Trust Creation 101

You likely understand the importance of having a last will and testament in place to dictate what happens to your assets after you pass away. But while a will is essential to estate planning, in many cases it is not enough. If you have minor children, or real and/or personal property of significant value, your best move is to hire knowledgeable trust attorneys to help you create an estate plan tailored to your needs anchored by a revocable trust.

The trustee of your trust will hold legal title to any real property and/or personal property that you wish to gift to specific beneficiary(ies) upon your death, while bypassing the often lengthy, and always public, probate process.

A trust is not a legal entity or business formation. Rather it is an agreement, a legal contract, whereby one person (the “trustee”) agrees to hold, administer, and distribute property (the trust “corpus”) for the benefit of another person(s) (the “beneficiary”). The terms set forth in the trust are directions for how the trustee is to carry out this duty.

A trust requires that its creator, called a "trustor" (or sometimes a "grantor" or "settlor"), transfers property to the trust. This property is then managed by the trustee (who is often also the trustor), for the benefit of the designated beneficiaries.

Your trust takes effect upon signature by the trustor and either signature or acceptance by the trustee. But, in order to be valid, the trust must have assets registered to it or it fails.

If you are looking for an experienced Sonoma County trust attorney, estate planning lawyer or probate attorney call  707-623-1316. Our office is located in Santa Rosa and we proudly serve Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg and all surrounding areas. Don’t hesitate to call for your free initial consultation.