Category Archives: Trusts

WHAT IS AN INHERITANCE PROTECTION TRUST?

Posted on April 18, 2023 | Comments Off on WHAT IS AN INHERITANCE PROTECTION TRUST?

1.         What Is It?

An Inheritance Protection Trust is an irrevocable trust created by a deceased person’s estate plan. Usually, the trust is for one of the decedent’s children and is for a responsible and healthy adult beneficiary — not someone in need of a Special Needs Trust. It continues for the life of the beneficiary.

2.         Who Is The Trustee?

The beneficiary may also serve as the trustee or has the right to name another, independent, trustee. Consequently, an Inheritance Protection Trust is also referred to as a beneficiary-controlled trust.

3.         What Are The Benefits?

a.         Estate Tax Protection. The trust assets may be exempt from federal estate tax upon the death of the beneficiary. When calculated in the taxable estate of the deceased beneficiary, trust assets would not be counted.

b.         Creditor protection. Trust assets are protected from creditors of the beneficiary (remember, this is an irrevocable trust with its own Tax Identification Number.)  There are different levels of protection depending on how the trust is drafted. 

c.         Divorce.  Trust assets are the separate property of the beneficiary and may not be converted to community property during the marriage. Thus, an ex-spouse cannot penetrate the trust should the beneficiary’s marriage end in dissolution. 

d.         Family Protection. The trust may ensure family assets pass to the next generation rather than to surviving spouses who may remarry. Thus, assets may bypass spouses and pass to grandchildren.

4.         What Are The Steps For An Asset Protection Trust?

The trust is drafted into a will by the testator/testatrix (person who makes a will) or revocable trust by the grantor (person who makes a trust) in his or her lifetime.  The trust is then funded with assets at the death of the testator/testatrix or grantor.  If a trust is created during the life of the testator/testatrix or grantor, it requires an irrevocable gift and loss of control over the gifted assets.

The trust itself requires appointing a trustee, preparing a Certification of Trust, applying for a Tax Identification Number, and opening a financial account in the name of the trust.

5.         What Is The Cost To Include This Trust In A Will or Revocable Trust?

A typical cost would be an additional $1,500 to $2,000 to include an Asset Protection Trust in a will or revocable trust.

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Posted in Asset Protection, Irrevocable Trusts, Trusts

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What is a dynasty trust?

Posted on June 13, 2018 | Comments Off on What is a dynasty trust?

1. What are dynasty trusts?
Most trusts — bank accounts held by one person, a trustee, for the benefit of another person or group — come with expiration dates. A few states, including Delaware and South Dakota, permit trusts to last forever. People from across the U.S. can open dynasty trusts in these states.

2. Why are they getting popular now?
The tax overhaul of 2017 doubled — to $11.2 million for an individual and $22.4 million for a married couple — the amount that can be passed to heirs without triggering estate and gift taxes. However, these higher thresholds are only in place until 2025 giving the rich a potentially limited opportunity to pass more wealth to family members tax-free while also exerting some control over how heirs spend their inheritances.

3. Why use a trust in the first place?
Trusts protect assets from creditors and former spouses. They can enable clever financial maneuvers that maximize the estate and gift-tax exemption. And trusts give donors some control over how the money is spent. For example, a donor can limit withdrawals so money can only be used for college, to purchase a home, or other specific purposes.

4. Why choose a dynasty trust?
Under the previous estate tax limits, many wealthy Americans already had set up trusts for the benefit of their children. If you wish to make your grandchildren or great-grandchildren rich, a dynasty trust can make that easier.

5. How do they work?
They can be funded with cash, stock or other assets, and structured to pay each generation only some of the trust’s proceeds while the rest of the money grows free of estate and gift taxes. While trusts or their recipients generally need to pay taxes on income and gains, they don’t owe capital gains taxes until assets are sold. With the right planning, a trust funded up to the maximum threshold tax exemption amount could be worth far more than that.

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Posted in 2017 Legislation, Dynasty Trusts, Trusts

What is a Trust Protector?

Posted on August 25, 2016 | Comments Off on What is a Trust Protector?

A trust protector is a party designated in a trust agreement with certain limited powers intended to protect the trust.  A trust protector is not needed while you are alive, if you are the trustee and beneficiary of your own living or revocable trust.  However, eventually you will die and the successor trustee will step in to administer the trust. 

This new trustee may not have your best interests at heart when administering the trust.  For instance, the trustee may start to milk the trust for fees and reimbursement of expenses for whatever reason, draining the trust assets.  Another bad scenario involves the trustee with a grudge against one or more beneficiaries, where the trustee has no intention of treating the beneficiary properly.  A trustee has a duty to treat all beneficiaries in a fair and impartial manner, but you will not be around to see that they do.  The only recourse is expensive litigation. 

How does a trust protector help in these situations? By using his or her powers to change trustees.  A trust protector provision should have three sections:

(1) Empowering the protector to terminate the trustee and appoint a new trustee;

(2) Empowering the protector to appoint successor protectors; and

(3) Stating that the protector is not a trustee and owes no fiduciary duties to anyone and has no duty to act.

Needless to say, you need to nominate a person to be a trust protector only whom you greatly trust.  Any trust agreement may benefit from a trust protector provision including irrevocable trusts.

 

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Posted in Trusts

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How To Change an Irrevocable Trust – Decanting

Posted on March 10, 2016 | Comments Off on How To Change an Irrevocable Trust – Decanting

Just like you decant a fine wine from a wine bottle into a new one, you can decant the assets of a not-so-fine irrevocable trust into a new trust. A revocable trust is, by definition, subject to revocation or amendment, so no need there. Decanting means changing, updating and modernizing an irrevocable trust.

The trust agreement itself may allow this, but in Arizona, the law addressing decanting is found at Arizona Revised Statutes 14-10819, “Trustee’s special power to appoint to other trust.” Essentially, it states that unless the terms of the instrument expressly provide otherwise, a trustee who has the discretion to make distributions for the benefit of a beneficiary of the trust may exercise — without prior court approval — that discretion by appointing the estate trust in favor of a trustee of another trust if the exercise of this discretion:

  1. Does not reduce any fixed nondiscretionary income payment to a beneficiary.
  2. Does not alter any nondiscretionary annuity or unitrust payment to a beneficiary.
  3. Is in favor of the beneficiaries of the trust.
  4. Results in any standard applicable for distributions from the trust being the same or more restrictive standard applicable for distributions from the recipient trust when the trustee exercising the power is a possible beneficiary under the standard.
  5. Does not adversely affect the tax treatment of the trust, the trustee, the settlor (the original trustmaker) or the beneficiaries.

Typical reasons to decant include correcting ambiguities or drafting errors, changing the trust’s situs to a more favorable place, splitting up or combining trusts to achieve administrative cost savings, or broadening a trustee’s powers under the new trust. This would include the power to distribute income and principal to beneficiaries resulting in certain tax savings. A trust can also be decanted from a settlor trust to a non-settlor trust or vice versa, reversing the responsibility of who pays income taxes.

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Posted in Arizona, Trusts

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Revocable Trusts: A Good Idea?

Posted on March 2, 2015 | Comments Off on Revocable Trusts: A Good Idea?

What is a living or revocable trust?

A trust is a legal way of holding, managing, and distributing property. Every trust must have four elements: (1) a creator of the trust, called the “trustor” or the “grantor” (2) assets, also called the “corpus” (3) a person who holds, manages, and distributes the assets, called the “trustee” and (4) a “beneficiary,” the person for whose benefit the trust is created.

A living trust is revocable.  In most revocable trusts, the trustor, trustee, and beneficiary are all the same person.

Who does not need a trust?

There are some people who will not benefit from a living or revocable trust.  Those who are married without significant assets and without children who intend to leave their assets to each other, for one.  Any other persons who do not have significant assets and have very simple estate plans also do not need a living trust.  Finally, anyone who wants court supervision over the administration of his or her estate should not have a living trust. (The assets remain in the trust, there is no “estate.”)  Probate can often be avoided without using a living trust, by setting up “payable on death” accounts, making beneficiary designations, holding assets jointly, etc.

Why do people create trusts?

By creating a revocable trust, people can avoid probate.  Also, these trusts avoid conservatorships because if you become disabled, a trustee is already in place to manage your assets for you.  And, you won’t have to deal with lawyers and courts.

However, revocable trusts can be and are contested, just like a will.  And, administering a trust after your death is not cost-free.  Even if probate is avoided, the successor trustee will seek help from a lawyer to make sure the debts are paid, all of the necessary tax forms filed, and the assets are properly distributed to your beneficiaries.

What are some myths about these trusts?

Living trusts always avoid probate.  After death, the revocable trust will not cut off the claims of creditors against the trust assets.  So, many times the successor trustee will open a probate estate anyway to require the creditors to file claims within the time required by law or be barred from collecting claims against the estate.

Living trusts are no more effective than wills in saving state and federal estate taxes.

Who should have a revocable trust?

People who want to avoid probate.  The trustee administers the trust and makes distributions based on the trust provisions — no court involvement is necessary.

People who value privacy.  A trust usually remains private, but a will becomes a public document as soon as it is filed with the court for probate.

People who own property in another state. Real estate is probated where the property is located.  If you live on a farm in Pennsylvania and also have a vacation condo in Arizona, you’ll have two probates.  A trust avoids this because the property is part of the trust and there is no estate to probate.  The trustee administers the trust, including both properties.  

People who live or spend a significant amount of time in a state where probate is time-consuming, burdensome, and costly.

 

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