At Independence Trust Company, we take the time to understand what is important to you and carefully explain all of your estate planning options. Independence Trust Company has assembled a team of professionals to educate and carefully construct an effective estate plan for you and your family. Our estate planning team consists of legal, financial and insurance professionals that run workshops and seminars regularly right at Franklin Savings Bank.

Attend our Estate Planning Seminar presented by our estate planning team at no charge to you! Learn how to:

• Minimize taxes on Social Security Income
• Properly title, protect and preserve your assets
• Avoid Probate
• Keep you money in your family
• Protect your assets from the nursing home
• Discount estate taxes up to 90%

Seminars are hosted at the Franklin Savings Bank Main Office. Seatings are available from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. or 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Light refreshments are served at these free, educational seminars. Seating is limited and seminars fill quickly. To reserve your space, RSVP by the Friday prior to the seminar to Pam Hannan at (603) 934-0400, 1-800-821-1776 or hannan@fsbnh.com
Attend an Estate Planning Seminar at no charge!

Traditional Methods of Basic Estate Planning

• Intestacy - Dieing without a will or trust
  • Gives the state the right to decide who will receive his or her property.
    
  • Assets that pass by intestacy go through the probate process.

• Will - Legal document that states how a person wants his or her estate distributed at death.
  • Advantages of a will
    • Wills avoid intestacy
      
    • Wills permit the nomination of a personal representative and a guardian for minor children.
      
    • Wills are easily implemented and maintained  
  • Disadvantages of a will
    • Wills often fail to control a great deal of a person's property.
      
    • Wills offer no protection against conservatorship.
      
    • Wills are fully public.
      
    • Wills ensure probate.
      
    • Probate may be opened in more than one state.
      
    • Wills are easily challenged.  
• Revocable Living Trust - A trust is a contract between its maker and a trustee, who may be one and the same person. In the contract the trust maker gives instructions to the trustee concerning the holding and administering of trust assets. These instructions specify how the assets are to be held and distributed during the maker's good health, upon his or her disability, and ultimately upon his or her death.
• • Advantages of a Revocable Living Trust
    • Control
      • A fully funded trust allows the trust maker to retain control of his or her estate planning affairs while avoiding probate and its related pitfalls.
        
      • Allows the trust maker to retain control of his or her financial affairs even in the event of a disability.
        
      • While a will has absolutely no effect until the will maker has died, a trust is effective as soon as it is executed by the trust maker.  
    • Cost
      • Because assets held in a trust avoid probate, the cost of administering the trust after the maker's death is much lower than the professional fees for administrating that same property in the probate process. Further, trust estates avoid such costs as filing fees, bonds, appraisal fees and other procedures dictated by probate law.  
    • Convenience
      • While the probate process is cumbersome and time consuming, the process of administrating a trust is relatively simple and can normally be done in a fraction of the time.
        
      • The trust maker's specific directions within the trust document address the contingencies of disability and death and appoint successor trustees to carry out those directions.  
    • Confidentiality
      • Trusts are private. While wills and the entire probate process are open to the public, trusts remain confidential.  
  • Disadvantages of a Revocable Living Trust
    • Expense
      • The cost of a revocable living trust in most cases is initially more expensive that a will. The cost of a will and after death administration through the probate process almost always exceeds, by a large amount, the cost of a fully funded living trust.
    • Funding
      • Some people find it initially inconvenient to determine what they own, how they own it and then change title into their revocable living trust.

Additional Estate Planning Documents

• Power of Attorney - is a written instrument by which you appoint another person to perform certain specified acts on your behalf.
  
• Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care - is a legal instrument by which you designate an agent to make health care decisions for you in the event that you are unable to do so for yourself. This document has gained more significance due to the new privacy laws.
  
• Living Will - is a legal document, which directs your physician to discontinue life sustaining procedures if you are in a terminal condition or a permanently unconscious state.