Establishing a Nevada Living Trust is one of the most important estate planning tools for your family. It can help reduce costs, avoid family conflict, and protect privacy.
A living trust lets you control your property both during life and after death. It also bypasses probate, which is a public process.
Avoiding Probate
A trust can eliminate the need for your estate to go through probate. Probate is the process of dividing your assets amongst your heirs after you die. This can be a costly and lengthy legal proceeding. A trust can save your heirs time and money by skipping this process.
A living trust can also be used to avoid the need for a conservatorship if you become incapacitated. Unlike a will, which becomes public record, your trust’s terms, beneficiaries, and assets remain private.
Using a Nevada living trust, you can avoid the need to have your estate divvied up in probate court, which can be an expensive and tumultuous legal process. It is important to consult with an experienced estate planning attorney when drafting your trust. An effective trust plan can help protect your family’s privacy, reduce federal estate taxes, and provide peace of mind for your loved ones after you pass. It can even minimize family disputes and support cherished charities.
Controlling Your Assets
The process of transferring your assets to your heirs after your death can be complicated. With a Nevada living trust, you can designate a successor trustee to manage your assets and oversee the distribution of your property upon your death. This person can be someone you trust, such as a family member or friend, or an institution like a bank trust department.
You can also control what happens to your assets by naming beneficiaries for each of your accounts. This will allow the funds in these accounts to be transferred immediately, without going through probate.
Our firm can help you set up a revocable living trust and a certificate of trust (which is used to “fund” your assets into the trust), a pour-over last will, a durable power of attorney for health care decisions, a general power of attorney, and a quitclaim deed to transfer any property you own in Clark County into the trust.
Tax Benefits
A trust helps you avoid state income tax, especially in states with high taxes, such as California. A trust also helps you reduce estate taxes. Unlike a will, a trust is not subject to probate and the property is not passed to heirs until the end of the trust term or after your incapacitation.
The person who creates the trust is called a grantor. They will typically manage the assets in the trust during their lifetime and can revoke or amend it as they wish. At death or incapacitation, a successor trustee will take over and distribute the assets according to the trust terms.
A Nevada living trust can be created easily by a skilled Las Vegas attorney. In addition to the trust document, a basic plan usually includes a pour-over last will, transfer deeds and a power of attorney for health care decisions. The process is complete when the trust is signed in front of a notary and all major assets are transferred into it.
Estate Administration
A living trust can bypass probate, the legal and public process that many families must endure upon a loved one’s death. The trust is a critical part of the estate planning process. Its successor trustee acts in accordance with your directives and distributes your assets accordingly after your death. This process sidesteps the courts, which is expensive and time-consuming for your family.
While some property, like retirement accounts and life insurance policies, cannot be placed into a Nevada living trust, almost all other assets can. You can also change the terms of your trust at any time, and you retain control of all trust property during your lifetime.
You must choose the successor trustee and a lifetime beneficiary(ies). If you’re married, both spouses are typically lifetime beneficiaries. Once you’re done, you must “fund” the trust by transferring title to the appropriate property. A signed Affidavit of Successor Trustee adds the successor trustee to the property’s title.
