Living Trust Attorney in Anchorage:
Protecting Your Estate and Your Legacy

Living Trust

Navigating the complexities of estate planning can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to ensuring that your assets are distributed according to your wishes. With extensive knowledge of Alaska’s estate laws, a living trust attorney can help you understand and work with the laws specific to our great state. You need an attorney who can create a legally sound plan that protects your estate, avoids probate, and maintains your family’s financial privacy.

Alaska Wills and Trusts, a well-known wills and trusts law firm in Anchorage, can do just exactly that and more. Alaska Wills and Trusts is run by Constance  A.  Aschenbrenner. Constance and her staff specialize in the laws surrounding estates, trusts, and wills of all kinds.

When you need a living trust law firm in Anchorage or outlying areas, Constance and her staff are the go-to authorities on the subject. They regularly walk clients through the process of creating and funding their living trusts, ensuring that all legal requirements are met. Whether you have a large estate, own property in multiple states, or want to ensure your loved ones are cared for without unnecessary legal hurdles, working with a skilled attorney provides peace of mind and security for the future.

Let’s talk about what a living trust is, why you may benefit from having one, and how to set one up.

What is a Living Trust and Do I Have to Have One?

A living trust is a useful estate planning tool that offers a number of protections to individuals and families with large estates. It can outline your wishes for your family and property in the event of incapacitation or death.

It does nothing to detract from your rights while you're capable of making decisions surrounding your property. The living trust will protect your real and personal property only when it’s needed.

While not mandatory, a living trust can provide estate planning advantages. By using a living trust, you can bypass the traditional probate process. Unlike probate proceedings, a living trust remains private, keeping the terms undisclosed and ensuring privacy for you and your family. Upon your death, the trust assets can be distributed without delay, bypassing probate or court orders.

While you can find help online in many forms an Alaska-based living trust attorney will save you a lot of headaches.

How Does a Living Trust Work?

The act of putting your property into a living trust is known as funding the trust. You can fund your trust with any assets you like, with the following exceptions:

• Property with beneficiary designations
• Property with pay-on-death clauses
• Property with joint ownership with survivorship rights

These are all excluded from the protection of a living trust. Examples of these include retirement accounts, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, real property, or other personal property.

Throughout your life, you'll act as the trustee of your living estate, deciding on all property matters. Writing a living trust is a matter of formalizing your estate plan.

In the event of your incapacitation or death, the person you appoint will assume your decision-making role. The person fulfilling this role is known as the successor trustee.

Your successor trustee steps in and ensures that your estate is distributed according to your wishes and takes care of your family’s needs, if any, as outlined in the living trust.

What Are the Advantages of a Living Trust Over a Will?

You may still need a will in order to:

• Designate who your minor children’s guardian will be
• Disperse any property not added to the Living Trust

Outside of that, the advantages of a living trust outweigh the use of a will to disperse your property. Here are just a few:

• Avoiding Probate: One key advantage to using a living trust is the ability to skip probate. Probate is the legal process of determining what to do with the assets of an individual after they die. These assets include bank accounts, real estate, and financial investments. It can be a long, drawn-out, expensive process, especially if anything is left to question.
• Privacy Protection: A living trust protects the privacy of the deceased individual and their inheritors. Wills are public documents, and anyone with an interest in the estate can access all the information pertaining to it, including who their creditors are, any debts they may owe, and any assets.
• Control Over Asset Distribution: A living trust allows the trustee (that’s you) to decide how to handle those assets after death. This is especially useful when the successor trustee is young and inexperienced or if the situation involves a blended family and you’d like to ensure that the properties are properly dispersed. It also offers protections in case of divorce.

Ready to Talk to A Living Trust Law Firm in Anchorage with Statewide Reach?

As you can see, the advantages of a living trust are well worth the time and effort needed to set one up. And while you can do much of it on your own, you really shouldn’t—especially if your estate is involved and/or large.

Constance A. Aschenbrenner, our founder, has worked in Alaska since 1996 in various roles, including private, corporate, and state practice, as well as public defender work. She understands the needs of Alaskan citizens and is passionate about protecting her clients and solving their legal problems. She runs her highly recommended living trust law firm in Anchorage and is invested in both the state of Alaska and the people who live here.

When you’re ready to consult with an Alaska-based living trust attorney, contact the Law Office of Constance A. Aschenbrenner. We are dedicated to empowering Alaska residents, one client at a time.