Trusts and Estates

A trust is a legal arrangement where assets of an estate are under the control of one person for the benefit of beneficiaries.

There are a number of advantages in drafting a trust. Trusts are free of probate court costs, including executor’s commissions. Assets pass directly to survivors and beneficiaries at death and ordinarily, assets pass to the survivors free from creditors’ claims after death.

Although you must disclose living trusts in tax filings, far less detail is required than if the deceased owned assets individually. Less detail open to public scrutiny may be important in situations where you want to avoid press or media interest, as well as reduce information available in probate records to relatives, friends or other people after death.

There is an organizational advantage in using a living trust when you have a large estate or an estate involving a wide variety of assets. A trust can serve as a good organizational device and also be particularly useful when an estate owns a large number of pieces of real estate.

Living trusts offer greater protection against will contests. They are harder to unwind prior to a person’s death and are somewhat more secure from contest after a person’s death.

It’s important to seek expert legal advice in drafting a trust. The laws regarding estates are intricate and if the trust is drafted incorrectly, your assets could be unprotected. You could lose all the advantages of using a trust.