Do I Need A Living Trust In Texas

If you would like to create a living trust in texas you will need to sign a written trust document before a notary public.

Do i need a living trust in texas. A living trust in texas is advertised all the time as a must have estate planning tool but unfortunately many of these trust products are simply scams. Do i need a living trust in texas. The trust is not effective until you transfer ownership of assets to it. It s gotten so bad that the texas bar put out a pamphlet titled living trust scams and the senior consumer according to the texas bar every year thousands of people pay anywhere from 500 to 5000 for trusts that are not only useless.

Unfortunately there are lots of advertisements out there that over sell living trusts especially to elderly people. Most people do not actually need a living trust but there are. How a living trust works a living trust is a legal arrangement that allows you to transfer control of certain assets to a trustee. It is this quality avoidance of probate that has brought the living trust most of its recent popularity.

A living trust also specifies how your property is to be disposed of at your death but since it exists before your death its validity does not need to be acknowledged by a probate proceeding. A living trust is an estate planning option that can make things easier for your family after you ve died. Unlike a testamentary trust which is created through a will and doesn t come into being until you die a living trust sometimes called an inter vivo trust is created and funded while you are still alive. A trust more formally known as a revocable living trust is a legal entity set up to control your assets.

The main advantage of making a living trust is to spare your family the expense and delay of probate court proceedings after your death. But do you really need a trust. How to create a living trust in texas. Living trusts do not protect assets from medicaid or from creditors.

One of the reasons people historically felt the need to create living trusts was because having the trust meant avoiding the need to file an inventory with the court following death. A living trust lets you dictate how your assets are handled before and after you die but whether or not you need one depends on several factors.