A Queer Understanding

How Estate Planning Protects the Queer Community: A Conversation with EstateDocPrep.com founder Oscar Vasquez

• Dr. Angelica & Cassy Thompson • Season 7 • Episode 2

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Estate planning isn't just for the wealthy—it's essential for anyone who wants to protect their home, assets, and family from probate costs and legal complications after death. And the LGBTQ+ community faces unique challenges that proper estate planning addresses. Oscar Vasquez shares practical insights on how living trusts and other legal documents can save your loved ones time, money, and stress.

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Dr. T:

Did you know that 68% of Americans don't have a valid will or estate plan For homeowners? This means their loved ones could face the harsh reality of lengthy, expensive probate processes after losing up to 8% of the estate's value in fees. Oscar Basquez is the founder of EstatePrepcom and he specializes in helping families avoid these unnecessary burdens by creating living trusts and other essential legal documents. Oscar brings practical insights, real-life examples and a clear message Estate planning isn't just for the wealthy. It's for anyone who wants to protect their home, assets and family. You'll discover how a simple step like creating a living trust can save time, money and stress, ensuring your legacy is passed down without complications. And if you listen until the end of the show, you'll see how you can receive an exclusive discount code for estate planning services. This is an episode that you can't afford to miss. Here's our conversation. Welcome, oscar. Thanks for being on the show. You know what?

Oscar:

Thank you so much, dr. Angelica and Casey, for allowing me Cassie, sorry, I'm dyslexic and for allowing me to be on your podcast and sharing in my crusade of bringing awareness to estate planning. Thank you for that.

Dr. T:

Yeah, no, I really appreciate it. You reaching out and the topics that you described were really ideal for our community and would be very informative. So tell me what you're. You are the founder of estate doc prep. What exactly is estate planning? Because some people make me that word and they think, oh, I don't have any state, I don't have lots of assets, so I don't need it. So what is estate planning?

Oscar:

I'll tell you what. That's one of the biggest misconceptions that you got to be wealthy Cause I think we're all rich in our heart, right, cause rich has nothing to be with that. But I think even when you're happy emotionally is when you're wealthy. But estate planning is a plan, because every government, every state in the land, which is our government, has a plan for us on what happens to our things when we die, and they call that an estate. And so everybody has an estate. It's just a matter of how big the estate is. A lot of people have some of us that sacrificed. We have retirement plans, we have real estate, we have cars, we have jewelry, we have things that sometimes have bigger value or more value than monetization value, but it has a value and that's all what's considered an estate, everything. And people would say can you break it down? I say the simplest way that I can break down an estate is everything that you, it's everything you own that you can't take with you when you pass. Okay, that's pretty much everything. Yeah, that makes it simple.

Dr. T:

Okay, so I'm curious how did you get into this business?

Oscar:

Oh, I'll tell you, I'm a serial entrepreneur. I've been in the real estate business for over 28 years and I've been helping homeowners and homeowners protect their assets. Because one of the things, one of the most horrible stories that we get as real estate professionals is when they get one of your customer's kids come and say, hey, mom died. But the attorney said I have to sell the house to pay him to go to probate. And then you have to sit there and explain to them that, because they didn't have an estate plan, that the government already has a plan for all the things that we own when we die and they're like what do you mean? What? That's mom's house, that's our house. What do you mean? I have to sell it.

Oscar:

So what happened is I started to refer them to state planning attorneys and 10 years ago, 15 years ago, an estate plan, a comprehensive estate plan, was $600. And about three, four or five years ago it went from $600 to 3000 to 5000. Now it's anywhere from four thousand to ten thousand to get a comprehensive estate plan done for your estate. And then I started to deal with attorneys and then attorneys started to get backlogged. They were taking longer and longer to accomplish the estate plan and complete it. So I always I took the guys out and said, hey, man, help me understand why it's taking so long. And they said what's the high demand? Oscar, and because the probate costs in California. I'm in the state of California and probate costs Now it starts off at 26 to $50,000. That's where it starts and then it can go up. And I said, wow, that's amazing. And he goes yeah, so that's why our fees are like 10% of that. So you figure, if you knew for sure you were one going to die and two, you knew for sure that the estate plan was going to save you, you're going to pay 10% of the taxes now versus later. People buy it just because of the economics.

Oscar:

And then I said break it down for me. Is there a way that? How I can do it? He goes look, the easiest way is understanding what an estate plan is In a nutshell.

Oscar:

When he broke it down, it hit like an aha moment for me because he says an estate plan, an AKA living trust, is a contract between you, which is the trustee, and your kids or your loved ones, and it's called the contract because the courts help you enforce it. That's why it's called the contract so, but basically it's the instructions you leave your loved ones when you pass. And I said, so what are the limitations? He goes? The limitations are only is limited to the imagination and the instructions you're willing to give. And I was like, wow, that's amazing, he goes, so every goes.

Oscar:

Yeah, every state has a legal provision that needs to be in there so the living trust is recognized in that state. So every state has a small paragraph legal provision that needs to be in there or legal provisions. If you're in California, new York and Florida, they have many provisions, not just one, because those states they just like to tax us. Then we got in. So then I took a lot of the resources that my wife and I had and we started this software business and so basically, in a nutshell, estateprep is a software company that makes estate planning affordable to the masses, okay, okay, because it's a fraction of the cost and you could do it on your own time.

Oscar:

And we do things completely different than everybody else. We're not just a software company. We actually work with you, we actually take the time, we're on the phone with you or on a Zoom and explaining it in layman's terms what these legal provisions mean and how to be able to protect the ones that you love, right, because, in all essence, we can't take anything with us. We work for the loved ones that we have. We work for others, right. That's what I speak for myself. That's what motivates me is being able to give my family and my loved ones the life that most people can dream of, or at least I think so.

Dr. T:

But that's how we got involved with it Okay. So it sounds a little bit like legal zone, but more person or human interaction.

Oscar:

Yes, that is, I would say, if that was probably. That is one of our biggest competitor, and the only difference between them and us is that we have the personal touch and we do things at fraction of a cost. But we also like we point out stuff that most people don't think of, and I'll give you an example. One of the things that we point out a lot of is when you go into your burial plan, in your living trust, it says, hey, where do you want to get buried? I want to get buried in this state, this is where I want to, or this is what I want. And one of the things that we do is we have financial services that we add on. And one of the things that we do is we add on burial policies and we help them pay for a burial policy so their loved ones don't have to accumulate that cost or have the burden of that cost.

Oscar:

And we always say, hey, I go give you an example in our culture, in our Hispanic culture, we all come to this country thinking that we're going to come make a fortune and then go back. Right, but that doesn't happen because we forgot that there's a cost of living here. Right, and it's expensive, but we all have the dream, or a lot of our people that come from Mexico want to be buried at home and they say you know what? I want to be buried. I want to go back with my grandparents, my ancestors, I want to be buried in my land. That's my belief, that's what I want and to not carry that burden to their family. They get a burial policy that takes their body to the land or the promised land where they want to be buried.

Dr. T:

It's things to think about it and it's honestly really selfish for people to not plan because they don't want to. They're like, oh, I don't want to think about dying or that that's going to be a curse or whatever. But you are doing a lot of harm for people, for your loved ones, who you leave behind or want to carry out your wishes Like. I know mom would want this, I know dad would want this, but I now have to come up with all this money to take care of their wishes. It's really important to have that information out there.

Oscar:

Yeah, and I always tell them there's two options, right. One is you get a burial policy. Or two, pick out your picture for the GoFundMe page, Right? And I always say people that do the GoFundMe, it's not that they did it's. I think they didn't get a burial policy because they didn't know it existed. Because how do you not be in your 40s, 50s or get up in the age and not realize that you know what I mean. When you're in your 30s, you're never going to die. I mean you're going. But when you get up higher up, you go into the realization that, hey, you know what my days are numbered. I'm going to take it back to it. I want to do these things. The quality of time is so much more precious than any amount of dollar that you have.

Dr. T:

because of that, I'm going to back up, you said a word that I think a lot of people may not be that familiar with. They may have heard about it, but not know what it is Probate, what is that?

Oscar:

Oh, wow, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. If you guys are listening right now, grab a pen and paper, because what I'm about to tell you it's going to surprise you, it's going to wow you and, more than anything, if you are a homeowner or you meet the threshold requirement, it's going to scare you because I think it penalizes the middle class. But probate, in essence, is where the government makes the decisions on what happens to your assets when you die. So I always tell people this Google what is the threshold to avoid to go to probate? In California? The answer is 184.5. Okay, in Indiana it's 50. Oh, wow. And in Colorado it's 60. In Utah it's 100. Those are the ones I have memorized and I could. I just did those trusts not too long ago. So I always ask people this, and the reason for that is because the cost of probate is extremely expensive and I'll give you an example. In California, the minimum it starts off if you own a house. If you own a house in California, you're automatically get. It's automatically worth more than 150184,000. Even there's homes in Indiana now that are worth more than $50,000.

Oscar:

I had a lady that I just helped with one of the clients. She got referred to us. She has a retirement. She goes oh, my house is probably worth like $60,000. We did a sight unseen appraisal, because I'm in the business. It was worth $180,000. She goes oh my God, some guy just offered me 90. I was almost going to sell it. Oh wow, and I said there you go. Now you know, right Now you know that it's worth a lot more than you anticipated. So one you got to meet the threshold and then you have to go to probate.

Oscar:

And what happens in probate is the following Four things that are really scary in probate. One is you're going to get paid a tremendous amount of attorney fees, court fees, and the reason why? Because it has to be public. That means all your assets become public. Anything that has value, it becomes public. And here's what they say in the public notices. They say if Oscar owes you money, come forward, because he has this much in assets and he has this much money, come forward One. Two If you think that you deserve, or that you're a beneficiary, or you are a loved one that feels that you have a right to some of his assets of an inheritance, come forward. And then the court then decides on what happens to your assets and it describes it.

Oscar:

Now, I've never had a court or heard of a case anywhere like in the news or anything where the court said, oh, these are your loved ones, oh, you know what, we're not going to give it to them, we're going to give it to somebody you don't know. Right, we don't. I've never heard that. I I think at the end our government still has a little bit of humanity in them and they're not taking our stuff and they're giving it to our loved ones. But it doesn't avoid the process of the expense and the imputation of the non-privacy of going to the court. So the third thing is that they make their decision.

Oscar:

The fourth thing is that, probate there's a delay for you to get your assets and that delay in California is anywhere from eight. It's six to 24 months, takes six months just to get a hearing. Imagine that you have a nice little nest egg. You're a beneficiary, you're a beneficiary. You have a beneficiary right on your retirement account and it exceeds the threshold. The court still has to approve that money goes to her or him or your loved ones. It doesn't just pass Now. They'll get it. Some banks, even if there's a beneficiary, if it exceeds that threshold, if you have more than $184,000 or $185,000. In California, I've heard of banks where they freeze your account and you get no access until you go to probate. Now you're forced to pay the attorney and, granted, I don't think that $184,000 estate is going to cost you the same as a $700,000 house, but so I always tell people to avoid that.

Oscar:

Those are the things that probate what happens to your stuff and you and your loved ones when you pass. So, if you love, if I had cause I deal a lot with educators and she said damn kids, they don't even come visit me. I'm going to make them go to probate. But she said it in a laughing way. And she goes. No, she goes, oscar, I love my kids and they're all busy, they're all grown up. I remember that. I remember doing the same thing to my mother. I grew up and I was always busy, never went going to visit her. My mother always wanted to be there, right, but I think all of our mothers are like that. So that's the things that you want to avoid and that's the number one reason. The number one reason, the number one reason. I think it should be the number four reason, but it's the number one reason why people get an estate plan is to avoid probate if you meet the threshold.

Dr. T:

Okay. So let me make sure I'm clear If I live in California and I don't have a living revocable trust, that's right. Even if I list, like on my bank account and on my 401k, if I list my spouse as the beneficiary, I will still go to probate if my assets exceed the 184,500.

Oscar:

That's going to determine on the person that's managing the account If they just give it to you. They don't, and some of them, it all depends on who that is. Now, by law you shouldn't have to because you already got listed as the beneficiary. You already got listed as the beneficiary, but some banks just make you go through that extra hoop. They say you know what? It's a large sum of money. We want to make sure that everything's okay, Right?

Dr. T:

I and, but you definitely go into probate if you don't have anyone listed as a beneficiary. That is a guarantee. Okay, and again, assets are going to include an old car and whatever money you have in the bank, either in regular checking savings or 401k Roth IRA, all those things.

Oscar:

Yes, that is correct, those are total assets, okay.

Dr. T:

Now, so that makes sense to me. What is the difference between a living revocable trust and a will? Do you need both? Okay, now, so that makes sense to me. What is the difference between a living?

Oscar:

revocable trust and a will. Do you need both? Okay, the living trust comes with a protection of a will with it. However, a will is a two-page document that says I love you, I leave you everything, but it doesn't prevent you from going to probate. It's the instructions the judge uses to be able to weigh on his decision. Okay, a living trust is the only document that prevents you from going to probate. And the living trust document is anywhere from about 120 to about 180 pages because of all the legal provisions and we dig deep, you dig deep, on your instructions.

Oscar:

So it's there is no doubt where mom wanted to be buried, because mom will write it down. She does no doubt. If she wants to be cremated, there's no doubt on what kind of services she wanted. Mom or dad or loved ones or siblings right, because they have that in their trust. There is no doubt on what you have and that's the biggest difference between a trust and will not prevent you from going to probate. And it's a simple I always say that document to love you, to love you document that the courts use to help make their decision on disbursements, but they it just a document that they reference. They don't follow it, they don't have to follow it because it's not a legal document and it can be challenged. If anybody challenges it, the first thing they do is they just throw it out of court. That's the biggest difference.

Dr. T:

Okay, and so the living revocable trust. Are they different? Living trusts versus living revocable trusts? That's a term I've always heard.

Oscar:

No different living tracts versus literally revocable tracts. That's a term I've always heard. No, a living revocable trust means that you can make changes until you're alive Irrevocable. I'll give an example. Let's just say you had a loved one and you wanted to make sure you put assets in that they can never take out. You want to create legacy wealth, right, or generational wealth. That means you put money in and they can only take out portions of it according to your instructions. They can't move the entire asset. Irrevocable. Okay, irrevocable living trust becomes irrevocable once you die. So you and your partner or your spouse cannot make changes once one of you dies, or you can if depending on the instructions that you choose. Okay, gotcha, that makes sense, but once you both die, it becomes irrevocable, your instructions stay and regardless of what you have in place.

Dr. T:

If you owe people money, they're getting that first, and then what's left is followed by the trust.

Oscar:

Here's the thing If when you put assets into the trust it's called funding, when you put assets into the trust owns the assets. You don't own it, so your debt dies with you. As long as you don't put the debt in the name of the trust, don't have to pay it Because you own. You control everything, but own nothing.

Dr. T:

Okay, you said something important that I actually was not clear on, because I have a living revocable trust that I have put like my 401k. Right At one point I put the beneficiary as a trust. You're saying don't do that.

Oscar:

Yes, you want that, yeah, and because then you give, now you give on your revocable trust. Now you could build legacy and say, okay, I'll give you an example, like if your 401k is in the wall street casino, that can lose money, gain money. You say, hey, you know what? I want to put it into a safe money retirement account that only accumulates money that doesn't lose money. And then you say that. And then you say then I want my loved ones to be able to draw a pension, and here's why you want to draw money from it for the rest of their life.

Oscar:

Because once it's like the hundred I always use the analogy of the a hundred dollar bill. When you have a hundred dollar bill, you go buy a Coke. You'll never see that a hundred dollar bill again until you go get another one. But once you break it, you, once you had the money in your hand, you could spend it. So then it's better to give them $20 bills, because you can give it to them five times over time and the money that's in the trust can compound over time. Right, and I always tell people go look up the story. What you know, double what a penny is when it doubles every day. That's once you understand that and I think it takes a while for us to get that we have to get to a certain age to comprehend. That's amazing what compounding does Right, okay.

Dr. T:

So if I don't put my home, the beneficiary, if I don't put my home, if I don't put the beneficiary as my trust, then instead I put it at if I don't leave a beneficiary. Is there a difference between not leaving a beneficiary on the trust versus leaving it as an individual, like leaving my wife as a beneficiary of the home?

Oscar:

Yeah, I'll tell you what happens. There's a tax basis. For example, let's just say you bought the house for conversation's sake. You bought the house at $100,000. And God gives you a long life, gives you guys a long life, and now you pass first, and now the house is worth $500,000. When you pass and it's in the living trust, that becomes the new tax basis.

Oscar:

So she pays no taxes from the $100,000 to the $400,000. There's no money, and that is included rental property. So she pays no taxes from the $100,000 to the $400,000. Okay, there's no money, and that is included rental property. That includes investment property. So imagine you buy. That's why 99% of people that have grandma, grandpa or an aunt or an uncle in California they say yeah, you know what, Just sell the house and send me the money because it's going to be a tax-free, a windfall of money. Okay, and that's the instruction that you would need. So one is that if you don't have it in the trust, there's possible implications of tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and all kinds of different tax assessments. I'll give you an example. My mother left a house in the trust and that property it only pays $1,600 a year in property taxes, where in my house, I'm paying 30,000, almost $30,000 a year in taxes, right, which is that's almost that's 2,500 bucks in taxes, but we put up with it because we're still here in California.

Dr. T:

Okay, and so if I were to leave the home directly to my wife, even as a spouse? Okay, and so if I were to leave the home directly to my wife, and she was even as a spouse when I, if I, die, and her name is on it and not the trust, then she has to pay. She always could, oh, but she only has to pay if she sells it. She doesn't just have to pay, it's either whoever when she sells it.

Oscar:

When she sells it, then whoever you named as the second beneficiary or the second survivor of that asset, then they'll have to pay it gotcha. And then so if you leave it in and your trust, if you leave it in your trust, she can live there forever and then whoever lives for and then it becomes a new assessment when she died, because you guys would be on, you guys would should be, or depend on your partnership or your relationship. But if you guys are saying this is and here's the part of about a comprehensive living trust, it's mine, hers or ours. And when it's ours, then the next question is can they make changes to the trust when I'm gone? Right, if it's ours? In every traditional home they always say if my kids die before me, I don't want their spouse or their partner to get any of it, I want their grandkids to get it or I want it to be divided into their siblings. That's where that comprehensive living trust goes deeper in, and being able to lay it out, to know that all that ends. So that's what goes into the human element that we were talking about earlier that says, hey, you can sit down and do a living trust all the questions in about 35 to 45 minutes. But that's if you don't have, if you have all the answers or you just answer them quickly. But there's a human element. There's a human element to it that always spouses and partners always want to discuss about what you want to have happen and what it looks like for you, and then it's the human element of the conversation to be able to contribute to it and say, hey, this is what I want.

Oscar:

You know what about if you move? I'll give you an example. We had a couple in West Hollywood that he was came from a previous relationship, but he came with the house and he says, listen, I want my partner to stay in the house, for I want him to have what's called a life estate. I want him to stay and if he's and if he's ill, he will. I want him to rent the house and benefit from the income of the house and when he passes, then the kids from my previous relationship will then get the benefit of the sale of the house.

Oscar:

Until then, I want my spouse, my partner, my loved one that are with me for the rest of my life to be able to have what's called a life estate. Stay there forever, benefits forever, and if she's not doing well, she wants to. He or she what was him? Wants to rent it. I want the income to go 100% for them, and so they had. And it's like saying I want to take care of my partner forever, right, and he'll, until he's gone. And when that, and then when I'm gone, then when that happens, then my secondary loved ones get it. Because that's what? Because it's always your partner, right, your partner's first, then your kids, so it's got to be because they're the ones going to put up with you.

Dr. T:

I think about the queer community and some unique challenges that we might face. They never know what's going to happen with marriage, equality and things like that.

Oscar:

Estate planning is essential for our community because it's a must, and I'm going to tell you why. Because there's four major documents that protect you, as in your community. Four of them, and I get I'm not far from West LA, we have a very high population in West LA and everybody does well in in your community and you guys are always hard workers and we always it's like everybody else right In America we all work to make that. So one of the things, the documents, is what's called a healthcare directive. Okay, the healthcare directive is a mandatory for your spouse. You can get these, you can get these drawn up automatically, but you want to be able to get the healthcare directive right and that with the healthcare directive there's also comes what's called a HIPAA waiver that you want to give your partner, and the health care directive gives your partner the legal right to make any decisions about you, because nobody knows you, like your partner, like my wife I could start a sentence and my wife will finish it she always says, oh, you're leaving early today, today's Friday, she already knows. Oh, it's two o'clock, you're still here. What's wrong? So so that's the. Those are the first two documents. The third document is called a financial power of attorney. Now, because you're and depending on what state you're on. But this document, the financial power of attorney, gives your partner the right to be able to have access to your financial assets without you dying.

Oscar:

Let me give you an example. We had a couple that the husband was a truck driver, he got in an accident, he had a nice little nest egg in the 401k and she was a teacher. She took leave from her work to go be with him at the hospital. And he she called and says Oscar, you know what? I think I want to sell the house. But you know, because my husband's in the hospital and I want to be there and he's not doing good, what do I do? And I said look, you got to trust. You got a financial power of attorney. Go to his 401k, withdraw money, because he can withdraw money. You can withdraw money on his behalf because it's to benefit him, where you can get access to the money. You can live off of that until he, until one he gets better and comes home. So you don't have to sell the house. Because what are you going to do if you sell the house? What are you going to do when he comes home? We're going to take him. I'm stuck and we. So we took that, went to the 401k. He I'm stuck, and so we took that, went to the 401k. He goes I'm already. I'm only. I already called. They said I'm the beneficiary. I'm not actually, no, but what happens is it means, as a beneficiary, you can only take access to the money when you die.

Oscar:

When he died, as in power of attorney, you have access to the resources while he's alive to maintain the time and the emotional support that is priceless and she goes. You know what I want to go? Do that. I said there you go, you have the document. So one is the financial power of attorney, two is the HIPAA waiver, three is the health care directive and then you also have what's called a guardianship plan, which means when your spouse gets older or they get some type of disease or some type of mental or something happens where they become incapacitated, they're granting you full guardianship to them as an adult. Right, you can use this for children, but in the career committee it's better known as your partner's guardianship in case something happens to you. So it's not have no relationship, you have. No, you can't do, you can't make no. No, here it is, bro, here's my document. I have full rights. I'm bringing her home with me, right, and there is nothing that they can do about that. When that happens, when you have that full guardianship for you as an adult, and then you'll be able to do that, because when we get sick it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen in six months, so we don't have six months of warning. It happens like that and when that happens, if you don't have your documents in place, then it becomes a document that you can't even deal with, because now you have siblings and you have other family members that are questioning the integrity of the document.

Oscar:

Okay, okay With the living trust. When everything is signed, there's three people that are at the signing. Okay, it's the two trustees, which is count as one, and then you have the notary and then you have two witnesses. Okay, and the reason for that? It needs to be beyond a reasonable doubt that you executed that document that way. The judge gets it. Somebody files a claim, they look at it and they throw it out. Bro, no, this is what she wanted. You ain't getting nothing. There is no dispute of what happens to her things. She can go deal with the living trust, whatever the trust says. If things happen separately and there's some finagling with financial.

Oscar:

It's a different situation and I'm not giving legal advice. I'm just telling you situations that I have seen happen and how trust are built and the power of them that they have to be able to protect. And I think that one is. The second reason is tax basis. The third reason is because of the detailed instructions to build legacy. And the fourth reason shouldn't be the number one reason is to leave peace of mind to your loved ones.

Oscar:

Be the number one reason is to leave peace of mind to your loved ones and knowing that you, that one, they're taken care of and two, there is no debate with them and the other parts of the family that's going to debate on what's going to happen to you and that you have full power and that's and that right there is and I would say you want. There was five of us. We had a small debate but at the end some of us, we just said you know what? Let's just do what we, everybody thinks is right, let's do that. Took a couple, took a little bit longer anticipated, but we got through the process because mom said you guys all have to from five different. We all grew up in the same house, but we went five different roads in Langdon, so it happens.

Dr. T:

So I'm going to give you, we'll give you a couple of scenarios and you tell us which document addresses that. One that immediately comes to mind is my partner is transgender not in real life, but my partner is transgender. And they pass, and whether we're married, we're not. Let's say we're not whether we're married or not, but let's just say we're not married. They pass away. Their parents say no, I'm going to bury this person as under their dead name I'm going to bury them as they were born male, so I'm going to bury them under their male name and not the name that they've transitioned to, and refer to that person as he, him, instead of she, her, in the eulogy and things like that. What document would say would my partner, who's transgender, give to me as their partner to say, no, it doesn't matter what your parents say, this is what I want and I'm going to make sure that I enforce that, so that they're honored upon death.

Oscar:

It's part of your living trust. It's part of your living trust and it's called the end of life instructions. Okay, could you assign somebody in your living trust? It's called the executor. If it's your partner, you call him a, call him or her a trustee. Okay, so your living trust does that, because I can see how that could be an issue in any situation like that. Right, that that's man. That's like the worst thing, that's like living a nightmare right there. Yeah, no, what do you mean? You're going to do that? I don't care what you say. Well, no, I get it. No, but you put that into your living trust and that becomes watch, that becomes the legal contract that the courts enforce. Okay, and that's why writing out those end of life instructions is so important. That's why that's the human element that takes time Write that out.

Oscar:

And I think that when people one of the most comments I hear after they get the signing ceremony I get you know what? Because a lot of people come to us to have a living trust and they get what's called a restatement, because the cost of the living trust of a restatement most attorneys charge the same as creating it right. So with our software you get a lifetime access for one-time fee and you can make as many changes as you want. And I always tell people look one, protect your assets, and then you and your spouse take a weekend, take a day, take as much time as you want, and then you go back and make as many changes and as detailed as you want it, and when they get done with it they're like oh my God, oscar, you know what? We just added this. We added that we're talking about this. What has other people done? Because the only thing that we can bring we're not attorneys, we don't prepare documents and we don't but one thing that we have we've helped hundreds and hundreds of people create now probably thousands. Now all of us and all the agents help them with stories about how they created Living Trust right and the instructions. I've seen some instructions.

Oscar:

There was two that I can think of that were very memorable. There were queer ones, but they were memorable of one, of a special needs child, and one of the things that they did is, every year since she was the child she was now 22 at the time, but since she was 10 they would do a month, a yearly trip to an amusement park, and so they put funds away so they can have that and they could go into the amusement park. So that way when she passed she had those assets one. The second one that was an aha moment for me was the where they had the mother had one son, only had one child, but he had, uh, abused substance and abuse, and she put on the provision that he could not get all the money one at once and she had to get a percentage of the total asset, of a total that would get an interest, so it would last him forever. But he had to take a drug test and an alcohol hair test every 30 days and if he was dirty you couldn't get any money.

Oscar:

Cause, he said and I said get any money. Because he said, and I said Jackson, I said that's a little aggressive he goes, you know what, oscar, he ain't going to be high or drunk on my money as long as whether I'm alive or dead, exactly. And you even said it's what I want to have happen, that's what I want to have happen. I said then you write it down, right, but those are like provisions that you go, wow, right, that's a deep thought to saying, hey, that's being real. I think of knowing this is who I have as a child, exactly, and I want to protect them from that, from themselves. Yeah, because some of us need that. Wow, but those are that doctor. You got another scenario for me.

Dr. T:

I think I know where this would be covered under. But just having someone who is not your spouse in the hospital and here it's come. They don't honor your relationship, same-sex relationship. They don't honor your relationship and they're like, okay, this is my child's incapacitated now. So now I'm going to tell the doctors that this person is not actually family and they cannot come here. Is that going to be the healthcare directive or guardianship plan.

Oscar:

That's going to be with the living trust, with the healthcare directive. So the living trust and the healthcare directive. But you need the living trust to have the legal provisions to make the health care directive even stronger than just something. Because here's what happens If the living trust, the health care directive, the power of attorney and everything else got signed at one time, then it becomes bulletproof and uncontestable because they're going to contest it. They're not. They're going to fight you to the nail. No, I don't. Hey, listen, with all due respect, they're not. They're going to fight you to the nail. No, I don't. Hey, listen, with all due respect, I have, this is her wishes. And the doctor's going to say listen, you guys just need to have rotation time. You need to do what you got to do, which is a man. These are tough situations. You think about that and that's. That's real.

Dr. T:

Yeah, they're unique to our community and they're ones I've heard before, and just think about how unfair things can be when people don't respect and don't have dignity for their loved ones because of their own personal beliefs. It's ridiculous.

Cassy:

And a scenario like this so what if I say something to a woman? Right, but in a scenario where, if one of us has a child and the other person is on there as the beneficiary, or something happened to that person, and then the family wants to say, okay, but she has a child, so it shouldn't go to you.

Oscar:

How does that work? No, that's part of the guardianship plan. Okay, you name her, you name your partner in your trust and then you name your child. Because one of the questions is do you have any children from a previous relationship? Yes, are they under the age of 18? Yes, great, who do you want to have? My child, my trustee, my partner, my loved one. There is no debate, there is no question of what happens with that child, and that in itself is worth, because here's the thing what happens to a child, not only the emotional distress that goes through that, the base, but when they go into social services, that's like child jail, that's, that's like the worst thing, trauma that you could. Those are the things that you never forget. You can say you forget, but down deep inside you don't forget. That's the kind of stuff that when somebody was like really mean, you go like ah, yeah, I forgot that, I'm over that, but down deep inside you remember. You remember that.

Dr. T:

Lydia, yeah, I remember First pass.

Oscar:

I'm happy to, yeah, but no. So the living trust. Now remember, can these documents be used? Yes, but in your guys' position you need to have it bulletproof and that means it needs to be part of your trust, right, because the court's going to say wait a minute, there is no doubt, because they went through this entire process of creating living trust, there is no doubt. And then that's where you protect it.

Oscar:

And I never even thought of that being a market, of that being unique, that situation, because man I that's, I would say, peace of mind has no price and preparedness and being able to leave your loved ones with what they plan in place, because that's basically an estate plan is, it's a plan for your end of your life and what happens when you're gone. And I think that by listening to those scenarios, I never even really thought about how deep and how deep that goes. I've heard some ugly stories and I have two, I have three, I have two from my wife's side and three from my that have their own beliefs, but we always, I always deal and I say listen, I love you no matter what, I don't care what your dad says, but you're always welcome here. That my, my compadre, I said. Why are you having them over there? You know what? I don't. That's your belief, bro. I don't believe. I don't tell you what god to believe in. I'll tell you what to do. I don't do anything like that, but that's it. But I see how that discrimination is. It's not even it's ugly, it's not. That's the only word that I can describe the discrimination that that can. You can prevent it, though, from the family.

Oscar:

What if you have the right document, legal provisions in place, can you charge for your service? Okay, let me tell you I got three gifts that I'm gonna give you today. I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you. Uh, the first one that I'm gonna give you give you is called an artificial intelligence customer service line, where you can call this customer line and ask any questions. She's not there to pressure you. We call her Lisa. It's artificial intelligence. She's there. At the end of the call she'll ask any more questions. Would you like to speak to a human or set up an appointment? If not, she'll say thank you and she'll hang up. That's 805-909-4689. That's the phone number.

Oscar:

Now, the second gift that I want to give you is called a Comprehensive Estate Planning Guide, and the reason why I created this guide it's about 30 pages long now is because there's a human element. There's questions on there that get asked and that takes time and I would say full disclosure. If you can answer all these questions, it doesn't mean you have an estate plan in place. That just means that you're prepared to fill it out in 45 minutes. But these are those questions now and that goes to estateprep forward slash guide. It's a free guide about 31 pages and you're going to notice a lot in that guide.

Oscar:

It has space one, two and three. So it's one, two and three. Who do you want first? Who do you want second? Who do you want third? Even though you could make changes to it anytime you want, I always tell people three because life gets in the way Before you know. It'll be 10, 15, 20 years and if someone outlives you or precedes you or whatever, who's the next person that really understands what you want? That's and that goes with that, and then the last one one second.

Dr. T:

You said it's a state prepcom forward slash guide.

Oscar:

Yes, ma'am all right and that, and I'll send you, I send you some, I'll send you the links so you guys can publish them and they're on, and they're on the chat that we have. Okay, and then the last one is I have a discount code for the first 10 customers. Whether first 10 people that want to protect their families get an estate plan is you can go to estateprep purchase and go to where it says you buy. You can use the discount code QUEER Q-U-E-E-R and that will save you $1,000 off of a lifetime value of an estate plan. This means now attorneys charge $1,200 to $1,800 to get an update on the estate plan if they created it. If they didn't create it, they're going to want to charge you a whole new amount and charge you the full amount $4,000 to $6,000 or $8,000 to create it. They're going to want to charge you a whole new amount and charge you the full amount for the four to six thousand or eight thousand dollars to create it, and then they're going to charge you updates If they don't. With our software, you're going to get unlimited updates and it's a comprehensive living trust. Now, what makes us different is one simple fact we're on the phone with you at least three to four times during your estate process.

Oscar:

And I say that because once you do it, once you're going to say, oh, this is easy, I know where to find it. Boom. I'm going to add this I'm going to create this letter. We have unlimited funding letters. Most attorneys charge $250 to fund an asset in there. You can do it on their online. Unlimited letters for the rest of your life, okay, and then you'll be able to get. Now I have a large in our and I say our community, because our hispanics we're just we're we man, we multiply we, they run a lady. One lady said can I change the name? So I want to give this guardianship. She gave out guardianships. She put the guardianship to all of her kids and all the grandkids. She put them and gave them for christmas. Right, and she said here I'll be the guardian for your kid, just sign it, send it to me. I said, but she gave out those, so you have all the unlimited documents that you can prepare for you and your family.

Oscar:

So you could be able to do that and then every year, if you want, every year that you want to change is a small fee of 129 and that helps us pay for the attorneys for everybody that uses that state. For that year it's 129. That's it for the rest of your life and you have a vault and you have access to it. So I always say that for the first 10 people type in queer, get a discount. If you want a consultation, ask the AI to book a call with me. We'll talk. I don't give out legal advice. I don't prepare documents, but I can tell you I've prepared thousands and thousands. I've been involved with them in the sense over the last probably 20 years. I've done quite a bit of them and I think that I don't have the legal credentials, but what I do have is the experience of knowing all the families and the stories of what happens, and sometimes that brings a little bit more value than just getting a credential Right. Wow, great information, huh.

Dr. T:

It's so important. I realize that we're missing a couple of things. And we have the Living Rule, google Trust, we have the will, but we don't have the other things. We don't have the healthcare directive, the HIPAA waiver, the financial power attorney or the guardianship plan. So we need to add some things to our estate planning portfolio.

Oscar:

I always tell people you know what? It's too late for yesterday, tomorrow's not promised. The best time is today. Make it happen right, go do it now. And so 68% and this is why I'm on the crusade, because 68% of homeowners in America don't know that they need an estate planner they're going to go to probate 68. And I came to me and I said why is that? And I only come to the conclusion that is because they don't know. They don't know that it exists. And now in your community, I mean, what a great, I didn't realize. I'm literally like thinking wow, what a what something for most people to say. Now you know, you have an out. If you're listening to this, you have a way to protect your spouse, and that is prices. That's worth $1,400 all day long and twice on Sunday. Right, a hundred percent.

Dr. T:

Yeah, there are things that we have to think about that other people don't have to think about and yeah, thank you so much, Oscar, for this information and it's definitely invaluable Listeners. Again, I'll put everything in the show notes, but if you go on the website and you can use the discount code queer, that will save you a thousand dollars. It's only for the first 10 people, so don't wait.

Cassy:

10 people will hear this before you know it and will decide to act on it, so don't miss out on your discount. Thank you, oscar. This was some really good information that's definitely going to really help to bring some reassurance to the query community, especially in these uncertain times. So listen, dear, you have met Oscar Vasquez. He's the owner and founder of estateprepcom. Please get in line right away and, as Dr Thompson said, this is called Queer 10. People are going to jump in here real quick. This is an opportunity for you to prepare your family for what's to come. Thank you, oscar.

Oscar:

Thank you very much and God bless you. Girls, talk to you soon.