Designed to provide more privacy and legal protection than wills do, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ins, outs, and advantages of living trusts. Understanding what this document is and how it works can help you determine if it’s the right option for you. Learn the basics.
Upon death, a person’s belongings pass through the probate process to clarify and establish the contents of the estate on record and determine who gets what. Without any documents indicating the decedent’s will, the state determines how an estate is distributed as per existing intestate laws. If a will exists, it passes through probate and …
Among the many ways to build an estate plan and prepare for the inevitable, the trust is arguably one of the more complicated options. A trust involves creating and legitimizing a legal agreement between two individuals for the benefit of a third, effectively creating an entity that temporarily possesses ownership over your properties and assets, …
There is no denying that in this day and age, the Internet is a wondrous and incredibly potent tool for both business and personal use. The ability to look up almost anything and anyone, receive information nigh-instantaneously, and communicate globally with little to no effort allows us to move mountains as though they were pebbles. …
Homonyms are words that are spelled the same but mean different things. The word “will” is a perfect example, meaning many things, from defining a person’s mental strength, to serving as a verb, or a legal document. In the same sense living wills and living trusts are completely different from one another, in a sense …
Living trusts are touted as among the best and most common estate planning tools, for a good reason. They are versatile, keep you protected from probate, help you maintain privacy, and can turn a complicated estate into a smooth inheritance. But a living trust is not as simple as a will, and setting one up …
Living Trusts vs. Family Trusts Making decisions regarding your own estate plan can be very challenging. Not only is it a complicated topic but thinking about how you are going to be settling your affairs after death means thinking about death, and for many, the thought of dying and leaving everything behind is uncomfortable. The …
Losing a loved one can be incredibly difficult to process, no matter how long a person might have seen it coming. You cannot prepare yourself for the pain and grief of having someone you care about disappear from this world. However, that pain can be compounded with the confusion felt from the aftermath of a …
Take two cars to the track. One is a fully-fledged drag racer, built specifically for a certain stretch of road, with a custom transmission, near-perfect aerodynamics, as little weight as possible, and just enough fuel needed to cross the finish line. Pit it against a stock Honda Civic. Which will win? Specificity is the key …
A trust is a legal entity that enables the transfer of assets from one person to the next. While all trusts have the same end goal, a different type exists for every circumstance. It works as an instrument for temporarily holding wealth under the trust’s name, separate from the original owner and beneficiary, before passing …
Your last will and testament is a document designed to give certain courts and your family directions on how you would like your estate to be distributed in the event of your passing. It gives you the power to determine what will finally happen with your property when you are gone, giving you one final …