Should you have a living trust, which likely is more expensive than a will?

Lawrence A. Frolik, law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, says if your family has about $100,000, a living trust may be worth examining.

But not necessarily for reasons you might think.

A living trust is a legal way to distribute property after you die that avoids probate. With probate, a will must be filed with a local probate court. Somebody has to take an inventory, appraise your property, pay legal debts and distribute your remaining assets. Sometimes, this can be costly and time-consuming.

By setting up a living trust, you avoid probate. Your trust owns the property. You can be the trustee and still control your assets. Or, you can appoint someone else trustee. If you're trustee, you'll still need to appoint a successor trustee to distribute assets when you die.

Perhaps the best reason to have a living trust is to handle management of your property in case you become mentally incapacitated, Mr. Frolik says. Otherwise, a court may need to get involved.

You can put your assets in a trust and make your children co-trustees. Once you're unable to function mentally, your children easily can take over.

"You can do a lot of this through a durable power of attorney," Mr. Frolik acknowledges. "But the problem is that durable powers of attorney are not always accepted by banks and investment companies." Powers of attorney are easy to duplicate, forge and abuse.

Once you set up a trust, on the other hand, you can bring your financial institutions the signed documents personally. This way, they have a clear, harder-to-dispute record of your successor trustees.

Living trusts have a couple of other advantages, he says. They preserve your privacy. A will, by contrast, is a public record. Of course, if you're not a Rockefeller, who cares?

Also, many believe a living trust can save expenses and taxes. That's not necessarily true, according to Mr. Frolik. In a majority of states, probate is not very expensive either.

What can get expensive is any legal help you might need if your survivors must go to court and inventory assets. But, he warns, they'll likely have to inventory assets even if you have a trust. There also may be taxes owed. Depending upon your situation, attorneys may use living trusts to implement certain tax-savings strategies upon your death.

"If you have a house, a few thousand dollars in a checking and savings account and a pension, you don't need a living trust," he says.

Even if you have $100,000, he suggests, it still could pay to examine the cost of probate in your area. Find out exactly what documentation your financial services companies require for someone else to handle your affairs if you become incapacitated.

You may need to fill out their own special forms. Make sure the documentation will be adequate -- even if your broker or banker leaves the company.

Living trusts also can be an attractive way to protect assets if you have a lot, and fear a child might get divorced. Plus, they could prove important for older persons with no children.

Reason: Older friends may be incapable of handling the responsibility. An attractive solution may be to give the power to a professional trustee -- a bank, for example -- and pay an annual fee.

If you do consider a trust:

Be sure it is drafted by only by a reputable attorney.

Get information in advance on probate laws in your state.

Make certain that property has been transferred from your name to the trust. If transfers are handled improperly, the trust may be invalid.

Beware of high-pressure sales tactics.

Mr. Frolik says that even with a living trust, you'll still need a power of attorney. Reason: All your assets won't be owned by the trust. "Typically, you never transfer your principal residence into a trust," he said. Also, you'll probably want to keep at least a checking account outside a trust to manage your day-to-day expenses.