A trust is an arrangement under which one person, called a trustee, holds legal title to property for another person, called a beneficiary. You can be the trustee of your own living trust, keeping full control over all property held in trust.

Different kinds of living trusts can help you avoid probate, reduce estate taxes, or set up long-term property management.

The big advantage to making a living trust is that property left through the trust doesn't have to go through through probate court. In a nutshell, probate is the court-supervised process of paying your debts and distributing your property to the people who inherit it.