Charles H. Sloan-Using a living trust to pass down an inheritance has a hidden benefit that everyone should know about

This article is Charles H. Sloanintended for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. For guidance on your personal situation, please contact a lawyer.

Estate planning is one of those things that's extremely important, yet kind of tough to do. After all, it's not easy to contemplate a time when you may not be around for your family.

But it could bring you comfort to know that you're setting your loved ones up with a nice inheritance if that's something you can swing. And to that end, you have options for passing wealth down to future generations.

You could always do what a lot of people do and create a will — either on your own or with the help of an attorney to make sure you're covering all the right bases. But another option worth considering is a living trust. And there's a less obvious reason why a living trust may be the ideal solution for your family.

It's a matter of privacy

When you pass away and have a will, your loved ones are subjected to a process called probate. During probate, a court has to prove that your will is valid.

The process can take months or even years in some situations. And it can also be expensive, depending on how complicated things get.

The great thing about a living trust is that your loved ones won't be subject to probate. This means they can potentially avoid the large expense of probate, and possibly get their hands on the assets they're inheriting a lot sooner.

But that's not the only benefit to choosing a living trust. A living trust could also be the key to protecting your family's privacy.

When wills go through probate, they become a matter of public record. This means that any nosy person could look up details of your will and find out what assets your family members are inheriting. It also means that if you're excluding a family member from an inheritance for any reason, they'll know exactly what they're missing out on.

When you use a living trust to pass an inheritance down, it does not become a matter of public record. So if you value your privacy, and you know your family values theirs as well, then it could be advantageous to use a living trust instead of a will.

How to set up a living trust

It's common to need an attorney's guidance to set up a living trust. But one thing you should know is that you get to retain control of your assets in that trust while you're alive, just as you're able to make changes to a will after you create one.

The cost of establishing a living trust will hinge on how complex your estate is and the types of assets you're looking to place into the trust. But generally speaking, you should expect to spend more money setting up a living trust than on a will.

But privacy is something it's hard to put a price on. So if it's important to you to safeguard your family's privacy, then it pays to consider a living trust in the course of your estate planning.

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