Who Needs A Living Trust?

I can almost say that all property owners in California need a Living Trust without any exceptions. But what if you do not own property in California?

Do you need a Living Trust? Maybe.

If you are single, have no children and do not own property in California -- at first glance you probably do not need a Living Trust.

Your assets will have a payable on death feature or beneficiary designations for you to transfer bank accounts, retirement accounts and life insurance policy death benefits to your loved ones upon your death. This is usually sufficient and will only require a Will to name who should manage your estate and get your personal belongings. Yes, a Will goes through probate, but only if your estate is worth more than $100,000. To recap, if your assets have beneficiaries designated and your other assets are not worth more than a $100,000 -- you might squeak by with no estate planning documents. Cool.

But say you are working for a Fortune 500 company. You have significant retirement savings, a nice executive life insurance policy and stock options. Sure, you don't own property. So at first glance, you would think you do not need a Living Trust.

But what if you want to give your entire estate to fund your three favorite nieces' college education? What if you want to hold your money in trust until the nieces collectively reach age 30 before making a final distribution of your assets? This would be a perfect reason to set up a Living Trust even though you do not own a home, not married or have no kids.