Creating a Trust Doesn’t Have to Be Intimidating

Creating and managing a trust is one of the most financially sound decisions you can make for your family. However, this process often feels intimidating, especially when you haven’t found trust administration attorneys who are equipped to help you with estate planning. When it comes to finding a Carlsbad trust lawyer to help you manage your affairs, it is crucial to find someone who has significant experience in trustee and probate law and can defend your assets in litigation if necessary. Paul V. Campo, attorney at law, fills these needs.

What Is a Trust?

Business law is often complicated, and it can easily become overwhelming when you try to navigate the industry alone. However, with the right attorney by your side and some basic information, you will find yourself with a successful trust as part of your portfolio.

A trust is a relationship between you (the trustor) and your attorney (the trustee). You give your attorney the opportunity to hold the title to your assets, such as your home, business, property, financial accounts, vehicles, insurance policies, etc. In doing so, you are entrusting your attorney to properly distribute these assets to your beneficiaries after your death.

What Does a Trust Do?

While you are still alive, trustees help you manage your assets. They also help ensure that your beneficiaries get what they are owed on the proper terms. For example, if your granddaughter has a lot of credit card debt, your trustee can help ensure that any assets you leave to her go to her, not to a collection agency. This is possible because trusts avoid probate (see below).

As mentioned, a trustee is charged with distributing your assets upon your death. By creating a trust, you ensure that you have a trusted individual to manage your estate. This is a great reassurance to many. Furthermore, it removes a significant burden from your family. They will be grieving and vulnerable when you pass, and these emotions can make even the kindest individuals turn sour. Families often fight, and some are torn apart over beneficiaries, assets, and terms of wills. Without a designated third party to manage your estate, the responsibility is on someone in your family. They will have to navigate the estate terms without prior experience while simultaneously dealing with upset kin and their own grief.

Creating a trust will bypass this and ensure that your family is free to grieve and your assets go exactly where you would like them to.

Trusts vs. Probate

The alternative to trusts is going through probate. This is a viable option, but it has significant downsides for your assets and your family.

The probate process is often lengthy and involves the court appointing an executor (a member of your family) to ensure that the assets outlined in your will are given to the correct beneficiaries. Being an executor is incredibly difficult and involves much of the same familial arguing and tension mentioned above.

During the probate process, the court can also ensure that the assets left in your will go toward unpaid debts. For example, if one of your beneficiaries owes back taxes, all the money you leave them could be seized by the courts during probate and go toward the amount owed. Likewise, if you leave your family home to a beneficiary and they are in debt, you run the risk that the state will sell the home and seize the money to pay debts rather than allowing the home to stay in the family.

If you form a trust, you bypass the probate process and ensure that your money and assets remain in your family where they belong.

Minor Beneficiaries

While trusts are technically optional in most cases, they are necessary if you want to leave money for a minor. This is because minors cannot go through the probate process or receive any benefits until they reach legal age. So, a trust is in place to keep the money safe and ready for them for when they come of age.

Set Age Beneficiaries

It is also possible to create trusts for beneficiaries when they turn a specified age or when a specified event occurs. This is often used when the trustor believes that the beneficiary is not mature enough or capable enough to manage their finances when they become of legal age. In these cases, the trust can be instructed to give the beneficiary their assets at the age of 30, when they have graduated, etc.

Special Needs Trusts

Individuals with disabilities or specific needs may rely on government programs and funding to live. For example, many use state insurance to access the benefits that keep them healthy. Unfortunately, many events can make them ineligible for these necessary programs. Receiving money via a trust may be one of them.

Fortunately, if one of your beneficiaries relies on government programs, there are ways to ensure that they can still receive your assets without losing their benefits. In these situations, the money remains in the trust and under the power of the trustee. Though the trustee holds the assets, they distribute them as needed to the beneficiary. This allows the individual to remain eligible for government assistance and vital programming without having to forgo benefits.

Revocable Trust

You do not have to wait until you are elderly or ailing to create a trust. Trusts can be made at any time in your life. Living trusts, or revocable trusts, leave you with the power over your assets while you are still alive. To do this, you are named the trustee or co-trustee over your estate. In creating the trust, you will designate someone to act as trustee when you die or if you become unable to make decisions due to illness or other circumstances.

In a revocable trust, you continue to have control over your own assets. You can dissolve the trust if your beneficiaries or wishes change, and it is an overall flexible way to create a trust. Though you still avoid probate through this method, you do not necessarily avoid estate taxes.

Irrevocable Trust

Another type of trust is the irrevocable trust. When these are created, the assets outlined in the trust move immediately from your control to your trustee’s. This means that you will likely not have very much say in what happens to your assets for the remainder of your life. For example, if you put your property in an irrevocable trust, you cannot decide to sell it later. Nor can you decide to change the beneficiary of the property. All the terms of the trust must remain the same.

The primary benefit to an irrevocable trust is that it avoids estate taxes. This means more money to your beneficiaries and less to the state.

Do You Need a Lawyer for a Trust?

Though legally, it is not required that you hire an attorney to create a trust, it is always best to do so. The trustor-trustee relationship is founded on strict legal and ethical requirements. When you hire a qualified and trusted attorney, this relationship can function the way that it was intended, and everyone benefits.

It is essential to recognize the importance of details in trusts as well. These documents are taken seriously, and there is a lot of paperwork to complete. If done incorrectly, you may lose out on significant trust benefits. What’s more, you may end up jeopardizing your assets.

When handling your life’s assets, it is best to hire a qualified attorney to give you assurance and peace of mind.

What Kind of Lawyer Do I Need for a Trust?

When you are creating your trust, you will need an estate planning attorney to help you. Estate planning attorneys are well versed in the intricacies of trust law and can help you create a trust that maximizes benefits and minimizes loss. Because these laws are so complicated, finding an estate attorney who understands the task at hand is important. Many experienced lawyers do not have the capability of practicing this type of law. Be sure that potential trustees are experienced attorneys in estate law.

Estate attorneys offer other services that may benefit you as well. For example, conservatorships, estate planning, and probate cases can all be expertly handled by an experienced estate planning attorney.

It is important to note that trust administration is an extremely sensitive area of law. Though your attorney will act as an impartial third party when distributing your assets, they must be sympathetic to your grieving family and well equipped to handle the sensitivity of the moment. Therefore, when searching for an estate planning attorney, be sure your options are kind, empathetic, and will be able to treat your loved ones with patience while distributing your assets.

Contact Paul Campo, Carlsbad Attorney at Law

The team at our offices provides top-tier estate planning and trust administration services for families in San Diego and North County. No matter what you are looking for when it comes to your assets, we can help you create a trust that brings you confidence.

For more information or to schedule a consultation, contact us online.