When it comes to estate planning, there are a lot of options to protect your assets and pass them on to your heirs. Beyond creating a will, you may want to consider establishing a trust. A trust allows you to manage and hold assets in a trust fund. More and more, people from all income levels are using trusts as part of their estate planning and asset preservation.
What to know about revocable trusts
The most common type of trust people establish is a revocable trust, also known as a living trust. One of the reasons revocable trusts are popular is that you can add assets to your trust over time or remove assets as needed. You also can change who the beneficiaries of your trust assets are or how much each heir will receive.
Some of the advantages of having a revocable trust include the following:
Your assets won’t have to go through probate. Probate is time consuming and can be expensive. With a revocable trust, your assets pass directly to the beneficiaries as you have named.
You can avoid conservatorship. If you become mentally incapacitated or unable to manage your finances, your family won’t have to go to court to manage your assets. As part of establishing your revocable trust, you already will have transferred your assets to your trust and named someone (a successor trustee) to manage your assets for you in the event you become mentally incapacitated or unable to manage your finances.
You can keep the details of the trust’s assets and beneficiaries private.
The trust’s assets can be accessed immediately after you pass away.
Is a revocable trust right for me?
To determine if establishing a revocable trust is right for you, you should speak with an experienced estate planning attorney. An estate planning attorney can ensure that any trust you establish will distribute your assets as you want and give you have peace of mind that your assets will be there if you need them and to pass on to your loved ones.