Revocable Real Estate Living Trust

Often clients will take their own estate planning steps to avoid probate by using various bank account registration tools. The "In Trust For", "Payable on Death", "Transfer on Death" type accounts are variations for achieving the same goal: Avoiding probate by directing payment of the balance on the account to designated persons. By using these type accounts individuals can try to avoid probate without the costs of establishing a Revocable Living Trust, and save the resources that would otherwise be used to wrap-up an estate.

These account types may be well and good for some folks...but what about the family home, or vacation home or timeshare? How does one go about avoiding probate when all bank/financial accounts will avoid need for probate, but in addition to bank accounts,there is real estate owned?

Changing the bank accounts into POD, ITF or naming death benficiaries of insurance and annuity contracts can work well for financial accounts...if the family home remains in the individual decedents name, there is no avoiding probate for that asset.

An alternative to a full blown, and more expensive Revocable Living Trust, an abbreviated type of Real Estate Trust is available. The purpose of the Real Estate Trust is to simply

maintain title of the family real estate while letting the original owner use and benefit from the real estate/family home without ANY change of lifestyle or alteration of rights to the home, and taking a step towards avoiding probate completely.

The only asset that is to be placed in the trust is real estate. This reduces the content and provisions that can bulk-up the size, and therefore costs, of establishing your typical Revocable Living Trust.