Is a Trust really for Me?

Often clients approach me expressing an interest in having a will drafted so that they can make plans for the eventual distribution of their assets upon death.  Often one of the first questions I ask is:

"Have you considered moving your assets into a Trust and allowing for their management and eventual distribution though this method?"

To which they reply more often than not ....

"Aren't trusts just for exceptionally wealthy people?"

My answer is simply "NO!"

For the majority of my clients, a Revocable Living Trust is truly the best option when it comes to end of life asset management.

Benefits of a Revocable Living Trust include the following:

1. Avoiding Probate (costs, delays, publicity)
2. Maintaining Privacy of family assets and distribution allocations.  
3. Greater control over the use of family assets
4. Ability to ensure the financial security of dependents that also rely on SSI or other need-based government benefits.
5. Protection of a spend-thrift beneficiary from their own financial mis-management. 
6. Management of grantors assets in the case of incapacity prior to death.

For individuals or couples with high net worth (currently somewhere above 5.3M per person), more complicated tax planning is wise to avoid estate taxation.  This however, is a blog post for another day.