Estate Planning
Why Setup a Trust?
-
To manage and control spending and investments to protect beneficiaries from poor judgment and waste;
-
To avoid court-supervised probate of trust assets and be private;
-
To protect trust assets from the beneficiaries’ creditors;
-
To protect premarital assets from division between divorcing spouses;
-
To manage unique assets that are not easily divisible, e.g. vacation homes, pets, recreational vehicles, mineral interests, timber and commercial real estate;
-
To manage closely held business assets for planned business succession;
-
To hold life insurance policies, pay premiums and collect the tax-free proceeds to care for beneficiaries, fund closely held stock redemptions or purchases, and provide liquidity to the estate;
-
To provide a vehicle for charitable gifting that can reduce income taxes and benefit the settlor, his or her spouse and their children;
-
To provide tools for Medicaid and means-tested benefit eligibility for the settlor, a surviving spouse and disabled children;
-
To provide structured income to a surviving spouse that protects trust assets for descendants if the spouse remarries; and
-
To reduce income taxes or shelter assets from estate and transfer taxes.