Learn How Trusts Can Benefit Your Estate Plan

If you want to minimize the cost of probate or reduce tax obligations for yourself or beneficiaries, you may want to consider including a trust in your estate plan. However, it can be challenging to know which trust to pick, what assets to put in the trust, and how the trust works.

At Lenington, Gratton, & Associates LLP, our trust administration attorneys have decades of experience helping our clients include trusts in their estate plans. We can help you determine which trust best fits your needs and those of your loved ones.

To arrange a consultation, please call us at 724-271-8300 or 850-374-8549, or complete our contact form. We have offices in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and our attorneys are licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, New Mexico, Alabama and Florida.

What Is A Trust?

A trust is a formal legal arrangement that allows you to plan how to pass specific assets to beneficiaries. You, the trust creator or grantor, put your desired assets into a trust. Then, you authorize a third party, the trustee, to administer those assets to beneficiaries.

Depending on the type of trust you have, you can determine how your beneficiaries will receive your assets and when they will receive them, giving you more clear control over your wealth and your legacy. Trusts can also keep your assets from going through probate and allow you more privacy when transferring those assets, unlike a will, where transactions are on public record.

Our team has extensive experience providing trust and estate planning advice to people who own property in multiple states, as well as to business owners in need of effective business succession planning.

Different Types Of Trusts You Can Choose From

Some of the most common ones include:

• Revocable trusts: These are trusts you can create and control while alive. Revocable trusts give you the authority to add/remove assets and beneficiaries as you choose, as long you have the mental capabilities and capacity to do so. However, revocable trusts don’t offer tax protections or shield you from creditors. The assets many people choose to put in a revocable trust include annuities, real estate properties or financial accounts.
• Irrevocable trusts: Unlike revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts don’t allow you to control the assets you place in them. Once you put assets in an irrevocable trust, they are entirely under the control of the trustee until the assets inside them are ready for distribution. However, they do offer tax protections. Assets people typically choose to include in an irrevocable trust include homes, businesses and investment portfolios.

While revocable and irrevocable trusts are the two main types of trusts, there are different subsets of each that could help you address your specific needs, such as charitable, testamentary, education, and spendthrift trusts. We can help you determine which type of trust is best for you.

Contact Us Today

Determining the right type of trust to include in your estate plan requires help from an experienced estate planning attorney who can offer strategic guidance and advice. We can thoroughly evaluate your situation, offer recommendations, and help you select a trust based on your needs and goals. Please call us in Pennsylvania at 724-271-8300 or in Florida at 850-374-8549, or send us an email inquiry to arrange a consultation.