- A living trust is a legal document that can serve several different purposes. A living trust can be used to grant property rights to heirs and to reassign such property over time. It can also be used to allow the family or friends of an incapacitated individual to assume control over that person's interests or to avoid traditional probate proceedings from the division of an estate.
- Living trusts are set up by what is technically known as the "Grantor." The Grantor is the individual in whose name the living trust exists. Grantors, usually with the help of a probate attorney or estate planning attorney, fill out a legal document that specifies their wishes about granting their property rights and financial wealth to others before the time of the Grantor's death. This document, which is then filed with the local probate court, becomes a legally binding living trust.
- There are many different benefits involved in the creation of a living trust. To begin with, living trusts allow the estate of an individual to be divided with much less cost than is involved in most probate proceedings. Likewise, assets that are divided by living trusts are hidden from the public eye, whereas assets that are divided using a will or other probate method are available for public perusal. Furthermore, living trusts allow for an incapacitated person to retain financial wealth and property--even if beginning to accrue substantial debt--by transferring that property and wealth to a loved one who keeps it available to the incapacitated person.
