Question: I bought a home earlier this year and need to do some estate, will/trust planning. I have no idea where to get started or who to ask. I would prefer if they could speak English and understand the Japanese system. I am at 0 so any information would be appreciated.
Frugal Hive says:
Answer 1
If you have any assets abroad, you might consider using a lawyer who is familiar with international law. There is a list of lawyers who speak English on the American Embassy website. If you’re not American, you might ask your embassy for a referral.
You might consider hiring a lawyer close to your age, so as the years go by, you can continue to get advice from a perspective close to your own — this is true when selecting a financial advisor, too.
Answer 2
If you are talking about a home that you bought here in Japan, you could set up your will through the koushou yakuba. They will ask you about assets abroad, but only to determine how much to charge for their services for writing up the will. The more assets you have, the more they charge you for their services. You may want to think twice about how you handle that.
If you are talking about planning for assets abroad, and want to include both your Japan and US assets in one trust, you may want to go the international attorney route.
It may be easier and cheaper to have one trust for your US assets written by a US attorney (int’l or not) and one trust/will for your Japan assets written here by the local koushou yakuba.
If you have business going on abroad (at least in the US), for example, a rental property, and find you may need legal services from time to time, I would recommend joining PrePaid Legal Services. Their direct marketing agents sell the memberships, but just go through their corporate offices in Oklahoma.
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