The most common living trust mistakes

Living trusts have become popular alternatives to wills as the primary document in estate planning.  With a living trust, your family members avoid the cost of probate as well as the time involved in, the loss of privacy, and the stress that come with court proceedings which are required if you have a will.  A living trust provides you with the opportunity to have all your assets covered in one document and to have them managed by a person of your choosing. And, with a revocable living trust, you have the option of making changes to the document at any time during your lifetime.

However, there are some common living trust mistakes that can preclude a trust from working the way it was intended:

• Not having a properly prepared document
• Not reading the trust document
• Not funding the trust
• Naming the wrong successor trustee(s)
• Not updating your living trust

How you can avoid them

To avoid the common mistakes many people make with living trusts, you need to make sure that yours is “properly prepared” which means that all the trust documents are correctly written per both the law and your wishes as to how you want your assets to be distributed to family members or other beneficiaries after your death. Make sure you proofread the document and are able to understand all of its provisions before signing it.

A trust is “properly funded” when all your assets have been properly titled in the name of the trust and all beneficiary designation forms have been completed, naming the trust as the beneficiary.

In order to avoid making these and other mistakes when setting up a living trust, you need to hire an attorney who has expertise and experience in the field of estate planning.  It is important to find an attorney who can, not only prepare a well-written legal document, but one that can also provide you with good, solid advice about choosing a trustee successor and all the other ins and outs of establishing a living trust.

Your family will thank you

Hiring an estate planning attorney for living trusts can help you avoid the confusion when it comes to setting up a living trust vs a more traditional will and the mistakes that are often made when preparing a revocable trust.  In the San Diego area, The Law Office of David W. Foley, California Living Trusts, specializes in creating living trusts as part of your estate plan. Our living trusts are comprehensive and of the highest quality. Our attorneys are very knowledgeable when it comes to California law as it applies to estate planning and are available to answer any and all questions and concerns that you may have about living trusts in order to ensure that your family and other loved ones are cared for after your death.