The most basic document for memorializing a person’s estate plan, a will is written to direct who is to receive a person’s assets and to name a person to be in charge of implementing the plan. A guardian for minor children typically is named in a will. When a person dies without a written estate plan, either a will or trust, state law provides a plan for distribution of trust assets called “intestacy.”
Without a Living Trust your family may be forced to endure the unnecessary cost and inconvenience of state probate court proceedings, even if you have minimal assets. You may be subject to otherwise easily avoidable Federal Estate Taxes. A Will alone does not avoid the considerable cost and inconvenience of probate. A Living Trust is the most effective means of avoiding probate.
A Trust is a legal arrangement created during your life which enables you to avoid probate and achieve other estate planning goals, while maintaining complete control of your property. The arrangement can be changed or terminated at any time.
For example, a California probate involving just a home valued at $400,000 even with a mortgage of $300,000, will cost a minimum of $22,000 in court imposed fees, and could take as long as twelve to eighteen months to settle.
A Living Trust Estate Plan is nothing more than your written expression of how your assets and belonging are to be disposed of upon your death, and addresses important concerns regarding family, probate and taxes.
Virtually every adult, especially those who own a home, have minor children, or are approaching or in retirement should have one.
Living Will 