A Living Trust is Key if You’re the Family Breadwinner
By Barry Zimmer on October 10th, 2017 in Wills & Trusts
Cincinnati trust attorneys can assist you in determining if creating a trust is important for you. There are many circumstances in which trust creation makes sense and you should strongly consider working with an experienced attorney at Zimmer Law Firm to find out if a trust could help you to protect your wealth and your family.
While many believe that trusts are something that only the wealthy need to worry about or that only older people need to create, this is simply untrue. Trusts can be a very important tool even for people who don’t have a fortune, and they can be important even for younger families. If you are the family breadwinner or if you have any dependents who count on your income, creating a trust may be something that you need to do. You should give us a call today to find out more from Cincinnati trust attorneys about why you may need a trust and about how a trust can help you to protect the people you love who count on your income.
Why You Need a Trust if You Have Dependents
If you have a spouse, children or other loved ones who are depending upon your income, it is important to make plans for how your family will be able to support themselves if you pass away unexpectedly. You don’t want your family members’ quality of life to diminish greatly when you are no longer around to provide financial support, so you likely want to take steps to ensure that you have provided an inheritance for your family.
The problem is, as Investopedia explains, it can take months or even around a year or so for the probate process to take place so assets that you have left for your loved ones can be formally transferred. During this time period when the probate process is taking place, the executor of an estate will manage your estate assets so your wealth should be protected from loss if you made a last will and testament and choose a good executor. However, your family may not have access to the inheritance that you intended to provide for them until the probate process is completed.
If you were a family breadwinner and you intended for an inheritance to provide money and property for loved ones to live off of once you are no longer there to financially provide for your family, the lengthy probate process is an issue. If your family isn’t able to access their inheritance and freely use it to meet their needs for several months after your death, they could experience a period of serious financial hardship. This could potentially have long-range consequences, such as your family going into debt because of the delay in inheriting the money and property you intended to leave for them.
When you create a living trust, you can avoid the lengthy delay that comes with the probate process. You can transfer assets that you wish to provide for your dependents into the living trust. When you pass away, the assets that are held within the living trust will transfer more quickly to the new owners because the assets will transfer during the trust administration process instead of the probate process. The trust administration process is much faster, much easier and much less costly than the probate process for a number of reasons, including the fact that the trust administrator typically handles the process on his own and facilitates the transfer of assets without involving the courts.
A living trust can also protect assets in case of incapacity by allowing you to select a trusted person to take control of wealth if something happens to you. Your family will also be protected because the inheritance you intend to leave them will be safer.
Getting Help from Cincinnati Trust Attorneys
Cincinnati trust attorneys at Zimmer Law Firm will assist you in the process of determining if you need a trust and deciding which type of trust is right for you. When you have made the choice to create a trust, we can also help you with the formal process of preparing your trust document and can assist you with funding your trust.
To find out more about the ways in which our legal team helps you with all aspects of trust creation, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 513.721.1513 at any time to get personalized help with making a trust to protect your family and assets. Call today to get started on using trusts or other tools to keep your loved ones safe and secure.