Why It Is Better To Set Up A Trust Than A Will – An Auckland Trust Lawyer
If you are anything like most people, then when you hear the terms probate, blind trusts, wills, or revocable trust, then your eyes probably glaze over. Then, the next thing is you start thinking about how much money you will need to pay to a lawyer to get it all set up for you, without even really knowing exactly what it is. So if you are currently planning your estate, then you will need to determine whether you should have a trust or a will. It is very important to know what the differences are in terms of the benefits you will receive, as well as your loved ones after you are gone. You should visit an Auckland trust lawyer for legal advice but the article below gives some pointers.
The Setup Fee For A Will, Pays Just To Write The Will
When you have a lawyer draw a will up for you it will cost a couple of hundreds of dollars, depending on how complex your situation happens to be. The problem is, all that really does is pay to set your will up. After your death, your lawyer will need to look after your estate via the probate process of the courts, and that will cost many additional hundreds of dollar an hour beyond the original set up fee. It is possible for an Auckland trust lawyer to earn probate fees from settling your state will end up being more than $10,000 more dollars. Let’s look at getting a trust set up now.
After A Trust Has Been Set Up, Probate Is Avoided
The fees to set a trust up are a lot higher. However, after you die your beneficiaries or family will not have to go through probate, and that eliminates the high lawyer’s fees they would need to pay. Immediately after your death, your successor trustee will need to start to distribute your property in such a way that you have detailed in your trust. They will not need to visit a court or lawyer in order to get this process started.
Due To Their Nature, Wills Are Often Contested
Out of all of the legal documents that lawyers prepare, the will is by far the one that is most fought over and contested. Due to probate costs, where the attorney gets a percentage, and in many cases plus fees, a will can end up being one of the legal profession’s most expensive documents. The more individuals that contest and fight a will, the higher that the attorney’s fees will be until there isn’t anything left to divide up.
On the other hand, the trust is a type of private document, and although they can still be contested, it is a lot harder to do.
Take An Inventory Of All Of Your Assets
In order to get your revocable trust set up one of the things that you need to do is take an inventory of all of the assets that you own and come up with a value for each of them. 
Assets, like cars, stock, and real estate, that have deeds and legal titles, will need to have some special documentation to correctly transfers include the fair market value appraisal. Don’t be tempted to deflate or inflate values in order to suit what your current circumstances are. The IRD requires you to show fair market values at the time of the transfer. Ultimately, a small will made to be a catchall, for whatever assets that you accumulate or miss after your trust is set up, is handled by this. The attorney that handles your trust should explain all of the details and then handle everything with the fee that is earned from setting the trust up.
Consult an Auckland Trust Lawyer
As you can see, the topic of wills and Trusts is complex, beyond the scope of this article. For definitive legal advice you must consult an Auckland trust lawyer. McVeagh Fleming is a well known law firm in Auckland, and they will be able to help.
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