Blog

When planning for your financial future and the legacy you want to leave behind, many clients wonder: “Should we consider a trust?” Establishing a trust is just one of many estate planning tools that can help you meet your goals and ensure your wishes are honored. Today, let’s focus specifically on Revocable Living Trusts (RLTs) and explore how they may benefit you and your family. 

Here are four of the more common reasons why a living trust might be right for you:

1. Tax Planning

While RLTs don’t directly eliminate estate taxes, they offer flexibility in managing and distributing your assets, which can be a key part of a tax planning strategy. By properly structuring your trust, we can help minimize your tax liabilities, keeping more of your wealth within your family. This is achieved through tax-efficient planning, which involves working alongside your CPA to reduce federal estate and inheritance taxes. When executed correctly, RLTs build the platform for strategic distribution of assets after death that can potentially lower overall tax exposure.

2. Control Over Wealth Transfer

A major advantage of an RLT is the control it provides over how your wealth is managed and distributed after your passing. This is important not only for minor children but also for adult heirs. With an RLT, you can set specific conditions for when and how your beneficiaries can access funds. Instead of beneficiaries receiving a lump sum, access to funds can be given in stages, such as reaching a certain age or achieving specific milestones. This allows you to limit access until beneficiaries are ready to manage the money responsibly.

You can outline your wishes in the trust document, which includes rules about who receives what, when, and under what conditions. These rules can also specify who manages the trust and how changes can be made, giving you peace of mind that your wishes will be respected.

3. Protecting Your Assets

It’s important to know that during your lifetime, an RLT won’t protect your assets from creditors. However, once you pass away and the trust becomes irrevocable, your assets are transferred to your heirs, and the trust can shield them from creditors’ claims. It can also protect your assets from potential claims if an heir or beneficiary were to divorce. This added layer of protection helps ensure that your wealth is preserved for the next generation without outside interference. Even if you are very comfortable with your adult child’s financial responsibility, when leaving a large estate, trust protection can ensure the assets are consumed only by your bloodline beneficiaries as intended.

4. Keeping Your Affairs Private

Another benefit of an RLT is the privacy it provides. Unlike wills, which go through probate and become public records, the terms of a trust remain private. This can be advantageous if you prefer to keep family matters confidential. By avoiding probate, not only do you protect your family’s privacy, you also speed up the distribution of your assets, saving time and costs typically associated with probate.

Understanding Revocable Living Trusts

A revocable living trust can be a key part of an affluent family’s estate planning. It creates a separate entity to own, manage, and administer your property. The beauty of an RLT is that you can change or cancel it at any time, maintaining control over your assets while continuing to use them for personal purposes. There’s no need for a separate tax return for the trust, and you can still use your social security number for tax reporting.

Other Strategies for Asset Protection

For those with more significant wealth or unique challenges, we might consider additional strategies to offer more robust asset protection. Family limited partnerships (FLPs) allow you to transfer wealth while retaining control over the assets, which is particularly useful for family-owned businesses. They offer some level of protection and can help manage estate taxes. Irrevocable trusts provide even stronger protection from creditors and lawsuits, although they typically require giving up control over the assets placed within them.

How Beaird Harris Can Help

At Beaird Harris, we focus on supporting your estate planning goals by offering a comprehensive review of your existing plan to ensure your objectives, like wealth transfer and guardianship, are clearly defined. While we don’t draft estate documents, we collaborate with your attorney to help close any gaps. Our team prioritizes tax-efficient strategies, working with your CPA to minimize tax liabilities and ensure your plan is effective. We also facilitate regular reviews of your estate plan to adapt to any life changes or tax law updates, helping to ensure your estate and heirs are protected.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, deciding whether to establish a trust is a personal choice based on your financial situation, goals, and values. Whether you’re preparing to engage in estate planning for the very first time or are reviewing your current structure in light of life changes, our team is ready to provide the expertise and guidance you need. Please reach out if you want to discuss this further—we’re here to help you every step of the way.