Do you need a living trust?

Here are just ten situations (there are many others) in which a Living Trust would provide a significant benefit to the Trustor:

• You want to maintain management and control of your assets during your lifetime and ensure someone of your choice takes over upon your death. 
  
• Your beneficiaries reside outside of the state and would incur great expense to administer your estate through probate.
  
• You want to be certain that you choose who manages your affairs, and that you determine the conditions under which they will be managed. 
  
• Your estate's value exceeds the lifetime estate tax exemption, and you want to take full advantage of tax savings that are only possible through expert planning.
  
• You own real estate in more than one state and want to avoid multiple probates in your home state as well as in the state(s) where your other property is located.
  
• You want your heirs to avoid capital gains taxes associated with gifting a highly appreciated asset.
  
• You own a business or farm and want to avoid the harmful disruptions in business caused by probate, or you want to plan and provide for a family member who helps run the farm or business while also fairly providing for other family members who do not actively participate. 
  
• You have minor children, minor grandchildren, or special needs descendants for whose care you wish to provide.
  
• You have children by a previous marriage or a second spouse, and you want to make sure everyone is provided for without the common problem of accidental disinheritance.



These are of course, by no means the only reasons you might benefit from having a Living Trust. Nearly all but the most modest of estates can be handled much more efficiently and cost-effectively by using a trust to avoid conservatorship and probate.