Many people believe that if you use a living trust to plan your estate, that it avoids probate and costs less to administer after your death.

While a living trust can provide incredible benefits for you and your family, the unfortunate truth is that many living trust based plans end up failing to avoid probate and result in your family bearing the cost of going through the court probate process, in addition to paying for the trust administration process. The only way to have a living trust that avoids probate and results in a more cost-effective administration is to properly implement that living trust. Proper implementation is also critical to your family realizing the other benefits you may have designed into your estate plan.

If you currently have a living trust, I encourage you to look through the material that was provided to you with your living trust. In almost all cases, there is a letter from the attorney spelling out all of the things you need to do for the living trust to perform the way it was intended.  While this letter may protect the attorney, it does very little to help you have a plan that works effectively for you and your family, unless of course you did all the things set out in the letter. This rarely happens. If you walked out of the attorney’s office with documentation and there was not significant activity and follow-up after signing your trust, your plan is in serious danger of failure.

Living trusts require proper implementation and upkeep to perform their intended result. If you are using a living trust to plan your estate, you should understand all of the critical aspects of proper implementation to accomplish its full benefit.

If you have questions, I encourage you to gain more knowledge about available planning options, by visiting www.EstatePlansThatWork.com to sign up for a complimentary educational workshop.