At Christenson & Fiederlein, PC our attorneys can help you with your estate planning needs that may include the use of a Living Trust (also known as the revocable trust or revocable living trust). 

A Trust has several advantages as follows:

1. Usually Keeps the Court out of Your Personal Affairs. Unlike a will, which is a death instrument only, the Living Trust also protects you while you're alive. It allows you to appoint someone of your choosing to handle your business affairs in the event you become incapacitated. This minimizes the chances of guardianship and court involvement in your personal affairs. 
2. Maintains Privacy and Discourages Challenges. A Living Trust is a private document and is not required to be filed with the Probate Court to administer at the time of death. Therefore your Trust and Estate does not become a public record and the possibility of heirs/beneficiaries challenging your trust by upset family members is reduced greatly as it is more difficult to challenge the Trust.  
3. Probate Avoidance. One of the most popular reasons for preparing a Trust is that if the Trust is properly funded, your estate avoids Probate Court and expenses at death.  Costs for the handling of a Probate Estate can be in excess of several thousand of dollars of needless expense. 
4. Estate Tax Advantages. For Couples with taxable estates the Trust may offer several additional advantages.  A Credit Shelter Trust (or bypass trust) allows couples to pass more tax free money to beneficiaries by taking full advantage of each spouse's estate tax exclusion. When the first spouse dies, his or her assets equal to the amount exempt from estate taxes -- currently $3.5 million -- flow into a Credit Shelter Trust. The survivor has access to the income from that trust, but not the principal.  When the survivor dies, the money from the Credit Shelter is not included in the survivor's estate, thereby allowing twice as much money to be passed tax-free to heirs. 
5. Family Planning. In establishing a Trust the lawyer may be more creative in establishing plans for the Settlor of the Trust (You) in deciding when your children should receive distributions from the Trust. For example, a typical Family Trust will allow the children to receive the corpus (or principal) of the Trust 1/3 at 25 years of age, 1/3 at 30 years of age, and the final distribution at age 35. This provides protection of your child from creditors and credit card mistakes made in college or early in their life.  It allows the Trust to grow while your child is learning to be a financially responsible adult and may provide the flexibility for the Trustee to allow funding to your child to start a new business, buy a first house, etc. 

MOST TRUSTS ARE REVOCABLE. When you establish a Revocable Trust as part of your estate planning, you (the grantor, also known as the Settlor/Grantor) make yourself the trustee of the assets you place in the trust. You are still free to sell, trade and give away the assets as you see fit. You may also change the terms of the trust, or revoke it, at any time. But once you pass on or become incapacitated, the successor trustee(s) you've designated will take control of your assets, and distribute them in accordance with the provisions of your trust.