• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Our Firm
    • About Our Firm
    • Attorney and Staff Profiles
  • Services
    • Asset & Business Planning
    • Dental Practice Law
    • Estate and Gift Tax Figures
    • Estate Planning Services
    • Family-Owned Businesses & Farms
    • Financial Planning Assistance
    • Incapacity Planning
    • IRA & Retirement Planning
    • Legacy Planning
    • LGBTQ Estate Planning
    • Medicaid and Elder Law
    • SECURE Act
    • Special Needs Planning
    • Trust Administration
  • Elder Law
    • Coping With Alzheimer’s
    • Emergency Medicaid & Nursing Home Planning
    • Guardianship & Conservatorship
    • Hospice Care
    • Medicaid Planning
    • Veteran’s Benefits
  • Resources
    • DocuBank
    • Elder Law
      • Elder Law & Medicaid Definitions
      • Elder Law Reports
      • Elder Law Resources
        • Carmel, Indiana Elder Resources
        • Fishers Indiana Elder Law Resources
        • Greenfield, Indiana Elder Law Resources
        • Greenwood Elder Resources
        • Indianapolis Elder Law Resources
        • Lawrence Elder Law Resources
        • Plainfield Elder Resources
        • Zionsville Elder Law Resources
    • Estate Planning
      • Estate Planning Checkup
      • Estate and Gift Tax Figures
      • Estate Planning Definitions
      • Estate Planning Reports
        • Advanced Estate Planning
        • Basic Estate Planning
        • Estate Planning for Niches
        • Trust Administration
      • Incapacity Planning Definitions
      • Is Your Estate Plan Outdated?
      • Top 10 Estate and Legacy Planning Techniques
    • Free Estate Planning Worksheet
    • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Asset Protection Planning
        • Business Succession Planning
      • Elder Law
        • Medicaid
        • Medicaid Planning
        • Planning for Long-Term Care
      • Estate Planning
        • Avoiding Estate Taxes
        • Frequently Asked Questions for Families Without an Estate Plan
        • LGBTQ Estate Planning
        • Women and the Need for Estate Planning
      • Financial Planning
      • Incapacity Planning
      • Legacy Wealth Planning
      • Pet Planning
      • Probate
      • Power of Attorney
      • Trusts
        • Trust Administration
        • Trust Administration
        • Serving as Executor
      • Wills
        • Contesting a Will
    • Newsletter
    • Pre Consultation Form
    • Probate and Trust Administration
      • Bereavement Resources
      • How to Know if You Need Extra Help With Your Grieving
      • Loss Of A Loved One
      • Probate Resources
        • Carmel, Indiana Probate Resources
        • Greenfield Probate
        • Greenwood Probate
        • Indianapolis Probate
        • Plainfield Probate
        • Indiana Probate
        • Zionsville Probate
      • Things You Need To Do When a Loved One Passes Away With a Trust
      • The Mourner’s Bill of Rights
      • Things You Need To Do When a Loved One Passes Away With a Will
      • Trust Administration & Probate Definitions
  • Reviews
    • Our Reviews
    • Review Us
  • Areas We Serve
    • Boone County
      • Lebanon
      • Zionsville
    • Hamilton County
      • Carmel
      • Fishers
    • Hancock County
      • Greenfield
    • Hendricks County
      • Brownsburg
      • Plainfield
    • Johnson County
      • Franklin, Indiana
      • Greenwood
    • Marion County
      • Central Indiana
      • Indianapolis
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law

Indianapolis Estate Planning Attorneys

CONNECT WITH US TODAY(317) 684-1100

Attend a Free Workshop
Home » Wills and Trusts: A Primer

Wills and Trusts: A Primer

February 16, 2016Estate Planning, Living Trusts, Wills and Trusts

wills and trusts

Wills and trusts are legal documents that are widely used in the field of estate planning. There are different types of wills and trusts, and there are intricacies that many people do not understand. In an effort to provide clarity, we will take a look at some of the basics in this blog post.

Last Wills

First, let’s look at wills. There are different types of wills, but the will that most people have heard of is the last will or last will and testament. This document can be used to direct the transfer of your personally held property after you pass away. If you have minor children, you can also nominate a guardian if you create a last will.

Living Wills

A last will is used to facilitate monetary asset transfers, but a living will has nothing to do with financial matters. Doctors can use artificial measures to keep terminal patients alive for indefinite periods of times under some circumstances. If you were unable to communicate if you were in this type of condition, how would you want doctors to proceed?

The answer to this question is a personal one, and you can record your life support preferences in your living will. If you do so, doctors would be legally compelled to honor your wishes, and this heart wrenching decision would be taken out of the hands of your family.

Ethical Wills

There is a very meaningful type of will that stems from the Judaic tradition called an ethical will. You could use an ethical will to share moral and spiritual values that you have always lived by with the people that you will be leaving behind. This document can be quite instructive, especially during a difficult time when surviving family members are trying to come to grips with their loss.

Revocable Living Trusts

A revocable living trust is a type of trust that could be a good alternative to a last will. With a revocable living trust, you would continue to maintain control of the assets while you are living. You can act as the trustee, but you would name a successor trustee to take over the role after you are gone.

If you use a will, the inheritors would receive lump sum inheritances after the estate was probated by the court. This can be a double whammy of sorts, because the probate process is time-consuming, and the inheritors could squander their inheritances when they are finally distributed.

These pitfalls can be avoided if you use a living trust. The successor trustee could be instructed to distribute limited assets incrementally to prevent overspending, and the distributions would not be subject to the probate process.

This is a very brief, surface explanation of the benefits, but there are others. If you would like to obtain more detailed information about the value of living trusts, download our special report on the subject.

Wealth Preservation Trusts

People who have accumulated significant wealth can face estate tax exposure. The federal estate tax can be applied on the portion of an estate that exceeds $5.45 million. There are certain types of trusts that can be used to gain estate tax efficiency. These would be irrevocable rather than revocable trusts.

Special Needs Trusts

A special needs trust can be used to help out a loved one with a disability who is enrolled in government benefit programs that are only available to people who have very limited financial resources.

Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income eligibility can be lost if a benefit recipient was to come into money, because they are need-based programs. The situation can be addressed through the creation of a special needs trust.

Medicaid Planning

As we have stated above, the Medicaid program is only available to people with significant financial need. This program pays for long-term care for seniors, but Medicare will not help with nursing home or assisted living community costs.

Assets that have been conveyed into an irrevocable Medicaid trust would not be counted if the grantor of the trust was to apply for Medicaid to pay for long-term care.

Learn More About Wills and Trusts

Our firm is providing some great opportunities for people who would like to learn more about wills and trusts. We are going to be offering an ongoing series of seminars during the upcoming months, and these information sessions are free to attend.

Space is limited however, so we do ask that you identify the seminar that fits into your schedule and register in advance. You can visit our seminar schedule page to learn more.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
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
Latest posts by Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney (see all)
  • How to Include Cryptocurrency in Your Estate Plan - July 5, 2022
  • Estate Planning 101 for the Beginner - June 30, 2022
  • What You Need to Know about Long-Term Care Insurance and Medicaid Planning - June 28, 2022

Other Articles You May Find Useful

Estate Planning 101 for the Beginner
estate planning questions
Top 5 Estate Planning Questions Answered
Titling Property – Rights of Survivorship
What happens after death
5 Things You Might Not Know About What Happens After Your Death
Covid
Estate Planning Lessons the Covid Pandemic Has Taught Us
What Is the Most Important Document in My Estate Plan?

Primary Sidebar

Frank & Kraft, Attorneys at Law

Download our free Estate Planning Worksheet

There's a lot that goes into setting up a comprehensive estate plan, but with our FREE worksheet, you'll be one step closer to getting yourself and your family on the path to a secure and happy future.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkdin
  • Youtube

Blog Subscription

Where We Are

Frank & Kraft Attorneys at Law
135 N. Pennsylvania Street Suite 1100
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2485
Phone: (317) 684-1100
Fax: (317) 684-6111

See Larger MapGet directions

Office Hours

Monday8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Map

frankkraft_sidbr_map

Footer

  • Advantages of Working With Our Firm
  • About The American Academy
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact Us

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkdin
  • Youtube
footer-logo

Frank & Kraft Attorneys at Law
Attorney Advertisement

© 2022 American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.

© 2022 · American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc. | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Sitemap | Contact Us