Your legacy iseverything that youstand for.
More than your money and assets, your legacy embodies your values, your history, and your hope for the futures of whom and what you love. You have a voice in what you leave behind: to your family of origin or chosen family, to your hometown or a community far away, to a cause close to your heart or a little bit of everything.
Let's secure it together.
AboutDuet
Founded by estate planning attorney Constance Liu, of Merryweather Law, Duet was inspired by decades of experience working with wealthy families and a drive to make estate planning more accessible to a broader volume of people. We truly believe that everybody deserves to have a lasting voice, and we are excited to provide a white glove service experience with estate planning with the convenience of a seamless, streamlined process.
Constance Liu, Founder of Plan with Duet Inc.
Planning is caring.
Estate planning is an act of love and security for your and your loved ones’ futures. Peace of mind for our clients comes when we follow through and act with a focus on well-being and compassion.
Create with consideration.
No two legacies are the same. Everyone deserves an estate plan that reflects the details of their beautifully complex and unique lives.
Simplicity is an art.
We’re here to make estate planning more efficient, accessible, and crystal clear — while surpassing standards in quality. Making complex processes simple is an art, not a shortcut.
Uplift each legacy.
Each of our clients is the center of their own future. We support them as they take lead — for trustors as they create their own trusts and estate plans, and for trust managers in executing with confidence.
Start your trust today.
Duet is now available for California residents. We're looking forward to assisting you with your trust!
FrequentlyAskedQuestions
A trust is a legal agreement where you designate a trust manager (called a “trustee” in legal terms) to protect and preserve the assets you transfer to the trust. You write the rules under the trust agreement on who gets to benefit from the assets owned by the trust (they are called the “beneficiaries” in legal terms) and you can also write the rules on “how” and “when” the trust manager should make distributions to the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries can be your children, charities, or anybody, really.
The most common type of trust that people set up is a “revocable trust.” The term “revocable” means the creator of the trust (you) can change the rules under the trust agreement as often as they wish while the creator is alive. You, as the creator, will be the trust manager (trustee) and the beneficiary during your lifetime, and you can transfer your assets in and out of the trust as you wish. As the creator, you would designate who will be the trust manager of the trust assets when you are “unavailable” (for example, if you are deceased, or if you are in the hospital and lack capacity to make financial decisions, or if you want to travel for a year and want to hand over management of your assets to a trusted person). The creator also writes the rules on who will benefit from the trust assets after the creator is deceased and how and when the trust manager would make distributions of trust assets to the beneficiaries.
A revocable trust is right for those who want to ensure that their funds will continue to be available to support their loved ones after their death. Without a trust in place, your loved ones would go through the probate court system in order to gain access to your assets. A trust is also right for those who value privacy, since the probate court route would mean your financial assets will be a part of public records. Finally, a trust is also right if your beneficiaries are not yet mature enough to handle the gift you are leaving them at your death and you want to have a trusted person manage the gift for their benefit (according to the rules you’ve written) for a period of time.
This is a common misconception, but the truth is, trusts can be a valuable tool for people with a wide range of assets. While you might not be creating a trust to make sure your ultra-luxe yacht collection or series of brownstones is kept safe, you can definitely benefit from a trust if you’d like to have a say over what happens to your assets after you’re gone, and especially if you want to set up a buffer that makes life easier for your beneficiaries.
Duet is NOT a law firm. We have to be very clear about that, because it would be unethical for us to claim otherwise. We do, however, hire licensed lawyers from Merryweather Law PC, which is a law firm, to build the legal documents of your trust. For more information on this, click here.
To save your trust manager and beneficiaries from having to go through probate court. Retitling your assets assigns ownership of those assets to the trust, which puts them under the legal protections of the trust. We know retitling assets can be a bit of a pain, but we’re here to help.
Duet provides both revocable and irrevocable trusts. Not sure what the difference is between a revocable and irrevocable trust? Check out this blog post.
Yes. Your trust is created and reviewed by licensed attorneys, and it is legally sound in California. That’s why we have you sign a separate client engagement with Merryweather Law P.C. if you opt for the Build phase – they’re the law firm we work with to create the legal documents that form your trust.
Merryweather Law PC is a law firm founded by Connie Liu; attorneys from Merryweather Law created all the products that are a part of Duet, and they do the legal work for all Duet packages. To find out more about Merryweather Law PC, click here.