The last will is the most commonly utilized estate planning document, and you may assume that you should use a last will to arrange for the transfer of your assets. In fact, you may want to consider a revocable living trust as an alternative.
We are offering a series of seminars during the month of June that will cover revocable living trusts in detail. The seminars are being offered free of charge, and you will obtain a great deal of valuable information if you attend one of the sessions.
The first living trust seminar will be held in Johnson County on June 17th. It will be taking place at Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria, and the starting time is 2 p.m. At seven o’clock that evening we will be holding another seminar at the Hilton Indianapolis Northeast.
We will be conducting several other seminars throughout that week. To peruse the complete June living trust seminar schedule, visit this page: June Living Trust Seminars.
When you visit the seminar page you will have an opportunity to register for the individual seminar that fits into your schedule. Though the seminars are being offered free of charge, we do ask that you register in advance so that we know how many people to expect.
Benefits of Living Trusts
Some people think that trusts are only useful for the wealthy, but a living trust can benefit people of relatively ordinary means.
If you use a last will to facilitate the postmortem distribution of your monetary resources, the will must be admitted to probate. This is a legal process that comes along with certain drawbacks.
The heirs that are named in the last will do not receive their inheritances until after the estate has been closed by the probate court. Probate can take anywhere from perhaps eight months to a year in simple cases. Not-so-simple cases can be held up in probate for years.
There are those who assume that it is too expensive to create a trust, so they decide that they want to use a last will. In fact, estate administration is not free when you use a last will. There are significant expenses that can accumulate during the probate process.
Another thing to understand about probate is the loss of privacy. Probate records are available to the general public.
All of the above pitfalls are avoided when you use a revocable living trust rather than a last will. With a revocable living trust, the trustee that you choose distributes assets to the beneficiaries after you pass away. The trustee follows instructions that you leave behind in the trust agreement.
These distributions are not subject to the probate process.
This is just one of the benefits of revocable living trusts. To learn more, attend one of our June seminars.
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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