Living Trust Lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona
Often the point of creating a trust to hold your money and other property is to safeguard your assets. Most people use trusts, in hopes that it keeps the assets out of anyone else’s hands, particularly those who might file a lawsuit. The truth is that some trusts will protect your family’s assets from claimants or creditors.
What Is a Living Trust?
Often, when you write your will, your lawyer will suggest a living trust. This will save your family the expense and hassle of probating you after death. In a living trust, property that you leave behind does not need to go through probate court first. This is usually a better idea because when your assets go through probate court, they can be there for six months to a year and eats up a percentage of the estate in the process. With a living trust, your assets go straight to those who inherit it and if you are incapacitated at any time; a successor trustee can take control.
Can Creditors Get Assets?
A revocable living trust does not protect your assets against someone who has claims against you. Even though the trust is a legal entity, you are still the owner of the assets. You name yourself as the trustee so that you can take property out and put it in. There are no restrictions on what you can do with the property in your trust. Since the law considers you the owner of the property, if you owe catastrophic medical bills, you may still have to worry about your assets.
However, if have an irrevocable trust, you can protect your assets from creditors. In this case, you cannot revoke the trust and you have no control of your assets. Hence, you do not have to worry about creditors getting their hands on them.
Can Trusts Protect Assets?
There are some trusts that may be able to save your assets from medical bills, however. If you put the money or assets in an irrevocable trust, then the money cannot be used for any lawsuits or medical bills. Often, if you have a lot of money and are worried about lawsuits, you may set up more complex trusts to save your finances. Now, when it comes to protecting your money and assets against medical bills, there are other ways to accomplish it.
If you’re worried about catastrophic medical bills, you don’t have to worry alone. Naturally, you want to protect your assets, particularly if you may lose it all due to medical bills. While a living trust might not be able to help you in this instance, there are plenty of ways to protect your assets. Learn more with the help of living trust lawyers in Phoenix, Arizona from Kamper & Estrada, PLLC today.
