Revocable "Living Trust"

A trust holds legal title to property. You as the “Settlor” hold legal title to the property in the trust. The settlor keeps all the benefits of the property placed into the trust. The terms of the revocable trust are established in a written agreement signed by the settlor and the trustee, and spell out what happens to the trust property during both the settlor’s life and following his or her death. Frequently, the settlor serves as his or her own trustee during the settlor’s lifetime. A "living trust" is a trust you create while you are alive it varies from a trust that is created at death under your will.

The main advantage to a living trust is property left through the trust does not have to be submitted to the probate court process and it is a private matter. Control of your assets in another reason. The living trust will speed the process of transferring all your assets and reduce the probability of litigation among your heirs. The probate process is the court-supervised process of paying your debts and distributing your property and is a public record available to everyone. The average probate drags on for months before the inheritors get anything. When you have a trust and die, your successor trustee (the person you appointed before your death) simply transfers ownership of property to the beneficiaries you named in the trust. To make the trust effective, you must fund your trust. To fund the trust all property to be distributed under its terms must be transferred into the name of the trust using a deed or other transfer documents.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you may want to consider a revocable living trust:

1. Do you want to avoid probate, its expense, and keep your estate a private matter.
2. Do you have childred or beneficiaries under the age of 25?
3. Do you have children with special needs that will never be able to financially support themselves?
4. Are you on bad terms with any of your heirs?
5. Are any family members physically ill?
6. Are you in a second or third marriage?
7. Do you have a financial interest in a business?
8. Is any family member bad at managing money?
9. Do you own real estate of any value in more than one state?

Does everyone need a living trust, NO. Living trusts do have a downside. Compared to wills, living trusts are more time consuming to establish, more expensive to create, involve more ongoing maintenance and are more trouble to modify. There are longer statute of limitations for a challenge to a trust.  A challenge to a will must be made within three months of its probate as compared to two years for a trust.