The What, Why, and How of Trusts

A living trust allows you to change the terms, assets, and beneficiaries during your lifetime, as long as you are mentally and physically able to do so. They are revocable in addition to being able to be changed. Your needs for this type of trust can change over time such as the arrival of a new child. Typically, you should revisit your trust and estate needs approximately every five years.

With an irrevocable trust, once you put your assets in the trust and name the beneficiaries, it becomes a permanent decision. This type of trust might allow you to reduce your estate taxes because once the trust is funded, the assets are not owned by you as the trust owns them. A common use for this type of trust is to hold life insurance outside of one’s estate to provide liquidity for estate taxes after you pass.

These trusts are primarily useful for couples who live in a community (marital) property state. They document what will happen to assets upon the death of each of the spouses.

Trusts can be established as part of your will and don’t become effective until your will is probated. Then the assets pass through probate into the trust. After that point, the trust controls asset management and distribution.

A marital trust is established to pass assets to the surviving spouse in a way that eliminates estate taxes due to the unlimited marital deduction. They are often used in conjunction with a credit shelter trust – also called a “B” trust. When the surviving spouse dies, the trust’s assets are transferred to the remaining beneficiaries without any estate taxes.

A QTIP trust provides income for a surviving spouse and bequeaths assets to a different set of beneficiaries after the surviving spouse passes. The spouse generally cannot choose the final beneficiaries of the QTIP trust's assets and is usually limited to the income the trust designates.

This type of trust is designed to protect assets from the claims of creditors. Often these are set up in countries outside of the United States to insulate assets from creditors. They can have a set term where the trust maker is not the beneficiary, but when that timeframe is up, the trust maker may be able to be added as an additional beneficiary.

If a person who receives government benefits such as Medicaid receives an inheritance, it could reduce or eliminate their eligibility for the benefits. On the other hand, a special needs trust is a legal and permitted way to provide supplemental funds for someone who receives governmental benefits without disqualifying them from receiving those benefits. 

Charitable remainder trusts (CRT) or charitable lead trusts (CLT) help lower or avoid estate and gift tax by designating philanthropic organizations that will receive the funds. There may be income tax benefits as well.

Just as it sounds, this trust can provide benefits to the grantor's children and grandchildren, and on and on, which avoids any estate taxes being levied against the estates of your descendants. This is an effective tool to preserve wealth for individuals with significant investments/assets.