An Indianapolis trust lawyer can assist you in determining if creating a trust is the best approach for accomplishing your estate planning or asset protection goals. Trusts are a powerful legal tool that can assist you in more easily transferring assets to loved ones and that can provide protection for your assets both during your life and after you death. Unfortunately, many people misunderstand what trusts can do and how they work. It is a common misconception that trusts are only for wealthy people, when they can actually benefit many individuals and families even if they don’t have a fortune to hand down to the next generation.
Frank & Kraft will help you to determine if a trust is an effective legal tool for you to use. Our firm can carefully review your financial and family situation to provide you with advice both on whether a trust could work for you and on what kind of trust could best help to protect your wealth and the people you love. Give us a call today to find out more about how trust creation works and to get help with the process of making a trust if this is a tool that should be a part of your estate plan.
How Can You Determine if a Trust is Right for You?
Everyone’s situation is different, so you will need to learn about the types of trusts that you can create and the benefits of trust creation in order to determine if creating a trust is a good option for you. Trusts can help you to protect your family and assets both during your life and after you pass away, so many people benefit from making a trust. A trust may be right for you if:
- You have a disabled child: If you want to provide funds to enhance the quality of life of a child who is disabled, you’ll likely need to make a special needs trust if you don’t want to put means-tested government benefits like Medicaid at risk.
- You have spendthrift heirs: If your heirs or beneficiaries who you wish to leave money to are not responsible with money management, a trust could allow you to make a financial gift without worrying it will be wasted.
- You could require nursing home care: If you need nursing home care, there are two options to pay for it in most cases: Medicaid and paying privately. Having too many assets can disqualify you from Medicaid, but you could use certain kinds of trusts to protect your wealth and get covered.
- You want assets to pass outside of the probate process: Probate can take a long time, leaving your dependents without an inheritance they may be counting on. Trust administration is a much faster way for assets to pass on to new owners than the probate process.
- You could owe estate tax. If you have a large estate and could owe estate tax, you could potentially use certain types of trusts in order to avoid a big tax bill.
These are just a few of many situations where trust creation could help you to accomplish important goals for keeping your money and property safe. There may be many other situations where creating a trust makes sense, so you should strongly consider talking with an experienced attorney about your circumstances in order to get legal advice about pros and cons of creating a trust.
Getting Help from An Indianapolis Trust Lawyer
An Indianapolis trust lawyer at Frank & Kraft will take the time to discuss the risks to your assets as well as your goals for protecting your heirs or beneficiaries. We’ll provide you with advice on what a trust could do to help you control your legacy, keep your wealth safe, and keep your family secure– no matter what happens to you. If a trust is a good tool for you to use based on your personal situation, we’ll also guide you through every step of the trust creation process, from creating your trust document to making sure you have funded your trust with the appropriate assets.
To learn more about how trusts can be used as part of a comprehensive estate plan, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 317-684-1100 or contact us online at any time to get personalized advice on how a trust could help you to accomplish your goals. Call today to get started so you can get the right tools in place to keep your wealth and your family safe and secure.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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