The notion of a legal trust may conjure up images of country clubbers cradling gin-and-tonics.

But the truth is a trust may be a useful estate-planning tool for your family if you have a net worth of at least $100,000 and meet one of the following conditions, says Mike Janko, executive director of the National Association of Financial and Estate Planning (NAFEP):

• A sizeable amount of your assets is in real estate, a business or an art collection;
• You want to leave your estate to your heirs in a way that is not directly and immediately payable to them upon your death -- for example, you want to stipulate that they receive their inheritance in three parts, or upon certain conditions being met, such as graduating from college;
• You want to support your surviving spouse, but also want to ensure that the principal or remainder of your estate goes to your chosen heirs (e.g., your children from a first marriage) after your spouse dies;
• You and your spouse want to maximize your estate-tax exemptions;
• You have a disabled relative whom you would like to provide for without disqualifying him or her from Medicaid or other government assistance.

• Put conditions on how and when your assets are distributed after you die;
• Reduce estate and gift taxes;
• Distribute assets to heirs efficiently without the cost, delay and publicity of probate court. Probate can cost between 5 percent to 7 percent of your estate;
• Better protect your assets from creditors and lawsuits;
• Name a successor trustee, who not only manages your trust after you die, but is empowered to manage the trust assets if you become unable to do so.

When it comes to cost, a basic trust plan may run anywhere from $1,600 to $3,000, possibly more depending on the complexity of the trust. Such a plan should include the trust set-up, a will, a living will and a health-care proxy. You will also pay fees to amend the trust if it's revocable and to administer the trust after you die.

One caveat: Assets you want protected by the trust must be retitled in the name of the trust. Anything that is not so titled when you die will have to be probated and may not go to the heir you intended but one the probate court chooses. For a trust in which you want to put the majority of your assets - known as a revocable living trust -- you also have to have what's known as a "pour-over will" to cover any of your holdings that might be outside of your trust if you die unexpectedly. It essentially directs that any assets outside of the trust at the time of your death be put into it so they can go to the heirs you intended.

Click here for five standard forms of trusts you might consider.