Putting your home in a trust can offer a range of benefits, including avoiding probate, protecting your assets, and ensuring your wishes are carried out. However, it's not always the right choice for everyone. Before making a decision, it's important to consider factors such as your financial situation, family dynamics, and estate planning goals. In this blog post, we'll explore the pros and cons of putting your home in a trust.
Pros: Putting Your Home Into a Trust
1. Avoiding Probate
Putting your home in a trust can help you avoid the probate process, which can be lengthy and expensive.
2. Providing for Loved Ones
You can create a trust that provides for your loved ones after you pass away.
3. Privacy
Trusts are not public record, and therefore, the details of the trust will remain private.
4. Stepped-Up Basis
In a trust, stepped-up basis refers to the adjustment of the value of assets to their fair market value at the time of the original owner's death. This adjustment can help reduce capital gains taxes when the assets are sold by the beneficiaries.
Cons: Putting Your Home Into a Trust
1. Upfront Costs
Creating a trust can be costly, and it may require legal assistance
2. Difficulty to Make Changes
Once a trust is created, it can be challenging to ake changes to it
3. Loss of Control
Putting your home in a trust means that you no longer own it directly, instead, it is held by the trust, which may cause you to lose control over it.
Deciding whether to put your home into a trust can be a big decision. An Estate Planner can guide you in making the best decision for you.
