When people think of Estate Planning, they often think of Wills. Estate Planning is the process of working with an attorney to create a legally binding plan for what will happen to your remaining property and belongings (known as your estate) and any remaining money (known as your assets) after you pass away. While Wills are a common part of that process, another method may be a better fit for you: Trusts.
A Trust is a fund that is created with the purpose of being given to someone else of your choosing after you pass away. Once you create it, it is no longer in your name, so the assets you place into it no longer technically belong to you. Nor do they belong to the beneficiary who will one day receive them – they belong to the Trust.
There are many types of Trusts with many types of purposes. Today, we will be looking at the Revocable Living Trust, an all-purpose sort of Trust with a built-in level of financial protection. There are many benefits of creating a Revocable Living Trust:
Eliminates Probate
When someone dies without creating an Estate Plan, their estate enters probate. Probate is the process where the state someone lived in determines what should happen to their estate and assets after they passed away. Instead of making those decisions yourself, they will be made by a Judge in probate court. For your family, probate is often long, expensive, and emotionally draining.
Trusts are great because they do not pass through probate. Since they are no longer technically owned by you, they are not considered part of your estate. They simply pass immediately to your chosen beneficiaries. You don’t have to file letters in court or deal with any of the typical probate fees. It allows you to eliminate the expense and time of probate while properly protecting your loved ones.
Can Hold Any Assets
Just about anything you own can be placed into a Revocable Living Trust – money, a bank account, a car, real estate property, even life insurance. It allows you to make provisions for those who you love most if anything unexpected should happen to you, even incapacity.
Flexibility
Revocable Living Trusts allow their creator to still access the principal assets contained within the Trust during their lifetime. If a married couple creates a Revocable Living Trust together, and one of them dies, the other can still access the assets. It would only pass on to the beneficiaries and become set in stone upon the death of both spouses. Unlike Irrevocable Trusts, Revocable Living Trusts allow you the flexibility to access your assets in the event of an emergency and make changes to your chosen beneficiaries while you are still living.
Get Started Today
Revocable Living Trusts, like all Estate Planning, can be shaped into what will best serve you. You even chose who administers and overlooks the Trust. If you are interested in creating a Revocable Living Trust, contact Andrea L. Gamalski Attorney & Counselor at Law today! We care for you, so you can care for your family and your home.
Andrea L. Gamalski Attorneys at Law
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