Yes, trusts can avoid probate in Georgia. 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 Georgia 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 Georgia 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 Georgia, any individual who is at least 18 years old and mentally competent can serve as a trustee. Additionally, Georgia law allows for corporations, such as banks or trust companies, to serve as a trustee if they are authorized to exercise trust powers in the state. Trustees must possess the ability to manage and take care of property, and they can't have been convicted of serious crimes, including felonies or crimes that involve dishonest or immoral behavior.
In Georgia, to change your living trust, you need to create an amendment to the original trust document. The amendment should clearly state the changes you wish to implement, such as adding or removing beneficiaries, changing trustees, or altering distribution instructions. Be sure to include the date, your name, the name of the trust, and the date the trust was originally established. Similar to the original trust document, your amendment should be signed in the presence of a notary public. If you want to make extensive changes to your living trust, you might find it easier to create a restatement of the trust. A restatement allows you to rewrite the entire trust, while maintaining the original date and title of the trust, which can be beneficial for avoiding retitling assets. In the restatement, you would include all the changes you want to make, and the new provisions will replace the old ones entirely.
