# Stuce Estate Planning — Complete Site Content This is the full plain-text version of stuce.co for AI models and crawlers. --- ## Homepage ### Headline Estate Planning Shouldn't Cost $5,000. Organize Everything Your Attorney Needs in 15 Minutes. ### What Stuce Does Stuce is a guided questionnaire that organizes your assets, beneficiaries, trustees, and wishes into an attorney-ready estate planning package. Instead of spending hours in expensive consultations explaining your situation, you hand your attorney a complete brief. They draft the documents. You save thousands. ### The Problem Stuce Solves Traditional estate planning is broken: - Attorneys charge $300-$500/hour for consultations where they ask the same questions every time - Most people spend 3-5 hours in meetings just explaining their family, assets, and wishes - The average estate plan costs $2,000-$10,000 — so 60% of Americans skip it entirely - Without an estate plan, the state decides who gets your assets, who raises your children, and who makes your medical decisions ### How It Works 1. Answer guided questions — 50 questions covering personal info, family, assets, beneficiaries, trustees, executors, guardians, and healthcare wishes (~15 minutes) 2. Stuce organizes everything — your answers are structured into a comprehensive estate planning brief with all the information an attorney needs 3. Export or connect with an attorney — download your attorney-ready PDF package or connect with a vetted professional from our network 4. Save thousands — your attorney uses the brief to draft documents in a fraction of the usual time, cutting your costs by 40-60% ### Who Uses Stuce - Individuals and couples starting their first estate plan - Parents who need guardian designations for minor children - Homeowners who want to avoid probate through a living trust - People with retirement accounts, life insurance, or investments that need beneficiary updates - Anyone updating their estate plan after marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or property purchase - Adult children helping aging parents organize their affairs ### Trust and Security - AES-256 encryption for all data at rest - TLS 1.3 encryption for all data in transit - Row-level security policies in database - SSN and sensitive fields get additional encryption layers - SOC 2 compliant data handling practices - Your data is never sold or shared with third parties - You own your data — export or delete at any time --- ## Pricing ### Essential Plan — $12/month or $120/year Best for individuals who want to organize their estate planning information. - Full guided questionnaire (50 questions) - Basic recommendations based on your situation - Secure file and document storage - Manual asset entry and tracking - Email support - Progress saved across devices ### Complete Plan — $30/month or $300/year (Most Popular) Best for individuals and couples ready to hand off to an attorney. - Everything in Essential, plus: - Bank and financial account connections for automatic asset import - Attorney-ready PDF export with complete estate planning brief - Unlimited secure document storage - Priority support - Professional attorney network access ### Family Legacy Plan — $60/month or $600/year Best for families who want to manage estate planning together. - Everything in Complete, plus: - Multi-user access for up to 6 family members - View and edit permission controls - Professional review access for attorneys and advisors - Fiduciary routing and assignment - Annual review reminders and updates --- ## Services ### Living Trust Preparation A revocable living trust lets you transfer assets to your beneficiaries without going through probate. Stuce guides you through the entire process: choosing trustees, listing assets, designating beneficiaries, and preparing funding instructions. Your attorney uses the completed brief to draft the trust document. ### Will Preparation Even with a living trust, you need a pour-over will to catch any assets not transferred to the trust. Stuce helps you designate an executor, specify bequests, name guardians for minor children, and document any special instructions. ### Power of Attorney A durable power of attorney designates someone to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Stuce helps you choose your agent, define the scope of their authority, and specify when the power takes effect. ### Healthcare Directive Also called a living will or advance healthcare directive, this document specifies your medical treatment preferences if you can't communicate them yourself. Stuce walks you through end-of-life care preferences, organ donation wishes, and healthcare agent designation. ### Beneficiary Designations Many assets pass outside of your will or trust through beneficiary designations — retirement accounts, life insurance, bank accounts. Stuce helps you review and organize all beneficiary designations in one place to prevent conflicts with your estate plan. ### Guardian Nominations If you have minor children, naming a guardian is the most important part of your estate plan. Stuce helps you think through primary and backup guardians, document your reasoning, and create detailed care instructions. --- ## State-Specific Guides Stuce provides state-specific guidance because estate planning laws vary significantly by state: ### California - Community property state — assets acquired during marriage are owned 50/50 - No state estate tax, but federal estate tax applies to estates over $13.61 million - Living trusts are especially valuable in California due to high property values and expensive probate (statutory fees based on gross estate value) - Prop 19 affects property tax reassessment for inherited properties ### Texas - Community property state - No state estate or inheritance tax - Independent administration of estates available (simplified probate) - Homestead exemption protections are strong ### Florida - No state estate or inheritance tax - Homestead property has constitutional protections — cannot be devised away from spouse - Elective share rules protect surviving spouses - Living trusts avoid probate which is public record in Florida ### New York - Separate property state (equitable distribution) - State estate tax with $6.94 million exemption (cliff — lose entire exemption if estate exceeds 105% of threshold) - Elective share of 1/3 of augmented estate for surviving spouse - Probate can be lengthy and expensive in NYC ### Washington - Community property state - State estate tax with $2.193 million exemption (one of the lowest in the US) - No state inheritance tax - Living trusts particularly valuable due to relatively low estate tax threshold ### Colorado - Separate property state (equitable distribution) - No state estate or inheritance tax - Adopted Uniform Probate Code — relatively streamlined probate process - Transfer-on-death deeds available for real property --- ## Estate Planning Question Pages ### Do I need a living trust in California? URL: https://stuce.co/questions/do-i-need-a-living-trust-in-california Short answer: You may need a living trust in California if you own real estate, want to avoid probate, want privacy, have minor children, have blended-family concerns, or want a smoother incapacity plan. A trust is not automatic for everyone, but it is worth discussing with an attorney when your estate has property, complexity, or people who depend on you. ### What documents do I need for an estate plan? URL: https://stuce.co/questions/what-documents-do-i-need-for-an-estate-plan Short answer: Most estate plans discuss a will, possibly a revocable living trust, durable financial power of attorney, advance healthcare directive, HIPAA authorization, beneficiary designations, and written instructions for important people and assets. ### How do I avoid probate in California? URL: https://stuce.co/questions/how-do-i-avoid-probate-in-california Short answer: Common ways to reduce or avoid probate in California include a properly funded living trust, beneficiary designations, payable-on-death or transfer-on-death planning where appropriate, and careful coordination of how assets are titled. An attorney should confirm which tools fit your assets and family. ### Will vs. living trust: which is better? URL: https://stuce.co/questions/will-vs-living-trust-which-is-better Short answer: A will and a living trust do different jobs. A will can name guardians and direct assets that pass through probate. A living trust can manage funded assets during life, incapacity, and after death, often with more privacy. Many families use both. ### What should I bring to an estate planning attorney? URL: https://stuce.co/questions/what-should-i-bring-to-an-estate-planning-attorney Short answer: Bring family information, asset and debt lists, current beneficiary designations, existing estate documents, real estate details, business interests, names for decision makers, and notes about who should inherit or be protected. --- ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do I need an attorney to use Stuce? No. Stuce organizes your estate planning information — you don't need an attorney to complete the questionnaire. However, we strongly recommend working with an attorney to draft and execute your legal documents. Stuce's attorney-ready export makes this process faster and more affordable. ### How much does estate planning typically cost without Stuce? A basic will costs $500-$1,500 through an attorney. A living trust package runs $2,000-$5,000 for individuals, $3,000-$7,000 for couples. Complex estates can exceed $10,000. Stuce reduces these costs by eliminating most of the information-gathering consultation time. ### What's the difference between a will and a living trust? A will goes through probate (a public court process that can take 6-18 months). A living trust avoids probate entirely — assets transfer privately and immediately to your beneficiaries. Most estate planning attorneys recommend a living trust for anyone who owns real property. ### Can I update my estate plan after I create it? Yes. Life changes — marriage, divorce, birth of a child, new property, death of a beneficiary — all require estate plan updates. Stuce saves your information so you can update your brief anytime and generate a new attorney-ready package. ### Is Stuce a substitute for an attorney? No. Stuce is an organization and preparation tool. We help you gather and structure all the information an attorney needs, but the actual legal documents (trusts, wills, powers of attorney) should be drafted, reviewed, and executed by a licensed attorney in your state. ### What if I already have an estate plan? Stuce is great for updates. Enter your current information, make changes, and export a new attorney-ready brief. Your attorney can review what changed and update your documents accordingly — much faster than starting from scratch. ### How is my data protected? AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, row-level database security, additional encryption for SSN and sensitive fields. We're SOC 2 compliant. Your data is never sold or shared. You can export or delete your data at any time. ### What states does Stuce support? All 50 US states. The questionnaire adapts to your state's specific laws. We currently offer detailed state-specific guides for California, Texas, Florida, New York, Washington, and Colorado, with more being added regularly. --- ## Contact - Website: https://stuce.co - Support: support@stuce.co