Middlebury Trusts Lawyer

Middlebury Trusts Attorney

Middlebury is a small suburban town in Haven County, home to Quassy and Lake Quassapaug, a welcoming community, and just a short drive from Waterbury. While it’s considered a great place to raise a family, one of the most important aspects of raising a family is preparing for their future. Estate planning may be an uncomfortable topic for some, but a Middlebury trusts lawyer is a fantastic resource if you have difficult questions about your estate planning options.

Experienced Legal Counsel for Trusts in Middlebury, CT

Burns Thomas, LLC, can provide compassionate and comprehensive legal representation as you build your estate plan in Middlebury. We help our clients make informed, confident decisions about the elements of their estate plans, create legally enforceable plans that provide peace of mind, and assist them with resolving any unexpected complications they encounter when creating their estate plans.

Recent studies show that only about 32% of Americans have estate plans as of 2024. Of those surveyed who said they did not have estate plans in place, 43% attribute this to simple procrastination, while 40% believe they do not have enough assets to worry about estate planning. It is never too early to start thinking about estate planning, and creating an estate plan will benefit your family in several ways, no matter how modest your estate may be.

Building Your Estate Plan With a Trust in Middlebury

Creating an estate plan requires more than just writing a Last Will and Testament. While this is an important step, it is vital to consider the other elements you could include and how they could benefit your family. One of the most valuable benefits of proper estate planning is helping your family avoid probate after your death, and creating a trust is one of the most effective methods of accomplishing this.

Probate is notoriously tedious, expensive, and time-consuming, but few Americans are aware of what this entails. In fact, only about 2% of Americans know how long it can take, which is an average of about 20 months, and only 56% reported they knew how much probate can cost, which is an average of about 7% of the total value of the estate.

Probate is the formal process of estate administration that unfolds according to intestate succession laws. When a person dies without an estate plan in place, or if their estate plan is contested, the probate process adheres to the state’s intestate succession laws to settle the deceased’s outstanding debts and distribute the contents of their estate to their beneficiaries. This is an entirely impartial process that strictly follows intestate succession laws.

When you create a trust, it’s possible to place the contents of your estate into that trust and designate a trustee to manage it on your behalf. This effectively removes legal ownership of the contents of the estate, so when you die, the trustee can distribute the contents of the trust according to your wishes. If done correctly, it is possible to bypass the probate process entirely while ensuring your estate contents are distributed exactly according to your wishes.

You have options when it comes to creating a trust. For example, a revocable trust provides flexibility and allows you to make changes to it in the future, but it does not provide the same level of tax protection as an irrevocable trust. An irrevocable trust, on the other hand, usually provides greater tax protection, but it cannot be altered or modified in any way once created.

Ultimately, you have options when it comes to creating your trust, and a Middlebury trusts lawyer can be an invaluable asset for crafting your estate plan. The team at Burns Thomas, LLC, can assist you with every step of creating your estate, and we are confident we can arrange a plan that provides peace of mind and accomplishes your goals. Reach out to our firm as soon as possible to learn more about the legal services we offer.

Whether the best option for you is a comprehensive will, the establishment of trusts or other estate planning solutions, we will find a solution that fits your needs.

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FAQs

The team at Burns Thomas, LLC, can help you understand your options when it comes to adding a trust to your estate plan. Our firm has successfully helped many past clients with creating their estate plans, and we are confident we can create a strong, individualized plan on your behalf. It is important to start this process as soon as possible, so contact us today and schedule your consultation with an experienced Middlebury trusts lawyer.