your Trust. The initial Trustee of the Trust is also you. This is quite typical for most Revocable Living Trusts.

Your ‘Successor Trustee’ is the person that you designate to carry out the terms of your Trust upon your incapacity or death.

Yes. This is very typical for a married couple seeking a Joint Revocable Living Trust. However, for people who have children from a prior relationship it is not recommended to create a joint Trust.    

Yes. This is also very typical. For example, having a mature adult child, that is willing to take on the legal and fiduciary responsibilities of acting as Successor Trustee, and who’s adult child is a beneficiary of the Trust is quite common.

Your documents become legally effective when you do the following:

• Print your documents.
• Locate two non-family people to act as witnesses (ask your bank or credit union).
• Locate a notary (ask your bank or credit union).
• Take your documents to the notary and witnesses.
• Sign and date your documents on the pages instructed, then your notary will notarize, and then your witnesses will sign.

Ask your bank or credit union. Usually someone at these financial institutions is a notary, and often times other employees can act as witnesses. But call ahead and confirm rather than dropping in with multiple pages needing to be signed, notarized and witnessed.

No. You certainly can for a fee, but it is not required. It can also be time-consuming and a hassle if you need to make changes to your documents. For example, if your documents were registered with the Court, then you needed to make changes, you would be required to go to Court, obtain your documents, and then amend your documents.

Yes. This is a required step that you must handle to make your documents legally effective. Interestingly, your Will documents does not need to be notarized, but all other documents do.

A Trust is an entity (or business) you create. The signed and notarized documents, by themselves, are simply instructions that are signed and notarized. But what does your Trust actually own (actually control), or more importantly, how does your Trust ‘own’ (or control) assets?

You must title assets in the name of the Trust OR transfer assets to your Trust upon your death. Said another way, funding your Trust requires you to title assets in the name of your Trust OR make certain that upon your death assets transfer to your Trust.

Keep in mind, if you title assets in the name of your Trust, your Trust will be the legal owner of the asset, not you as an individual. So, think about possible tax consequences when re-titling assets to your Trust – especially with retirement accounts. When it comes to retirement or investment accounts, you should always consult your financial planner, the institution who holds the account, and your tax preparer. There can be significant tax consequences for re-titling retirement or investment accounts.

With a “Lady Bird Deed” of course! This is a very technical and legally specific deed which you will likely need the help of an attorney. The simplest way to explain a “Lady Bird Deed” or Enhanced Life Estate Deed, is to think about it like a beneficiary designation on a retirement account. This type of Deed should direct your home into your Trust upon your passing. Said another way, if you have a properly drafted and executed “Lady Bird Deed”, upon your passing your home will transfer to your Trust, to be distributed pursuant to the terms of your Trust.

Most accounts and policies allow for a beneficiary designation (or multiple designations). Some financial institutions may call this “transfer on death” (TOD), “payable on death (POD), or simply “beneficiary designation”.

For anyone with a retirement or investment account, it is often recommended to name a spouse, or adult child or children as primary beneficiary(s), and then name your Trust as secondary beneficiary. But again, when it comes to retirement or investment accounts, you should always consult your financial planner, the institution who holds the account, and your tax preparer. There can be significant tax consequences for re-titling retirement or investment accounts.

At this time, Prime Trust & Wills Platform does not offer the ability to change or amend your documents.

This is because of the nature of what happens in life that typically requires a change: divorce, marriage, death of a loved one, or a physical or mental disability to you or a loved one. These types of life events can have such an impact on your documents that it often requires reconsidering and redrafting your documents, or at the very least a thorough consultation with an attorney and lengthy amendment document.