11/3/2022 1 Comment When Would I Need A Trust?A trust can be a wonderful tool to help set in place an estate plan that accomplishes your goals. Situations, goals and life circumstances vary, so there really is no across-the-board answer as to whether a trust “makes sense” for a particular demographic of clients. Ultimately, putting in place a trust usually makes the best sense when a client wants to (i) avoid probate upon their death, and/or (ii) use assets, property and money for a specific purpose after their death. First, while there are some other ways to avoid probate, a trust generally does so in the simplest and most comprehensive fashion. Second, a trust is generally the only effective tool at carrying out plans or wishes that assets be used for a certain defined purpose after death. This can be particularly important when money will be needed to raise children or to fund education. However, the ability to control how assets are used is also tremendously important in circumstances where the (now deceased) creator of the trust wants to ensure that assets are not wasted away, wants to provide periodic payments for support, wants to delay all or some of the distributions and/or wants to provide for someone whose judgment or capacities may not be up to managing a large some of money. In working with clients, I view a trust as a potential tool to accomplish the goals and plans of my client. Sometimes, we do not recommend a trust because it is just not needed to accomplish those goals. However, in many instances, this tool becomes very important and is a critical part of setting in place a comprehensive, complete and meaningful estate plan.
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