Does a Living Trust avoid probate?

"Does a Living Trust avoid probate?" is a common question among new clients.  This brief video blog explains if a Living Trust help you avoid probate (or not).

Does a Living Trust avoid probate? ?

Having a revocable living trust - also called simply a living trust - does not mean your estate will avoid probate when you die.

Your estate could avoid probate, but simply paying someone to draft a revocable living trust for you and signing it in front of a notary does not accomplish this.

There are document preparers and unfortunately even some lawyers who market themselves as estate planners and“sell” documents to people. This is not estate planning; this is .... Selling documents.

For your property to avoid probate when you die, you must either arrange for contractual transfers of property upon your death or assign, sell, or otherwise transfer property to someone or something else - which may include your revocable living trust - before you die.

Any property remaining in your personal ownership not addressed in these manners may be subject to probate. This is why it’s important to not only work with a reputable estate planning attorney to craft, draft, and execute your estate plan, but also work with one who aids you in coordinating your asset transfers into your trust and establish other non-probate mechanisms for property remaining in your name, where appropriate.

Simply drafting a stack of documents for you and sending you on your way with a pretty binder may give you some piece of mind. But this may also burden your loved ones with taxes, arguments, and many other problems if your trust is not funded properly after executing it.