Yes, trusts can avoid probate in Pennsylvania. Creating a trust and transferring your assets to it allows the assets to bypass the probate process when you pass away. A well-drafted trust can save your beneficiaries time and money by avoiding the often lengthy and expensive probate process.
The cost of setting up a trust in Pennsylvania varies depending on the complexity of the trust and the attorney's fees. A basic Revocable Living Trust generally ranges from $1,000 to $3,000. More complex trusts can cost several thousand dollars more. Online services like Snug can provide a more affordable alternative to traditional legal services, offering estate planning services, including trusts, at a lower cost.
The overall cost of estate planning in Pennsylvania can run up to around $6,350.
A Revocable Living Trust is the most common type of trust people set up, offering flexibility and control over your assets during your lifetime and helping to avoid probate. Other types of trusts, such as Charitable Trusts, Special Needs Trusts, and Irrevocable Trusts, may be appropriate depending on your specific circumstances and goals.
Funding a trust in Pennsylvania involves transferring ownership of your assets to the trust. For real estate, a new deed must be prepared with the trust as the owner. Bank accounts should be retitled in the name of the trust, and other assets like vehicles, personal property, business interests, stocks, and bonds must also be formally transferred to the trust.
Adding a house to a trust in Pennsylvania can be a little more complex. The state has rules and regulations about it.
In Pennsylvania, any individual who is of legal age (18 years old) and mentally competent can serve as a trustee. Additionally, Pennsylvania law allows for corporations, including banks or trust companies, to serve as trustees if they are authorized to exercise trust powers in the state. Trustees must have the capacity to manage and take care of property, and they cannot have been convicted of serious crimes, including felonies or crimes that involve dishonest or immoral behavior.
In Pennsylvania, to modify your living trust, you must prepare an amendment to the original trust document. This amendment should clearly state the changes you intend to make, such as adding or removing beneficiaries, changing trustees, or updating distribution instructions. The amendment should include the date, your name, the name of the trust, and the date the trust was created. Your amendment should be signed in the presence of a notary public, just like the original trust document. If you are planning substantial changes to your living trust, you might consider creating a restatement of the trust. A restatement allows you to rewrite the entire trust, while preserving the original date and title of the trust, which can be helpful in avoiding the necessity to retitle assets. In the restatement, you would include all the changes you want to make, and the new provisions will entirely supplant the old ones.
