Attorney Thomas B. Burton discusses how a Revocable Living Trust can help you avoid the need for a Court ordered guardianship while you are alive, as well helping your assets bypass probate court after your death.
Transcript of Video: How a Revocable Living Trust Can Help You Avoid
the Need for a Court Ordered Guardianship
Today's question how can a revocable
living trust help me avoid the need for
a guardianship if I'm ever incapacitated
or disabled if you form a revocable
living trust and transfer the bulk or
most of your assets into the name of the
trust you can name yourself as trustee
to act while you are able if you are
ever incapacitated or unable to act for
instance let's imagine you're in a coma
your trust names a backup trustee to
take over and manage your assets for you
this is a seamless transition and it
allows one person to manage the same
assets and another person to take over
when necessary when you regain
consciousness or your faculties you can
take over the duties again of managing
your own financial affairs a revocable
living trust it's important not just for
death planning but for planning while
you're alive there are many instances
where people get older and they have
periods where they're unable to manage
their assets or they simply don't want
to do it all themselves anymore they can
then have the trustee of their trust
help them legally manage these assets
it's a very efficient way of doing it and
banks, trust companies, financial
institutions are very familiar with
dealing with trustees in addition it can
help you avoid the need for an expensive
guardianship proceeding a guardianship
involves going to court and paying
an attorney like myself an hourly rate to
petition to get appointed as the
guardian of someone's estate generally
this can take many hours and cost $3,000-$5,000
or more to get
someone appointed as guardian if you
wait until someone is already
incapacitated planning ahead now can
save you money later and also make a
much more efficient administration of
your assets for your friends and family
and trustee
Great question and thank you
for asking!
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Transcript and captions provided for ease of access for the hearing impaired.