Trust & Estate Planning
– Sacramento Estate Planning Attorneys –
What is a Trust?
A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows you, the owner of the assets (trustor), to designate a third party (trustee), to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries of your choosing.
There are many types of trusts which can be arranged in a variety of ways to allow you to specify exactly how and when your assets pass to the beneficiaries.
A trust, in its simplest definition, is a fiduciary arrangement between three parties involving the holding of and disbursement of assets. The three parties can be three individual people or each party can be made up of multiple people or entities. Each party has specific responsibilities or roles. These roles are as follows:
- The Trustor: This is the person, persons, or entity that owns the asset(s) and creates the trust agreement. This role can also be commonly referred to as the trust maker, grantor, or settlor.
- The Trustee: This is the third party responsible for managing the assets that are titled to and transferred by the trustor.
- The Beneficiary or Beneficiaries: This is the person, persons, or entity named in the trust by the trustor who will receive the benefits of the assets.
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Consultation
When you work with our experienced estate planning lawyers, you can rest assured you will receive the personal attention and dedication you and your family deserve. Contact our law office today.
What Are the Benefits of a Living Trust?
There are benefits of using a trust as part of your estate plan. Many of our clients and their beneficiaries have been able to achieve the following benefits by utilizing various trusts:
- Avoiding Probate: Probate is the lengthy legal process through which a deceased person’s estate is distributed to heirs and designated beneficiaries. The probate process can take months or years to complete. However, the creation of a trust can help your beneficiaries avoid probate, which allows designated beneficiaries to save time, court fees, and potentially reduce estate taxes.
- Control of Your Wealth and Assets: Working with an attorney to create a well-crafted trust allows you to specify the terms of the trust. This allows you to control how the distribution of assets are made. Trusts can be designed to allow assets to remain accessible to you during your lifetime.
- Protection of Your Legacy: A trust attorney can construct a trust that can help protect your estate from the designated heirs’ creditors while manageing and protecting a beneficiary that may not be proficient in money management.
- Keeping Your Wishes Private: Creating a solid trust allows you to pass on your legacy privately by avoiding probate. Your wishes are only known by the loved ones or beneficiaries that you have chosen.
“At Abrate & Olsen Law Group, our Estate Planning Attorneys make our client’s needs as a personal and professional priority. You and your family deserve the best in the business and that’s what we deliver.”
Protect Your Future & Legacy with a Living Trust Today!
What is the Process for Creating a Trust?
Now that you know what a trust is, as well as the benefits that a trust provides in a well-crafted estate plan, we will guide you through our process of creating a trust. Many clients have found relief in our ability to guide them through the process and they’ve found it is much less difficult than they anticipated.
Step 1: Consultation
In the first step, our experienced estate planning attorneys will take the time to meet with you to understand your situation and goals you want to accomplish in your trust.
Step 3: Understanding the Trust
After a type of trust is decided upon, we make sure you have a full understanding of how trusts function, including the parties within a trust: the Trustee, Trustor, and Beneficiary.
Step 2: Choosing a Trust
Once a thorough understanding of your wishes are established, we explain all the various trusts available and will easily guide you through selecting and developing the best trust as part of your estate plan.
Step 4: Establishing a Trust
Finally, Abrate & Olsen Law Group help you create a well-crafted trust that must be signed to establish a fiduciary relationship between the trustee and the beneficiary. A Trust becomes effective once the Trustee has received legal ownership of the assets.
After speaking with a financial advisor about my mom’s health care concerns, we were referred to Mike Abrate. Her minimal retirement planning did not provide for her long-term care. Mike dissolved her revocable living trusts and replaced them with ones that provided for her while protecting her Social Security benefits. This law firm really helped my family!– Aaron M., Sacramento, CA
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What are the Common types of Trusts?
A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows you, the owner of the assets (trustor), to designate a third party (trustee), to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries of your choosing. Trusts can be used as a powerful tool to protect and distribute your assets as part of an estate plan.
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