Long Island Elder Law & Estate Planning

Long Island living trust attorneys can help you to determine if you should create a trust, what type of trust you should create to achieve your goals for asset protection and asset transfer, and what kinds of assets you should transfer into your trust. There are both pros and cons to creating different kinds of trusts, and you need to make certain that a living trust is actually a legal tool that would be effective for you to use. Long Island Living Trust Attorneys

Mark S. Eghrari & Associates PLLC will work with you throughout the trust creation process. We understand the ins-and-outs of trust creation and will help to ensure that you have made the best trust to suit your needs. When it comes time to transferring assets into the trust, we can advise you on how to change the formal ownership of those assets and on whether moving a particular kind of property into a trust is a good idea or a bad idea for you.

One common question that many people have for Long Island living trust attorneys is whether or not you should move a home into a trust. There are big upsides to putting your house into a living trust, but making this choice is not right for everyone. Before you start the trust creation process or you begin to transfer assets, you should talk with our legal team to get knowledgeable advice. Give us a call today to find out about how we can help.

Should You Transfer Your House into a Living Trust?

The San Fransisco Gate provided a comprehensive summary of both pros and cons of transferring a house into a living trust. You should make certain to get legal advice specific to your situation so you will be able to make the most informed choice, but the SF Gate’s guide gives you a basic summary of some of the reasons why you may wish to put your home into a trust, versus why you may decide that this is a bad idea.

Some of the advantages associated with putting your home into a living trust include:

  • Flexibility during your lifetime. When you create a living trust and transfer your home into that trust, the trust will take title to the home and the trustee will have control over the home. The grantor, who is the person who creates the trust, can retain a great deal of control over the trust and the assets within it- including the house. The grantor can modify or revoke the trust at any time, unlike with an irrevocable trust that provides essentially no flexibility.
  • Probate avoidance: Living trusts can make it possible for assets to transfer outside of the probate process. This means that a home can move much more quickly to new owners and heirs will not have to wait to inherit the house though the probate process, which can take many months. If you have homes in multiple locales, your heirs could potentially be forced to go through probate in all of these different locales- but the use of a living trust will allow for that burdensome process to be avoided.
  • Protection from incapacity: If you get sick or hurt and cannot manage property any more, the backup trustee that you name has the legal authority to take control. This means your home and other assets should not be lost due to mismanagement even if you become incapacitated because you can you will have a trusted person who can take charge.

There are also downsides to putting your home into a living trust. First, because you do still retain control over assets in a living trust, the protections for the assets are relatively limited. The trust assets could still potentially be lost to creditors or could be counted when determining if you are eligible for Medicaid to pay bills for your nursing home. If you want to provide more protection for your home or other assets, you would need to consider other types of trusts. Your assets held within a living trust will still count for determining if you owe estate tax and in what amounts as well.

Other downsides to putting your home into a living trust include the complexity of creating a trust and the potential tax implications which your attorney will discuss with you at the time of trust creation.

Getting Help from Long Island Living Trust Attorneys

Whether you should put your home into a living trust or not is a big decision. You should talk with Long Island living trust attorneys to find out the best way to protect your house. Give us a call at (631) 265-0599 or contact us online to find out more about how Mark S. Eghrari & Associates PLLC can help you to decide what should happen to your home.

Latest posts by Mark S. Eghrari, Estate Planning Attorney (see all)

About Mark S. Eghrari, Estate Planning Attorney

Mark S. Eghrari is an attorney in private practice in Smithtown, New York. He has been in practice since 1988. Mark S. Eghrari provides extensive estate and tax planning services to individuals and businesses. Mr. Eghrari’s primary focus is helping clients avoid probate, minimize or eliminate Federal and State Estate taxes and protect their assets from the high cost of nursing care, if they become ill.