Why Is It Beneficial that Trusts Avoid Probate?

Memphis Probate and Estate Administration Lawyers

It can be difficult to know exactly how to construct an estate plan that will protect your family and keep your family from potentially destructive in-fighting. Thankfully, you do not have to determine the best ways to move forward alone. An experienced estate planning attorney will be able to help you decide which legal and financial tools will most directly benefit you, your family, your assets and your family’s future. And if you are concerned about the possibility of family in-fighting over your estate, your estate planning attorney will likely have one primary suggestion for you: consider setting up a trust.

Trusts and Probate: The Basics

When individuals pass away without first constructing legally enforceable estate plans, their assets pass through a legal process known as probate. The probate process essentially distributes the assets of a deceased person in accordance with the state’s estate-related regulations. This seems like a harsh way to deal with a lifetime’s worth of sentimental and potentially financially valuable property. But absent clear directions about how an estate should be managed, this process is really the only alternative the state can employ that is as broadly “fair” as possible.

One of the reasons why trusts are such an attractive legal and financial tool is that they are not subject to the probate process. They are constructed in such a way that the state cannot generally question how they should be managed. As a result, there can be little reason for in-fighting among loved ones overwhelmed by the process of probate – because there is no stress of probate associated with the management of trusts.

In addition to the benefit of avoiding probate, assets governed by trusts generally benefit from a level of privacy and control not possible when property is passed along by a simple will. For all these reasons and more, it may benefit you and your family to discuss the idea of creating a trust when you next speak with your estate planning attorney.

Estate Planning Guidance Is Available

If you have questions about trusts, probate or estate planning generally, please do not hesitate to schedule a consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney at your earliest convenience. Planning ahead for how your estate will be managed once you are gone can be an intimidating process. It is not easy to think about a time when you will not be able to provide for your loved ones in the ways you do now. However, by planning ahead and helping to ensure that your wishes are clearly stated, properly constructed and legally enforceable, you will save your loved ones from a great deal of stress after you are gone. And depending upon your financial circumstances, the ways in which you prepare your estate now may help to ensure that your loved ones are provided for long into the future.

Please consider scheduling a consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney today. None of us knows when our estate plans will become truly urgent business. And while it is not easy to begin the process of estate planning, working with experienced Memphis probate and estate administration lawyers will help to ensure that it is an effective and successful process in the end.

Contact Patterson Bray for their insight into estate planning and the benefits of avoiding probate.