Trust are a versatile and important estate planning and asset protection tool that Indianapolis trust attorneys can help you to use effectively. Trusts can actually be used to accomplish many different goals, including keeping wealth safe during the course of your life as well as making certain that your heirs or beneficiaries do not end up losing their inheritance due to taxes, irresponsible spending, or a wide variety of other factors.
Frank & Kraft can provide you with help in determining if a trust is the right type of tool for you to use to accomplish your estate planning goals. We know the ins-and-outs of trust laws and will work with you to make the right kind of trusts that provides you with the protections that you are looking for.
Unfortunately, many people make mistakes when they try to use trusts and the trusts they end up creating turn out not to be as effective as they should be. With our help, you can ensure that you avoid common mistakes that could undermine your efforts to protect your wealth and legacy. Here are three mistakes that our legal team can help you to avoid.
Using the Wrong Kind of Trust
Not all trusts are created equal. There are revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts and these kinds of trusts work very differently. While a revocable trust will give you much more control over your assets during the course of your life, since you can change the trust and can act as the trustee, this kind of trust will give you much less protection for assets. On the other hand, an irrevocable trust can provide more protection for the wealth that you transfer to the trust but you must give up a substantial amount of control.
You also need to understand the types of specialized trusts that you can create and must work with an attorney if you need one of these trust types. For example, you could create a special needs trust to provide for the supplemental needs of a disabled loved one while protecting that person’s access to Medicaid, but you need to ensure that you know how this type of trust works and what the requirements are for creating it.
Frank & Kraft can help you to select the kind of trust that is best for your situation so you do not accidentally choose a trust type that does not actually help you to accomplish the specific goals you have.
Failing to Follow the Legal Rules for Creating a Trust Document
There are specific requirements that you must follow in order to create a legally valid trust that provides you with expected protections you’re looking for. If you make a mistake in creating your trust document, your trust may not be valid. Problems may not be discovered until it is too late for you to correct them because you’re already incapacitated or have passed away. You cannot take a chance on losing the protections that come with creating a trust so you should ensure that you work with Indianapolis trust lawyers to get the help you need for your trust to be legally valid.
Not Funding Your Trust Correctly
Many people will create a trust but will not follow the necessary legal steps to actually fund the trust. You don’t want to just make a trust document and stop with that step, because your trust will not protect assets unless you have transferred the assets to the trust. You also need to understand the implications that this asset transfer can have. Our firm will help you to determine what assets the trust should own and will work with you to make the trust the new legal owner of the appropriate property and financial accounts.
Getting Help from Indianapolis Trust Attorneys
Indianapolis trust attorneys at Frank & Kraft can provide invaluable help with all aspects of creating a trust. We will work with you to find out your goals for trust creation and will help you to identify the best type of trust – or other legal tools – that should be used in your particular situation. We’ll make a legally valid trust document for you, and help you to fund the trust so your assets and family get the full protections that you expect and deserve.
To find out more about how our firm can assist you, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 317-684-1100 or contact us online to get personalized advice from an experienced member of our estate planning team.
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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