Living Trust Copy & Paste Text For Free - Living Trust

A living trust is created with a trust document or instrument. You may be able to create this yourself, but it makes sense to work with an attorney to create your trust in some situations.

A living trust is a legal entity that owns property you transfer into it during your lifetime.A living trust is created with a trust document or instrument. You may be able to create this yourself, but it makes sense to work with an attorney to create your trust in some situations.

The average cost for an attorney to create your trust ranges from $1,000 to $1,500 for an individual and $1,200 to $1,500 for a couple. Legal fees vary by location, so your costs could be much higher or slightly lower.

The best way to find a trust is to ask the person who created it or the person who manages it. If the trust owns real estate, then a deed to the trust has probably been recorded in the county where the real estate is.

Today clients who have living trusts normally keep the original copy. Having the attorney keep the original copy of the trust is not as important as keeping the original will used to be. At death, a copy of the trust generally suffices for all parties in place of the original.

Trusts and Bank Accounts You might have a checking account, savings account and a certificate of deposit. You can put any or all of these into a living trust. However, this isn't necessary to avoid probate. Instead, you can name a payable-on-death beneficiary for bank accounts.

Another downside of living trusts is that transferring assets can be both time-consuming and complicated. If you hold a variety of assets, you'll need to contact your different banks and agents to have everything you own moved over -- a process that could involve a fair amount of paperwork.