What is a Living Trust, and do you need one?
A living trust is a legal arrangement that holds things you own, like your home or your accounts, while you are still alive. You keep using them the same way you always have. When you die, what is in the trust passes directly to the people you chose, without going through probate court.
Why it matters
Probate is the court process that sorts out an estate after someone dies. Assets held in a trust usually skip it, which can save your family months of waiting and real money at a time when they already have plenty to carry. How probate works, how long it takes, and what it costs vary by state.
A trust can also help while you are alive. If you become unable to manage your own affairs, the person you named as successor trustee can step in and handle what the trust holds.
That said, plenty of people do fine with just a will. A trust is not for everyone. If you do not have one and do not plan to get one, you can skip this with a clear conscience.
How to get one
- Talk with an estate attorney. A trust has more moving parts than a will, and the rules vary by state, so an hour of real advice usually pays for itself.
- Decide who manages it. You are usually the trustee while you are alive, and you name a successor trustee to take over later.
- Put your assets into it. This step is called funding the trust, and it means retitling your home or moving accounts into the trust's name. A trust that gets signed but never funded does not do much, and this is the step people most often miss.
- Keep a will too. Most people with a trust still have one, as a backstop for anything that never made it into the trust.
- Revisit it after big changes, like a move to another state, a marriage or divorce, a new home, or a death in the family.
Good to know
A living trust and a living will are two different documents, and the similar names trip up a lot of people. A living trust is about your property. A living will is about the medical care you want if you cannot speak for yourself. Having one does not give you the other.
Keep it safe
Once your trust is signed, store a copy in your Hoovalu vault along with the amendments, schedules, and certificates that go with it, and choose who in your Circle can open it. Then your successor trustee is not searching through a filing cabinet when the time comes.
Related reading
This article is general education, not legal advice.