What Are Trusts and How to Plan Them?

Estate planning , wills, probate, beneficiaries, executors, trusts — it can all be so confusing. If you are considering establishing trust, you might be wondering where to start. Here at Crary Buchanan Attorneys at Law, we are committed to making sure our clients understand these matters in their entirety.

So today, we’re focusing on trusts and how to plan them. Our goal is simply this important step in your life so that you aren’t intimidated about starting your own trust. If you need assistance creating trust after reading this guide, we encourage you to give us a call.

We specialize in planning for the future, and our estate planning attorney will guide you through the contours of trusts to ensure that your needs are met.

Trusts are legal agreements that are part of estate plans. Moreover, trusts are customarily used to reserve your assets for a beneficiary (or beneficiaries). They can even provide substantial inheritance taxes and other benefits. If you are considering creating trust, there are some factors to consider.

Trusts are suitable for homeowners with assets valuing a minimum of $160,000. Once your trust is established, it will be managed by a third party, called a trustee. A trustee can be someone you know and believe is capable of managing your estate. Or, it can also be a firm, such as a financial institution.

In your trust, you detail your wishes for how you want your estate managed. And once you’ve established your wishes, your trustee makes sure that they are followed to the letter.

Establishing trust comes with many benefits. For example, if you die, a trust can ensure that your beneficiaries receive the assets you intended much sooner. Trusts also provide privacy in terms of where your assets ultimately go. Many people create trust because of the protection that they offer.

You can rest easy knowing that your estate and various assets are secured by the trust, and they will go only to those you listed as beneficiaries. In addition, trusts can reduce or even eliminate taxes associated with your estate and gifts. This places less of a burden on your beneficiaries and ensures a smooth transfer of assets.

And lastly, trusts ensure that your wealth and any future wealth are tightly controlled by the conditions you established when you created your trust and detailed the distribution of your assets.

Because there are different kinds of trusts, it’s important to secure the services of an experienced estate planning attorney. Your lawyer will make sure that you choose the most suitable trust based on your needs and wishes.

Before you plan a trust, it’s important to understand the qualifications for trust. Not everyone needs trust, as they are suitable for people with a certain amount of assets. You don’t have to be incredibly wealthy, but an average net worth of $200,000 is recommended (or at least $160k).

You should also own property, which will be named in the trust in terms of who you want it to go to when you pass away. This is especially true if you have a property in a state different from the one you currently live in.

Also, probate can be costly and time-consuming, both of which are significantly reduced when you have trust in place for after you die. This greatly lessens the burden put on your loved ones and ensures an easier overall process.

Trusts are ideal for when you want to establish specific stipulations regarding who gets how much money and when. For example, you may have a young grandchild that has to turn 18 before they can get their inheritance. Rather than give them a sizable sum of money when they are still so young, you can stipulate that your trustee only awards a limited amount of money every so many month until your grandchild reaches a certain age.

These are all things that your estate planning attorney will assist you with. With the qualified attorneys at Crary Buchanan in your corner, you can be sure that your trust is exactly how you want it, without compromise.

Crary Buchanan is a general practice law firm dedicated to providing expert legal services in the state of Florida. Our lawyers have significant legal expertise in virtually every major area of law, and most of our associates are Board Certified by the Florida Bar in their respective areas of proficiency.

This extensive legal experience, coupled with our many years of service and dedication in the community, enables our lawyers to provide comprehensive representation to our clients. So if you need a knowledgeable estate planning attorney, please call or contact the law office of Crary Buchanan today. We proudly serve Stuart and the surrounding areas and are here to assist you with your legal concerns.

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not decide whether to contact a lawyer based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.

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