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Alabama Living Trust Attorney

Do you live in Alabama and have made your plans for what will happen to your estate when you pass away? A living trust is a good idea for many, and this page will give you some basic information about Alabama living trusts. We will also give you some ideas about how to find a good Alabama living trust attorney.

A Living trust is a document that is used as an estate planning tool that will, among other things, allow your heirs to bypass the cost, expense and delay of an Alabama probate court. This applies to all property that you place in the trust. Any other property, or items that are not covered in a living trust, such as guardians for children and pets, may still be subject to probate. You can read more about how a living trust can be used to avoid probate at How to Avoid Probate.

As a very general rule, living trusts are probably a good idea for anyone with an estate over one million dollars. This is because various federal and state taxes, such as the estate tax, can be assessed on estates that are valued at over one million dollars. [Actually, the federal estate tax limit is not one million currently but is scheduled to be after 2011, see Estate Tax.]

A living trust will not automatically eliminate the estate tax, not at all, but it can be used as a tool to do that.

There are numerous other advantages a living trust may offer, including asset management upon incapacity; privacy; decreasing the odds of an heir contesting the distribution of your assets, etc. See Advantages of a Living Trust for more information about the advantages of a living trust.

If you think that a living trust is what you would like to do with your estate, you must go through the legalities of creating a living trust. One way to do this is to hire an attorney.

Another way is to visit a website, such as www.legalzoom.com, and create a living trust.

Get your Legal Documents Online for up to 85% less than Lawyer Fees

Yet another is to visit www.nolo.com or get software to help you write your trust.

Wills and Estate Planning Information at NOLO.com
Do-It-Yourself Legal Books, Forms and Software From a Trusted Source

However, in general, it is safer to hire an attorney to create your Alabama living trust for you. If you do it on your own, you may forget to place items into the living trust that should be included in it.

Additionally, you may make a mistake, and end up costing your heirs the same amount of money that probate would have cost.

Lastly, the laws, both federal and state, can interact in unique ways that someone who is not well-versed in them may not understand.

For these reasons, we highly recommend you hire a good Alabama living trust attorney to create your living trust. Whether you live in Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery or Anniston – anywhere in Alabama -- if you are looking for an Alabama living trust attorney, you should check out this free attorney finder service:

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