Hire an estate lawyer to create an effective estate plan which includes a will and living trust. Most people do not like thinking about dying or end of life issues including funeral arrangements. But even if one does not like thinking about death one should think about the welfare of loved ones.

If a person dies without having a clear directive about the distribution of money and property the courts will decide who receives the money and property left behind by the decedent. A living trust and a will are documents which name the beneficiaries of the decedent\’s money and property that are created by the owner of the land and property. A trust is not a complicated document but the trust must be properly formed so that it will withstand judicial review.

The living trust allows an estate owner to maintain ownership of his land and money while he is living but once he dies the ownership of the land and money in the trust is automatically transferred to the beneficiary. The owner of the trust is called the trustee. In essence the owner of the land and money is holding his property as trustee, the person entrusted to guard the valuables for the sake of another, for the benefit of another, the beneficiary.

The living trust is a popular asset protection plan for one major reason which is probate avoidance. Probate is the court process that all wills must go through before a will is determined to be legally binding. A will is different from a trust in that the will is a written document that outlines a person\’s wishes of who is to receive his assets upon the will writer\’s death.

Before a will can be legally binding the will\’s authenticity must be validated. The process where the will is examined is called the probate process and can take months to complete. In some extreme cases the probate process can take one or more years to complete.

Probate reduces the amount of assets the beneficiary receives because the probate court charges a fee and lawyers have to be paid. The probate court and lawyer fees come out of the assets left by the decedent. But in reality the beneficiaries pay for court costs and legal fees.

A living trust does not have to be authenticated by the court so there are no legal or court fees coming out of the assets. The beneficiary of the decedent\’s assets does not have to wait for the completion of a court process and receives the decedent\’s assets immediately. A living trust is a private matter between decedent and beneficiary whereas a will is a public matter and can be challenged in court, can be attached by creditors, or can be printed in the newspaper.

An estate lawyer helps create living trusts for people who want to leave their assets to their loved ones upon their death. People who die without a will or living trust will have their assets distributed by the state. The probate court will distribute a decedent\’s assets if the decedent had a will and the court will charge the beneficiary of the will court costs and lawyer fees. The living trust transfers the assets to the beneficiary immediately without court cost, lawyer fees, or publicity.

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