Since the dawn of trust law, three groups of people have typically used trusts:

    --the famous

    --the wealthy

    --the powerful

Trusts could be used to protect wealth for long periods of time, or to take care of a person or child who could not properly manage his or her own finances. Such trusts could be complicated to understand and expensive to implement.  But in recent times, trusts have become available to everyone, most often as an estate planning tool. 

Most anyone old enough to be thinking about drafting a last will and testament has heard of “living trusts.”  Living trusts are a way of avoiding court involvement in one’s estate after death.  Instead of going through probate, where a judge approves the winding up of a deceased’s estate.  This could involve legal and court fees that most people would prefer to avoid.  In many cases, a small estate can get by with a very simple probate that doesn’t involve hiring an attorney.  Check your local rules.  Is there any other solution?  A person or married couple can establish a trust while still alive and place real and personal property into the trust. Then, the person or couple can manage, control, use and enjoy the property until death.  The benefit of a trust is that it doesn’t “die” with the person or couple who created it.  After death the trust continues on managed by a person specified in the trust agreement.  The specified trustee then distributes the property as instructed by the trust agreement without the need for court involvement.  There is much more to this than the above brief explanation, and there are many resources on the Internet and in books for understanding proper estate plans.  There are also many qualified local attorneys who specialize in trusts for estate planning purposes.

Trusts have also gained popularity as a means of owning real property while protecting personal privacy.  You may have heard the term “Land Trust” or “Title Holding Trust.”  These types of trusts are commonly used by real estate developers, apartment owners and house flippers.  There is also a wealth of information on the Internet that can be found by Googling “land trust” or “title holding trust.”

Only recently have trusts started gaining favor as a personal privacy tool for anyone able to buy a house or purchase a car. 

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