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muh asked in Business & FinanceInsurance · 1 decade ago

Will and Revocable Trust?

I notice in some cases it's better to have both. Is it better to have just a revocable living trust or just a will? I don't have a lot of assests but I heard it's good to set that up to skip probate.

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Wills and revocable trusts do different things. When you die, your estate goes to the local probate court to determine what happens with them. It can take upwards of 9 months for probate to settle and costs 3-5% of your estate in probate costs plus attorney's fees.

    A will is used to indicate your wishes with regard to the dispensation of your assets. It does nothing to bypass probate, save in probate fees and won't help with estate planning. All it does it tell the probate judge who should inherit your silver service and lucky coins :)

    A revocable trust is used to move assets directly to your heirs at your death; basically, it bypasses the probate process completely. Revocable trusts can be really useful when used in the right circumstances. They won't do much for alleviating estate taxes, but it can help preserve the value of the assets you do have by not spending unnecessary time and money in the probate process.

    You do put your assets into the trust, but you maintain control of them while you're alive. If you don't have much in the way of assets, and you're reasonably young, I probably wouldn't worry about setting up a revocable trust at this point. I'd recommend that you talk to an estate attorney; many will give you a free consultation to discuss your situation.

    Kudos to you for thinking about this kind of "stuff." Most folks think just having a will protects them.

  • 1 decade ago

    Everyone should have a will. If you have assets you want to protect from probate, then also have a trust. In some cases it is good to have both. You really need to talk to an attorney to decide which is best for you.

  • 4 years ago

    A revocable dwelling believe is a thank you to establish your sources. at an identical time as you, the guy who created the believe is alive, you could placed sources in, take them out, placed them lower back in lower back as many situations as you opt for. For tax applications, the believe is disregarded. All earnings is asserted below the grantor's SSN and unearths it thank you to their 1040. while the grantor dies, the believe flips to irrevocable because of the fact the guy who substitute into waiting to make all of the concepts isn't around to do them anymore. The believe comes into existance for tax applications (it gets that's own tax id). The trustees then persist with the believe rfile. because of the fact the sources that are in the believe now belong to the believe, they do no longer pass with the aid of probate. The trustee can as we communicate sell them. to keep away from the prospect that sources have been ignored, many wills could have assertion that sources no longer in the believe are left to the believe. (whether the sources are in a believe, they are counted for sources tax applications.)

  • 6 years ago

    all assets are gone cousin took all assets

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