Beware of The Trust Mill
When you hit a certain age you can bet on receiving some sort of invite in the mail offering you a free dinner at lovely restaurant close to your home, served with a side lecture on 101 ways to avoid probate. Now I love a free meal, but proceed with caution, it may be a trust mill. What's a trust mill? It's usually an LLC that sets up shop in an area for several months, fires off a mass mailing to people over a certain age, gives you free food and attempts to scare you into a Living Revocable Trust. This sales pitch is likely to contain lies, all designed to get you to sign up for a $5,000 or more trust document. And chances are fairly good the speakers are not attorneys. I'm not alone in my dislike of trust mills. This was recently posted on a Wisconsin Estate Planners Listserve: "Thought all you fine people should know the truth: I have a nice lady whose elderly parents are about to become victims of a trust mill. These fine folks ...