In estate planning, setting up a revocable living trust with the assistance of a skilled Oceanside revocable trust lawyer ensures that it will protect your assets and that your wishes will be honored. While this isn’t a necessary component of every estate plan, it’s certainly something worth considering. It can give you a way to manage your assets and protect them when you’re gone.
At Century Trusts & Estate Planning, PC, we specialize in creating living trusts as part of your estate plan. We can evaluate your situation and help you decide how to protect your interests. Schedule an initial consultation with our credible California estate planning attorney to start drafting your revocable trust document today.
Why Do I Need a Revocable Trust Lawyer in California?
When creating an estate plan, some people are satisfied with a simple will. However, wills have significant limitations when it comes to protecting your assets and controlling the details of their distribution. In addition to wills, there are many other ways to protect the beneficiary of your wealth after you die. One way to improve your estate planning strategy is to support your will with a revocable trust.
At Century Trusts & Estate Planning, PC, our top-ranking Oceanside revocable trust lawyers can:
- Help you make important decisions about how you’d like your estate to be distributed after your death, either through a will or a trust.
- Ensure your assets will be given to your loved ones in a timely manner.
- Plan your estate and set up a revocable trust that works in harmony with your other estate planning documents.
- Take the time to listen to your estate planning needs and provide legal advice to ensure your desired outcomes are legally secured.
- Ensure that you make the necessary arrangements to protect the assets you have worked hard to earn for your loved ones in the future.
- Offer comprehensive and high-quality legal services, including drafting wills, establishing power of attorney, securing advance healthcare directives, dealing with trust administration, and handling probate litigation.
Our estate planning law firm understands that each client has unique needs and desires when it comes to planning for the future of their estate. We have expertise in assisting families and individuals throughout Oceanside and in the San Diego area with setting up their estate plans. Contact our law office now and schedule an initial consultation with our California estate planning attorneys who can help you understand all your legal options when creating a revocable trust.
What is a Revocable Trust in California?
A revocable trust is a popular estate planning tool that allows a trustor to specify how his or her assets are meant to be managed, both during the trustor’s lifetime and in the trustor’s death. It is a way for a person to manage and control their assets while they are living and have those assets passed to their loved ones when they die. Once the trustor passes away, the trust is distributed by a trustee according to its terms.
Most living trusts are “revocable” because you can change them as your wishes or circumstances change. Revocable living trusts are considered “living” because you make them during your lifetime. For revocable living trusts, the grantor usually serves as the trustee, deciding what assets should be used to fund the trust and how the trust will be administered. Setting up a revocable living trust with the help of our trusted Oceanside CA revocable trust attorney can be a very wise move to protect your family’s future.
What are the Benefits of Setting up Revocable Trusts in California?
Not everyone needs to make a living trust. For many, a simple will is sufficient. However, there are several advantages to making a revocable living trust, especially for individuals with larger estates. Many people choose to set up a revocable living trust to safeguard their assets in the long term, avoid probate fees, and guarantee their loved ones’ futures. Our qualified Oceanside revocable trust lawyer can help you determine if a revocable trust is advantageous for your circumstances.
There are distinct advantages to using a revocable trust as an estate planning tool, including:
Greater Control
A revocable trust can give you more control over how your assets are distributed to family members. This can be especially important for younger or less financially responsible children. If you want to leave assets to a child or someone who may have trouble managing money, a living trust gives you control over the manner and timing of payments.
Incapacity Protection
A revocable trust offers protection in case of testator incapacity. A properly executed living trust can take care of you if you become unable to care for yourself. This avoids the need for a guardianship proceeding by providing clear instructions regarding who you want to step in as successor trustee to manage things on your behalf in the event of your incapacitation.
Avoid Probate
Probate is the legal process required to determine that a will is valid and oversee the administration of your estate. Because probate can be time-consuming and expensive, avoiding probate is one of the primary benefits of a revocable trust.
Assets placed in a revocable trust typically do not have to go through this court-supervised process. The extent of the benefits of avoiding probate may vary from state to state, but your circumstances also may make avoiding probate especially valuable. In addition, this can minimize beneficiaries’ stresses and costs while allowing them to gain ownership of a trust property or asset sooner than if they had to wait for the conclusion of the probate process.
Protect Privacy
Avoiding probate also preserves the privacy of your information, as the probate court process is generally open to the public. If maintaining privacy over your assets is important to you, a revocable trust is an option worth considering. Assets placed in a revocable trust are administered to beneficiaries privately.
Hold Property from Other States
If you own a trust property in other states, a revocable trust will protect your beneficiaries from needing to administer out-of-state probate procedures.
Flexibility
Many people choose to set up revocable living trusts due to their flexibility. The creator of the trust can make changes to the trust up until the time of their death. For most simple estates, a revocable trust has fewer legal formalities than a will, making it easier to create, change, and update from time to time.
What are the Limitations of a Living Trust in California?
While there are many advantages to establishing a revocable trust, there are also some drawbacks. Living trusts also carry certain disadvantages with them, which should be carefully considered and weighed against the advantages with the help of our knowledgeable revocable trust lawyer in Oceanside CA. You may also want to take into consideration these drawbacks:
Time and Money
Going through the process of setting up a revocable trust can take significantly more time and money than simply executing a will. It requires that the trust be funded by changing deeds, titles, and other documents to transfer into the fund. The documents establishing a trust are more complicated, and therefore more expensive than a simple will.
Immediate Tax Benefit
Transferring assets into a revocable trust won’t save income or estate tax. Any income earned from trust assets is reported on the settlor’s individual income tax return.
No Creditor Protection
Some trust types shield assets from the reach of creditors and judgments. A revocable trust, however, does not provide asset protection. Therefore, trust assets are still within reach of creditors.
Call Our Oceanside Revocable Trust Lawyer Now!
Estate planning is all about preparing for the future, ensuring that your legacy, assets, and end-of-life wishes are upheld with minimal hassle to your heirs and beneficiaries. One way in which residents of California prepare for the future is to set up a revocable trust in place.
Your revocable trust can do many things for you. Creating a California living trust is a reliable way to safeguard your legacy and ensure your assets and property are protected during your lifetime and after you are gone. To find out if a revocable trust is right for you, our seasoned Oceanside revocable trust lawyers at Century Trusts & Estate Planning, PC can help you determine the type of trust that can address your needs.
Our estate planning law firm has been helping numerous clients develop and administer revocable living trusts, as well as superior representation for other important estate planning matters. Schedule an initial consultation with us today to learn more about how a revocable trust and other estate planning options may benefit you and your family.
