A living trust is a legal arrangement established during an individual's lifetime to hold assets that will be distributed after death and that bypass probate.

A living trust could help your beneficiaries avoid an annoying probate process down the line. But setting one up may be more costly and time-consuming than simply writing a will.

Millions of U.S. homeowners and real estate investors hold title to their houses, condos and investment property in living trusts. Why? In a nutshell, there are only two major advantages of doing so.

A living trust is a legal arrangement that you can use to help transfer property to loved ones and protect assets in case of incapacity. Learn more here.

4. Vehicles. Since most people don’t own the same vehicle for a long time, it doesn’t make sense to include yours in your ...

Living trust vs. a will: What’s the difference? Wills and trusts are both used for estate planning, but they have big differences you should know about.

However, there are several assets that should not be placed in a living trust. 1. Qualified Retirement Accounts.

A living trust, for example, won’t help you reduce your estate taxes, says Drozdowski. Nor will it enable you to sidestep all legal fees, as there are costs involved in drawing up the document.

A living trust actually is much more akin to what you might think of as a will, if what you're thinking of is a last will and testament. The latter is a legal document in which you lay out how you ...

Once a living trust is established, it must also be maintained over the years. You may need to add new assets to the trust, remove assets, or update its terms.

A living trust, also called a revocable trust, is a widely used estate planning tool. Here are the pros and cons for those considering using it.