Video: Do I Need A Trust? (Part One – Privacy)

In Siedentopf Law’s newest video series, estate planning and probate attorney Sarah Siedentopf answers the question, “Do I need a trust?” Part One focuses on trusts and privacy.

Hi, I’m attorney Sarah Siedentopf and I practice estate planning and probate in Atlanta, Georgia. Many people want to know whether or not they need a trust. There are, of course, many factors so I’m only going to mention one of them in this video. But one question to ask yourself is, how much do you value privacy? A trust gives you lots of privacy. Nobody has the right to see the trust other than yourself and anyone else you name as trustee. If someone else needs information about the trust, there is a short form that gives very little information — basically, who the trustee is and anything else you specifically want them to know in order to do the transaction. But you can keep everything very, very private. This is in contrast to probate. Anything that gets filed in probate court is public record and can be gotten by literally anybody and these days sometimes there are even probate records online which makes it even easier. So, if privacy is something that you value significantly, you might want to consider a trust. If you have more questions about trusts and privacy, I’d be happy to talk to you. Thank you.