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Why You Need Trusts in North Carolina and Don’t Even Know It

Creating a good estate plan in Greensboro, North Carolina means using various estate planning tools, such as a trust, to meet your goals and desires. Before people begin the estate planning process they often have little experience with trusts in North Carolina, nor do they understand why these devices are so useful. Broadening your understanding of trusts is something that will help you as you go about the estate planning process.

Trusts are not just for the wealthy.

If you ask an average person what a trust is, you might hear an answer that has something to do with wealthy people protecting inheritances for their grandchildren. While this view of trusts isn’t entirely inaccurate, it is misleading.

The legal reality is that trusts are useful to anyone creating an estate plan. Whether you have a lot of money or don’t have much of anything, you can use a trust to benefit yourself and your family.

Trusts let you make choices after you’re gone.

Estate planning deals with the issues and problems that arise after you die and leave behind property. When you create a trust you create a legal entity that is separate from yourself. Because the legal entity can survive you after you are gone, you can use your trust to do things you couldn’t otherwise do.

Creating a trust means creating a relationship between you, your property, and several other key people. As long as you create the proper type of trust that meets the goals you have in mind, you can use these tools for a number of different purposes.

Your trust will save your estate money.

Some people don’t want to create a trust because of the cost involved. While it does cost more to create a trust than it does, say, to create a simple last will and testament, those costs are largely upfront expenditures.

For example, if you create a revocable living trust you create a tool that will allow your estate to save a lot of money by avoiding probate. Through your living trust you give your successor trustee the ability to transfer your property to your family after you die without having to go through probate. Though it costs money to start the trust, your estate will avoid the necessary expense of paying for probate court costs, as well as the expense involved in hiring a probate attorney.

Your trust can suit your needs.

No two trusts are identical, and creating a trust means choosing between the myriad possibilities available to you. Your estate planning attorney will need to talk to you to determine what you want to accomplish with your estate plan. Only then will you be able to terminate if using one or more trusts to accomplish her goals is something that is available to you.

For a better understanding of trusts, consider attending one of our upcoming estate planning seminars. Contact our office or visit our seminars page for more details.

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