R. Zebulon Law

A Professional Law Corporation

3070 Bristol Street, Suite 190

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Phone: (714) 754-6610

Fax: (949) 203-8533

 

LIFE INSURANCE TRUST QUESTIONNAIRE

Please Complete the following information. After you are finished, click the submit button at the bottom of the page. To confirm your information was sent, you will see a confirmation page with your information.

[NOTE: If you wish to clear the entire form you can click the reset button at the bottom of the page.]

*Please note that all information shall remain confidential. If there is no follow up for 90 days, any information submitted will be destroyed.

 

GENERAL INFORMATION:

 

First Name
Last Name
Middle Initial
Date of Birth
Social Security #

Street Address
Address (cont.)
City
State/Province
Zip/Postal Code
Home Phone
FAX
E-mail

 

Mailing Address Same as above:    Yes     No

 

If no, please complete the following:

 

Street Address
Address (cont.)
City
State/Province
Zip/Postal Code
Home Phone
FAX
E-mail

 

If any of your children are deceased, check here:  

If, yes, did they leave any surviving issue?    Yes No

Do any of your children have step-children?    Yes No

Any children born out of wedlock?    Yes No

Please provide any other relevant family information?

                                                                                                            

1.    TRUSTEES. Who do you want to handle the Trust upon your death (may not be you or your spouse)?

First Choice:     

  SS#Phone#

Second Choice:

  SS#Phone#

Third Choice:    

  SS#Phone#

(We will not include any alternate trustees if you do not select any.)

Please consider the following as you select the Trustee:

A.    The Trustee should not be you or your spouse.   

B.     Any children over age 18 can be successor trustee, as well as other family members and friends. A common first choice is a child or children if they are already grown.

C.    The Trustees main "jobs" are (1) Receiving the life insurance premiums from you and depositing these into a trust bank account; (2) Paying the premiums to the life insurance company; and (3) overseeing the investment and distribution of the life insurance proceeds.

D.    You can also select several persons to serve at the same time as a "board" of trustees. You might consider this if you want your children involved with the estate, but would rather have an experienced advisor assisting them.

E.    If you do not specify otherwise, the first choice will serve as sole trustee until resignation or death, at which point second  choice serves as sole trustee, etc. Please let us know if you want  more than one Successor Trustee serving at the same time.

F.    You should consider coordinating the Trustee of the insurance trust with that trustee of your living trust.

2.    QUESTIONS REGARDING THE TRUSTEE.

A.    If there is more than 1 successor trustee serving at the same time, do you want actions to be taken by majority vote or by unanimous vote?

        Majority     Unanimous  

B.    Upon your death, do you want your children to have the power to remove and replace the trustee?

        Yes     No    (automatically YES, if not checked)

C.    If yes, do you want to limit the ability of your children to replace the trust so that the replacement trustee can only be a recognized trust company or bank (so your children don't appoint friends, etc. to act as trustee)?

         Yes     No    (automatically YES, if not checked)

3.    Distribution of Life Insurance Proceeds:

After the last spouse's death, at what age(s) do you want your children to get distributions of the balance of the trust estate?

    Age                 Percentage                                Example Common Request

                                                                Age 30             1/3

                                                                Age 35             1/3

                                                                Age 45             1/3

 

[NOTE:    The distributions should be coordinated with the distribution in your living trust.]

A.    Often, life insurance will be used to pay estate tax. However, for legally technical reasons, we can't draft the life insurance trust to do exactly that. Instead, our firm generally recommends a two-fold ("belt and suspenders") approach to pay any estate tax:

    Method 1:     The trustee of the insurance trust is authorized to buy assets out of your estate or living trust at fair market value. This way, cash gets into your estate to pay estate tax.

    Method 2:    We normally like to provide a period of time (let's say, 15 months, which is the due date of the estate tax return, as extended) whereby the trustee has full discretion to distribute any amount from the life insurance trust to the beneficiaries. This way, the Trustee would be empowered to give the beneficiaries the cash they need to pay estate tax.

    You should note that Method 2 requires careful planning and drafting. The two most important considerations are: (1) The beneficiaries of the insurance trust must match the beneficiaries who bear the burden of the estate tax; otherwise, it is possible for a beneficiary to receive a distribution reduced by estate tax (from the living trust, for example) without receiving cash from the insurance trust; and (2) The IRS may take action against the executor to pay the estate tax even though the beneficiaries receive the cash if the beneficiaries don't use the cash to pay the tax.

    Also, once the 15 month period has expired, we normally recommend matching the dispositive provisions in your living trust.

  OTHER PROVISIONS:    

          

 

OTHER INFORMATION:     Please Complete the following:

Do you have any existing Wills or Trusts, etc.?    Yes     No

Are you a U.S. citizen?        Yes        No

Is your spouse a U.S. ?       Yes         No

Have you ever made gifts of over $10,000 in 1 year to 1 person?    Yes     No

Have you ever filed a gift tax return?    Yes    No

Do you have assets in other states or countries?    Yes     No

Are you currently being sued or threatened with a lawsuit?    Yes     No

A.     Do you want children to be able to put a distribution of their inheritance in their Will in case they die after the last spouse, but before they actually get the money?

            Our form assumes "YES"          Yes   No    

B.     Do any of your children or grandchildren have any special living, medical, or educational needs?

           Our form assumes "NO"            Yes    No

C.     Do you want your grandchildren to be provided a special distribution upon your death?

                                                                 Yes    No     

 If so, what?   

              

ASSET INFORMATION. Please complete the following:

Approximate GROSS Value of Your Entire Estate (including death bebefits on life insurance owned by you and the value of gifts made within the last three (3) years: $

Approximate NET Value (after debts) of Your Entire Estate: $

PURPOSE OF THE INSURANCE: Please check all that apply:

    To pay estate tax after death of the surviving spouse

    To provide cash to my company after my death

    To provide my spouse with cash after my death

    To "equalize" my estate because I am giving certain children/heirs more assets than others

Please complete the following along with your insurance advisor:

1.    Will this be considered "split dollar" insurance?

                   

2.    Does this insurance involve premium financing?

                   

3.    Is there any reason why the trust should not include annual gifting (so called "crummey") provisions?

                   

4.    Does the trust need to be drafted to include spousal life time access provisions (i.e., should it be drafted as a SLAT)?

                   

5.    Do you maintain any life insurance other than the policy contemplated to be held by this Trust? If so, please describe (i.e., term, whole life, etc.). Please note that certain pension plans and annuities hold life insurances.

                   

6.    Do you have any health issues which may affect the acquisition of the life insurance, or might affect the "economics" of other, existing life insurance policies (note to the insurance advisor-we are primarily trying to identify appropriate "life settlement" situations).