SHOULD YOU AVOID PROBATE

A living trust is one of the main ways to avoid probate. (Others are having property in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, transferring property through beneficiary designations in your life insurance and retirement benefits, and making gifts while you are alive.) One of the purposes of probate is to determine the disposition of the property you leave at death. Since the trustee of your living trust owns that property, there is no need for probate.

However, as more and more states have made probate quicker, easier, and less expensive—and as some states tightened their procedures for administering living trusts—living trusts have lost one of their main advantages in most jurisdictions. Now administering an estate through a living trust can in some cases take as long and cost as much as doing so under a will. But although some lawyers think they’ve been oversold to the public, there are times when a living trust makes sense (see pp 87-88). You and your lawyer will have to weigh all the factors and decide if one is right for you.