Often attorneys or CPA’s will tell clients that their estate is too small for a trust. Normally, what they mean is that it is too small to owe federal estate taxes – which certain types of properly structured trusts often can reduce or eliminate.

However, many estates that are too small to owe federal estate taxes are large enough or complicated enough to need a trust or other estate settlement strategy in order to reduce or eliminate the estate resolution costs and problems such as the probate court process.

Of course, only an experienced attorney who regularly practices probate and trust law, and is intimately familiar with the size and structure of your overall estate, can properly advise you.

In any event, more and more people now are handling their estate resolution issues together today instead of leaving those issues for their family to handle tomorrow alone. And for some, a trust is the cornerstone of their plan.