A trust is the single most effective estate planning tool available. There are many different types of trusts. Among the better known and more commonly used are revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts and testamentary trusts. In addition to protecting your privacy, a trust will help you leave what you want, to whom you want, in the way you want—at the lowest possible overall cost.

A Living Trust is a document created by you and your estate planning attorney to manage your assets and wealth as you see fit when you are no longer around to do so.  There are many benefits from creating Living Trust, including minimizing tax liability, promoting certain behavior from the next generation, protecting assets from creditors and judgments, and many other benefits.  The Living Trust also avoids probate, which we all know is a long expensive process that exposes all of our private affairs to the public domain of the court system.  Assets held in trust pass without being subject to probate, so your estate can save the money that would normally get spent during the probate process, which can add up to several thousands of dollars. Probate can also be a long process, taking over a year to complete in some circumstances. This blog article discusses the increasing delay assocaited with Probate as the courts continue to cut costs, have days of furlough and experience other delays, all contributing to the time  spent in the probate system.

Here are some pointers made by the California State Bar on the use and need of Living Trusts in California.