Oklahoma City living trust attorneys provide help in determining if a living trust is the right type of trust to accomplish the goals you may have for protecting your assets and securing your legacy. Our legal team knows the ins-and-outs of trust laws and we can provide the help you need to use trusts as effectively as possible. There are different types of trusts, each of which may be best used to accomplish a different goal, and making the wrong choice or failing to follow the laws on trust creation can result in the loss of assets you believed were protected.
Parman & Easterday will work with you to understand how living trusts work and what impact the creation of a trust has on the disposition of your assets after you pass away. You need to make choices about your estate plan before you get older as there is always a risk of something unexpected happening to you.
If you fall ill or are seriously hurt and lose your life unexpectedly, the aftermath of your death will be much more difficult for your loved ones if you do not have plans in place. Contact our Oklahoma city living trust attorneys today to start your planning and to find out how a living trust and other legal tools can help you secure your legacy.
Do Assets In a Living Trust Pass Through Probate?
When you create a living trust, the assets you transfer into the trust will not need to transfer through the probate process when you pass away. Instead, assets can be transferred to new owners through the trust administration process in accordance with the trust document instructions.
The trust administrator you selected when you created the trust will be responsible for facilitating the trust administration process used to transfer ownership of assets to the new owners. The court will not be involved in the process unless there is a problem that leads to a dispute over the trust’s validity or actions taken by the trust administrator.
Your transfer of assets remains more private than in probate and trust administration happens much more quickly so heirs or beneficiaries are able to inherit without waiting a long time for the assets you left to them. This can be important if your loved ones counted on your income while you were alive and now need the inheritance you left to them.
Unfortunately, while assets transfer outside of probate if the assets were held in a living trust, the assets still count for purposes of estate tax. This means you cannot assume you’ve protected your estate from taxes by creating this kind of trust.
Is a Living Trust Right For You?
A living trust is a good option for many people, especially if you are not worried about estate tax since your estate is not that large and if you or your heirs are not likely to need protection from creditors. The enhanced flexibility that creating a living trust provides, as opposed to alternatives like an irrevocable trust, means you are able to retain control over your assets.
You also receive the incapacity protections a living trust can provide, since a backup trustee can immediately take over managing your trust assets if something happens to you. These benefits, combined with the fact that assets can transfer through the faster trust administration process rather than the time-consuming probate process, make living trusts an optimum choice for many individuals engaged in estate planning.
Getting Help From Oklahoma City Living Trust Attorneys
Oklahoma City living trust attorneys can assist you with understanding both the benefits and limitations of a living trust. If this type of trust will accomplish your goals of protecting assets in case of incapacity and ensuring their timely transfer, our legal team will help you create a legally-valid trust in accordance with Oklahoma’s law.
We can also provide assistance with understanding other trusts that may better accomplish goals like protecting assets from creditors and estate tax. Join us for a free seminar to find out more about how trusts can play a part in your comprehensive estate plan. You can also give us a call today at (405) 843-6100 or contact us online to talk with an attorney about your situation and get personalized advice. Call now so you can put the right type of trust in place to protect your assets and your loved ones.
Since founding Parman & Easterday in 1985, Larry has led over 1,000 free, community-service education programs and helped more than 10,000 Oklahoma families go from putting off their estate plan to getting it done. His goal for every client is the same: to become the person their family calls "the one who took care of everything."
Larry is the author of three books: The Straight Shooter's Guide to Estate Planning; Estate Planning Basics; and Guiding Those Left Behind in Oklahoma. He served as Oklahoma's Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce, and his firm is the only member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys in the state.
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