Creating a living trust is a smart way to manage your money and property while you are alive. It ensures that your assets go to the people or groups you choose when you pass away. This blog will guide you through what a living trust is, why you might need one, and how to create one affordably using Legal Zoom in 2024.
What is a Living Trust?
A living trust is a legal document that allows you to control your assets while you’re still alive and ensures that they are distributed to the right people when you die. It’s a popular form of estate planning because it provides several benefits:
Benefits of a Living Trust:
- Control: You can manage and control your assets during your lifetime.
- Avoiding Probate: Your beneficiaries can avoid the time-consuming and expensive probate process.
- Privacy: Unlike a will, a living trust is not a public document, so your assets and beneficiaries remain private.
- Incapacity Planning: Name someone to manage your assets if you cannot.
Why You Might Need a Living Trust
Pros:
- Avoid Probate: A living trust helps avoid the probate process, which can be costly and time-consuming.
- Maintain Control: You maintain control over your assets while alive and can decide how they are managed and distributed.
- Privacy: A living trust is not public, so your assets and beneficiaries stay private.
- Incapacity Protection: You can designate someone to manage your assets if you cannot.
Cons:
- Upfront Costs: Setting up a living trust can be more expensive upfront than creating a will.
- Complexity: Living trusts can be more complex to set up and manage, especially if you have a large or complicated estate.
- Ongoing Management: You must transfer assets into the trust and manage them, which requires ongoing effort.
What is Covered by a Living Trust?
A living trust can cover a wide range of assets, including:
- Real Estate: In the trust, you can include your home, rental properties, or other real estate holdings.
- Bank Accounts: Checking accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit can be included in the trust.
- Investments: Stocks, bonds, and other investment accounts can be placed in the trust.
- Personal Property: The trust can cover valuable items like jewelry, art, and collectibles.
- Business Interests: If you own a business, you can include your ownership interest in the trust.
Creating a Living Trust with Legal Zoom
Legal Zoom is an online platform that allows you to create a living trust affordably. Their living trust package is $499 for one person or $549 for a couple, which is much more affordable than hiring an attorney.
What’s Included:
- Legal Advice: One year of legal advice with an attorney.
- Power of Attorney: Allows someone you trust to manage your finances if you cannot do so.
- Living Will: Specifies your healthcare wishes if you can’t communicate them yourself.
- Unlimited Revisions: You can change your living trust during the first year.
Steps to Create a Living Trust with Legal Zoom:
- Purchase the Package: Go to Legal Zoom’s website and choose the living trust package.
- Fill Out the Questionnaire: Legal Zoom will ask for your personal, property, beneficiary, and representative information.
- Review and Finalize: Legal Zoom will prepare your living trust documents based on your answers. Review the documents, make any necessary changes, and finalize the trust.
- Sign and Notarize: Once the documents are ready, you must sign them before a notary to make them official.
- Fund the Trust: Transfer your assets into the trust. This might include real estate, bank accounts, investments, and other valuable property.
How to Use Legal Zoom’s Living Trust Package:
- Choose Your Trustees: Decide who will manage the trust during your lifetime and after your death.
- List Your Assets: Identify the property you want to include in the trust.
- Name Your Beneficiaries: Specify who will receive your assets.
- Choose a Guardian: If you have minor children, you can name a guardian to care for them.
- Review and Finalize: Make sure everything looks correct before finalizing the trust.
Conclusion
Creating a living trust is an excellent way to plan for the future and protect your assets and loved ones. Legal Zoom makes it affordable and convenient to create a living trust, ensuring that your estate is managed according to your wishes. Follow the steps outlined above to establish your living trust and gain peace of mind, knowing that your affairs are in order.
