One of the very first and most important things you do when creating an estate plan in Colorado is to identify your goals. For many, the goal is two-pronged: they want to protect their assets while they are alive and they also want to pass on assets when they die.
Because a living trust is one of several estate planning tools that can be used to achieve both of those goals, it can be the right choice for many. Let’s take a look at some of things you and your estate planning attorney will discuss and do to protect you, your assets and your family with a living trust.
One of the most attractive features of a living trust is that the person who creates the trust designates the trustee who manages the trust and its assets. Many simply name themselves as trustee while others tab a trusted family member.
Another attractive element of a living trust is that it enables the beneficiaries to avoid the Colorado probate process.
One of the first steps in the process of creating a living trust is to decide if you want a single trust in which you will be the only person putting assets into it or a joint trust, in which you and your spouse place jointly owned assets into the trust.
Then you’ll take inventory of the assets, including a house and other real estate, savings, vehicles, a stock portfolio and so on.
Afterwards, you and your estate planning attorney will create the trust document and fund the trust (in other words, transfer into it the property you have chosen).
We will have more on living trusts in our next blog post, so please check back.