Trusts and Trust Administration - Serving Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Surrounding Areas

A revocable trust can be changed or revoked by you at any time during your lifetime, and it offers strong incapacity planning along with helping your family avoid probate. An irrevocable trust generally can't be easily modified once it's created, but it opens the door to more advanced planning, most often to address tax planning or asset protection. Each serves a different purpose, so let's talk about your goals and figure out which options fits your needs.

A living trust allows you to transfer ownership of your assets into the trust while you're still alive. Because the trust, rather than you personally, holds title to those assets, your family can avoid the probate process after your death, and you gain stronger protection if you ever become incapacitated. I'd love to walk you through exactly how this would work for your family during a consultation.

A properly funded trust can help your family avoid probate, keep your affairs private, and give you far more control over how and when your assets are distributed, all without ongoing court supervision. A will, by contrast, has to go through probate, which can be public, time-consuming, and costly and stressful for the people you leave behind. When we meet, I'll walk you through the education you need to decide whether a will-based plan or a trust-based plan is the right foundation for your family.

Funding your trust means actually transferring your assets into it, and there are three main ways to do that: retitling assets directly into the trust's name, transferring assets using assignments, and updating beneficiary designations to align with your plan. This step is just as important as creating the trust itself; an unfunded trust can't do its job. That's why we support you through the whole process with funding toolkits, hands-on funding support, and the option to work with our funding coordinator, so nothing gets missed.

Yes. One of the biggest benefits of a properly funded trust is that it allows your assets to pass to your loved ones outside of probate court, saving your family time, money, and stress during an already hard season. I'd be glad to walk you through exactly how that works and how it fits into your broader estate planning strategy.

After you pass away, your successor trustee steps in to manage the trust, paying any outstanding debts or taxes, and distributing your assets according to the instructions you've laid out. We talk through trust administration and what's expected of your trustee in detail during your estate planning strategy session, so there are no surprises for the people carrying out your wishes.

Think of your trustee as the manager of your trust: they pay bills, handle taxes, and distribute assets according to your wishes. It's a real responsibility, so we make sure trustees have the support they need, including the ability to hire professional help and receive reimbursement for expenses and reasonable compensation for their time. That way, the people you're considering naming can feel confident they're able to step into that role. If you're not sure who to name, we help you think through your options.

It depends on the type of trust. A revocable living trust generally does not protect your assets from creditors, lawsuits, or bankruptcy during your lifetime, though it can be structured to provide protection for your spouse or beneficiaries after your death, since it becomes irrevocable at that point. If asset protection is a priority for you, there are other trust strategies designed specifically for that purpose, and I'd love to talk through what would work best for your situation.

A spendthrift trust is designed to protect trust assets from your beneficiary's creditors, so an inheritance you leave behind stays protected for the person you intended it for. It can also be a valuable tool if you're concerned about a beneficiary's ability to manage a lump sum responsibly. Let's talk about whether this kind of protection makes sense for your family.

If your trust is revocable, you're free to change its terms at any time during your lifetime. If it's irrevocable, modifying it is more complex, but it's not necessarily impossible; depending on the circumstances, changes may be able to be made without going to court. If you have an existing trust and want to explore updating it, let's schedule a call to talk through your options.