I’m no expert on this, but have been down the route of hiring a lawyer, creating a trust etc.  From my experience a trust is only a part of the of package. More important is the will and a power of attorney/medical directive. The will is what makes it so you can avoid probate and the medical directive is what makes sure if you become unable to care for yourself your wishes are known and who decides for you. Depending on the value of your estate, a trust might be needed or might not. The will and medical directive are always good to have.

So just to emphasis: Make sure you get the will and medical directive, not just the trust.

A couple small suggestions:

1) Think about the name of the trust.  Attorney’s like to pick names like: “Johanna and Bethany Smith Revocable Family Trust of 2024”.  The problem with that is the name is long and it publicly identifies you. If you place assets in the trust the deed or stock accounts will have that for the name. If you name is long enough, it actually becomes too long to fit into the forms you will be filling out. Real estate in your trust will now have your name on the public records. (Which maybe is okay, maybe not, depending on how much you value your privacy.) Maybe a little thing, but boy I wish we had named our trust something simple like “The Big Dog Trust”.

Try to keep your trust simple.  How to disperse assets should be in one section. Then if you want to amend your trust amendments are simple.