What is a Living Trust?
- A Living Trust is used instead of a Will to name beneficiaries for inheritances.
- A Living Trust allows your beneficiaries to avoid Probate, a court proceeding that takes time and is expensive.
How Do You Make a Living Trust?
- A Living Trust is created with a document called a Trust Agreement.
- You name beneficiaries in the Trust Agreement as you do in a Will.
- The maker of the trust is named as the “Trustee” (legal owner of trust assets) and lifetime beneficiary (consumer of trust assets).
- You name a Successor Trustee who is responsible to distribute trust assets or manage trust assets for beneficiaries, including the trust maker if incapacitated during lifetime.
Do All Living Trusts Avoid Probate?
- You must transfer title to your assets to the trust in order to avoid probate (“Funding”).
- Real Estate is transferred to a Living Trust by executing a Quitclaim Deed to the trust.
- Newly acquired assets are funded without changing the Living Trust document.
What is the Cost of the Living Trust?
- Living Trusts online are free.
- Complete Estate Plans (all documents included) start at $50.
What You Do Next:
- Answer a streamlined set of questions formulated for customizing your documents.
- Select from a list of suggested documents, which are prepared for immediate download.
- Follow directions provided for signing the documents in order to put them in effect.
