Living Trusts and Estate Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
There are many reasons that people seek to avoid probate. Probate is expensive. Probate delays providing your assets to your heirs. Probate is public. Probate does nothing for someone who is incapacitated. You and your family lose control of assets during probate. And probate is a cumbersome process that can be avoided with proper planning.
It is a common misconception that if someone has a will, then the court will not need to be involved. This could not be farther from the truth. Having a will, is better than not having a will -- BUT you will not avoid probate by simply having a will. Probate court and the probate process exists to disburse the decedents property AND interpret the will (if any).
A Living Trust is in effect while you are alive. A will only takes effect upon death. When you transfer your assets into a Living Trust, think of it like transferring assets from one pocket to another. When your Living Trust owns your assets, instead of you personally, your death does not affect the trust. A trust is a legal entity like a corporation, it can live on forever. When you create a Living Trust you would usually name yourself as Trustee; and name someone to take your place as your Successor Trustee -- to step into your shoes.
Many people make the mistake that you did. There could be tax repercussions for your son and daughter-in-law. Your son and daughter-in-law could divorce, and then who gets the house? There are other even more compelling reasons not to do this. However, one of the most important points is that, although it may seem like a good idea at the time, adding an adult child's name to your property, really only postpones probate, it does not avoid it. Eventually, your son and daughter-in-law would need to make arrangements to pass the property on to their children.
We provide document preparation for Living Trusts:
We provide document preparation for Living Trusts and other Estate Planning documents. Please visit our Living Trust Document Preparation page, and our Living Trust Information page. We prepare Living Trust documents in-house. However, we recognize that consumers prefer a face to face meeting to initiate their Living Trust and Estate Planning Documents. We are adding members throughout Florida who have been trained in our Living Trust and Estate Planning system. Please check back soon, if we do not list someone in your area:
Coming Soon!
We will be adding a list of member document preparers who are participating in our FALDP Living Trust and Estate Planning System. Each member listed has completed our online training course, attended at least one of our Living Trust and Estate Planning Webinars, and has agreed to follow our System Guidelines.
