At Kushner Legal here in California, we understand that revocable living trusts are valuable estate planning tools. Unlike in other jurisdictions, where will-based planning is more common, using a revocable living trust as as the foundation of your estate plan often provides many valuable benefits. In this blog, we will highlight four important benefits that are our clients enjoy when they retain to prepare and draft their revocable living trust.

Avoiding Probate

Probate in California is time-consuming and expensive and can often take a year or longer depending on the specific circumstances of the client. Probate may require multiple court appearances and the payment of statutory-based probate fees. Probate can be especially frustrating for clients who are wishing to sell propery in a time-sesitive manner or where there beneficiaries who are difficulty to reach. A properly funded and drafted Revocable Living Trust will avoid the need for unnecessary probate proceedings

Privacy

Revocable Living Trusts are not filed with the courts and they are administered privately by the named successor trustee. In a probate proceeding, the will of the Deceased must be filed with the Court and this can invite both unwanted scrutiny and potential challenges from aggrieved or estranged family members. Specific gifts made in a Trust are also private and this is beneficial to ensure that the wishes of the Deceased are not unduly scrutinized.

Revocability

A revocable living trust is fully revocable meaning that you can revoke the document or make changes to the contents at anytime while you are alive. This allows for flexibility in terms of changing family dynamics and moving assets in and out of the trust.

No Tax Implications

A revocable living trust is considered a grantor trust by the IRS and the tax identification number is the social security number of the grantor. This means that no additional reporting to the IRS is required and transferring property into the Trust will not trigger a re-assessment.

Contact Kushner Legal today to schedule a consultation to discuss setting up a trust-based estate plan.