• Home
  • Our Firm
    • About Our Firm
    • Areas We Serve
      • Los Angeles County
        • Inglewood
        • Malibu
        • Santa Monica
        • Torrance
        • Venice
    • Attorney and Staff Profiles
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Giving Back
    • Our Reviews
    • Staff Events
  • Services
    • Asset & Business Planning
    • Estate And Gift Tax Figures
    • Estate Planning Services
    • Family-Owned Businesses
    • Financial Planning Assistance
    • Incapacity Planning
    • IRA & Retirement Planning
    • Legacy Planning Services
    • LGBTQ Estate Planning
    • Medi-Cal and Elder Law
    • Pet Planning
    • Special Needs Planning
    • Trust Administration & Probate
      • Trust Administration & Probate Definitions
  • Seminars
  • Resources
    • Elder Law
      • Elder Law & Medicaid Definitions
      • Elder Law Reports
      • Medi-Cal Planning Checklist
    • Estate Planning
      • Estate Planning Checkup
      • Estate Planning Reports
        • Advanced Estate Planning
        • Basic Estate Planning
        • Elder Issues
        • Estate Planning For Niches
        • Trust Administration
      • Estate Planning Definitions
      • Incapacity Planning Definitions
      • Is Your Estate Plan Outdated?
      • Top 10 Estate and Legacy Planning Techniques
    • Free Estate Planning Worksheet
    • Free Seminars
    • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Estate Planning FAQs
      • Estate Planning for Women FAQs
      • Frequently Asked Questions for Families Without an Estate Plan
      • Legacy Wealth Planning FAQ’s
      • LGBTQ Estate Planning FAQs
      • Medi-Cal FAQs
      • Probate FAQs
      • Trust Administration & Probate FAQs
      • Trusts FAQs
    • Newsletters
    • Probate and Trust Administration
      • Bereavement Resources
      • How to Know if You Need Extra Help With Your Grieving
      • Loss of a Loved One
      • The Mourner’s Bill of Rights
      • Things You Need To Do When a Loved One Passes Away With a Trust
      • Things You Need To Do When a Loved One Passes Away With a Will
      • Trust Administration & Probate Definitions
  • Videos
  • Reviews
    • Our Reviews
    • Review Us
  • Women’s Planning
    • A Guide to Estate Planning for Women
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

WAEstate

Los Angeles Estate Planning Attorney

Connect with us today(310) 677-9787

Attend a Free Seminar

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkdin
  • Youtube
  • Instagram

A Conversation With a Living Trust Attorney Can Be Enlightening

December 6, 2016Estate Planning

conversation with living trust attorneyYou have a number of different options available to you when you are planning your estate with regard to vehicles of asset transfer. To be optimally prepared, you should make no assumptions and educate yourself so that you can make informed decisions.

Everyone has heard of the last will or last will and testament. This is the most commonly utilized estate planning document. You may think that you should use a last will because you are not particularly wealthy. Many people assume that trusts are only for very high net worth individuals.

In fact, this is not necessarily the case. If you discuss things with a living trust attorney, you will find that there is a type of trust that can be extremely useful for people who are not among the financial elite.

Revocable Living Trusts

When you create and fund a revocable living trust, you are not surrendering control of the assets right away. This is part of the appeal of these trusts.

The anatomy of a revocable living trust trust would involve a grantor, a beneficiary (or beneficiaries), and a trustee. The grantor is the individual who is creating the trust. The beneficiary will receive monetary distributions out of the trust. The trustee is the individual or entity who administers the trust.

If you are the grantor of a revocable living trust, you can act as both the trustee and the beneficiary while you are alive and fully capable of making sound decisions. Because of this arrangement, you control investments, and you can take distributions out of the trust.

This is a revocable trust. Therefore, you as the grantor may revoke or rescind the trust at any time, and it would no longer exist. The assets that you have conveyed into the trust would once again become your direct personal property.

You can also change the terms of the trust and add or subtract beneficiaries as you see fit.

The ultimate point of the creation of a revocable living trust is to facilitate the transfer of your monetary assets to your heirs after you pass away. Though you may act as the trustee and the beneficiary at first, you name successors to assume these roles after you die.

After your passing, the trustee that you name in the trust agreement will follow the terms of the agreement to make distributions to the beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes.

Last Wills and Probate

If you were to use a last will rather than a revocable living trust to arrange for the transfer of your assets, a different dynamic would exist. Under these circumstances, the executor would be forced to admit the will to probate. The heirs to the estate would not receive their inheritances until after the estate was probated and closed by the court.

This can be a time-consuming process. Simple cases will typically take around a year in most jurisdictions, and more complex cases can take much longer.

There are also costs that can accumulate during the process of probate. These expenses will reduce the value of the estate before it is passed on to the heirs.

The events that take place during the probate process become a matter of public record. Anyone who is interested could find out how you arranged for your assets to be distributed. If there were any disputes, these disputes would become a matter of public record as well. This loss of privacy is another one of the drawbacks.

All of these pitfalls are avoided when you utilize a revocable living trust rather than a last will to state your final wishes regarding the transfer of your financial resources. Distributions of assets that are contained within a living trust would not be subject to the probate process.

Incapacity Planning

Aside from the avoidance of probate, another benefit that you realize when you utilize a revocable living trust is the ability to plan ahead for the possibility of incapacity late in your life. A significant percentage of elders do become incapacitated, with Alzheimer’s disease being the leading cause.

If you do not take action in advance, a guardian could be appointed by the state to handle your financial affairs in the event of your incapacitation. You can prevent this by creating a revocable living trust. The disability or successor trustee that you name in the trust agreement would be empowered to administer the trust should you become incapacitated at some point in time.

Attend a Free Seminar

If you are interested in the possibility of working with our firm after learning these facts, please select our “Workshops” tab to RSVP for a free estate planning workshop. At that workshop you will be offered a free one-hour consultation with an attorney:  https://collinslawgroup.comseminars/

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Caprice Collins

Caprice Collins

Attorney Caprice L. Collins is a top rated Harvard Law School graduate. She has 34 years of legal experience with a successful law practice devoted exclusively to Estate/Business Planning and Trust Administration. Attorney Collins is a well-respected keynote speaker on Wills, Living Trusts, Estate Planning, Business Planning and Trust Administration. She has appeared on California’s Real Estate Radio Station KTLK AM 1150 as a legal expert on Estate Planning and Living Trusts among many other notable media appearances.
Caprice Collins

Latest posts by Caprice Collins (see all)

  • Should I Use a Will or a Trust to Distribute My Estate? - December 10, 2019
  • Probate Mistakes You Want to Avoid Making - December 5, 2019
  • What Should I Do If I Suspect My Mother Is the Victim of Elder Abuse? - December 3, 2019

Other Articles You May Find Useful

Los Angeles estate planning lawyer
Should I Use a Will or a Trust to Distribute My Estate?
Crenshaw estate planning attorney
Can I Disinherit an Heir to My Estate?
Turning the Page on 2018 and Looking Forward to 2019
Windsor Hills estate planning attorneys
When Is Leaving an Equal Inheritance Not the Best Decision?
Los Angeles trust administration attorneys
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Trustee
Sager Family Shows Perils of Blended Families

Download our Free Report

Learn the common reasons you need to not only build and protect your hard-earned money, but transfer it with as little depletion and expense as possible.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkdin
  • Youtube
  • Instagram

Blog Subscription

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Testimonials

Ms. Collins and her team has earned my trusts and respect. They showed professionalism, attention to details and made me feel like I am family. It is truly reassuring to know that my family and I won’t he on our own after the documents are executed.

Saida H.–
My overall experience with Collins Law Firm has been great. The process of estate planning was thoroughly explained with personal care and concern. The entire staff is very personable and eliminate any intimidation. I feel very relieved to have completed this process and I am very comfortable in knowing that Collins Law Group is available to us for any needed help.

Mattie S.–
We received excellent and clearly explained directions with respect to the creation of our living trust and the required follow up actions. Caprice is easy to work with and she inspires full confidence in her abilities. We continue to work with her as we review changes in our lives and the adjustments required to insure that our trust does what we want it to do.

John C.–
Attorney Collins was referred to us by a friend who had a living trust prepared for his family. We attended one of her very informative seminars on living trusts. Shortly there after we had out trust done.  She is very thorough, precise and follows up to ensure we’re satisfied with our estate plan. The staff was wonderful as well.

Tony B.–
We’ve had Living Trusts done by two different attorneys over the last 12 years. After retaining the Collins Law Group, it became clear that the others weren’t up to the same standard. Attorney Collins and her staff have an eye for detail that was absent from the other firms we used. It was the difference between dining at a gourmet restaurant, and a fast food drive-thru. The Collins Law Group is terrific at putting you at ease, and makes the process relatable and easy-to-understand. After watching other family members go through the ugly, hot mess of Probate, we definitely feel safe and in control of our estate and the legacy we’ll leave behind for our children.

Mr. & Mrs. Owens–

Where We Are

Collins Law Group
3330 West Manchester Boulevard
Inglewood, CA 90305
Phone: (310) 677-9787
Fax: (310) 677-6742
Email: clcfirm@aol.com

See Larger Map Get Directions

Office Hours

Monday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Map

collins_sidbr_map
  • About Our Firm
  • Advantages of Working With Our Firm
  • Services
  • Sitemap
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkdin
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
footer-logo

Attorney Advertisement

© 2019 American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.