Yes, trusts can avoid probate in Hawaii. By creating a trust and transferring your assets into it, the assets can bypass the probate process when you pass away. This can save your beneficiaries time and money, as probate can be a lengthy and expensive process.
The cost of setting up a trust in Hawaii 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 Hawaii 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 Hawaii, any individual who is at least 18 years old and mentally competent can serve as a trustee. Additionally, Hawaii 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 be able to handle 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 Hawaii, to amend your living trust, you will need to create an amendment to the original trust agreement. This amendment should clearly outline the changes you want to implement, such as alterations to beneficiaries, updates to trustees, or modifications to distribution directives. Be sure to include key information like the date, your name, the name of the trust, and the date the trust was initially formed. For the amendment to be legally binding, it needs to be signed in front of a notary public. If the changes you are intending to make are significant, it might be more efficient to create a restatement of the trust. This allows you to rewrite the entire trust while keeping the original date and title of the trust, which can be advantageous to avoid re-titling assets. In the restatement, you can incorporate all the changes you desire, and these new provisions will supersede the previous ones.
