One of the reasons to create a Living Trust is that any assets in the Trust do not have to go through Probate after you pass away. This is the primary reason that many people have Trusts because Probate can be a long and expensive process. However, it is possible to have a problem with your Trust that can cause it to have to go through Probate anyway. One common problem is that people fail to update their Trusts when something changes significantly in their lives.
The inventor of Jeno’s Pizza Rolls and his wife made the mistake of not updating their Trusts when they decided to retire to Florida. Their Trusts were originally created in Minnesota and were left alone until shortly before the couple passed away, at which point the couple changed Trustees. Now their is a dispute over the validity of that change in Trustees and the entire case revolves around whether Minnesota or Florida laws apply to the Trust. A court has to decide that before it can even get to the change in Trustees.
Moving to another state is a significant change in your life that should cause you to review your estate plan. If you are new to Texas, please schedule an appointment with a Texas attorney to look at your old estate plan and determine its validity under Texas law.
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