Advantages of a Living Trust as Part of Your Estate Plan

Estate planning is a process anyone can use to protect financial assets, provide financial security, and pass wealth on to future generations. Estate planning is for everyone, and anyone can benefit from a properly prepared estate plan.

A living trust can be an important part of an estate plan. It allows a person to avoid probate by providing clear instructions on how their assets are to be transferred upon their death. A trust ensures beneficiaries receive their inheritance quickly, privately, and without the need to go through probate.

To take full advantage of Nevada’s trust laws and the benefits of a trust, you should work with an experienced estate planning attorney. Natalia Vander Laan can analyze your situation, provide advice and guidance to protect your assets, and help you avoid mistakes that could compromise the effectiveness of your trust.

What Is a Nevada Living Trust?

A Nevada living trust is an estate planning document that provides instructions for managing and distributing your assets during your lifetime and after your death. Once the trust is created, and for it to be effective, you must transfer assets into the trust. Ms. Vander Laan can help you transfer assets like bank accounts, real estate, investments, and personal property into the trust.

Once assets have been placed in the trust, you can direct how trust assets will be administered and transferred during times of incapacity and upon your death, without the need for probate court approval. You maintain control of the assets and can move them in and out of the trust as you please.

When you create a living trust, you appoint a successor trustee who will serve as your representative if you become incapacitated or upon your death. The trustee will manage trust assets and distribute them to your beneficiaries according to your instructions.

What Are the Advantages of a Living Trust?

Once you have transferred assets into the trust, they can be managed and distributed efficiently and privately, without probate court involvement.

Avoid Probate

Avoiding probate is one of the main benefits of creating a Nevada living trust.

Probate is a court-supervised process in which your estate representative settles your estate. Typically, this means paying estate debts and distributing assets to your heirs or beneficiaries if there is a Will.

All assets owned by a deceased person that do not pass by operation of law or a beneficiary designation must go through probate, unless there is a trust. Probate can be expensive, and costs increase for larger estates. Probate can also take a long time. Probating a routine estate often takes between six months and a year.

By including a living trust as part of your estate plan, you can avoid probate and distribute assets to trust beneficiaries quickly and without probate court involvement.

Ensure Privacy

Ensuring privacy is another benefit of a living trust.

When a person dies and their assets go through probate, their Will becomes a public document that anyone can access and, in some cases, contest.

A living trust is a private document. Unlike a Will, it does not become public record. Unless they are named as a trustee or beneficiary, other people typically cannot see the trust and will not know how trust assets are to be transferred and distributed. In most cases, it is more difficult to challenge a trust than a Will.

Provide Security

A living trust provides security and peace of mind by knowing your assets will be distributed privately according to your wishes. A properly prepared trust provides security by creating a clear, flexible plan to distribute your assets and can make for a smoother process of transferring assets to beneficiaries.

Common Misconceptions About a Nevada Living Trust

Despite their advantages, many people are reluctant to include a trust as part of their estate plan.

• Myth #1. Trusts are only for the wealthy. A living trust is not “just for the wealthy.” Anyone who owns property or financial accounts and wants to protect their assets from legal complications can benefit from a Nevada living trust.
• Myth #2. A Will is all you need. A Will is an excellent start to estate planning. However, a Will requires probate, which can delay distribution of your assets and incur additional costs. A Nevada living trust strengthens your estate plan and provides for a smoother, less expensive asset transfer.
• Myth #3. Creating a trust is complicated. Creating a trust on your own is complicated. But an experienced professional can provide guidance and set up a trust that is easy to manage and will provide long-term security.
• Myth #4. I can just use beneficiary designations. While joint ownership and beneficiary designations are an important part of estate planning, they do not provide the same level of privacy, protection, and control as a trust.

Next Steps for Nevada Estate Planning

Estate planning is an ongoing and proactive process that can help ensure financial security and peace of mind for you and your family. Including a Nevada living trust as part of your estate plan offers benefits that a Will and beneficiary designations cannot match.

Contact the Vander Laan Law Firm Today

When you are ready to secure your financial future and provide security and protection for future generations, call (775) 461-2897 or contact the Vander Laan Law Firm to schedule an appointment to discuss your situation and how a living trust can be an important part of your estate plan.