Estate Planning & Living Trusts
37. Living trust summary
As you have seen, a living trust gives you far more control than any other estate plan. For example, a living trust:
- Avoids probate at death;
- Prevents court control of assets at incapacity;
- Provides maximum privacy;
- Allows for quick distribution of assets to beneficiaries; or
- Lets assets stay in the trust (where they are protected from the courts, creditors and irresponsible spending) until you want your beneficiaries to inherit;
- Prevents unintentional disinheriting; and
- Reduces or eliminates estate taxes.
Now, as good as a living trust is, remember that it can only control your assets. At the beginning of this presentation, we explained that a good estate plan will let you keep control over your financial and medical decisions. Let's look at two documents that pertain to medical decisions, and see how much control they each give you.