Do you need a revocable living trust in order to avoid probate

Atty. Tom Olsen: I know that you meet with a lot of clients, and what you've been working on this past week?

Atty. Holley Knapik: I have met with a lot of different clients. Simple steps for avoiding probate, wills. A couple of trust conversations. The review of existing documents and existing trust. Pretty busy with estate planning and helping people with their issues there.

Tom: I've had a client this past week, and they started with what is fairly common, and it would be something like this to say, "Tom, everybody's telling me I need to have a trust. I had talked to my neighbor, my brother, my sister, my friend, and my co-worker. They all say I need a trust." My response to that is, "Well, we consider a trust to be a complicated and expensive tool for avoiding probate. We focused on simple tools to avoid probate, and I think people really appreciate that because my motto always has been simple is good."

Holley: Simple is good.

Tom: When we have clients walk out of our office, I want them to be 95% they understand what they just did, they understand what they've got.

Holley: Absolutely, and I think with our way of doing business, we try the simple first. Again, there are specific situations where we'll identify a trust is the best tool and that's a living revocable trust, but usually our clients we can help them out with these simpler tools.

Tom: Now let's talk about some reasons to use living trust, but first let's just say this. When we see a living trust that was done for our client years ago by a different attorney, man, oh man, I don't blame the client for being confused. A 30-page trust, just single space, just full of legalese, there's no way they're walking out of the office without-

Holley: A few questions.

Tom: -without understanding what they just did.

Holley: Exactly, yes.

Tom: Probably, understanding, some frustration, they just paid a bunch of money that frustration will cause them to take that living trust and stick it in a desk drawer, and try and forget about it.

Holley: We see it all the time.

Tom: When we do living trust, I am pleased to say that we have simplified our living trust. It does not need to be 30 pages long, folks.

Holley: It does not.

Tom: We've simplified it in such a degree that you're going to be able to understand it, but here's where you're going to be using a living trust. If you're a young married couple and you've got young kids, minors, hey, you're a candidate for a living trust because we can't turn over your wealth to your young minor kids if you both pass away. If you're older and you want to include your young grandkids in your estate plan, that's the reason you use a living trust. If you own real estate in other states, if you got a vacation home in North Carolina, and oil and gas and mineral rights in Texas, that's a good reason to use a living trust.

Folks, if you're having a hard time understanding, "Tom, should I be using simple tools to avoid probate or should I be using a living trust to avoid probate?" Hey, it's quite easy. Take us up on our offer for free initial consultation to talk about your estate planning, and we will help you quickly sort that out.

Holley: Absolutely, and then just as a little side note. I'd like to say that oftentimes we talk about a lady bird deed, that's the enhanced life estate deed, that allows you to avoid probate on your Florida real property. It is a deed. It is not a lady bird trust. A trust is a trust, and a deed is a deed, but between the two, we're all about helping you avoid probate.

Tom: Hey, folks, the good news is we have a booklet, and guess what, it's easy to read and understand, too.

Holley: It's very easy.

Tom: It's got a big font, it's short, it's easy to read, and I wrote it that way.

Holley: You did, and it's wonderful.

Tom: If you want your free booklet on Easy Ways to Avoid Probate, then you can call the Olsen Law Group anytime at 407-423-5561. In fact, somebody is available right now to pick up that phone, but if nobody does, just leave your name and mailing address. We'll get that free booklet out in the mail to you. We also have a free booklet on How to Protect Your Life Savings from Nursing Homes. By the way, free booklets, they now come with two free sweet treats when we mail those booklets. One sweet treat to keep and one to share, yes. We'd love to get that to you.

Hey, everybody. My name is Tom Olsen, the name of the show is Olsen On Law [sound cut]

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