Wealth
Preservation
Free your family from enormous legal fees, court involvement, and
lost privacy.
Why Do I Need A Living Trust?
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Living trusts are a surefire way to avoid probate—the legal process of proving the validity of a Last Will and Testament. For all but the smallest estates, probate is unavoidable without a living trust.
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On average, probate costs 5%–10% of the gross value of your estate, paid from your heirs’ inheritance. The gross value of your estate is the total value of all your assets, without subtracting any outstanding debts or loans.
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In some cases, probate attorneys will ask the court for additional fees—which are often approved—pushing the total cost of probate as high as 15%.
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For an estate valued at $2 million, this could deprive your heirs of as much as $300,000 of their inheritance.
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Some attorneys or financial advisors will tell you that your estate will be exempt from probate if its total value is less than $5.45 million.
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Unfortunately, this isn’t true—they’re confusing probate with the estate tax exemption, which has nothing to do with probate.
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In most states, probate will apply if the total value of your estate is $100,000 or more. If you own real estate it will be much less.
Wealth Preservation
Ensure Your Heirs Get Their Inheritance Fast And Privately
A living trust can be settled privately in a matter of weeks by your successor trustee and beneficiaries—usually without attorney or court involvement.
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Probate, on the other hand, takes a lot of time. The average duration of probate is from 9 months to 2 years. It’s not uncommon, however, for probate to stretch on even longer.
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One of the purposes of probate is to make your assets public record so that creditors can make claims. This can, and does, happen. It’s part of what makes the probate process so long.
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For creditors to be notified, the contents of your estate must be made public record. This means the contents of your estate are published and available for anyone who cares to look, sacrificing all your privacy.
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A will can be contested by anyone who can make a convincing case that your wishes might have changed since the document was drafted.
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A living trust, however, cannot usually be contested. A trust typically states that a beneficiary who wants to contest your wishes will forfeit his or her inheritance altogether.
Keep Control Of Your Assets In Hands You Trust
A living trust allows you to retain total control over your estate, unlike a will.
With a will, control of your assets is transferred to the court during probate. Your heirs have no access to their inheritance until probate is complete.
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With a living trust, ownership of your assets is retained by the trust, and control of your estate is transferred to your successor trustee.
No part of your estate is made public record. The only persons with legal access to the documents are your successor trustee, and in some states, your beneficiaries.
This limited access prevents family disputes over inheritance, and eliminates interference from anyone you don’t want to be included.
Gives You Total Control Over Your Estate’s Distribution
A living trust lets you distribute a portion of assets on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis to provide for the living expenses of minor children, or children with special needs.
Distribute your assets in predefined amounts to prevent misuse by irresponsible beneficiaries.
A living trust lets you stipulate that a beneficiary only receives their inheritance under certain conditions, such as completing a rehab program or completing their education.
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Puts Your Emergency Life Support Wishes In Writing
In the case of a tragic accident or health emergency that leaves you incapacitated and unable to make decisions, your family and doctors will be faced with painful end-of-life decisions about your care.
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Without a clear statement of your wishes, your doctors and family will be left guessing and debating about what to do next.
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A living trust includes a living will, a legal statement—written by you to your doctors—stating your wishes about life support if you ever become incapacitated.
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A living will allows you to instruct your doctors on whether they should maintain life support, and to what extent they should exhaust all medical options.
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A living trust also includes several other options that allow you to make important preparations for your death or incapacity.
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A living trust allows you to appoint a person of your choice to retain the legal right to make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.
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Appointing Assets Durable Power of Attorney allows your chosen person to make decisions for you regarding your assets and business affairs.
Appointing Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care allows you to choose a person to make decisions for you regarding life support and the exhaustion of medical options if you’re terminally ill or mentally incapacitated.
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In many cases, a living trust avoids the need for a court-appointed conservator—or legal guardian of your estate—as control of your assets passes to your successor trustee if you become incapacitated.
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In the rare case that a conservator is necessary, a living trust lets you appoint one ahead of time, while you’re mentally sound.
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This will significantly speed up the conservatorship proceedings, which are otherwise expensive and intrusive to your family’s privacy.
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A living trust also lets you state your wishes regarding:
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Donating vital organs for medical use
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Donating your body for scientific use
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Burial instructions
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Appointment of legal guardians for minor children
How Does A Living Trust Reduce Estate And Capital Gains Taxes?
Federal Estate Tax
In some cases, federal estate tax is unavoidable, even with a living trust. However, a married couple using what’s called an A/B living trust can effectively double the federal estate tax exemption of $5.45 million.
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In this case, the value of the estate is split between the two partners, and on the death of the first partner, the estate is evaluated for the estate tax at his or her half of the total value. This way, estates totaling as much as $10.9 million can be sheltered from estate taxes entirely.
Capital Gains Tax
Property transferred through a living trust receives stepped-up tax basis. Basis is the number used to determine whether a property is eligible for capital gains tax when it is sold.
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Without a step-up in basis, the property is usually valued at its original purchase price, and capital gains tax is due at the time of inheritance.
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However, with a step-up in basis, the property is transferred to its new owner at its current market value, without triggering capital gains tax. If the beneficiary sells the house shortly after inheriting it, little or no capital gains taxes will be realized, since the value of the home will have changed very little from the time the step-up in basis was applied.
WealthFort™ Guarantees Quality
Living Trust Experts
Our Estate and Living Trust Professionals have specialized in producing quality trusts since 1989. They have kept an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and have never had a client complaint since they began their practice.
One-time Flat Fee
Attorneys who prepare trusts charge by the hour, and seemingly inexpensive online services end up costing far more once you’ve included all the extras that come standard with a our trusts.
The Professionals who create your customized Living Trust charge a flat fee, and you’re only charged once for the life of your trust.
Privacy Guarantee
We do not sell or share our client information with anyone, ever. We introduce you to our Trust partners, a separate company not affiliated with WealthFort™, and you will work directly with them and our team to complete your Trust documents. Our Living Trust Professionals operate as an independent, wholly-owned legal practice and provide you and us with the expertise to effectuate your best Living Trust solution. Accordingly, as Trust work is all they do, you will not be sold other products or services by them.
Free Support And Changes For The Life Of Your Trust
Our Living Trust Professionals provide changes and amendments to your trust—free—for the life of your trust, as well as free email and phone support--they have been providing this level of service for over 28 years. This alone could save you thousands of dollars over the life of your trust versus having one made through an attorney, who charges by the hour for these services.
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It is a good idea to review your living trust at least once a year to make any necessary changes.
As a general rule, you should change your trust anytime it no longer states your exact wishes for the distribution of your estate.
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Any big changes in your family, such as a marriage, divorce, death, or birth could justify a change in your trust.
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If your successor trustees, guardians, or Power of Attorneys can no longer fulfill their responsibilities, you should make changes to your appointments accordingly.