Estate planning is the creation of legally enforceable documents, such as a written trust or will, by which you can pass on your assets–for example, a home, financial accounts, cars, personal property items, and any other assets–to your intended beneficiaries.

Without good estate planning your estate may be subject to unnecessary shrinkage by the payment of probate fees (and costs) and federal estate taxes, among other things.

Our estate plans center around the creation of a revocable living trust. This means you, as Trustor, have the power to change the terms of the trust at any time during your life. There are numerous other forms of trust documents (and provisions therein), such as special needs trusts, charitable remainder trusts, or asset protection trusts, with each serving a different purpose in estate planning.

A revocable living trust is the most flexible and all-encompassing for passing on your estate, since all types of property, real and personal, can be transferred into it, and be passed on to the beneficiaries you have designated. Further advantages of such a trust are that, following your death, your beneficiary will receive legal title and possession to the property to which he or she is entitled much sooner and with much less expense than if your estate had to go through a probate.