How Can a Living Trust Help Me Avoid Probate?
Talk to a Probate Attorney Chandler today to understand your options
This article talks about how a Living Trust can help you avoid probate. When a person passes away, courts usually need to be involved to sort out the estate a person leave behind. It can be distributed to your beneficiaries in a way that the person didn't intend to do. However, if you open a living trust in Chandler, you will have full control over your estate. It is not only cheaper to have a Trust in place, it is in general faster to do so.
By placing your assets in a revocable or irrevocable Living Trust, and properly funding the trust, you will avoid probate courts entirely. That means you will have a guarantee that your estate will go exactly where it should — to the people that you decided to give it to. Opening a living trust and also much easier than probate, and you can have a Trust put in place and funded in a matter of days.
Keep reading below to learn more about living trusts and how they can help you!
A Living Trust Can Secure Your Wealth
It doesn't matter if you just own a car or if you're a multi-millionaire, you should always try to secure your wealth for your family. That way, it can be passed down and your family will be able to continue thriving. And to secure your wealth, you may need to limit how much the courts get involved.
A lot of wealth can be lost through inheritance tax, estate fees, and several other legal expenses. If you take no steps at all to ensure your estate is passed down you may also have a situation where your family is no longer together, and they are fighting over the assets that you left behind. However, opening a living trust will help you control what happens, even after you are no longer with us.
Starting a Living Trust in Chandler Is Easy
Opening a living trust in Arizona helps ensure that it avoids the state's probable process. Although the state uses the Uniform Probate Code, which 18 states also follow, it can still be a complicated process. Generally speaking, using a living trust to pass down your estate is quicker and easier.
Arizona also has a streamlined process for estates smaller, which can make people less interested in using a trust. But even with smaller estates, you should benefit from talking to an Estate Planning Attorney, as we will review with you all the documents that you need to have in place. You should not only worry about you assets, but also whom can take care of you or make decisions for you in case you became disable. Our most challenging cases are the ones that involve adult guardianships, or sometimes when a decision needs to be made and a Living Will doesn't exist.
Your Living Trust Can Be Tailored to Your Needs
One of the best advantages of using a living trust is that you can customize it to your needs. You can set conditions for when your estate will be distributed, directing it to certain family members at certain times. You can also tell your trustee what to do in case some conditions are not meet. A Living Trust is a particularly important legal instrument if you have family members that are dealing with addiction and have an unreliable track record with money. It can also help address issues when the beneficiaries of the trust may be too young to take care of their own assets.
With a trust, all of your assets are already accounted for and your attorneys already know what to do when the moment comes. Courts do not need to conduct an inventory of your estate or appraise property. All your family will need is to do is start the trust administration process, and the estate planning attorney will be able to handle the process going forward. A Trust administration usually takes between 1 to 2 months. The Probate process will take at least 6 months, and it is not uncommon for it to least at least one year.
Planning for the Future Is Always Smart
No matter what stage of life you're at, it's always smart to plan for the future. And it doesn't matter how large or small your estate is — you should always have a plan to ensure it goes to the right place. Otherwise, there the whole process will most likely be much more complicate and expensive.
The more people that get involved in your estate, the more chances there are for something to go wrong. Families usually fight when they don't have a clear idea of what was the wishes of the deceased. Creating a living trust will help to keep you family together.
And for that, we're here. Reach out to us and we'll get started opening a living trust in Chandler for you! Citadel Law Firm will be please to help. Our Probate Attorney Chandler will be able to explain to you how a Living Trust can help you and your family not only avoid probate but also make the whole process faster. Call today at (480)565-8020 or click here to schedule your free consultation today.