A living trust is an estate planning tool. You may not know what it is, or how it works, since it’s not as commonly discussed as a last will and testament. But, it may be a very important tool that you can use to protect yourself and the people you love.
This guide explains some of the biggest benefits of making a living trust. If you decide you want to move forward with creating one after learning about all of the advantages a living trust can offer, you should reach out to the Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law at (916) 437-3500. You can work with a Sacramento estate planning lawyer who will help you decide if a living trust is the right tool to use in your legacy planning and who can help you to make an enforceable trust that accomplishes your goals.
Benefit: You can avoid probate
One of the biggest advantages a living trust offers is the ability to avoid probate. Probate is the process by which assets are transferred and your estate is settled if you create a will. It involves going to court. There are a lot of downsides to this process though. It can be expensive and very time consuming, often taking months.
Your loved ones will have to cope with legal proceedings at the same time as they are dealing with your death, and they are going to have to wait for their inheritance to come until the probate process is complete. This means they could be left without financial resources and without closure.
Probate also means that the details of your estate can become public record, which not everyone is comfortable with. And, there’s a chance someone could contest your will and your wishes for your legacy would not end up being respected.
For all of these reasons, taking steps to avoid probate can be a very smart move. And a living trust allows you to do that. Assets held in your trust can transfer through the trust administration process rather than the probate process. This is more private, less expensive, and a better option for surviving loved ones in most situations. In addition, while it is possible to challenge a trust, it’s often less likely this will be successful because the trust will have often been operational for a long time under your control before something happens to you and property begins to transfer to your successor trustees.
Benefit: You can be prepared for incapacity
A living trust also makes it easier to be prepared in case you become incapacitated. You can name a successor trustee when you create your living trust. That person will be able to take over the management of the trust assets if something should happen to you. It will be clear up front to you and everyone else who is supposed to manage this property, so there should be no question of the court having to appoint someone to do so.
You can select a successor trustee who you have absolute confidence in to manage your property just as you would in order to protect your hard-earned assets. This is good for your peace-of-mind and helps to ensure beneficiaries are able to get the maximum inheritance as quickly as possible.
Benefit: You can maintain control over assets
Finally, there’s another big benefit associated with having a living trust. You can create it without giving up control over the property that you are using to fund the trust. You can decide to be the sole beneficiary or have a co-beneficiary on your trust such as a spouse during your lifetime. You can also name residuary beneficiaries who will inherit after you are gone, but in the meantime, the trust assets will solely benefit you and any co-beneficiaries you designate. You can also choose to be the trustee who manages the assets until you become incapacitated or pass away and a successor trustee takes over. So you’ll still get to decide what to do with the trust assets.
Because the trust is a revocable one, you can also make changes to it whenever you need it or even decide to revoke the trust altogether. This is a big benefit compared with irrevocable trusts which require you to give up much more control over the property that you are transferring into them. Now, it also means you don’t get the same level of protection an irrevocable trust would provide — but, for many people, it’s worth the tradeoff to be able to continue to largely have control over the money and property held within the trust.
These are just three of a great many benefits that go go along with creating a living trust. You should talk with the Northern California Center for Estate Planning and Elder Law at (916) 437-3500 to speak with a Sacramento estate planning lawyer who can help you to decide if making a living trust makes sense and who can guide you through the trust creation process.
It’s often best to put a living trust in place early on before you become incapacitated or before something happens to you that makes it impossible to secure the type of legacy that you want to leave behind. So, reach out to an attorney today so you can get your trust documents created and ensure that you are making a legally valid trust that accomplishes all of your estate planning goals and enables you to take advantage of all the benefits a living trust provides.
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