Yes, trusts can avoid probate in Colorado. When you create a trust and transfer your assets to it, the assets are no longer subject to probate when you pass away. This can save your beneficiaries time and money by avoiding the often lengthy and expensive probate process.
The cost of setting up a trust in Colorado 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.
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 Colorado 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, stocks, and bonds must also be formally transferred to the trust.
In Colorado, any individual who is at least 18 years old and mentally competent can serve as a trustee. Moreover, corporations, such as banks or trust companies, are also permitted to serve as a trustee if they are authorized to exercise trust powers in the state. Trustees must be able to manage property responsibly, and they are prohibited if they have been convicted of serious crimes, including felonies or crimes that involve dishonesty or moral turpitude.
In Colorado, to modify your living trust, you will need to create an amendment to the original trust document. The amendment should clearly specify the changes you wish to make, this could include adding or removing beneficiaries, altering trustees, or redefining distribution instructions. Remember to include the date, your name, the trust's name, and the date the trust was initially established. Your amendment should be signed in front of a notary public, as was done with the original trust document. If you are contemplating extensive changes to your living trust, it may be more efficient to generate a restatement of the trust. A restatement permits you to rewrite the entire trust while retaining the original date and title of the trust, which can be advantageous in avoiding the need to retitle assets. In the restatement, you can include all the modifications you want to make, and these new conditions will replace the old ones in their entirety.
