One reason to use a living trust, rather than a will, is simply that it can save your heirs a lot of time after you pass away.
With a will, the legal process plays out after your passing. The court supervises it to make sure that your wishes are followed. You could leave your home to your kids, for instance, and divide your financial assets.
With a living trust, you take care of everything in advance. You make the trust while you’re still alive, and then you put your assets into it. Before you pass away, you can still handle your assets as you see fit and they do not go to your heirs. Afterward, though, the trust distributes everything so that the court doesn’t have to get involved on most issues.
This speeds everything up for your heirs, it can reduce the chances of a dispute and it can keep your assets out of probate. Remember, it could take 12 months for the probate process to play out, and there are a lot of documents your heirs have to deal with. A living trust puts the responsibility on you so that they don’t make mistakes. It can save them time, money and stress.
The reality is that you could pass away unexpectedly. You need to give your family a chance to focus on supporting each other during a difficult time, rather than trying to figure out a complex legal process. You can do all of that on your end with a living trust. Make sure you know exactly what steps to take to get it all set up if that’s how you’d like to proceed. An experienced attorney can assist you.