Beware of Living Trust Mills

Beware of Living Trust Mills

As more and more people forego traditional wills and turn to living trusts as their estate planning tool, many are tempted to also avoid the expense of lawyers when drafting their trust. While many companies will offer trusts at wildly low prices, people should beware before considering this low cost option. Trust mills, as they are known, are often scams and will leave many families without legal protection once a person dies.

 

Trust mills have, unfortunately, evolved into a major national crisis. Seeing an attorney to prey on senior citizens, many companies peddle their ability to offer quick and cheap living trusts when in fact these documents often have no legal value. In fact, many of these companies use living trusts as a front when what they are actually trying to sell are financial services that will dip into the pockets of retirees.

 

It can be easy to be fooled by a living trust mill. They sometimes hire an attorney to be on staff just so they can say they are legitimate. Additionally, they will pose as a legitimate and professional company in online and television advertisements, making it difficult to spot them as scams. For those hoping to save a few dollars, they make look like great options. However, once a trust mill acquires a person’s financial information through setting up a fake trust, they then try to sell the person a number of financial products, including annuities, reverse mortgages and life insurance. Many customers can be duped into giving away a huge portion of their savings on what are ultimately useless financial products.

 

Living trusts are complex legal documents. To learn more about how to set up a legitimate and legally enforceable living trust, contact the Florida estate planning attorneys with BaumannKangas Estate Law.