Estate Planning Lawyer
Trusts are a specific type of legal document for passing on your estate to family members and other beneficiaries. An asset protection trust works in the niche of specifically protecting your estate from creditors or those seeking a lawsuit against you.
By placing your estate in an asset protection trust, you prevent or minimalize the damage that can be done by others. So how do you know if an asset protection trust is right for you? Here are a few ways to find out.
You Need Protection From Lawsuits
You may not anticipate a lawsuit in your future, but it never hurts to be on the safe side. Business owners can benefit from an asset protection trust to prevent lawsuits from taking away part of their companies’ assets. Lawsuits can stem from a number of different issues, from personal injuries to manufacturing defects. By arming your estate with a protection trust, you ensure that it remains mostly untouched despite lawsuits.
You Want To Skip Probate
Probate is the process of determining the legality of a will after someone has died. It can cost a lot of money and take a long time, even if the deceased has laid out everything clearly in their will. An asset protection trust skips probate, allowing family members and beneficiaries to access funds and property quickly. Investing your time now in creating an asset protection trust can ease the burden on your family after you have died.
You Are Okay With the Trust Being Irrevocable
A key distinction to make about an asset protection trust is that it is irrevocable. As the name suggests, an irrevocable trust cannot be changed once you have created it. You cannot go back and change who gets what once it is established. If you feel confident in your beneficiaries and how you want your estate divided, you can invest in an asset protection trust.
You Want To Avoid Taxes
Irrevocable trusts provide the unique opportunity of avoiding estate taxes. This is mainly because once you place pieces of your estate into the trust, you can no longer access them. By setting them outside of your control, you no longer need to pay taxes for them. Just be warned that your beneficiaries may still need to pay taxes upon receiving assets.
If all of these parts of an asset protection trust sound good to you, it may be a great choice for giving your estate to the next generation. If you have more questions, contacting an estate planning lawyer could bring more clarity to the subject and allow for you to receive answers from a professional who has experience with trusts and estate planning.