Buying or Selling Real Estate? It’s Time To Talk To Your Estate Planning Attorney
Right now, the real estate market is booming, with people buying and selling left and right. If you are getting in on the action, now is a great time to get in touch with your estate planning attorney.
Owning Property Is A Great Reason To Establish A Trust
Buying a house is one of the biggest and most important purchases you make in your life. Next steps should be to protect the new asset—for both you and your family. Setting up a trust when you buy a piece of property makes sense for many reasons:
- You Can Avoid Probate
By placing your property into a trust, your family can inherit it without going through the probate process. Probate can be timely, stressful, and expensive. Probate is the process where the court decides how your possessions pass down to your heirs. Trusts allow you to avoid the Probate Court and instruct how you want your assets transferred.
- You Can Prevent Publicizing Your Estate
Probate is a public process where the contents of your will becomes a public record, so anyone can see the size of your estate and exposes information that most would prefer to keep private. By establishing a trust, just you and your beneficiaries will be able to see this information.
- Incapacity Protection
If something were to happen to you, a trust allows your family to manage your finances for you. In times of trouble, the last thing you want is to give your family the added stress of court proceedings. By establishing a trust, the successor trustees (often your spouse or family members) can step in to manage your assets to keep life as normal as possible.
- Avoid or Minimize Estate Taxes
When the estate can be subject to state or federal estate tax, putting assets into a trust with proper tax language can help minimize these taxes.
This process does involve additional paperwork and accurate record-keeping, but consulting with an attorney can help unload these obstacles – be proactive!
What Happens If I Already Have A Trust?
Having an existing trust does not mean your new home is automatically included in the trust. The closing attorney needs to deed your new property into your existing trust. What if you have more than one trust? The closing attorney should speak with your estate planning attorney to make sure the home is deeded to the correct trust. Also, so again, important to consult your Estate Plan Attorney.
How Does Owning Property Change My Net Worth?
Your new property may be your biggest asset and your biggest liability. Purchasing a new home can cause your assets to shift and your net worth to change. Speaking with your estate planning attorney can help identify whether this change affects your current estate plans, and they can advise you on how to adapt them to fit your new financial situation.
Everyone’s situation is different, so come in today to talk to your estate planning attorney to see how your property fits into your estate plan.