What is A Living Trust?

A Living Trust is created by a written agreement between you and the person you choose to manage the assets in the Trust.

The Trust Agreement

The terms of the Trust Agreement should be tailored to meet your specific needs.

A Trust Avoids Probate

On your death, your trust assets will be distributed directly to your named beneficiaries without the costs, problems, publicity, or delays of Probate.

Revocable Versus Irrevocable Living Trusts

A Revocable Trust does not protect a person's assets in the event of a catastrophic illness. Since you can revoke the Trust, Medicaid can force you to revoke the Trust and withdraw all the Trust assets and use those assets towards the cost of care.

The only type of Trust that will truly protect resources in the event of a catastrophic illness is an Irrevocable Trust where the language of the Trust Agreement appropriately complies with the federal and state Medicaid requirements.

Long Term Care Insurance is an important estate planning option for protecting your life savings in the event of a catastrophic illness.

Long Term Care Insurance does not in itself provide comprehensive estate planning. In conjunction with such insurance, you should also consider having the following legal documents:

• Living Trust to Avoid Probate
• Power of Attorney
• Health Care Proxy
• Will