Practice Areas

02. TRUSTS

Knowledgeable Trust Lawyer

Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Providing Personal Attention

Estate planning is about more than just drafting a will. There are many advantages to be had from creating a trust and appointing a reliable trustee to administer it. At The Yates Law Firm, a majority of our clients decide that a trust is the right option for them.

Our experienced trust attorney, assisted by our knowledgeable staff, work closely with clients to help them determine how they can use trusts to accomplish their estate planning goals. We provide individualized attention to each client’s specific needs

Understanding the Reasons for Creating a Trust

A trust is a legal entity that takes title to all or some of your assets and is administered by a trustee. You can appoint yourself or someone else as the trustee. If you appoint yourself, you can also appoint a successor trustee to take charge in the event of your death or incapacity.

Trusts have many different uses in estate planning and must be carefully drafted in order to reflect the exact intentions of the person creating the trust. The following are some of the major advantages of trusts over wills and other estate planning options:

Avoid or simplify probate: A trust can be used to distribute your assets promptly upon your death, outside of the probate process, which typically takes several months. Probate avoidance is not just for the very wealthy. If you have a home, a life insurance policy, a retirement account or any other significant assets, you may benefit from placing them in a trust.

Protect your children: If your children are faced with the death of both of their parents, a trust can ensure that their guardians have immediate access to much-needed funds and that your children will not automatically inherit all of your remaining assets — without any restrictions on how they can be spent — at the age of 18.

Avoid guardianship: If you become mentally or physically incapacitated, your spouse or another family member may need to pursue an expensive, court-supervised guardianship in order to care for you and gain access to your assets. A trust can avoid guardianship by giving the trustee authority to act on your behalf if you become incapacitated.