A Note From Paige

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Revocable Living Trusts
Top Three Reasons Why You Need One!

A revocable living trust is a statement, generally in writing, made by a person designating money or property to be held separately and managed by a trustee according to specified terms.  Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable.  Most trusts are revocable, meaning once you create one you can change it any way you’d like, or do away with it completely.  There are some additional costs associated with creating a revocable trust, so why would you need one?
 
1.  To Avoid Probate.  This is probably the biggest advantage of using a revocable living trust. If you create a revocable living trust during your lifetime and transfer the recommended assets to it, there will be nothing in your estate to probate when you die.  Why subject your loved ones and your property to the restrictive rules of probate when you can easily avoid it with the use of a trust? This is particularly important if you own real estate in more than one state because without a trust, your loved ones will be faced with two or more probate proceedings. A revocable living trust will also give your family almost immediate access to cash during a difficult time. Compare this with the time it takes to open a probate estate and gain access to your bank account (anywhere from a few weeks to several months), and the value of a revocable living trust will be priceless.
 
2.  To Keep Things Private.  Probate proceedings are a matter of public record.  That means the contents of your will and potentially a list of your assets will be available for all to see.  That can be problematic in the case of a family disagreement, but even in the absence of disagreement, most of us don’t want our financial affairs available for public inspection.  You can avoid that result with a fully funded revocable living trust.  The contents of your trust and the nature and extent of your assets are private, except with regard to the beneficiaries and trustees you name in your document.
 
3.  To Help You Manage Your Assets.  This is an advantage of using a revocable living trust that's often overlooked. Why subject your loved ones and your property to the restrictive rules of guardianship or conservatorship when you can easily avoid it with the use of a fully funded revocable living trust? After following the trust provisions for determining your incapacity, your trustee will be able to take over control of your trust assets without interference by a judge. This is sometimes even more important than avoiding probate because probate will only last for a fixed period of time (usually a year or two at the most), but guardianship can last for five, ten, or even twenty years.