A qualified personal residence trust, a grantor retained annuity trust, and an intentionally defective grantor trust have been added to Florida Wills & Trusts' new Advanced Package. Future additions to the Advanced Package will include charitable trusts and complex joint trusts. Contact our Sales Department at 1-800-9-LAWGIC (952-9442), ext. 2010, to download the Advanced Package today.
You can now draft an irrevocable trust for minor using Florida Wills & Trusts. Select "Trusts" at the main menu and then select "Trust for Minor." The Trust for Minor can be drafted with either Crummey withdrawal powers or I.R.C. §2503(c) provisions. See the "How To" topic "Draft an Irrevocable Trust" for a discussion of how to share data when drafting an irrevocable trust and a revocable trust or stand-alone Will for the same client. Questions 3, 463.
The option of defining the client's children as including afterborns has been extended to clients who currently have no children. A definition of the client's descendants has been added (optional if the client has no children and is not including afterborns). Out-of-wedlock descendants may be excluded from the definition of descendants. Questions 92-94.
The complex GST provisions are no longer automatically included whenever there is a general power of appointment for GST purposes under the Trusts for Descendants, Trusts for Children, or a Protective Trust-instead, you are now given the choice of simple or complex GST Provisions. (Complex GST provisions are still required if directly allocating to a GST Exempt Trust.) Questions 462, 504, 530, 781.
In response to your requests, if you are drafting a Disclaimer Will with disclaimed amounts going to the Family Trust, and you choose to have everything go to a Family Pot Trust if the spouse does not survive, the spouse will now have an interest in the Family Trust upon disclaimer. Similarly, if you are drafting a stand-alone Will or revocable trust with everything going to the spouse, and you choose to have everything go to a Family Pot Trust if the spouse does not survive, you are now offered the option of giving the spouse an interest in the Family Trust for disclaimer purposes. Question 278.
The option of giving the spouse an inter vivos special power of appointment in the Family Trust has been added. This provision should be used with caution and is generally not recommended-see Law & Strategy for a full discussion. Questions 306-312.
A "Specify other" option has been added to the list of who may make the private decision to obtain medical confirmation of the grantor's disability and suspend the grantor's rights. Questions 129-133.
If you have chosen to make an "other distribution" to a named individual, you can now choose to have that distribution made in trust. Questions 344-345.
We have added an optional article to the irrevocable life insurance trust which provides that if the client and his/her spouse are divorced or legally separated, the spouse will lose any interest or involvement in the trust. Question 537.
The definition of "Independent Trustee" has been modified so that you no longer must name or require an independent trustee if you choose to include a provision which references the independent trustee. In addition, the option of expanding the requirement that the trustee not be "related or subordinate" (so that the trustee not be related or subordinate to the client's parents and their descendants and spouses) now applies to the definition of "Corporate Trustee" as well. Questions 868, 870.
In response to your requests, if you are including a footer in your Will or trust, you now have the option of adding the footer to the synopsis, table of contents, self-proof, and/or schedule. Question 930.
The Synopsis now includes references to any custom articles you include. A placeholder is left for you to add your summary of each custom article's contents. Questions 885-897.
In response to your requests, the names of the witnesses have been added below the signature lines for witnesses in the Will and trust. Questions 918-920.
You can now choose whether to use "Cotrustee" or "Co-Trustee" throughout your document. Question 81.
A "reasonable compensation" provision has been added to the Appointment of Personal Representatives article in the Will, primarily for reference in other jurisdictions and as an alert to the client.
In response to your requests, you can now select more than one of the "DPAs and Related Documents" to draft and print simultaneously. If you choose this option, your package of documents will be sent to your word processor as a single word processing document separated by Section Breaks. Question 4.
In response to your requests, you can now limit the attorney-in-fact's power to make gifts to the annual exclusion amount. (Also in response to your requests, commentary has been added explaining why separate DPAs are generated if naming successors.) Questions 1006-1008.
In response to your requests, you can now name more than one alternate health care surrogate. Questions 972-980.
In response to your requests, you can now omit the discussion in the Engagement Letter of a minimum daily billing interval by leaving that question <<Blank>>. Question 1190.
In response to your requests, the Sending Documents letter now includes optional discussions of the irrevocable trusts. Question 1202.
The option of creating a "user profile" has been added to the Exemplar Assistant. There are certain questions that ask user-specific information or reflect your drafting style and that you will want to answer the same way in every answer file you create. You can avoid answering those same questions each time you create a new answer file by creating an Exemplar containing the answers you always want to include and starting each new answer file by selecting "Use Exemplar. " If you select "Create user profile," a follow-up question will allow you to specify whether you want to answer questions about attorney information, references, formatting, and/or witnesses. Questions 10-11.
You can now customize the worksheet by choosing which documents you want to include in your worksheet. Question 9.
We have updated the Estate Planning Questionnaire for married clients ("EPQ") and have created a separate version for unmarried clients ("EPQ_UM"). These separately provided word processing documents are located in the "Docs" folder of your Lawgic root directory, e.g., "C:\Program Files\Lawgic\Docs" if you have not changed the default settings. The questionnaires are provided in both Word (".doc") and WordPerfect (".wpd") formats.
Minor changes have been made to document language. Some default answer choices have changed. As noted above, new questions have been added and several questions have been reworded or given new or changed choices. Consequently, when you open an existing answer file or Exemplar, you may have to answer additional questions before sending your document to your word processor even though you had previously answered all questions. See "Up_Jan01.flg." "Up_Jan01" is a flag file that flags all new questions and any questions with changed choices or commentary. You can load "Up_Jan01" onto any new or saved answer session or Exemplar (click Open Flags on the Flags menu, then click "Florida Wills & Trusts" and OK, then select "Up_Jan01" and click OK) to see which questions were impacted by this update. ("Up_Jan01" cannot indicate deleted questions.)
Please continue to send us your suggestions on existing or new products. Contact our Technical Support Department at 1-800-9-LAWGIC (952-9442) or e-mail us at support@lawgic.com.
Copyright© Expert Systems Publishing Company 2001.
This information is not intended to constitute legal advice.
This summary should not be relied upon independent of consulting the Lawgic software.