How Revocable Living Trusts Help People Achieve Estate Planning Goals

There are multiple ways to pass on assets to loved ones upon your death. While some people assume that a will is the only legal instrument that performs this function, there are other methods that might better align with your objectives. 

A revocable living trust is a core estate planning tool that offers several potential advantages. Individuals, referred to as grantors, often create these instruments in order to help loved ones avoid the time, expense and aggravation associated with the probate process. Assets properly titled in your revocable living trust at the time of your death pass to your beneficiaries directly. Meanwhile, you have access to any property in the trust for the duration of your life.

Creating a living trust is relatively straightforward process if you are working with an experienced trusts and estates lawyer. Usually, a grantor will serve as primary trustee, which gives them the authority to carry out the terms set forth in the document. A successor trustee should also be named to administer the disposition of assets following the grantor’s death. If you become unable to manage your affairs, your successor trustee can administer trust assets immediately under the terms you chose, without first establishing a court-appointed guardianship or conservatorship.

As grantor, you can amend or revoke the trust at any time while you are alive and have capacity. Whether you wish to change beneficiaries, update distribution terms or appoint a different successor trustee, it can be accomplished quickly and easily. Trusts allow you to tailor distributions (for example, age-based or milestone distributions), provide oversight for young or vulnerable beneficiaries and add spendthrift provisions to help protect against a beneficiary’s creditors or poor financial decisions.

A revocable trust does not shield your assets from your own creditors and does not offer the same type of tax benefit as some irrevocable trusts. Unlike wills, which are usually administered in public proceedings, living trusts are private documents. Though many people want relieve loved ones from having to go through probate, every family’s situation is unique. The Collierville Law Firm can help you determine whether a revocable living trust fits your objectives and design an estate plan that works for you.  

We prepare revocable living trusts and other legal instruments to preserve and distribute assets for clients throughout West Tennessee. Please call 901-614-0318 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation regarding your particular objectives and how to achieve them.