Tim answers the question… What is a living trust?
Hello. My name is Timothy Russell. I’m president of Estate Planners of Arkansas. A living trust is a piece of paper similar to a will in which you set out where your assets are going to go when you pass away, but with the living trust, it takes effect as soon as you sign it. While you’re living, while you’re living incompetent, and when you pass away.
With a living trust, you still maintain 100% control of all your assets. You use your money and the banks and investments as you wish, and you don’t have to answer to anyone. You maintain 100% control.
One important thing to know about a living trust is that it’s a worthless piece of paper unless you’ve transferred all your assets over into it. Here at Estate Planners of Arkansas, we’re one of the few firms that I’m aware of in the state that takes responsibility for transferring all the assets over into the trust. We have a follow-up confirmation process where even after the trust is signed, we mail all the paperwork out to all the different institutions. We still work with the client to make sure that all those different institutions actually did what they were supposed to. We offer a free initial consultation. In that meeting, I can find out about the family situation, your kids, grandkids. Get a rough idea of the types of assets you have and a rough idea of the value to see if there’s a state tax issue. Then I can say here’s one option, here’s the good and bad and what it costs. Here’s another option. Then you can just make up your mind whichever way you think is best. So, before you say yes, I want to do it, or no, I don’t, you’ll know down to the penny exactly what the costs are going to be, and you’ll know about any potential hidden costs. If you have any Estate Funding questions or you would like to set up a free initial consultation, give us a call at 501-414-8965 or go to our website at estateplannersofarkansas.com.
Thank you.