If you own a closely-held business, a Revocable Living Trust might be a great tool to consider – as it gives you the ability to transfer your business interests into a trust.
Typically there will be a gap between the date of death and the appointment of an executor to handle your estate during the probate process. This time gap can cause problems with a business running smoothly and in extreme cases can lead to your business dying with you.
As a way around this, business owners can transfer their interest in the business into a Revocable Living Trust. When the owner dies, the successor trustee can continue to run the business in a seamless manner and without delay.
Since the owner will only be transferring the business interest (as opposed to the actual business) into the trust – there won't be any major functional differences when running the business. At the same time, in the event that something happens to the owner, business employees or others who rely on everything running smoothly won’t suffer the consequences of a time delay in the event of the owner's death.
Whether or not to create a Revocable Living Trust will vary from person to person based on their needs and estate planning goals. If this is something you would like to learn more about, feel free to reach out to us so we can discuss it further.