One reason to create a Revocable Living Trust is to avoid family conflicts over your assets after you pass away. While your family may not fight in Probate court over your Will with a Revocable Living Trust, a trust does not remove the potential for all family conflict, especially if you appoint a family member as the trustee.

A trustee has the legal duty to act as a fiduciary for the trust beneficiaries. That means that the trustee must administer the trust in a way that is for the benefit of the beneficiaries. However, if a beneficiary does not like the way the trustee is handling the trust, the beneficiary can sue for breach of fiduciary duty. If you have family members who tend to argue about other things, imagine the arguments they could have over money. One way to avoid these family arguments is to appoint a lawyer to be the trustee. Attorneys who specialize in estate planning often serve as a professional administrators of the trusts. This removes the chance that a family member will argue over the trust just because he or she does not normally agree with another family member.

There are other ways to minimize family conflict over trusts. Speak to your estate planning attorney about your options.