Our Mission

The Law Office of Douglas E. Crockett, J.D., M. Div.

Living Trust FAQs

Living trusts are a powerful tool for managing your assets and avoiding probate, but many people aren’t sure where to start. Our FAQ section breaks down the essentials of living trusts, including how they work, who should consider one, and how they fit into a broader estate plan—all from a faith-based, client-focused perspective.

Our Mission 

Our mission is to bring estate planning education and optional services to churches, explaining it using easy-to-understand means, including visuals, to help save more church people from the scandal of unprotected, overburdened, or fighting beneficiaries after their death. By this, we hope to make thorough estate planning easier, more accessible, more widespread, and more affordable in church communities. 

Douglas Crockett is in a rare position, having a calling and history of ordained service to the church and a license for and experience drafting estate planning documents for church members and others. He has also seen in his past litigation practice ugly disputes between beneficiaries and even family members over property left to them without adequate forethought or appropriate documents prepared. This background and the following statistics have led him, with his attorney daughter, to provide this ministry of estate planning education and optional services directly to churches at their location. 

Some statistics from 2024 from Vanilla research and sources around the web include the following. Over a third (35%) of US adults say they or someone they know has experienced familial conflict because of a lack of estate planning. Probate expenses can cost up to 10% of a person’s estate, and can take months or even years to complete. In the next few decades, it’s estimated that $84.4 trillion worth of assets will be transferred through estates. The percentages of people in each generation who have a trust, will, or estate plan are Baby Boomers (57.5%), Silent Generation (54%), Gen X (53%), Millennials (43%), and Gen Z (39%). 

For many people, creating a will, trust, or estate plan begins with a catalyst event. However, despite a surge in planning sparked by the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people still lack any meaningful estate planning. 

The likelihood of having an estate plan is related to age and economic status, according to Vanilla’s research. Despite widespread recognition of estate planning’s importance, most Americans still lack essential legal documents. A will—the most common estate planning document—is held by just 31% of Americans, while only 11% have a trust. In total, 55% of Americans have no estate plan at all (other than the default provisions in state law), leaving their wishes—and their loved ones—unprotected. 

The likelihood of having an estate plan is related to age and economic status, according to Vanilla’s research. Only 36% of people with a household net worth of less than $1M have an estate plan, will, or trust. 77% of people with more than $1M of household net worth have an estate plan, will, or trust, but that still leaves about one-fourth in that group who do not. And, those who do, may need to reconsider their plan due to change in personal health, death of a friend or relative, family change or conflict like marriage or divorce, retirement, change in personal financial circumstances, birth of a child, economic trends and predictions, moving to a different state, making a major purchase like a house, regulatory shifts like tax policy changes, news of a celebrity death or estate controversy. 

Many people feel that creating a will or estate plan is something they should do. Over half (52%) of Americans over the age of 55 say dying without an end-of-life plan would be irresponsible…. Over a fifth (22%) say it would be inconsiderate. Fourteen percent (14%) say it would be ignorant. Seventy-one percent (71%) of adults in the US say creating an estate plan would make them feel like a good parent or partner. When asked about the most damaging consequences of a poor estate plan, 31% of people say it’s leaving loved ones without enough money. 

In some cases, people are simply not aware of how they or their family could be impacted due to a lack of estate planning, and aren’t talking about it with loved ones. Many people are uninformed about estate laws. 

Nearly one in five (18%) of people don’t know what an advance healthcare directive is. Almost half (46%) of people who had been named the executor of a will were not aware they had been chosen. According to Cambridge Trust, over half (52%) of people don’t know where their parents store their estate planning documents. 

Sixteen percent (16%) of people who have a trust, will, or estate plan created it without consulting a professional. When asked what would most influence them to hire an advisor, 37% of people say being offered easy-to-understand visuals about their estate plan would be a deciding factor.