Trusts are crucial to estate planning and, depending on your goals, can serve you well throughout your lifetime. They are used to manage assets, allocate gifts to beneficiaries, and gain favorable tax advantages. Some forms allow you to serve as a trustee or appoint a loved one, friend, or professional firm to manage your trusts.
Trusts also circumvent probate, so assets are distributed more quickly than those in a will, and your business is private. They allow you to qualify for MediCal long-term and can provide a more comfortable life for disabled loved ones without disrupting their Social Security disability payments. You can even rely on a trust to care for your pets if they outlive you.
Contact a Covina trusts lawyer to learn how appointing a trustee may benefit you. A seasoned estate planning attorney could help you determine the best person or entity to serve as your trustee for your goals and needs.
Revocable or Living Trusts
Revocable or living trusts circumvent probate and allow grantors to add assets and beneficiaries, or remove them as long as they are alive. At the grantor’s death, the trust becomes irrevocable. Revocable trusts are less expensive than probate, and others cannot access them due to being private, unlike wills that are part of the public record.
Irrevocable Trusts
Irrevocable trusts are tax advantages for grantors because assets are moved into them as the new owner, with an independent trustee managing them. When grantors give up ownership, they reduce their federal and state tax obligations.
Grantors cannot remove assets because they no longer own them, but changing beneficiaries is possible through a court order or unanimous consent. A reliable Covina trusts attorney advises clients about the most advantageous ways to satisfy their needs and set their family up for the future.
Additional Estate Planning Trusts
Parents and other loved ones can enrich special needs relatives or friends who collect Social Security disability and supplemental payments by setting up special needs trusts for them. These federal benefits come with income caps. Inheriting money or being awarded a settlement in a personal injury lawsuit can disqualify the disabled person for exceeding the caps, leading to lost benefits.
In addition, charitable trusts allow grantors to make gifts to their favorite charities throughout their lifetimes and name them as beneficiaries upon their death. While it is not legal to leave assets for a pet in a will, pet trusts permit grantors to arrange care for their furry family members who outlive them per Annotated California Probate Code § 15212. The trust expires when the last pet named in it passes away.
Learn How a Covina Trusts Attorney Saves You Money and Protects Assets
Trusts can be appropriate at different stages in life and are not only for the exceptionally wealthy. You can distribute assets now or wait until your death to circumvent probate. Trusts are not subject to public scrutiny like wills are, and some offer beneficial tax breaks.
Let our legal professionals at Amity Law Group guide you through creating a trust and appointing a trustee. Schedule a consultation with a Covina trusts lawyer who could identify and meet your needs for allocating your wealth.
