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A Trust Protects Your Beneficiaries

A trust protects your beneficiaries and ensures they receive your gifts in the best way for their unique circumstances.  Your children, extended family and friends, causes and institutions receive your gift directly or “in trust.”  Many beneficiaries receive the assets you’ve assigned to them free and clear from all oversight of the trust.  The trust simply writes a check or titles the assets in the beneficiaries name and the recipient is free to handle them as they wish.

You are often able to protect your beneficiaries by ensuring they receive your gifts in trust.  This would place the title to the assets or the money and accounts you wish them to receive in the name of a trust.  One form of trust protects your beneficiaries money and assets from the potential of divorce, bankruptcy, lawsuits or creditors.  When an asset is in trust it is not considered to be community property and it is protected from any liabilities your beneficiary may face.  Usually these assets or funds are intended for the beneficial use of the recipient.  The beneficiary simply asks the trust to provide distributions for college, medical expenses, purchase of a home, even an allowance or living expenses.  You decide how they may use the funds when the experienced estate planning and trust attorneys at Allen Barron help you to establish, review or update your estate plan.

A trust protects your beneficiaries from their own potential challenges.  In some cases the beneficiary receives control of the assets and money in trust when they reach the specific age you’ve determined in advance.  If you are concerned about spendthrift behavior you can place their financial decisions in the hands of a trusted third party known as the trustee.  This may also be a prudent decision of your beneficiary faces drug or alcohol dependence or is a minor.  A special needs trust protects your beneficiaries with state or federal benefits (or those likely to need them in the future).  It can ensure distributions are not made for expenses otherwise provided for by state or federal payments.

If you are in a second or subsequent marriage a trust protects your beneficiaries by ensuring a portion of your community property or the separate property you control is specifically set aside.  This ensures children from a previous marriage and other beneficiaries you intend are not affected by the influence of others.

Allen Barron has decades of experience in trust and estate planning.  Our integrated tax, legal and accounting services ensure your trust provides maximum tax advantage and the trustee you select has their own strong and reliable source of advice and counsel.  We provide ongoing financial accounting, tax reporting and legal services to your trust to ensure your wishes are fulfilled.  We invite you to contact us to review and update an existing trust, or to create a new trust and estate plan.  It begins with a free consultation at 866-631-3470.  Learn how we can make the process easier.  You’ll also learn more about the ways in which a trust protects your beneficiaries and ensures your wishes are followed.