Wills and Trusts Lawyer Gilbert, AZ

As people get a little older, acquire some wealth, and establish a family, it becomes time to start estate planning to protect your assets for your spouse and children in case something happens to you. While many people think about a will as the “thing to do” to distribute your belongings when you pass away, there are other ways to handle your estate that might be more beneficial, such as a trust. A Gilbert, Arizona wills and trusts lawyer has multiple estate planning tools to help clients.

With a trust, you remove significant assets from your name and move them into the name of the trust, allowing you to technically own much less on paper. Within the trust you include specific directions on how and when assets will be passed to your designated beneficiaries. There are many types of trusts, so speak with a wills and trusts lawyer in Gilbert, AZ to decide which ones are right for you.

Avoid Probate and Save Time

As a wills and trusts lawyer in Gilbert, AZ can explain, putting your assets into a trust instead of relying solely on a will, allows everything within the trust to completely avoid the probate process when you pass away. If you like privacy and would prefer your personal assets to stay out of public record, using a trust will accomplish this.

Distributing assets using a trust in Gilbert also will save your family a lot of time and legal fees. Settling the court proceedings through probate can take months, if not years in some complex cases, while trusts can be settled in a matter of days or weeks.

Protect Assets for Beneficiaries

There are many ways your assets could be dwindled down in a probate hearing, especially if there are creditors or divorcing spouses lurking around. An irrevocable trust is one which you cannot change after it is created, and once you put assets into it, they will be there permanently. This is useful for beneficiaries that have creditors or are prone to divorces.

Another benefit in regards to your beneficiaries, especially those you know are unable to manage finances, is your ability to create distribution rules. You can allocate a living allowance each month, or let the trustee release a percentage once your heirs reach a certain age.

Save Taxes

If you are married, a trust can potentially save estate tax money as you are able to combine each spouses’ estate tax exclusions. So, when one spouse dies, the revocable trust assets can be moved into a family trust up to the estate tax exclusion. These assets can continue to appreciate without additional estate taxes.

Be Prepared

Having a solid estate plan is very beneficial for you and your family, especially if you have significant assets. Consult with an experienced wills and trusts lawyer Gilbert, AZ clients recommend from the Citadel Law Firm PLLC to help you choose the right entity for your unique situation and ensure that the paperwork is done completely and correctly based on the most current laws. This will help eliminate the odds of a court finding the trust to be legally invalid and causing your whole estate to go through probate.