Is a living trust expensive?
Living Trusts cost more to prepare than Wills. But, Living Trusts are much less expensive than the fees and costs that come with Probate Court. Your fee will depend on what you wish to accomplish. At our FREE consultation we will quote an exact fee (not a “range” or “ballpark”) before any work is begun.
Absolutely–preferably one who specializes in living trusts. An experienced attorney can provide valuable guidance and assistance for your situation and assure the legal documents are prepared properly. Avoid generic “do-it-yourself’ kits and form books–they can’t address every family’s unique needs and can be very dangerous.
A. No. Probate is expensive. The cost to probate a $500,000 estate can be $30,000 plus. The cost to prepare a living trust and related documents is only a fraction of the cost of probate. Q # 4. A TRUST SOUNDS COMPLICATED. WON’T IT COMPLICATE MY ESTATE? A. No. A living trust will not complicate your estate. It will simplify your estate. A successor trustee appointed by you can distribute your trust assets to your heirs quickly, often within a matter of weeks. A trust avoids probate which can take up to two years. Once established, a trust is not complicated. Probate is complicated. Q # 5. IS IT POSSIBLE TO AVOID PROBATE IF I GIVE MY HOUSE TO MY CHILDREN BEFORE I DIE BY SIMPLY PUTTING THEIR NAMES ON THE DEED? A. Joint tenancy can avoid probate but it can create other serious problems such as gift tax liability or the possibility that a judgment could be levied against your property, possibly leading to a forced sale of your home. Q # 6. WHAT IF I NEED TO CHANGE MY TRUST IN THE FUTURE? A
While a Revocable Living Trust is typically more expensive than a Will, an effective Living Trust provides value far in excess of the cost to set up and maintain it. Consider the costs of: 1. Forcing your family to go to probate court should you become incapacitated. This alone could run into the tens of thousands of dollars. 2. Paying for probate executor fees and attorney fees, possibly in multiple states. Again this can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Remember the above example where a $500,000 estate would pay in excess of $25,000 in fees. If the estate is worth $2,000,000, then the fees would be in excess of $66,000. 3. Paying estate taxes. For those estates where estate taxes are an issue, a proper estate plan can easily produce savings in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. When should you have a will? For the reasons indicated above we rarely recommend a will based estate plan, and even more rarely an estate plan limited to only a will. How
