Typically, homeowners, parents of minor children, and people with six figures of investment assets could benefit from a trust. However, not necessarily everyone needs one. It’s really a question of whether you would like to invest a little bit more time and money now, to save your family a lot of time and money in the long run.

Who Should Have a Trust? 

If you have minor children, a trust is essential. Without one, your family may be subjected to a court-supervised guardianship. This process can cost tens of thousands of dollars, requiring you to hire a guardian attorney, report to a judge yearly, and get approval for future budgets. 

Anyone who owns real estate should consider a revocable living trust to avoid probate. If you lack an estate plan or rely solely on a will, your family will likely end up in probate court. Probate starts at an average cost between $5,000 and $10,000, potentially becoming much more expensive if any disputes arise. This is because probate requires attorney representation, court appearances, inventory of assets, appraisals, and public filings for creditors to review. This can take six to nine months, after which assets can finally be transferred. Additionally, without a trust, new deeds are required to be executed on the passing of the first spouse and then again on the death of the second spouse for each piece of real estate, a process both expensive and time-consuming.  

A Revocable Living Trust allows you to avoid this debacle. It removes the need for probate, provides a surviving spouse the ability to manage assets immediately without the need for a change in title, and circumvents many unnecessary delays or expenses.   

What Are The Different Types Of Trusts?

The most commonly used trust is the revocable living trust, which, if properly funded will transfer your assets onto your beneficiaries without the need for court intervention. Other commonly used trusts include:

  1. Irrevocable trusts: These are typically designed for either asset protection planning or special needs planning, to protect assets and family members from being disqualified for government benefits.
  2. Spendthrift trusts: These trusts are used to ensure beneficiaries maintain healthy spending habits and provide protection from creditors and divorce.
  3. Bypass trust or a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT): These trusts be used for estates valued at over $6 million, to keep assets out of the taxable estate, thereby minimizing the 40% estate tax burden.  

Should I Have Or Do I Need More Than One Trust?

Usually, you do not need more than one trust in a trust based estate plan, even though we might be breaking that trust up into multiple sub-trusts for your children and family eventually. This can almost always be accomplished under the umbrella of one revocable living trust based estate plan.

What Are The Components That Constitute A Strong And Effective Estate Plan?

Typically, we need to be very specific about the powers of the trustee and about how to elect a new trustee. We need to be very specific about who is receiving what within the document and how those assets are being protected. We also need to be very specific about determining whether or not the trustee has become incapacitated, in order to get a successor trustee in place. Many other contingencies need to be drafted in order to make an effective trust because if you don’t specify what happens in the event of an unknown circumstance, you are really at the mercy of the Texas Trust Code default rules, which is similar to the intestate probate laws in Texas. A proper trust is a rather long document for the reason that we have to draft in a lot of possibilities in order to protect your trust and protect your family.

Will I Lose Control Over My Assets If I Put Them Into A Trust?

If you’ve placed your assets into a revocable living trust, you lose no control. You could put everything in one day and take everything out the very next day. The only time you would lose control over your assets in a trust based estate plan is if you chose to do so for asset protection, or possibly estate tax purposes.

Can I Change The Terms Of My Trust?

If you have a revocable living trust based plan, it’s very easy to change the terms of your trust and edit it. All we have to do is edit the documents and notarize it. It’s even easier to edit the terms of your trust than it would be a will because we don’t have to have two other independent witnesses involved.

Are My Assets That Are Held In A Trust Going To Be Protected From Creditors?

Your assets will be protected from creditors, if your trust is properly designed for that purpose. A trust is a great opportunity to pass wealth down to your family in a protected way. You only have the opportunity to set this up once because after you’ve passed away and you pass it on to your children outside of a trust, your children won’t be able to protect their assets or inheritance from creditors on their own. However, just by placing your own assets into a revocable living trust does not give you protection from your own creditors. The only way to accomplish that is to make the trust irrevocable and give up control over the assets, which most people don’t want to do.

What If My Assets Change After My Trust Is Created?

Depending on how you’ve designed your trust, you probably don’t have to do anything if your assets have changed. Usually, it’s very simple to place those assets into the trust if need be. It’s very easy to manage your assets through a trust based estate plan, so there is usually little involvement while your assets are growing.

For more information on Need For A Trust In the State Of Texas, a free initial consultation is your next best step.