Maybe Revocable Trusts Are Overrated

Writing a will is a good first step toward building an estate plan.  It can bring you a sense of relief, since you have cleared up ambiguities about how you want the probate court to distribute your property, but it does not make you feel financially well off.  Typing your will in a Word document, printing it at FedEx Office, and taking it to the bank and signing it in the presence of two employees who have worked there since before you moved to Florida might only serve to make you feel old and lonely.  If you want to be able to brag about your estate plan when you attend your high school reunion next year, you will need to do something more dramatic.  If you go to the reunion and brag about your revocable trust to the classmates who used to bully you, you will feel like you had the last laugh.  If you are setting up a revocable trust to make yourself feel important, or because a financial planner told you that you should, when you had not otherwise considered it, you are probably better off without one.  For sound advice from someone who understands that less is more when it comes to estate planning, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.

Beware of the One Size Fits All Estate Plan

Most people who set up estate plans as part of a package deal do not need them.  Financial planners eagerly offer to sell you a package of estate planning documents to make you feel wealthy, when the people who get the greatest financial benefit are the financial planners themselves.  You do not need a revocable trust unless you want to set aside money for beneficiaries, and conflicts could arise if you were simply to pay the beneficiaries out of your own assets.  The following are good reasons to establish a revocable trust:

• You and your spouse married late in life, and you keep some of your finances separate.  You plan to leave your estates to your respective descendants, but you set up a trust to provide for your spouse while you are alive and after you die.
• A family member of yours has a disability and receives government benefits for people with disabilities.  You want to contribute to the financial support of your family member without jeopardizing his or her benefit eligibility.
• You want to set aside money to pay for your grandchildren’s college tuition.

In other words, unless you already have a specific goal that establishing a revocable trust will help you achieve, you probably do not need one.

There Are Less Expensive Ways to Keep Your Property Out of Probate

Revocable trusts can keep assets out of probate, but so can other, less expensive strategies.  If you own property jointly with your spouse, your spouse will keep the property with no involvement from the probate court.  Likewise, if you list a transfer on death beneficiary on a bank account, the account becomes a non-probate asset.

Contact Gierach and Gierach About Revocable Trusts

A probate lawyer can help you decide whether establishing a revocable trust is worthwhile in your situation.  Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

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