Are you looking for a living trust lawyer in Joliet, IL?
At Kravets Law Group, we are trusted living trust lawyers serving clients across Joliet and the surrounding area.
If you want your home, savings, and investments to pass to your family without a probate case in Will County, an attorney can prepare a living trust that holds those assets during your life and transfers them after your death. Our Joliet, IL living trust lawyer prepares living trusts, pour-over wills, and the deeds and transfer documents that fund them.
Living trust packages are offered at a flat rate, with clear add-on pricing for deeds and additional transfers. Every living trust matter is handled personally by our attorney, who has 10 years of experience. Contact us to schedule a consultation.
Living Trust Lawyer Joliet, IL
A living trust is a trust you create and fund during your lifetime, usually naming yourself as trustee. A living trust lawyer drafts the document, moves your property into it, and prepares the successor trustee who will manage and distribute everything after your death or incapacity.
Joliet has an owner-occupied housing rate of 73.7%, based on Census Bureau QuickFacts. Real estate held in one person’s name often requires probate to transfer after death. Titling a home in a living trust keeps it out of court and allows a successor trustee to sell or transfer it without court approval.
Types of Living Trust Cases We Handle in Joliet
Living trusts are flexible, and that flexibility is the reason a single template rarely fits. Our process as living trust lawyers in Joliet is built around plain-English explanations and a step-by-step review of each document, so you understand what you are signing and how it will work.
- Individual living trusts. A single person places assets into a trust, serves as trustee during life, and names a successor to take over. This structure works well for widowed, divorced, and single clients.
- Joint living trusts for married couples. Spouses often combine their assets in one trust with shared control. We draft the terms so the surviving spouse keeps access to the assets while the plan for the children remains protected.
- Wills. A living trust is typically paired with a pour-over will as a backstop. It directs forgotten or newly acquired assets into the trust and names guardians for minor children.
- Trust funding. We prepare the deeds that move real estate into the trust and provide clear instructions for retitling bank and investment accounts. A trust that is never funded cannot keep those assets out of probate.
- Successor trustee guidance. The person you choose will need to understand the duties of the role. We explain those responsibilities in advance and guide successor trustees through administration when the time comes.
- Living trusts for blended families. Stepchildren, children from prior marriages, and a current spouse can all have competing interests. Careful drafting protects each of them according to your wishes.
- Living trusts for multi-property owners. Clients who own rental homes or a vacation property can hold every parcel in one trust. Property located in another state could otherwise require a separate probate case there.
- Amendments and restatements. Living trusts can change as your life does. We update beneficiaries, trustees, and distribution terms after marriages, births, deaths, and property sales.
Why Choose Kravets Law Group as My Living Trust Lawyer in Joliet, IL?
Plain-English Planning From an Attorney Who Handles Your File
Daniel Kravets opened Kravets Law Group in 2020 and personally handles every living trust matter the firm takes on. He studied political science at Drexel University before earning his J.D. at Drexel’s Kline School of Law, and he is a member of the Chicago Bar Association. Living trusts are one part of a broader practice, and clients who need more than a single document benefit from working with a trust lawyer in Joliet, IL who can handle every piece of the plan.
Living Trust Results
Our work as a living trust lawyer in Joliet, IL has included:
- Living trusts for families with multiple properties
- Plans for blended households with children from more than one marriage
- Asset transfers into the trust through new deeds and account changes
- Probate avoidance for estates ranging from $300,000 to more than $30 million
We quote a flat rate for living trust packages and list any deed or transfer add-ons in writing before we begin. Clients can also update their broader estate plan, at the same time, including powers of attorney and beneficiary designations that sit outside the trust.
What Is Important To Understand About Living Trust Cases?
Key Living Trust Documents and What They Do
Creating a trust generally involves a set of coordinated documents.
- Declaration or agreement of trust. This document creates the trust, names you as trustee, and identifies your successor trustees and beneficiaries.
- Pour-over will. It captures anything left outside the trust at death.
- Deed in trust. It transfers your Joliet home or other real estate into the trust’s name.
- Assignment of personal property. It moves furniture, vehicles, and other tangible property into the trust.
- Power of attorney for property. It lets an agent handle assets that remain outside the trust if you become incapacitated.
- Power of attorney for health care. It names the person who makes medical decisions on your behalf.
What Are Important Aspects of a Living Trust Case?
Some of the most important decisions in a living trust are practical rather than legal. A living trust attorney in Joliet should address these points early.
- Complete funding. A trust holds only what you put into it, and proper trust funding requires new deeds and account changes. We prepare the deeds and provide instructions for retitling each account.
- Revocability and incapacity. Most living trusts are a revocable trust, which you can amend or cancel during your lifetime. If you become unable to manage your finances, your successor trustee can step in without a guardianship case.
- Choosing a successor trustee. This person will manage your property if you cannot and distribute it after your death. High-profile estates have shown how trust planning decisions made years earlier shape what heirs ultimately receive, so we discuss backup and co-trustee options.
- Privacy. Probate filings are public, and trust administration generally is not. That difference is a major reason families pursue avoiding probate in Illinois.
- Challenge deadlines. Under the Illinois Trust Code, a lawsuit contesting a trust that was revocable when the settlor died must usually be filed within two years of the death. A formal notice from the trustee can shorten that period to six months.
What Is the Living Trust Case Timeline?
Timing depends largely on how quickly assets can be retitled. A typical living trust moves through these stages.
- Consultation. We learn about your family, your goals, and your property.
- Draft preparation. We prepare the trust, pour-over will, and powers of attorney.
- Review. You read the drafts and we revise them until they reflect your wishes.
- Execution. You sign the documents with the required formalities.
- Funding. Deeds are recorded and accounts are retitled into the trust. Once this is complete, the trust controls your assets and the plan is in effect.
What Should You Bring to Your Living Trust Consultation?
The more complete your records are, the more accurate our recommendations will be.
- Property tax bills or deeds for each parcel of real estate you own
- Statements for bank, investment, and retirement accounts
- Names and contact details for the people you want as successor trustees
- Any prior will or trust, even if it is outdated
- A list of beneficiaries and any specific gifts you want to make
At the first meeting, our Joliet living trust attorney explains how a living trust would work for your situation and gives you the flat-rate package price along with any add-ons for deeds. Couples should plan to attend together, since both spouses will sign a joint trust.
Will County Probate Court and Local Resources
Most of Joliet sits in Will County, though some western neighborhoods fall in Kendall County, and the county where a person lived determines where a probate case would be filed. Will County estates are heard at the Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet at Jefferson and Ottawa Streets. The courthouse serves the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, a single-county circuit covering all of Will County, and the Circuit Clerk’s office in the same building accepts original wills after a death.
Deeds that move a Joliet home into a living trust are recorded with the Will County Recorder of Deeds. Each deed identifies the property by its permanent index number, which appears on the tax bill issued through the Will County offices in Joliet. When assets are left outside the trust, our Joliet probate practice handles the court filings that follow. Deeds are recorded in the county where the land sits, so a trust holding Kendall County property also needs a deed recorded with that county’s recorder.
Reach Out to Kravets Law Group to Schedule a Consultation
A living trust attorney in Joliet can help you spare your family the cost and delay of probate. Kravets Law Group offers flat-rate living trust packages with clear pricing for deeds and transfers. At your consultation, we will review your property and explain how the trust would be set up and funded. Contact us to choose a time.