Inter Vivos Trusts

Travis Robbins of the The Online Lawyer has recently posted a discussion of inter vivos trusts entitled Estate Planning: Intervivos Trust a/k/a Living Trust.

Although this article provides some useful information, readers should note with care the statement that “[t]he expense involved in a Trust is almost always significantly less than that involved in probate administration.”  This may be in true in states with expensive, complex, or time-consuming probate systems.  But, in other states such as Texas, this statement is likely to violate Rules of Professional Conduct.  For example, Interpretive Comment No. 22 to the Advertising Rules provides that a lawyer may not advertise that a “[l]iving trust will always save the client money” or that “[t]he probate process is always lengthy and complicated * * * [and] should always be avoided.”