Pros And Cons Of Revocable Trusts

When planning your estate, a revocable trust will likely be among the options you consider. Revocable trusts are very popular and while they do have many advantages, they also have some drawbacks. Below, our St. Petersburg trust planning lawyer outlines the benefits and drawbacks of these estate planning tools.

What are the Advantages of Revocable Trusts? 

Many people find that revocable trusts provide flexibility, privacy, and control over their own property. Even if your estate is not large, you will likely still find that there are many benefits of revocable trusts. These include:

• Avoid probate: By far one of the biggest advantages of revocable trusts is that they can allow your loved ones to avoid probate. Trusts are separate legal entities from your estate and so, the property within them is not subject to probate. Probate can be a long and expensive process and many people look to avoid it by using a trust.
• Flexible: During your lifetime, you can fund the trust by placing property into it and you can access and control those assets. If your circumstances change, you can even dissolve the trust.
• Asset management: You can include provisions within your trust your trustee must follow. For example, you can include a spendthrift provision so that a beneficiary does not waste their inheritance.
• Limited challenges: While the grounds for contesting a trust or will are essentially the same, it is generally much harder to contest a trust because the probate courts are not involved.

What are the Drawbacks of Revocable Trusts? 

Although drafting a trust has many benefits, these legal tools have some drawbacks, as well. These are as follows:

• Costs: Creating a trust is generally more complicated and expensive than simply drafting a will. While this can help save your family costs after you pass away, it may also mean that establishing a trust might not be worthwhile if you do not have a significant amount of assets.
• Hassle of funding the trust: Creating a trust, unfortunately, is not enough. You must also fund it, which requires you to transfer title on certain property, open new bank accounts, and more. All of this can be stressful and inconvenient but without doing these tasks, neither you or your family will reap the benefits of the trust.
• Trustee issues: If your beneficiaries feel as though the trustee you have selected is mismanaging assets or not complying with the terms of the trust, they can ask the probate court to remove them. The assets in the trust may be used to defend this action.

Call Our Trust Planning Lawyer in St. Petersburg Today 

Revocable trusts have many benefits and some drawbacks, making it more difficult to determine if one is right for you. At Legacy Protection Lawyers, LLP, our St. Petersburg trust planning lawyer can review the details of your estate and your family and advise on the strategies that may be best for you. Call us today at 727-471-5868 or contact us online to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced attorneys and to learn more about how we can help.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0736/0736.html