Living trust - Estate Planning - Revocable living trust - Void Probate - living trust documents - Legal forms
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To better understand the issues relating to your legal situation or problem, our legal information and other law related facts may be of interest to you
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Once the trust is drawn up (these days, spit out by a high-speed laser printer), you sign it in front of a notary. Finally, to make the trust effective, all Property to be distributed under its terms must be transferred into the name of the trust using a deed or other standard transfer document.
If it's this easy, why does the same Lawyer who charges only $200-$300 for a will charge five or six times this amount for a Living Trust? Much of the answer lies in the word "trust," which most Americans apparently regard as a highly complicated Legal document used by the super-rich to build and keep their fortunes.
Also key to getting Consumers to pay big bucks for a Living Trust is the promise of the big savings that will eventually result from having your estate avoid Probate. While this message has some integrity coming from non-Lawyer estate planners (who nevertheless charge too much for this simple document), when made by Lawyers it amounts to little more than a sales pitch for a protection racket. That's because it's attorney lobbying groups who fight to keep the Probate system on our law books in substantial part so local Lawyers can say, "Pay me $1,200 now to prepare a Living Trust designed so your inheritors can avoid being charged even more by me or some other Probate Lawyer down the road."
And, of course, it's the very fact that Living Trusts, but not wills, avoid Probate that largely explains why Lawyers charge a much more reasonable price for wills. Or put more bluntly, Lawyers don't feel a need to charge exorbitant prices for wills, because they often end up handling the lucrative Probate when the maker of the will dies. By contrast, with a Living Trust Lawyers are anxious to get a big payment up front precisely because there will be no Probate.
Once you understand what a Living Trust is and how simple it is to prepare it, you can judge for yourself whether it makes sense to buy one from a professional or do it yourself. In our opinion, anyone -- Lawyer or non-Lawyer -- who charges more than $300-$400 for a basic Probate-avoidance Living Trust (plus a reasonable secretarial fee for transferring Property to the trust) is charging too much. But you'll probably have a tough time finding a Lawyer who will agree.
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Return to all Living Trust legal information
Legal Articles about Living Trust
Living Trust Frequently Asked Questions
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