Trusts

Living trusts are a way to provide for your friends and family members while avoiding the expense and stress of probate for these individuals. These financial arrangements offer the opportunity to receive income from your trust during your lifetime and to streamline the process of transferring these assets after your death. Working with a New York trust lawyer is the best way to set up and manage a living trust to pass on your assets in the most practical and painless way possible.  Lesly R. Devereaux New York trust lawyer is here to assist her clients.

How Living Trusts Work

Rather than retaining your assets in your own name, your attorney will create a trust that will hold some or all of these assets. Assets that can be transferred to the trust include real estate, vehicles, investment accounts and other financial resources. Income derived from the trust can be transferred to you during your lifetime or can go to any recipient you designate. You may be able to change the terms of your living trust if your circumstances change or if you need to change one of your beneficiaries for any reason. You will need to name a trustee, which can be yourself, your spouse or any other person that you trust to handle these financial arrangements before and after your death.

The Benefits of Living Trusts

There are three primary benefits of setting up a living trust:

• Your living trust can help your relatives and beneficiaries to avoid the difficulties of probate after you die. This is especially important in the state of New York, which does not use the Uniform Probate Code and requires a more complicated process for assets that pass through probate in the state. It can also provide a framework for managing your assets if you become ill or incapacitated temporarily or on a permanent basis.
• Living trusts are private and are more difficult to challenge in court. By contrast, wills are public documents that can undergo challenges from those left out as well as beneficiaries. Choosing a living trust can protect the privacy of your financial arrangements and can reduce the risk that it will need to be litigated after your death.
• A living trust can be configured to allow you to gain income from it during your lifetime. Working with an experienced New York living trusts lawyer is a practical way to set up these arrangements to suit your financial requirements.

Types of Living Trusts

Living trusts are divided into two major categories:

• Revocable trusts can be altered or withdrawn at any time by the originator of the trust to accommodate changing needs. This provides optimal flexibility for these legal arrangements.
• Irrevocable trusts contain a provision that prevents any changes or revocations of the living trust except under certain narrowly defined circumstances.

Your attorney can typically provide you with added help in deciding which type of living trust is right for your needs.

Do Living Trusts Replace Wills?

You will need a will regardless of whether you choose to create a living trust. Your will serves as an outline of your wishes in the state of New York. Living trusts can help you to distribute your assets more easily. They are not, however, a replacement for a valid will. New York Trust Lawyer Lesly R. Devereaux can provide you with assistance in creating a will that complements your living trust to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes.

At the law office of Lesly R. Devereaux, we offer practical options for establishing living trusts and other legal arrangements for our clients. If you are looking for a New York trust lawyer, our team can deliver the best and most practical options for your needs. To learn more about the services we offer, schedule an appointment here, or email our office at LD@leslylaw.com. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you now and in the future.