Florida residents and others might not be comfortable thinking about their own mortality. However, creating a revocable living trust may have several benefits for people today and into the future. For instance, an individual gets to control how the assets inside of the trust are used while he or she is alive. It is even possible to change the trust’s terms or revoke it entirely at any time and for almost any reason.
One of the key benefits of a trust after a person has passed is that assets in the trust can likely bypass probate. This means that there is no need for a judge to give permission for assets to pass to beneficiaries. Unlike a will, a trust is not entered into the public record. Therefore, it is unlikely that a creditor or other outside party will learn about a deceased person’s finances.
Avoiding probate may also result in lower costs for surviving beneficiaries. In many cases, probate attorneys will charge for their services by the hour, which could mean a hefty legal bill for an estate to cover. Since a trust is harder to challenge than a will, the odds are low that anyone will try to challenge it. However, it is important to note that it is possible to successfully do so depending on the facts of a case.
While trusts may offer multiple benefits to an estate plan, it is important to understand how they work before creating one. An attorney may be able to explain what a trust does, if a person needs one and the costs of creating and executing the document. Working with an attorney to create a trust may maximize the chances that the document is created in accordance with a person’s wishes and with state law.
