S/O living trust vs last will

ThreeGirls726

Which do you have and why?  When FIL died he had a last will and it was a pain to go through the probate process. If a living trust does the same as a last will, but w/out the courts being involved, what are the advantages of the last will?

ThreeGirls726

Also, in the previous post about this someone mentioned legalzoom.com....on that site a last will cost $70-$80, whereas a living trust is $249.  That leads me to believe the living trust is a lot better, but again why? I have no knowledge of legal documents.

RayRay007

I'm not sure I know what you mean by a living trust, but a living will (health care directive) is a document that appoints a substitute decision maker in case you are incapacitated and directs what you'd like done in certain medical situations. It has no power after you are dead and does not deal with the distribution of property. A power of attorney is similar to a health care directive, but deals with property and finances while you are living. It has no power after death.

pc150805

RayRay007:

I'm not sure I know what you mean by a living trust, but a living will (health care directive) is a document that appoints a substitute decision maker in case you are incapacitated and directs what you'd like done in certain medical situations. It has no power after you are dead and does not deal with the distribution of property. A power of attorney is similar to a health care directive, but deals with property and finances while you are living. It has no power after death.

This. That is why we have both a health care directive (living will) and a will. 

write2nicole

I think a living trust is a trust that you use while you are alive (i.e., you are the beneficiary), and then you designate beneficiaries of the trust to follow after you die. All of your money/assets would have to be held by the trust and distributed to you during your lifetime by the trustee. Then, when you die, the trustee would distribute them to your successor beneficiary.

I think the living trust works better for people who have fixed assets or investment assets. I don't know if it would be as functional if you're getting a paycheck from a job on a regular basis, because the paycheck would have to go to the trust, and then the trustee would have to distribute the necessary funds to the bank account. 

***Take all this with a grain of salt. I haven't had to know this stuff in 11 years.***

write2nicole

Also, the price on legal zoom is probably related more to the complexity of the document than it is to the value for the customer.

I really recommend talking to an estate planning attorney - or at least a financial planner - to help you decide which is best for you. It might not be as expensive to talk to an attorney if you just have an initial consultation to help decide which document works best. Then you could use the legal zoom doc and even have the attorney look it over to make sure everything is correct, updated, etc. It would probably be about an hour for each service, so just a few hundred dollars total.

hmp1

From what I understand, a living trust is much more expensive and much harder to make changes. We had an attorney draft our will and basically because we are both in good health with middle of the line income, a will just made more sense. We don't have a lot of money (like multi-millions), or own a business, or anything that would be fought over or needed during the probate process. Our life insurance and accounts all have beneficiaries assigned beyond just each other.