If you have certain estate planning objectives, you may want to use a living trust instead of a simple will. In this post, we will look at some priorities that can be addressed if you utilize this type of trust as the centerpiece of your estate plan.
You Value Your Privacy
You probably conduct your financial affairs confidentially. There are many reasons why you do not want anyone and everyone to be privy to your decisions. If you state your final wishes in a simple will, it would be admitted to probate, which is a public proceeding.
Anyone interested can access the records to find out how the assets were distributed. This loss of privacy is disconcerting, and in some cases, it can cause an uproar among family members and others.
A living trust is administered outside of probate, so confidentiality is maintained. If this is a priority, you should certainly consider the utilization of a living trust instead of a will.
You Want to Facilitate Timely Inheritance Distributions
The process of probate will typically take six months at a minimum. More complex cases can take considerably longer. No inheritances are distributed to the heirs while the estate is passing through probate. As a result, the waiting game is less than ideal.
Since the court is not involved when a living trust is utilized, there is no court-mandated waiting period. The trustee has much more latitude than the executor of a will.
You Want To Prepare for Possible Incapacity
When you have a living trust, you will act as the trustee while you are living. This allows you to exercise total control of the assets every step of the way. Unfortunately, over 30 percent of the elderly population have Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, there are other causes of cognitive impairment.
In addition to this threat, some elders cannot handle their own affairs when they are battling serious medical conditions.
To account for possible incapacity, you can name a disability trustee when you establish a revocable living trust. The individual or professional fiduciary that you name would step into the role if it ever becomes necessary.
You Are Concerned About Reckless Spending
Transfers that are facilitated through the terms of a simple will as a standalone asset transfer vehicle are distributed in lump sums all at once. There is no asset protection, and there are no spending safeguards after the estate has been probated and closed.
This can leave you with an uneasy feeling if you are leaving money to someone who is not ready to handle it. You do not have to settle for this limitation if you have a living trust, because you can include a spendthrift clause.
The trust would become irrevocable after your death. This means the beneficiaries would not be able to directly tap into the principal. Assets that remain in the trust would be out of the reach of the beneficiaries’ creditors. This provides a level of asset protection for those assets.
When it comes to spending, you can curtail that as well. You can instruct your trustee to distribute a certain amount each month, or you can dictate some other incremental payment arrangement.
You Would Like to Create a Joint Estate Plan
If you are married, you and your spouse may want to use a revocable living trust if you have a good bit of jointly owned property and you want to leave your respective shares to one another.
You would act as co-trustees, and the surviving spouse would be the sole trustee. One advantage is the fact that they would already have an estate plan in place because the trust would still be active.
Separate individually owned property can be conveyed into the trust as well. In addition, you do not have to name your spouse as the sole beneficiary of your personal property.
The surviving spouse would not be able to change the terms regarding the distribution of their spouse’s separate property.
Schedule a Consultation Today!
We are here to help if you are ready to work with an Oklahoma City estate planning lawyer to put a plan in place. A living trust may be the right choice for you, but there are other options, and we will make recommendations after we gain an understanding of your objectives.
You can schedule a consultation if you call us at 405-843-6100, and you can use our contact form if you would prefer to send us a message.
Our firm also has an office in Tulsa, and if that one is more convenient, it can be reached at 918-615-2700.
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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