For many people, your real property investments, including your home, are a large percentage of your total assets. Placing your real property into a revocable living trust could benefit you greatly by allowing certain exemptions, deductions and credits that would otherwise not be available to you. A real estate lawyer can determine your financial situation to determine how much you can benefit from a trust.
Another advantage of placing real estate and your other assets into a trust is to protect your children from squandering the assets due to immaturity or lack of financial knowledge. You will name a trustee that handle the trust assets and distribute them only as you directed within the trust. Many grantors will agree to allow the payment of college tuition, a down payment on a home, or to buy a vehicle in many cases. When they reach the age that you decided to turn over the money, they will then have full access to the property.
What some people don’t like thinking about is how your real property would be managed in the event of your incapacity.
Placing your home and other real estate in your revocable trust will allow your trustee to handle and manage all aspects of the property until you are able to do so yourself.
However, one of the best reasons to place your property in a revocable trust is to avoid probate. If you do not have your real estate in a trust, it will have to go through the court probate process in which the judge decides, based on your will, how your assets will be transferred. It can be a drawn out, expensive process that most people want to avoid. With a properly written trust, your trustee can take over and perform his duties must faster and your private affairs can remain private.
Finally, the Trustee has the authority to handle all the property placed in the Trust after your death, which will minimize complications, costs, and unneeded court intervention.
Don’t try to do your Revocable Living Trust yourself. Your assets and beneficiaries future are too important to risk big mistakes. Please contact an experienced Trust and Real Estate lawyer at T.R. Spencer Law Office at 801-566-1884 for a consultation and assistance.