I held a Staff Training Meeting with everyone in the office today - just like I do every Thursday. The attorneys and paralegals are all in attendance. It's a great opportunity to learn and share ideas. This week's topic was trusts. We discussed many of the uses for trusts in Louisiana estate planning. Some of the uses include:
- Testamentary Trusts. These are often used when parents have minor children and the parents don't want a court overseeing their children's inheritance, and the parents don't want their children's inheritance dumped in their children's inheritance when the children turn 18.
- Medicaid Living Trust. If you don't want your entire life savings depleted on long-term care, you should consider our Medicaid Irrevocable Trust. If you do it right, you'll maintain control over your assets, but you won't have to spend them before qualifying for Louisiana Long Term Care Medicaid. Avoids probate too!
- Children's Inheritance Trust. This valuable trust enables you to make your children's inheritance divorce-proof. Would you like to provide for your children AND THEN your grandchildren? No problem. If your children don't spend all of their inheritance before your children die, use our Children's Inheritance Trust to make sure that your grandchildren will inherit when your children die.
- Revocable Living Trust. A common probate avoidance tool. Put all your assets in your Revocable Living Trust, and when you die, your family will avoid the probate - or in Louisiana called the Succession.
- IRA Trust. Want your big IRA to go for your spouse? Sure you do. But what if your spouse then leaves it to people other than your children? Simple solution - name your IRA Trust as the beneficiary of your IRA. Your spouse can benefit after you die, but you control where the assets go when your spouse later dies. This may be one of the most important estate planning tools that is available to you - particularly if most of your wealth is tied up in a roll-over IRA.Watch out for income tax rules though!!!
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust. If you're not careful, your life insurance death proceeds will be subject to the federal estate tax. Would you like half of your life insurance to go to Uncle Sam? Of course not. Use the ILIT to exclude your life insurance from your taxable estate.
There are tons of other types of trust. In fact, I was working with a Florida attorney last week. We were working on the provisions of what is commonly referred to as a "Gun Trust."
Bottom line - find out how trusts can help you accomplish your estate planning objectives. If you want to know more, either send me an e-mail at paul@rabalaislaw.com (you'll be amazed at how quickly I respond to your questions) or you can even call my office toll-free at 866-491-3884. Until next post...
Paul Rabalais
Comments