I disagree with Dave’s advice that a family trust is only for estate planning purposes.
It is a great planning tool that sets in writing what our wishes are for the distribution of assets. It is revocable and can always be changed based on circumstances.
It provides for privacy as probate is public.
Generally, the individual and spouse are the original trustees and they can do the same things (buying, selling, paying bills, etc) in a trust as with indivdual or joint ownership. A trust is just a DIFFERENT FORM OF OWNERSHIP.
It provides for a successor trustee who does not have to be an attorney. Probate usually requires the employment of an attorney who may charge 5-10% of the estate value.
A trust can be set up in a will (pour over provision).
I think Dave is referring to two different types of trusts. Family trusts for most situations and estate planning trusts where there are assets of $5 million or more. Generally a revocable trust would be used for family trust situations, and an irrevocable trust (which would hold title to some or many of the assets) would be used for estate planning.