Living Trust and Estate
Planning Legal Information

OUR LEGAL INFORMATION WILL HELP YOU TO BETTER UNDERSTAND A REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST AND ESTATE PLANNING RELATED ISSUES

How a living trust avoids probate.
Property you transfer into a living trust before your death doesn't go through probate. The successor trustee -- the person you appoint to handle the trust after your death -- simply transfers ownership to the beneficiaries you named in the trust. In ...   More details

If I make a living trust, do I still need a will.
Yes, you do and here's why:
 
A will is an essential back-up device for property that you don't transfer to yourself as trustee. For example, if you acquire property shortly before you die, you may not think to transfer ownership of it to ...   More details

Irrevocable life insurance trust
An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) can remove your life insurance from your taxable estate, help pay estate costs and provide your heirs with cash for a variety of purposes. To remove the policy from your estate, you surrender ownership right ...   More details

Is a living trust document ever made public, like a will.
No. A will becomes a matter of public record when it is submitted to a probate court, as do all the other documents associated with probate -- inventories of the deceased person's assets and debts, for example. The terms of a living trust, however, n ...   More details

Is it expensive to create a living trust.
A basic living trust isn't much more complicated than a will, and you probably won't need to hire a lawyer. With a good self-help book or software program, you can create a valid Declaration of Trust (the document that creates a trust) yourself. If y ...   More details

Living trust doesn't protect property from creditors.
A creditor who wins a lawsuit against you can go after the trust property just as if you still owned it in your own name.
 
After your death, however, property in a living trust can be quickly and quietly distributed to the beneficiaries ( ...   More details

Living Trust with "A-B Provisions"
A trust that allows couples to reduce or avoid estate taxes. Each spouse puts his or her property in an AB trust. When the first spouse dies, his or her half of the property goes to the beneficiaries named in the trust -- commonly, the grown children ...   More details

Living trust.
A trust is an arrangement under which one person, called a trustee, holds legal title to property for another person, called a beneficiary. You can be the trustee of your own living trust, keeping full control over all property held in trust.
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