Attorney Dan Krause discusses the top 4 important reasons why families choose a Living Trust over a Will for estate planning.
- Privacy
- Money Saving
- Time Saving
- Stress Saving
To learn more about creating a customized estate plan that provides the most protection possible for your estate, contact us today for a consultation.
Transcript
Hi I'm Dan Krause and today I want to talk a little bit about the advantages of having a Revocable Living Trust over having a Will when you pass away.
But first, a little bit about me. I have an Estate Planning and Elder Law practice and have been doing this for about 21 years in Wisconsin. I'm also licensed in Minnesota and Illinois. We go an inch wide and a mile deep. We know this one particular area very well so we can serve our clients in this area.
Today I want to answer the question: Why should I have a Revocable Living Trust over a Will package?
I get this question all the time because obviously because a Will package costs less than a Revocable Living Trust package.
However, with the advantages, it's not surprising that the Revocable Living Trust package is the most popular package that we offer here. So why do people choose that over the Will package?
Well, there are four basic reasons and they mostly have to do with how easy it is to do things once someone passes away.
The four reasons are:
- Privacy
- Money Saving
- Time Saving
- Stress Saving
So those four areas to touch on them briefly:
Privacy is gained when you don't have to publicly file any documents in a Probate estate. Any time you have a Will or no plan at all, you have to file documents with the Probate court and those become public documents. Anyone can nose in and see what you had when you passed away and who's going to get it.
Money Saving. Although many people like to have an attorney help them with trust administration after someone dies, there's not as much cost to the attorney as there is in a Will package because you don't have the court fees and the court forms to fill out. The specific restrictions and the attorney fees are less.
Time Saving. You also save time because you don't have to fill out the court forms. You don't have to go into court. You don't have to have hearings. You don't have to do any of the stuff that the court mandates that you report on and you file.
Stress Saving. I like to say that with a trust you get to administer it after you've passed away or after someone has passed away, administer it across the kitchen table instead of across the judge's bench and that's a big saver on stress. Who wants to have a judge or the court looking over their shoulder and making sure that all of the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed, and creating a drag on the time and the expense and the privacy - that all adds up to savings on stress for your family after you've passed away. It's a great way to tie things up and put the ducks in a row as they say.
So if you have questions about Revocable Living Trusts or Wills or Irrevocable Trusts, or anything that has to do with estate planning or estate administration, please give us a call (608) 344-5491.
Thank you.