What is a trust, and how does it work?
Answer:
A trust is an estate-planning arrangement in which a trustee holds and administers property under the trust’s terms. Properly transferred trust assets may pass without ordinary probate administration. Signing a trust document alone does not place every asset in the trust or eliminate all estate obligations.
A trust is one tool that may be used in an estate plan. Our attorney focuses on a key distinction from a will: property properly held in a trust may be administered and transferred without going through ordinary probate.
That benefit depends on the property being effectively placed in the trust or otherwise made payable to it under an appropriate arrangement. Creating the document does not automatically transfer every asset into the trust.
A trusts lawyer can help explain how a proposed trust would work, what funding steps are needed, and which assets may still require probate or separate attention.