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Home » What Can an Indianapolis Living Trust Attorney Do For You?

What Can an Indianapolis Living Trust Attorney Do For You?

October 2, 2018Trust in Indianapolis

Indianapolis living trust

An Indianapolis living trust attorney can provide you with invaluable help as you plan for your future. When you are considering how to protect your assets, provide for your family, and ensure you have taken control over your future, you should strongly consider reaching out to an attorney with experience creating trusts in order to find out if a trust is right for you. 

Frank & Kraft has provided assistance to many individuals and families with identifying the legal tools that they need to provide for loved ones and protect hard-earned money and property.  We can assist you in implementing a plan that is right for your particular situation so give us a call today to talk with an Indianapolis living trust attorney about your options. You can also read on to find out more about what an Indianapolis living trust attorney can do for you.

How an Indianapolis Living Trust Attorney Can Help You

An Indianapolis living trust attorney can provide you with help in important ways. Some of the ways an attorney can assist you include:

  • Determining if you should create a trust: Trusts are very powerful legal tools and they are versatile because they can be used to accomplish many goals including protecting your assets and ensuring your wealth is able to transfer quickly after your death. However, trusts aren’t the only tool that you might want to use as part of your estate plan and trust creation is not necessarily the right choice for everyone. It’s helpful to talk with a trust lawyer about whether a trust is even the right approach to achieve your aims.
  • Helping you to decide what kind of trust to create: You have different options for creating a trust. You may want to create a revocable living trust if you hope to maintain flexibility and manage assets during your lifetime but want the trust to facilitate the passage of assets outside of the probate process after death. Or, you may decide that you want the stronger protections for your assets that an irrevocable trust can provide even if this means giving up a lot of control over your wealth. You may also come to the conclusion that you want to make a special type of trust, such as a spendthrift trust or a special needs trust because you have heirs or beneficiaries with special needs to address.
  • Assisting in creating a legally valid trust document:  The last thing you want is to think you have a trust in place and that you’ll get the benefits from it, only to discover that you did not actually go through the formal process of creating  a legally valid trust. When you work with an attorney, you ensure that this does not happen to you.

There may also be other ways that a compassionate and knowledgeable lawyer can provide help depending upon your specific circumstances. The goal is always to make certain that you are taking the necessary steps to protect the money you’ve worked for and to provide the strongest possible future for yourself and the people you love.

Getting help from an Indianapolis Living Trust Attorney

When you need help from an Indianapolis living trust attorney, Frank & Kraft is here and ready to provide the service and support you need. We are familiar with the laws on trust creation and can advise you on whether a trust is the right document to address your needs and accomplish your goals. We can also help you to create a legally valid trust document and to go through the steps necessary to identify and select a trustee, name your beneficiaries, and fund your trust.

To find out more about all of the ways that an Indianapolis living trust attorney at our firm can help 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 one-on-one advice specific to your situation. Call today to get your plans underway for protecting your future.

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Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Paul Kraft is Co-Founder and the senior Principal of Frank & Kraft, one of the leading law firms in Indiana in the area of estate planning as well as business and tax planning.

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.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
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Trust Administration Steps
To ensure that your estate doesn’t lose assets to federal gift and estate taxes you may need to include tax avoidance strategies in your estate plan. One estate planning tool that can provide tax avoidance benefits is a Grantor Retained Income Trust, or GRIT. Always consult with your estate planning attorney before deciding what tools to incorporate into your estate plan. In the meantime, however, the Indianapolis trust attorneys at Frank & Kraft explain how a Grantor Retained Income Trust works and why you might want to include one in your estate plan. What Is a GRIT? A GRIT is a specialized type of irrevocable trust that allows the Grantor (creator of the trust, also referred to as the “Settlor”) to transfer assets into the trust while retaining the right to receive all of the net income from the trust assets for a fixed term of years, referred to as the “initial term.” Income from the trust is distributed to the Grantor at least annually during the initial term. At the end of the initial term, the remaining principal is either distributed to the trust beneficiaries or remains in the trust for the benefit of those beneficiaries. The primary benefit of a GRIT is that if (this condition is important) the Grantor survives the initial term, the value of the principal held in the GRIT is excluded from the Grantor’s estate for federal gift and estate tax purposes. How Does a GRIT Help with Tax Avoidance? The tax avoidance benefit of a GRIT is found in how the value of the trust principal is determined because those assets are valued at a discount. The value of the discount depends on the length of the initial term of the GRIT, and the applicable federal rate in effect at the time the GRIT is established. The transfer of assets to a GRIT constitutes a gift equal to the total value of the assets transferred to the GRIT, less the present value of the retained income interest held by the Grantor for the initial term. If the Grantor survives the initial term, the assets comprising the GRIT will pass to the designated remainder beneficiaries at a reduced gift tax value. GRIT Beneficiaries Section 2702 of the Internal Revenue Code determines who you cannot name as a beneficiary in a GRIT. Excluded beneficiaries include your spouse, your ancestors or the ancestors of your spouse, any lineal descendant of yours or your spouse, any sibling of yours or your spouse, or the spouses of any of the foregoing persons. You can name lineal descendants of siblings, (nieces and nephews) relatives even more distant than nieces and nephews, or friends of yours or your spouse as beneficiaries of a GRIT. How a GRIT Works in Practice Imagine that you establish a 15-year GRIT and transfer $100,000 of assets into the trust and that the applicable federal rate is five percent. As the Grantor, you will receive the income from the GRIT during the initial term. The present value of the retained income interest is $66,007, making the value of the gift $33,993. If you survive until the end of the initial term, however, the remainder beneficiaries will receive $100,0000 plus all capital growth. Your estate, however, will only need to acknowledge a lifetime gift in the amount of $33,993 (the applicable value of the gift at the time it was made). Disadvantages of Using a GRIT Just like most tax savings tools and strategies, there are some disadvantages to relying on a GRIT. First, it is an irrevocable trust, meaning if your personal circumstances change, you cannot make corresponding changes to the trust. Second, if you do not survive the initial term the advantages gained by creating a GRIT do not apply. Contact the Indianapolis Trust Attorneys For more information, please download our FREE estate planning worksheet. If you have additional questions or concerns about establishing a Grantor Retained Income Trust, contact the experienced Indianapolis trust attorneys at Frank & Kraft by calling (317) 684-1100 to schedule an appointment.
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