After you pass away, your family will still go on living. They will still need money to pay bills and meet other expenses. Make sure you provide that for them in the best possible way.

If you are the primary provider for your family, you have probably had concerns at some point about what will happen to your family finances after you pass away. Your family will go on living.  However, without you there to provide for them, they will need some way to get money to live on. They will also likely need some of that money right away, since bills and living expenses do not wait for an estate to be administered through the probate process.

A good way to make sure your family gets that money is to avoid probate as The New York Times discusses in “Life After Your Death? Why You Should Have a Trust.”

You could take out a life insurance policy for your family. That will give them money quickly after you pass away that does not have to go through probate. However, life insurance premiums can be expensive.

A cheaper and easier option may be to consult with an estate planning attorney and have a revocable trust prepared for you. With a trust, you can appoint someone in charge of trust assets after you pass away. That person can act immediately to see that your family has what it needs to meet any expenses.

If you ever need or want to make changes to the trust, you can easily do so because the trust is revocable. The trust can be dissolved and a new one created at any time before you pass away.

If you have not already created a revocable trust, talk to an estate planning attorney about one and see if it is the right option for your family.

Reference: New York Times (March 22, 2018) “Life After Your Death? Why You Should Have a Trust.”