Set Up A Living Trust

1. 5 Reasons Why People Set Up A Living Trust Estate planning is the process of creating a plan to pass your legacy and your assets on to your family in the most efficient way possible. A lot of people think estate planning is just planning for death. But, when we talk about comprehensive estate planning, we are also talking about planning for incapacity. That’s because it is very common for an individual to become incapacitated and unable to make medical and financial decisions on their own behalf prior to passing away. One of the most popular documents people use when estate planning is a revocable living trust because of the combination of flexibility and protection it provides. In this article, we will discuss some of the reasons why people set up a living trust. 1. 1. Efficiently Efficiently transfer your assets after your pass transfer your assets after your pass One of the major goals people have when they set up a living trust is to efficiently transfer their assets to their family members after they pass away. When you draft a living trust, you will name who you want to receive your money and property and how much they should receive. These people are known as your beneficiaries. Often times these are spouses, children, or grandchildren. Once you pass away, the person you name as your successor trustee will be responsible for making sure your beneficiaries receive your assets.

2. One of the benefits of a living trust is that this transfer of your assets is done in private. This differs from the more commonly known last will and testament. A last will and testament must go through the probate court before your assets can be transferred which can seriously delay the process. This leads to the second reason people set up a living trust… 2. 2. Set up a living trust to avoid probate court Set up a living trust to avoid probate court If you don’t have a living trust in place when you pass away, your family will have to go through probate court. It’s a common misconception that a will avoids probate court. Unfortunately, this is not true. Probate is a public process that your will and assets must go through before your assets can be distributed to your loved ones. This can be a long, stressful, and expensive process for your family to go through during a time of mourning. Additionally, if your will gets contested, this could extend the process and increase the expense if your family needs to hire an attorney to help them fight in court. However, all of this is avoidable with some simple planning ahead of time. A lot of people wish to avoid putting their families through probate so they set up a living trust instead of a will. 3. 3. Keep Keep financial matters private financial matters private

3. This is related to probate avoidance, so it’s natural that we address it next. As we stated in the previous section, probate is public, which means your will and your assets become public as well. For a lot of people, this is not ideal for a variety of different reasons. If you would like to keep your assets private, you may want to set up a living trust. That’s because with a trust, the transfer of your assets happens privately, often in a matter of days or weeks instead of months, or potentially years depending on what happens in probate court. The only people who are entitled to know the contents of the trust are the people named in it, such as your successor trustee and beneficiaries. 4. 4. Plan for incapacity Plan for incapacity As we stated earlier, comprehensive estate planning includes putting a plan together to take care of your family and assets in case you become incapacitated and can’t make decisions on your own behalf. A living trust is one of the documents that can help secure your assets if you become incapacitated because your successor trustee is able to step in and manage your trust if anything should happen to you. Often times people who are concerned with incapacity planning pair a living trust with other documents such as medical and financial powers or attorney and a living will to make sure they are sufficiently covered. 5. 5. Set up a living trust to maintain flexibility Set up a living trust to maintain flexibility Another major reason a lot of people set up a living trust is because of the flexibility they provide.

4. A living trust is revocable, which means it can be changed or revoked. This means you can add or remove assets and beneficiaries whenever you please. You can also revoke the entire document in the future if it no longer fits your overall estate plan. A lot of people like having the peace of mind that they can make a change in the future if necessary. How To Set Up A Living Trust How To Set Up A Living Trust If you are interested in setting up a living trust, you should schedule an initial consultation with an experienced trust attorney. A trust attorney is the best resource to get customized information because they focus their legal practice on will, trust, and estate law. To set up a consultation, give us a call at Rochester Law Center. We’ve helped 1,000s of clients in all matters of estate planning. Call us today at (248) 613-0007.