Does a Trust Prevent Court Control of Assets if I’m Incapacitated?

Does a Michigan living trust avoid probate and prevent control by the court if I’m incapacitated? If something happens to you and you’re no longer able to take actions or make decisions for yourself, you’ll want to have estate planning strategies and tools in place to protect you.

One such example is a power of attorney, which allows you to appoint another person as your authorized agent to take actions on your behalf. Another common strategy used for estate planning purposes is the creation of a living trust. Once you set up a living trust, you would then transfer your assets into the name of the trust.

But you would still maintain control of the trust itself when it is revokable. This means you would also remain in control of your assets. Practically, nothing would change for you as it relates to the management of these assets, except that they do not belong to your probate estate.

This means that since everything now belongs to the trust, there is nothing for the courts to access and control if you become incapacitated or pass away. The person that you have selected to serve as the backup or successor trustee would be the one who would take over in the event that something happens to you. This can help keep you and your loved ones out of the court, if and when you become unable to manage your assets or your strategies on your own.

In Michigan, a trust is a powerful estate planning tool when it’s created properly and when you fund assets into it. To get more of your questions answered about it, schedule a call to meet with our Michigan trust planning attorneys.