Many people hope to leave a legacy for their family members after they pass. A successful estate plan could help you accomplish many goals, from transferring beloved items of property to creating years of financial security.
Creating a revocable living trust is a common way to manage your property during your life and transfer it outside of the probate system after your passing. If you need to create a plan for your estate, speak with an experienced trusts attorney about Lombard revocable living trusts.
A trust is an independent legal entity that could hold or own property for the benefit of another person. The creator or grantor of a living trust creates the entity during his or her lifetime for his or her own benefit or the benefit of another person.
If a trust is revocable, the grantor retains the right to change its terms or terminate it entirely. If the trust is irrevocable, a grantor cannot change its terms or dissolve it once it is created.
When creating a revocable trust in Lombard, the grantor names a person or persons as the trustee and as the beneficiaries. The trustee is legally responsible for managing the trust and distributing its assets to the beneficiaries, who have the right to receive money or property from the trust. During the grantor’s lifetime, the person who created the trust is often the grantor, the trustee, and the beneficiary simultaneously.
After the grantor’s death, the trustee takes over as the financial manager for everything left in the estate. The trustee is charged with following the grantor’s rules for the trust, paying any applicable debts or taxes, and fairly distributing the trust’s assets to the beneficiaries.
Because the role of trustee often requires significant legal and financial knowledge, some grantors choose to name an attorney or a professional trustee to manage the trust’s administration. Alternatively, a person named as a trustee may hire a lawyer to help them comply with the trust’s requirements.
Creating a revocable living trust has many benefits for both the grantor during his or her lifetime and the beneficiaries after the grantor passes. The main advantage of creating a revocable trust is that the grantor retains the right to change or alter the trust at any time before he or she passes away.
The grantor may add or remove beneficiaries, change trustees, add property or sell trust property, or terminate the trust entirely. As long as these changes are made while the grantor is still mentally competent, the grantor is free to update his or her trust at any time.
The second advantage of creating a revocable living trust is that trust assets are available to beneficiaries immediately after the grantor’s death, without going through probate. Probate is the process of administering a person’s estate after he or she dies, and it could take months to complete and may require the heirs to hire a probate lawyer to represent them. By transferring assets through a trust, beneficiaries can save time and money.
Additionally, a trust could transfer assets and property to people or entities that a will could not. For example, because minors cannot legally own property until they reach 18, a trustee could manage and protect assets, such as real estate, on their behalf until they reach the age of majority.
Creating a living trust is an essential part of many estate plans. By working with an attorney, you can draft a trust document that aligns with your goals now and in the future. If you think that a Lombard revocable living trust is right for you, contact a trusts and estates lawyer today and schedule an appointment.
