ADVANTAGES OF LIVING TRUSTS

Living trusts have many advantages over holding title in your name. Some of these are:

1. Avoiding Probate. If you die with property in your name the title must be transferred to a liiving person. This will be done by probate unless you make other arrangements. One way to avoid probate is to put the property in joint tenancy with another person. This can be tricky as if tha other person dies first then there will still have to be a probate. Using a trust will enable you to pass the title to whoever you want or as many people as you want. This is done by transferring title to another person prior to your death. At death you trustee then transfers the property and probate is avoided.

2. Protection of assets. Placing your investment property in a trust will help protect it from judgments or litigation. Normally if someone sues you then will not sue your trust as well. They may not even know about your trust. The only way to easily get to the asset if to have a judgment against the trustee fo the trustee. By using a trust to hold title the risk of this happening is lowered.

3. Privacy of your affairs. When a person dies his assets are probated and then tistributed to this heirs. This is a public process and anyone can determine the nature of the assets and where its title is going. In real estae, for example, may investors use land trusts to hold title to properties. In this manner the nme of the real ower is shielded from view. Examining public title records will not reveal what you have bought, sold or are holding. Secrecay is sometimes useful in investment transactions as it shileds your business from those who want to know your business.