What is a Living Trust, and is it Right for Your Estate Plan?

A revocable living trust is one of the most commonly used estate planning tools. It allows the trust’s creator, the grantor, to remain involved and in control of the trust during their lifetime. And after they’ve passed on, the trust will be passed to a successor trustee so that beneficiaries may continue to benefit from the trust’s creation.

However, like all estate planning measures, living trusts have their unique pros and cons. It could be that a revocable living trust is precisely the right option for you. But to better determine that, let us first go over some of the advantages and disadvantages of living trusts.

What Are the Advantages of Living Trusts?

The pros of creating a living trust include:

• Avoid Probate and Maintain Privacy: Unlike a will, a trust does not need to pass through the probate process after your death. Probate court can take a long time, cost a lot of money, and is an entirely public process.
• Long-Term Financial Control Over Your Estate: Your estate does not need to distribute all of your assets immediately after your death. A living trust can include language which stipulates how and when certain assets are distributed to your beneficiaries.
• Avoid Court-Appointed Conservatorship: When someone becomes incapacitated and they do not have a living trust, the court could appoint a representative to manage the incapacitated individual’s financial matters. A living trust would avoid this by passing the trust on to a successor trustee.