Living Trusts

(Click here to watch Advantages of a Trust video)

People make an estate plan because they want to make life easier for their loved ones and to save a large amount of their lifetime savings from needing to be paid to the government for estate taxes. Once you understand the long drawn out process of Probate, you will understand the simplicity, ease and elegance of the Living Trust.

(Click here to watch How to Choose a Successor Trustee video)

Avoid Probate

Many people make a Last Will and Testament and think that there is nothing else needed. They believe that because they made a will and since they named their loved ones as their beneficiaries, those loved ones will be able to just walk into their banks and collect their money. But it doesn’t work that way.

(Click here to watch Don’t Leave Your IRA to Your Spouse video)

If a person passes on having owned their assets in their individual name, those assets will have to go through a probate court process before the bank will release those funds. Having that Last Will and Testament won’t matter to the bank. The loved ones who expected money immediately, will be disappointed when they ask for the money. They will be told they need to go through probate. The only assets which will avoid probate are those with a beneficiary designation like an IRA or 401K, annuities, jointly owned property or property held in trust. All others need to go through probate before a bank or brokerage company will release the money. When people attend the seminar they learn how their Last Will and Testament works, what probate is and why probate is required, they become interested in knowing how that probate process can be avoided. They learn that with the use of the living trust, probate can be avoided and the beneficiaries, the children, can merely walk into the banks and collect the money, usually in a matter of minutes.

Tax Planning

In our seminars we discuss  estate taxes and we see how great an amount of money needs to be paid to the government  for estate taxes. While the Federal Government exempts all estates under $5 million, New York State only exempts estates over $1million.  Most people are totally unaware of what those taxes are. With the enormous values on the single family house today, people may have estates which are taxable and they don’t know it. Therefore, when the last of the parents pass on, it’s their children, the people they name as their beneficiaries who will have to pay. Those taxes can easily amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is a shock to most people. Yet, those taxes can be avoided if planned for.

Incapacity

The Trust allows you to select a person known as the Successor Trustee. This person can immediately take control of all the assets in your Trust the moment you become incapacitated or pass away. If you read about incapacity planning, you can see how important the successor trustee is to estate planning with a Trust.

ASSET PROTECTION TRUSTS

In addition to Trusts to protect assets from Medicaid, we can create Trusts for the professional or business person to shield assets from creditors or lawsuits. In most cases, you can still be the Trustee or at least Co-Trustee with another. This means you have a lot more control than if you hand the assets over to your spouse or your children. The only thing to remember is that you must do this before a problem arises. Once the lawsuit starts, this strategy will not work.