When you think about “trust funds” you may immediately envision people who come from extraordinarily wealthy families. If you are in fact in possession of a significant store of financial resources you may well want to start a trust or trusts for the benefit of your loved ones.
However, a living trust may be a viable option for you even if you would not consider yourself to be well-to-do. These trusts provide some advantages over the utilization of a last will, and you may find that a living trust is a more appealing choice.
One thing that these trusts provide is privacy. The terms of the trust are not available to the public, but probate court records are in fact a matter of public record. Your estate must be probated if you use a last will.
With revocable living trusts you can act as both the trustee and the beneficiary while you are alive and well so you don’t surrender any real control of your resources. And you can adjust the terms any way you would like to or even dissolve the trust entirely if you want to go that route for some reason.
These trusts also allow for incapacity provisions, and this can prevent the appointment of a guardian or conservator should you become unable to make sound decisions at some point in time.
If the above sounds interesting to you, the next step is to pick up the phone to arrange for an informative consultation with a licensed, experienced Indianapolis estate planning lawyer.
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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