You should understand the value of revocable living trusts when you are making estate planning decisions. These trusts can be a good choice for many people, even those who are not wealthy, but they are often overlooked.
Let’s look at some of the facts.
Probate Avoidance
The person who creates a revocable living trust would typically act as the trustee and the beneficiary initially. As a result, control is not surrendered, and the trust maker has the ability revoke the trust entirely.
If you create a revocable living trust, you name a successor trustee, and a successor beneficiary or beneficiaries. After your passing, the successor trustee would follow instructions that you record in the trust agreement. Assets would be distributed to the successor beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes outside of the probate process.
Because probate would not be a factor, the heirs would receive their inheritances in a timely manner.
When a last will is used as a vehicle of asset transfer, the estate must pass through probate. The property is not transferred until after the court has probated and closed the estate. This can take close to a year, even in simple cases.
Incapacity Planning
Many elders become incapacitated late in their lives. If you have a revocable living trust in place, you could empower the successor trustee to manage the trust in the event of your incapacitation. This is another advantage that you gain when you use a living trust as a vehicle of asset transfer.
January Living Trust Seminars
We have provided some basic information in this blog post to whet your appetite for more information. During the month of January, we will be holding a series of seminars that will focus on revocable living trusts. The seminars are free to attend, but we do ask that you register in advance so that we can reserve your seat.
Our seminars tend to fill up quickly, so we urge to register for the seminar that fits into your schedule as soon as possible.
The first seminar is going to be held on January 13th at Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria in Johnson County. That seminar will start at 2:00 p.m., and it will run for a couple of hours. There will be another seminar that same day at the Main Lodge of the Fort Harrison State Park Inn, which is in Indianapolis. That seminar is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
We are holding a total of six living trust seminars, so you should be able to find a session that works for you. To see the complete schedule, visit this page: January Living Trust Seminars.
When you find a seminar that you would like to attend, click the “Details and Registration” link and follow the simple instructions.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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