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Written by Elizabeth Altomare   
Thinking about an estate plan? Have you heard the advantages of a living trust verses a will? If you do not have an estate plan in place the government has one for you. If you die without a will or living trust, your heirs will receive your estate after the probate process. This is not a good choice given the time and cost factors involved in probate. So you may have heard someone tell you to go online and find the legal documents to create your own estate plan.
by ElizabethAltomare


Thinking about an estate plan? Have you heard the advantages of a living trust verses a will? If you do not have an estate plan in place the government has one for you. If you die without a will or living trust, your heirs will receive your estate after the probate process. This is not a good choice given the time and cost factors involved in probate. So you may have heard someone tell you to go online and find the legal documents to create your own estate plan.

First realize that a living trust is a good idea. And the sooner you get one the better. Of course in tough economic times the first thing people put at the end of their to do list is create an estate plan. People have better ways to spend their money than on something they will not need until they are dead they think. And, well, that is true. At the same time your heirs will appreciate the fact you took the time and spent the money to create an estate plan including a living trust. When they do not have to go through probate they will thank you for it.

Probate can take from six months to in some cases two years to complete. There are legal fees involved and also court costs. And realize that even if you have a will your estate will have to go through the probate process. So your best plan is to prepare a living trust.

Before you order it and start checking the boxes and putting the form into your safe deposit box, you have realize there is more to a living trust than printing out forms and checking boxes. There have been several probate judges and probate lawyers who simply sigh and shake their heads when heirs to the deceased present such a pile of forms in court expecting to walk away with the estate of the box checker.

If you needed heart surgery would you go to the book store and buy on self surgery with a scalpel included on the back page? No. You would hire a medical professional to perform the surgery. So too you need to hire a legal professional to prepare your living trust.

Living trusts seem easy to create and yes if you take a look at the instructions and the legal forms all is laid out for you to do it yourself.

Do you have a taxable estate? Do you know what a taxable estate is? The law in this area changes regularly and you need an expert to help keep you up on this area of law. If your estate is subject to estate tax, there are ways to help your heirs from having to part with your estate to pay the government the taxes they demand. One way is to have a life insurance trust in place. You need a lawyer and a life insurance agent to work on this for you.

One of the most important steps people leave out is moving their possessions like their real estate into their trust. A living trust is a legal document only when it is prepared correctly and your estate is properly transferred into the trust itself.

Without the correct preparation and transfer of property to the estate the living trust is only a piece of paper not a legal document. Yes, it costs money to hire an attorney to prepare your estate plan. But in the end it will actually save your heirs time and money when it is time for them to take possession of what you intend them to receive at the time of your passing. And you will have peace of mind now knowing your estate plan is in order.

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