A living trust provides lifetime and after-death property management. If you are serving as your own trustee, the trust instrument will provide for a successor upon your death or incapacity. Court intervention is not required. Livings trusts also are used to manage property. If a person is disabled by accident or illness, the successor trustee can manage the trust property. As a result, the expense, publicity, and inconvenience of court-supervised distribution of your estate can be avoided.

If a living trust is properly written and funded you can:

Avoid probate on your assets Plan for the possibility of your own incapacity Control what happens to your property after you are gone Use it for any size estate; and Prevent your financial affairs from becoming a matter of public record.