What are the advantages of creating a Trust over other forms of methods of avoiding Probate?
A Trust created by the Grantor (creator of the Trust) during his or her own life can offer the Grantor a way to avoid a guardianship in case of incapacity by having marshaled his or her assets for the Grantor’s care. Such a Trust can also provide for the Grantor’s dependents if the Grantor so provides. At the Grantor’s death, the assets that are in the Trust, as well as the assets received by the trust through beneficiary designation, transfer on death and pay on death to the Trust, avoid Probate. Assets that are not in the Trust already or do not otherwise pass to the Trust from such non-Probate designations, pass through Probate, usually passing to the Trust from what is called a Pour-Over Will (because it pours over to the Trust). Equally important, a Trust permits the Grantor to provide detailed distribution provisions of the trust property at the Grantor’s death. Other Probate avoidance methods such as transfer on death and pay on death arrangements do not provide for what happen
