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What to know about a revocable living trust

Mar 9, 2022 | Estate Planning

A revocable living trust may be an effective tool for retaining control over assets such as a car or your Michigan home. This type of document allows you to hold property outside of your estate, which may be ideal for minimizing your estate tax bill. Furthermore, as the trustee, you can change the terms of the trust at any time.

You can manage assets held in the trust’s name

One of the key advantages of a revocable living trust is that you retain oversight of items that are held inside of it. This means that you can sell, transfer or otherwise manage your property as you see fit after the document is executed. If you were to become incapacitated, the secondary trustee would manage the trust on your behalf.

A living trust adds a layer of privacy

The terms of the trust are not a matter of public record, which can be ideal for your estate planning needs. With trusts, you don’t have to worry about a sibling, cousin, or child learning that he or she didn’t receive the same inheritance as other family members. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about the media potentially learning about the size of your estate or how much you passed down to a child or grandchild.

If you are looking to add flexibility to your estate plan, it may be in your best interest to create a revocable living trust. As the trustee, you have the final say over how the document is structured and what happens to assets after they are titled in its name. Furthermore, you have the ability to scrap the document at any time if you want or need to.