Estate planning
Living Trusts in Tampa for families who want to skip probate and stay in control
A revocable living trust keeps your estate out of probate and lets a successor trustee step in without a court. You keep control for as long as you are able.
Chapter 01
Probate is the problem a living trust is built to prevent
Start with what goes wrong. A will is an admission ticket to probate, the court-supervised process of settling an estate. Your family has to go through the court process before the estate is settled. A revocable living trust is designed to prevent that outcome. While you are alive, the management of your assets moves out of your personal name and into the trust, so there is less left for a probate court to sort out later.
For many Florida families, avoiding probate is the main reason to choose a trust. Edmund Gegan weighs it against the other routes, including joint ownership and beneficiary designations, because each has pitfalls. Joint ownership, for example, can expose an asset to a co-owner's creditors. The Probate Avoidance page compares the options side by side.
A brass front door key in a wooden tray beside a closed navy folder on a hall console table, with a fern behind
Revocable means you stay in charge, and a successor trustee steps in when you cannot
Revocable is the word that reassures people. While you are alive and well, you stay in control. You can use your property, change the terms of the trust, move assets in and out, or end it altogether. Calling it a living trust simply means it starts working during your life, not only after your death.
The trust names a successor trustee, someone you choose to take over when you cannot act. If you become incapacitated or you die, that person can step in and manage the trust without asking a court's permission first. For a family in Tampa, that means the person you picked can pay the bills and look after the property.
Chapter 03
A trust only works for what is in it: funding, beneficiary forms and keeping it current
A signed trust is not finished until it is funded. Assets have to be retitled into the name of the trust, such as a home or a bank account, and an asset left outside the trust may not get the protection you planned. Part of the work with Edmund is a clear list of what needs to be moved, so nothing is forgotten after the signing.
Beneficiary designations on items such as retirement accounts and life insurance policies sit outside the trust, so they are reviewed alongside it and made to point in the same direction. Then the trust is revisited when your family changes, through a marriage, a birth, a divorce or a death. Call (813) 248-8900 for a free initial consultation. The Fundamental Estate Planning page covers the other documents that sit beside a trust.
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