What is a Trust?” is often a question that we hear from our clients. This gave me the idea to write a What is a Trust:Trust 101 blog post to help with that question. As a Paralegal at Morneau Law, I am the first person you speak to when you call us. I know how overwhelming it can be to call an attorney’s office with these types of questions. You can feel completely comfortable speaking with me and our team about your estate planning needs. We want to walk you through each step of the process.

Revocable Trusts

A Trust is a document that allows you to have your property held “in trust” for your beneficiaries. There are many types of Trusts. In this blog we will talk about a Revocable Trust or also known as a Living Trust.

What are the benefits of having a Revocable Trust? A Living Trust is established during an individual’s lifetime as opposed to a Testamentary Trust which is established after death. The Trust can be maintained while the Trust grantor is still alive. The Trust grantor can put assets in the Trust for management purposes and to avoid a lengthy probate process.

Advantages of Trusts

Other advantages of a Living Trust are:

• A Living Trust contains the provisions governing the grantor’s estate at his/her death.
• A Living Trust is appropriate if the grantor becomes unable to care for his/her assets during his/her lifetime.
• A Living Trust is a private document.
• With a Living Trust you avoid probating the estate. A Living Trust does not need to be filed with the Court; unlike a Will which becomes a public document at death and will need to be filed with the Probate Court.

I hope that this introduction to Revocable Trusts is helpful and answered any questions on What is a Trust. To learn more visit our other posts on Estate Planning and Estate Planning page. We would love to talk to you more about whether a Trust is a good fit for your situation. Please feel free to contact us for a free consultation.