Living Trusts And Wills

Answers to questions about a living trust vs will from the law offices of Frederick N. Pellegrini, an attorney specializing in wills and trusts.

What Is a Will?

A will is a written document that must be signed and witnessed to be considered legally valid. One major function of a will is that it will indicate how your property will be disposed at the time of your death. A will is revocable and can be amended at any time during your life. A will that contains a trust can provide after death property management and can be utilized for estate planning purposes. It does not provide the same pre-death management as a trust.

What Is a Living Trust?

A Living Trust can carry out tax related estate planning and will provide living and after death property management. If serving as your own trustee, the trust provides for a successor upon your incapacity or death. This means that no court intervention is needed. Livings trusts also are used to manage property. If an individual is disabled or ill, the trust successor will manage the trust property. This means that the expense, inconvenience and publicity of court supervised estate protection can be avoided.

A properly written and appropriately funded living trust can allow you to avoid probate on your assets, control what happens to your property when you are gone, name guardians and make provisions for children, plan for your own incapacity, and prevent your financial affairs from becoming a part of the public record.

It is important that a living trust be properly funded. A living trust only controls assets that have been appropriated into it. If your assets have not been transferred before death, the un-appropriated assets will be subject to probate leading to possibly significant estate tax liability.