Why You Might Not Need a Revocable Living Trust

There are several reasons why people creating an estate plan in Florida might not need a revocable living trust. A revocable living trust is not a panacea, and like any estate planning tool, you need to be sure that the trust matches your needs and desires before you try to include one in your plan. Today we are going to take a look at several reasons why you might not need a revocable living trust in your estate plan.

Why You Might Not Need a Revocable Living Trust: You don’t have much to worry about when it comes to probate

A lot of people create a living trust primarily because they want to avoid probate. The probate process takes place after a person dies and leaves behind property. This process can be complicated and time-consuming, and minimizing the role probate plays in distributing your estate is what revocable living trusts are designed to do.

However, if you don’t have a large estate, or don’t own a lot of property, a revocable living trust may not be a cost-effective tool. It takes time and money to establish and manage a living trust, and if you don’t have a large estate to begin with, you may not need to protect against potential probate costs, as those will likely be minimal.

Why You Might Not Need a Revocable Living Trust: You aren’t concerned about estate privacy

Another reason why many people crate revocable living trusts is because they want to keep their estate as private as possible. When your estate goes before a probate court, the court’s records are open to public inspection. So, any document that is part of your probate estate, such as your will, becomes publically available.

This is not true with a revocable living trust. The terms you include in your trust do not become open to the public in most situations, and the property you transfer through your trust similarly remains out of the public eye. If you’re not concerned about estate privacy, you may not need a living trust.

Why You Might Not Need a Revocable Living Trust: You aren’t willing to talk to an estate planning attorney

A revocable living trust is a legal document and, as such, needs to be used and created properly in order to be effective. While there is no legal requirement that people creating a revocable living trust hire an attorney to help them, we would never advise people to try to create a trust on their own. Should you do something incorrectly as you create or attempt to use your revocable living trust, it could turn out to be an expensive proposition to fix what you did wrong. If you’re not willing to hire an attorney to help you with your trust, you might end up costing you and your family more than your living trust saves.