Would a trust help you accomplish some of your financial and estate planning objectives? Trusts can be used to address a variety of concerns, including protecting and distributing your assets, managing taxes, and achieving your charitable goals. The assets in a trust are managed according to your wishes by the trustee you choose.
Not Just for the Wealthy
Trusts are very flexible arrangements and offer many different planning options that can be tailored to fit your situation. Here are some ways a trust can be used for your benefit or for the benefit of others.
You can establish a trust to:
• Manage the distribution of assets to beneficiaries based on criteria you establish
• Manage assets and provide recordkeeping for financially inexperienced beneficiaries
• Provide for management of your financial affairs if you become ill or incapacitated
• Protect financial interests of your children from a previous marriage
• Secure funds to provide for special needs dependents, including disabled children, elderly parents, or other relatives
• Minimize exposure to estate taxes and/or probate costs
• Benefit a charity while still providing for loved ones
• Keep the affairs of a business private and help to preserve it for family members
A Helping Hand
If you do decide to establish a trust, make sure you have confidence in a potential trustee’s ability to properly manage your affairs before you make a selection. You might want to consider naming an institution such as ours as trustee or co-trustee to obtain the benefits of professional management services and an unbiased perspective.
