Troy's Trusted Living Trusts Lawyer

Guiding Living Trustees Across Oakland County & Nearby Regions

Creating a trust for your assets is a valuable estate planning tool, and our experienced estate planning attorneys serving in Troy, Oakland County, and surrounding areas can help you develop customized revocable living trusts All trusts involve trustees (those who own the trust) and beneficiaries (those who will benefit from the trust).

Understanding Revocable Living Trusts

A revocable living trust is created and used while you are living. It lets you maintain control of property as long as you’re mentally competent, and it can be modified as your circumstances and wishes change. For example, if you set it up when your children are young, there may be provisions in the trust that put an age limit on when they can receive their trust benefits. As you and your children age, this clause can be changed, or revoked, with little process.

Is a Living Trust Right for Your Michigan Estate Plan?

How can you determine whether you should include a living trust in your estate plan? The only way to know for certain is to talk with an experienced estate planning attorney. But before you talk with your lawyer, you can learn how a living trust works and what benefits one provides. Our respected estate planning lawyers at BRMM answer those questions in the discussion that follows.

One important point to remember is that you should never create a living trust (or any other estate plan document) by filling out a form or using an online service. Taking that approach can have disastrous consequences for you and your family. Instead, you should rely on an experienced estate planning lawyer to help you create an estate plan that suits you, your unique personal and financial circumstances and goals, and your goals for your family’s future.

How a Revocable Living Trust Operates

A living trust is also often referred to as a revocable living trust. That’s because most often a living trust can be revoked (terminated) or changed at any time by the grantor or settlor (the term for the person creating it). Some other types of trusts are irrevocable, so the distinction is important.

A living trust is one made during the grantor’s lifetime. A living trust also may be called an inter vivos trust. Like any type of trust, a grantor creates a living trust by executing a written legal document that establishes the trust. The document specifies all the terms that apply to management of the trust and distribution of the assets.

A living trust names a trustee to administer the trust, as well as a beneficiary to receive the distributions. The trustee has a fiduciary duty to manage the trust for the benefit of the beneficiary.

One unique aspect of a living trust is that during the grantor’s lifetime, the grantor usually is both the trustee and beneficiary. There also may be other beneficiaries. Typically, when the grantor of a living trust passes away, the trust becomes irrevocable. A successor trustee named by the grantor then manages and distributes the trust property as specified by the grantor in the trust.