Lately, I have been receiving a lot of phone calls from clients requesting information about trusts. Let’s discuss the basics of a trust and how to decide if one is a good fit for you.
A trust is a form of ownership of property, where one person, the trustee, manages property for the benefit of someone else—the beneficiary. The trust agreement contains the instructions the trustee must follow regarding how to manage the assets in the trust, and whether and when to distribute the trust income and principal.
The most common form of trust that clients request is a revocable living trust, or grantor trust. These trusts are most often used to avoid probate. They are good for other situations as well, including when a contested probate is anticipated, unusual assets are involved, or you simply feel strongly that probate must be avoided.
While I do not normally recommend probate avoidance trusts only for the sake of avoiding probate in New Jersey, sometimes it is the best option given the unique circumstances in a given case.