Are you looking for asset protection? Have you recognized that your family would be better served if they were taken care of after you’re gone? If so, then it is essential to create a Living Trust. A living trust lawyer can help ensure that asset protection and estate planning are done correctly.
Creating a living trust provides peace of mind for your loved ones who may not know what would happen in such a situation. There are many reasons why people create living trusts, but an important reason is asset protection.
This blog post will discuss how a trust can help with goals such as asset protection, estate planning, and avoiding probate.
What is the difference between Will and Trust?
Everybody needs a will, and not everybody requires trust. A trust, in general, gives you more freedom and authority over how and when your property and assets are dispersed. One of the main benefits of creating a renewable living trust would be that it eliminates probate, which is the court-supervised process of proving the legitimacy of a deceased person’s will. As a result, your designated trustees may be able to pass your assets to your heirs more quickly and easily.
What can you accomplish with trust?
- Probate Can Be Avoided
The probate procedure might take months, and in some instances, a year or longer. It may be rather costly. Attorney and judicial costs can account for up to 5% of a property’s worth in some states. A trust is intended to help you manage your estate quickly and cost-effectively.
- Beneficiaries are protected
Beneficiaries of a trust can be protected from divorce, lawsuits, and creditors. When you create an irrevocable trust, you’re guaranteeing that a future creditor or claimant won’t be able to collect on a judgment against the trust’s resources. A trust could also safeguard the interests of a young child by establishing distribution criteria.
- Increases Control
As you determine the trust’s terms, you control how the trust’s resources are handled. If you’re afraid that a recipient won’t take their assets effectively, you can designate an independent trustee to assist them in making prudent decisions. You can also limit the ways in which assets could be used.
- Encourage Family Values
A trust may be an effective instrument for carrying along family values such as education, property ownership, environmental stewardship, community involvement, religious convictions, and more. When charitable donations are a high priority in the household, the trust might require heirs to contribute a certain proportion of their assets every year to a charity of their choice.
- Secures Family Wealth
Over time, an asset could appreciate substantially. A trust can ensure that the asset is passed along to heirs in a way that preserves its value and even enhances it over the years for future generations. This ensures that the family asset is preserved.
- Minimize Family Fights
A living trust is an excellent way to govern your assets, but it also ensures that you minimize family fights after you pass on. Your spouse can trust your assets and manage them according to what you had planned while still alive. If she has children from another marriage who are not mentioned in the Trust, they may have a right over those assets.
The Bottom Line
A living trust can be a helpful asset to have in terms of asset protection and estate planning. It provides certain legal advantages that you may not get with other types of trusts, such as the ability for your trustees to make distributions from the Trust upon request without court interference or to require formal hearings.
