Author: Amillu Stewart
Anyone who has any personal assets or even business assets should consider a legal method to protect those assets. One of these methods is the living trust. This is one of the most effective methods to protect your assets and to eliminate the expense and burden of probate court. Because this concept makes us face our mortality and eventual death, it is difficult for most of us to discuss the topic.However, since it is inevitable for all of us, the sooner we protect ourselves, the better for us and our descendents. Porbate is a legal term that most of us don’t understand.It is this legal term that is used to complete an individual’s legal and financial affairs after his or her death. Through this process, debts are paid , taxes are filed and administrative [attorney’s’] fees are paid And when all of those responsibilities have been met, the remaining assets are distributed to the beneficiaries of the estate according to state law. It is expensive using up to ten percent of the total assets and may take over a year to accomplish it.
Privacy is another concern as everyone and his brother can obtain the record of the probate. They then will know the assets,property and money involved in the estate. To prevent all these potential headaches, you should consider developing a living trust.
To create a living trust your assets are transferred in to a trust and a trustee is named to oversee the management of the trust.The advantage of the trust is that the trustee can be the same person that creates the trust . At the time of death, the management of the trust is transferred to a predesignated individual and thus avoding probate court.
Ther are many reasons that you can benefit from a livng trust including : estate tax saving, estate planning, transferring of family businesses from one generation to another.