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What Is a Living Trust?
A living trust is a legal arrangement created during your lifetime to hold and protect assets. The person who creates the trust is commonly called the grantor or settlor, while the person responsible for managing trust property is the trustee.
With a typical revocable living trust, you can serve as your own trustee while you are alive and capable. You can continue managing the property in the trust much as you did before.
You also name a successor trustee who can step in when necessary. After your death, the successor trustee can manage and distribute trust assets according to the instructions you established.
This structure makes a living trust useful for both estate planning and planning for possible incapacity.
What Is a Revocable Living Trust in Illinois?
A revocable living trust in Illinois is a trust that generally allows the person who created it to modify or revoke it during their lifetime, provided they have the legal capacity to do so.
This flexibility is one of the reasons revocable living trusts are commonly used in estate planning. Your life may change significantly after you establish your trust. You might buy or sell property, welcome new family members, experience a change in finances, or reconsider how you want assets distributed.
A revocable trust can generally be updated to reflect those changes.
However, a revocable living trust is not automatically the best choice for everyone. Our Illinois living trust attorneys can evaluate your assets, family circumstances, and goals to determine whether a trust belongs in your estate plan.
What Are the Benefits of a Living Trust?
There are several reasons someone might consider creating a living trust in Illinois:
Avoiding Probate for Trust Assets
Assets that are properly titled in a living trust generally do not need to pass through probate when the grantor dies. Instead, the successor trustee can administer and distribute those assets according to the terms of the trust.
Avoiding probate can potentially make estate administration more private and efficient for your beneficiaries.
Planning for Incapacity
A living trust can also provide instructions for managing trust assets if you become unable to manage them yourself.
Your successor trustee may be able to step in and manage property held by the trust according to its terms. This can provide continuity at a time when your family may already be dealing with difficult circumstances.
Maintaining Greater Privacy
Probate is a court proceeding, while trust administration generally occurs outside of court. Families who value privacy may therefore find a living trust particularly useful.
Controlling How Assets Are Distributed
A trust can provide more detailed instructions for an inheritance than simply transferring property outright.
For example, parents may want assets held and managed for younger children rather than distributed all at once. Other families may want distributions made under particular conditions or over a longer period.
Our trust lawyer in Illinois can help you determine what provisions are appropriate for your goals.
How to Set Up a Living Trust in Illinois
If you are researching how to set up a living trust in Illinois, it is important to understand that signing the trust document is only one part of the process.
You generally need to:
- Identify your estate planning goals and the assets you want the trust to address.
- Decide who will serve as trustee and successor trustee.
- Determine who should receive trust property and how it should be distributed.
- Prepare and properly execute the trust documents.
- Transfer appropriate assets into the trust.
That final step is particularly important. Creating a trust does not automatically place your property inside it. Assets may need to be retitled or otherwise coordinated with your estate plan.
A well-drafted trust that is never properly funded may not accomplish what its creator expected.
Working with a living trust attorney can help you understand both how to create your trust and what needs to happen after you sign it.
Do I Still Need a Will If I Have a Living Trust?
Usually, a living trust does not eliminate the need for a will.
Many people with revocable living trusts also create what is commonly known as a pour-over will. This type of will can direct certain assets remaining outside the trust at death into the trust, subject to the applicable estate administration process.
A will also serves purposes that a living trust does not necessarily address. For example, parents can use a will to nominate a guardian for minor children.
Rather than thinking of a will and living trust as competing options, it is often more useful to think about how different estate planning documents can work together.
Living Trusts Need to Be Properly Funded
One of the most important parts of creating a living trust happens after the document itself has been prepared.
Funding the trust means transferring appropriate assets into it or otherwise structuring those assets to work with the trust. Depending on your estate, this might involve real estate, financial accounts, or other property.
Not every asset should necessarily be transferred into a living trust. Certain accounts and assets require special consideration, particularly those that already pass through beneficiary designations.
This is one area where personalized legal advice matters. Our attorneys can help you understand which assets should be coordinated with your trust and how the trust fits into your broader estate plan.
When Trust Disputes Occur
Careful planning can reduce uncertainty, but disagreements over trusts can still happen sometimes.
Beneficiaries may question how a trustee is administering assets, whether distributions comply with the trust, or whether the trustee is fulfilling their legal duties. Other disputes may involve the validity or interpretation of trust documents.
Koch & Associates can assist with these matters as well. If a disagreement develops, our trust litigation attorneys in Cicero can evaluate the trust documents, explain the parties’ rights and responsibilities, and determine the appropriate way to address the dispute.
Abogados de Living Trust que Hablan Español
Attorney David O. Koch speaks Spanish and can communicate directly with Spanish-speaking clients without requiring a translator. This can be especially valuable when discussing living trusts because you should fully understand the property you are transferring, the authority given to your trustee, and the instructions contained in your estate plan.
If you are searching for abogados de living trust in the Cicero area, our firm can explain your options and help you create an estate plan in the language you are most comfortable speaking.
Spanish-speaking visitors can also click “Español” in the upper right corner of our website to browse information about our legal services in Spanish.
Call Koch & Associates at (312) 664-4328 to schedule a consultation in English or Spanish.
Why Choose Koch & Associates as Your Cicero Trust Lawyer?
A living trust can impact your family for many years, so choosing the right attorney matters.
Koch & Associates offers:
- Five generations of legal tradition
- More than 50 years of combined legal experience
- Personalized estate planning based on your individual goals
- Assistance with living trusts, wills, probate, and related estate matters
- Trust litigation representation when disputes arise
- Direct legal services in both English and Spanish
- An “Attorneys for Life” philosophy focused on long-term client relationships
We do not believe estate planning should consist of handing every client the same set of documents. Our attorneys take the time to learn about your family, property, concerns, and plans for the future before recommending a strategy.
Talk to Our Illinois Living Trust Attorney
A living trust can be a valuable estate planning tool, but its effectiveness depends on how it is created, funded, and coordinated with the rest of your estate plan.
If you are considering a living trust in Illinois, Koch & Associates can help you determine whether one makes sense for your circumstances. Our Illinois living trust lawyers can guide you through establishing the trust, selecting trustees and beneficiaries, coordinating your assets, and creating the other estate planning documents you may need.
And because estate planning needs can change over time, our relationship does not have to end once your documents are signed. Our “Attorneys for Life” approach means we are here when you need to review your plan, make changes, navigate probate, or address a trust dispute.
Call Koch & Associates at (312) 664-4328 today to schedule a consultation with an experienced Cicero trust lawyer and start building an estate plan around your family’s needs.
