Losing Your Trust Documents

Every single one of the documents that outline, and affirm, a trust must be protected. If these documents are lost, then it can be more difficult for the wishes connected to the trust to be brought to fruition.

Going over what happens if you lose your trust documents, and speaking with an estate planning lawyer at the Millhorn Elder Law Planning Group, will allow you to protect your assets. 

What Happens If You Lose Your Trust Documents? 

The documents that outline a trust, and affirm its legal validity, are absolutely essential. And, the reason for this is as follows: most trusts, and the wishes they affirm, are private.

Given the fact outlined above, this information cannot be acted upon, by the court, when someone passes away. The documents that outline a trust must be presented, in order for a trust to be properly utilized.

A number of things can happen, if someone’s trust documents cannot be found. But, out of all the things that can happen, the most significant is as follows: the assets comprising an estate may need to go through probate.

Probate is a long, expensive process that makes it more difficult for one’s beneficiaries to obtain the assets that they have been given.

A trust is one of the best ways to bypass probate but, if there are no documents to affirm the existence and validity of a trust, then an estate cannot bypass probate. 

What Should You Do If You Lose Your Trust Documents? 

If you lose your trust documents, there are a couple of things you can, and should, do:

• Speak with the lawyer who helped you develop the trust and ask if they have a copy that you can use.
• Contact the trustees – or, for that matter, anyone else connected to the trust – and ask if they have a copy.
• Revoke the trust and, then, draft a new trust, with the help of a lawyer, that supersedes the old one.

None of the options outlined above are especially challenging. But, revoking a trust – assuming that is possible, depending on the facts of the trust – can be time-consuming.

If the documents that underlie a trust cannot be found, though, and you want to make sure that those documents are in place, then revoking a trust, and drafting new one in its place, may be the best choice available to you.

How Can You Protect Your Trust Documents? 

The best way to protect your trust documents is to make copies.

Many, many copies, to be precise. And, this includes digital copies, as well as physical copies.

By making many copies of your trust, you can make it very, very difficult for your trust documents to become lost.

Outside of the above, though, you should also give your trust documents to those who are connected with the trust and, in doing so, ask those individuals to keep these documents safe.

All of the above will make it easier for you to protect your trust documents and, in turn, the trust itself.

Speak With A Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Today 

If you want to protect your assets, you need a good estate plan. Speak with a Florida estate planning lawyer today and we will help you develop an effective estate plan.

 Sources: 

law.cornell.edu/wex/trust

help.flcourts.gov/Other-Resources/Probate