Speaking From the Grave

Have you ever spotted or heard a ghost, perhaps sense something was with you?

It's that time of year when our senses for the paranormal are heightened. The word ghost has been in use since the late sixteenth century. It derives from a more ancient term, gast, in the language that evolved into modern German. For some time, ghost has usually signified the disembodied spirit of a deceased person.

This sense of presence is perhaps the most common type of ghost-related experience reported. Most common among the recently bereaved, these visitations often take the form of a sense of the deceased's uncanny presence. Interestingly, the pattern found in the late nineteenth century is much the same as in current reports: the more recent the death, the more frequent the incidents in which a ghostly presence was felt.

While the jury might still be out on whether ghosts are real or not, what is real is you can "speak from the grave" and dictate your estate long after you're gone.
This is done by the mystical powers of a trust! OK, so a trust really doesn't have mystical powers, but you can set parameters to ensure your loved ones receive your estate the way you have planned.

Trusts are essentially buckets for holding assets during and/or after your lifetime. There are many different types of trusts that can be established to ensure various goals are accomplished, be they tax savings, spendthrift and creditor protection, care for minors or probate avoidance.

The most common perhaps is a Living Trust, also known as an Inter Vivos Trust or a Revocable Living Trust, which gives you the opportunity to provide more specific instructions than a will allows and offers probate avoidance and greater privacy.