Living Trusts have been used for hundreds of years to avoid the problems commonly associated with owning property in your own name upon death or incapacity. When you die owning property in your own name, a costly, public and time-consuming process called Probate is required to supervise the transfer of your assets from yourself as a deceased person to your beneficiaries – whether you have a Will or not. Let us repeat: your estate is going through Probate whether you have a Will or not!

In order to avoid probate, many people create a Living Trust during their lifetime ('inter-vivos') and transfer all of their property from themselves as individuals to themselves as Trustee of their Trust. They name their Successor Trustees in advance, i.e. who will control, manage and distribute their assets according to their wishes after they are gone.

Properly drafted Living Trusts can also provide asset protection for future generations, so that your hard-earned wealth can be protected from creditors, judgments, lawsuits and divorces that may one day confront your heirs.

Creating a Living Trust and establishing other important legal documents (i.e. Powers of Attorney and Living Wills) is one of the most loving things you can do for your family. It is also one of the smartest things you can do to protect your wealth for the benefit of your children and grandchildren.

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