If you own real estate, whether your personal residence, investment properties, or multiple properties, you’ll want to leave them to who you choose, whether your family or other loved ones, friends, or charity. Although you could leave them to your family in a will, it may be advisable to place these properties in a living trust.
When you place an asset in a living trust, you can specify that you wish to leave it to certain heirs in the event of your death, while still having the right to manage the assets as you wish during life. You may also name someone as a trustee who could manage your assets if you are ever unable to do so yourself.
Placing homes and investment properties in living trusts is usually a desirable idea for a variety of reasons:
Minimizing Stress for Your Family
This is among the primary reasons individuals often choose to place their homes and investment properties in trusts. You may want to leave these properties to your loved ones, but you probably don’t want them to endure the lengthy, stressful and expensive probate process.
By placing a home and your investment properties in a trust, you can ensure your properties are directly transferred to those whom you wish to inherit them. This can save significant time, dollars, and aggravation.
Minimizing Stress for Yourself
Some people assume the only reason to place properties in a trust is to allow their heirs to inherit said properties fairly easily after their death. However, this is not the only potential benefit of placing a home and other such properties in a trust.
You can name someone as a successor trustee if you choose to place your properties in a living trust. By doing so, you are essentially naming someone who will be responsible for managing your properties if you were to become incapacitated. This provides the peace of mind that comes from knowing that even if you find yourself unable to personally manage your home and investment properties while you are still alive, someone who understands your wishes will be able to manage them on your behalf.
Maximizing Privacy
Privacy is often a desirable benefit of placing assets in a trust. Trust administration is a private matter, unlike probate administration through probate court. Keeping assets in trust, and out of probate, protects your privacy.
A Trust allows you to maintain maximum privacy regarding the assets you have left to your family. During probate, information about your assets technically becomes publicly accessible. That’s not the case if your assets have been placed in a trust.
At the Law Offices of Andrew Cohen, you’ll find a Santa Clarita estate planning lawyer who will more thoroughly explain the benefits of placing properties in a trust, ensuring you fully understand why this may be the ideal choice for your goals. Learn more about how we can help by calling us at 661-481-0100 or contacting us online.
