Trusts – Questions and Answers

Creating an estate plan is one of the best ways to plan for your future and protect your assets. 一个或几个信托可能是你计划的一个重要方面. 信托和遗产计划可以减少你的纳税义务, 保护你的资产不受债权人和/或诉讼的影响, 并帮助您的家人避免冗长的遗嘱认证过程.

A trust is a financial arrangement that you (the grantor) create allowing a third party (the trustee) to manage and spend assets to benefit a person, group of people, charity, 或慈善事业（受益人或受益人）. Trusts can be set up in any number of ways and can specify exactly how and when you want the assets (or income from the assets) to pass to the beneficiaries. Sometimes, such as with revokable trusts, the grantor serves as trustee during their lifetime.

Trusts aren’t just for the wealthy – they are for anyone who wants their assets to be protected while they’re alive and distributed according to plan after death. 信托可以是简单的，也可以是复杂的，可以是全局性的，也可以是高度具体和专业化的. A skilled and experienced estate planning attorney can assess your unique situation and recommend a trust(s) that will be of greatest benefit for you and your family.

Choosing the Best Indiana Trust Lawyer

每个信托律师不是生来平等的.

Creating an effective trust is a highly specialized skill that attorneys trained in estate planning spend years developing. At Church Langdon Lopp Banet Law, our attorneys have decades of personal and professional experience in the estate planning arena, 我们对保护资产的多种方式都很熟悉, plan for retirement, and prepare for end-of-life issues. 我们的律师是最优秀、最聪明的. Not only are they smart, 但他们也住在新奥尔巴尼社区，关心这里的居民. 他们深深致力于他们所bet9九州体育登录的客户的福祉. 要了解更多bet9九州体育登录的法律团队，您可以阅读我们的 attorney bios. You can also read client testimonials 看看满意的客户对我们的法律bet9九州体育登录有何评价.

Benefits of a Trust

You control your wealth.

Trusts can be created now, and beneficiaries receive income during your lifetime. 信托也可以在纸上创建，但直到你去世后才会得到资助. 你遗产中的资产可以作为信托的基础, such as real estate, stocks, cash, and other investments. Trusts offer some benefits beyond transferring assets through the probate process. These benefits include:

您可以指定分发的时间和对象.
You can specify that you will get access to assets during your lifetime and designate who is entitled to remaining assets after your death.
Trusts normally avoid probate, so your beneficiaries may gain access to these assets faster and without court fees.
Your will becomes a public record during the probate process, but a trust does not. If you value your privacy, 信托可以防止别人知道你死后谁得到了多少.
Depending on how it’s established, 信托不得视为应税遗产的一部分, 这样你死后要交的税就少了.

Different Types of Trusts

我们在印第安纳州新奥尔巴尼的信托律师解释了这些差异.

The purpose of a trust is to protect assets 并在你死后有序地分配你的财产. 可以建立多种信托来限制税收风险, 资助慈善机构，为家庭成员提供支持, 但它们通常分为两类：

Revocable or living trust: 此信任允许您在您的生命周期内修改或终止信任. It can help transfer assets to beneficiaries outside of probate after your death, 它允许你在你的一生中保留对资产的控制. 如果你的情况或愿望发生变化，信托可以随时解除. 当授予人去世时，这些信托往往不可撤销（见下文）. 你可以成为受托人（或与其他人共同受托人）, maintain control over the trust and make provisions for a successor trustee if you become incapacitated or die. The drawback is that a living trust can be subject to estate taxes and will be treated as one of your assets during your lifetime.
Irrevocable trust: 这种类型的信任在创建之后不能被授予者更改. 而这种失控是一个消极因素, the benefits are that it generally transfers your assets out of your estate and potentially out of the reach of estate taxes and probate. If your goal is to reduce your estate tax liability, this is an option you should consider. It may also shelter your assets from legal judgments against you and can be part of Medicaid planning.

超越可撤销和不可撤销的信托, 有专门针对特定实体或项目的信托. Here are just a few:

Pet trust: 这些信托基金为动物提供资金，比如猫, dogs, 马和其他宠物——在你死后.
Gun trust: These trusts oversee the transfer of firearms to beneficiaries and make sure that all state and federal gun laws are adhered to.
Special needs trust: These trusts are set up to provide for a disabled child or adult after you pass away. 而不是向那些可能无法很好地管理资金的人提供资产, the trustee can manage the money and distribute assets or income to pay bills and meet certain expenses.
Charitable trust: 这些信托基金是为了某一特定的慈善事业而设立的, such as medical research, community foundations, or education, among others. A “charitable remainder trust” allows the grantor to enjoy the benefits of the trust during their lifetime with the remaining proceeds provided to charity upon death.
Tax by-pass trust: These trusts allow one spouse to pass money to the other spouse while limiting the amount of federal estate taxes due when the second spouse passes away.

What Is a Trustee?

一位负责信托账户的印第安纳州律师解释道.

Trust lawyers recognize that their role is not only to research and draft legal documents, but also to help educate their clients about various legal tools and legal terminology. 在本例中，让我们看一下“受托人”的定义.” The trustee is the person assigned to manage the trust assets and distribute them — or income from them — according to the terms of the trust and applicable laws. The trustee is considered a fiduciary so must live up to high legal and professional standards. Some of these requirements include:

完全按照信托中的指示行事
不将信托资产或收入视为自己的
与所有受益人进行清晰透明的沟通
Maintaining records to establish that trust assets are properly managed and spent, 并在收到请求时向受益人公布这些信息
按规定缴纳联邦和州税

A trustee who mismanages or misuses trust funds can be sued by beneficiaries who have reason to believe the trustee isn’t living up to his or her fiduciary obligations. 有一整个领域的法律专门用于遗产和/或信托诉讼. Beneficiaries can sue to have a trustee removed if the trustee fails to carry out their fiduciary duty. 另一方面，如果有的话，那是极其罕见的 trustee would remove a beneficiary.

A Word About Probate and Small Estates

遗嘱认证是一个人死后遗产的处理过程. 它既简单又经济, or it can be complicated, drawn out, 而且很贵——取决于你的计划有多好. At its best, probate is a well-ordered, efficient, 这个过程相对简单，可以在短时间内完成. 在最坏的情况下，它可能是昂贵的、缓慢的，而且经常令人沮丧. 首先要做的是确保 probate process 顺利是创建遗嘱作为更大的遗产计划的一部分吗. A last will and testament will lay out how you want your assets distributed to beneficiaries. 没有遗嘱的人被称为“无遗嘱”死亡.” When this happens, Indiana Probate Code 遗嘱认证法庭将决定你的财产如何分配, 这是否能反映你的意愿. 所以，和遗产规划律师一起起草一份遗嘱.

In addition, creating a trust will enable you to manage and protect your assets while you’re alive, 并在你去世后有效地将资产分配给受益人. 一般来说，信托不需要通过遗嘱认证程序. 其他可以避免资产通过遗嘱认证的方法包括：

确保所有的退休和人寿保险都有指定的受益人
confirm that pensions, IRAs, bank accounts, and other financial accounts have named beneficiaries and/or payable-on-death status.

Many states, including Indiana, have a special, 简化了所谓“小地产”的流程.” An Indiana small estate is an estate that has a value of $50,000 or less after debts, encumbrances, liens, 并扣除丧葬费用. Joint assets (co-owned with a spouse or another person) and beneficiary designations (such as those mentioned above) are not included in the $50,有资格申请“小额遗产”程序的最高遗产金额为000英镑. If yours qualifies as a small estate, you can pursue a simplified, 印第安纳州的简易遗嘱认证程序.

今天与我们熟练和经验丰富的印第安纳州信托律师交谈

Whether you’re in Indiana or Kentucky and planning for your own future or the future of a loved one, 考虑让彻奇·兰登·洛普·巴内特律所来帮你. Our Louisville estate planning attorneys and 杰斐逊维尔遗产规划律师 as well as New Albany, Corydon and Clarksonville elder law attorneys can answer your questions about trusts or create them to meet your wants and needs. Contact us today to start finding solutions: complete our online form or call us at 812-725-8224.

Attorney Gary Banet

加里在印第安纳州和肯塔基州都有执业律师执照. 他专注于遗产规划, estate and trust administration, estate and trust litigation, guardianships, elder law and special-needs planning. Gary earned his J.D. 来自路易斯维尔大学，路易斯D. Brandeis School of Law, and formerly practiced law at Bingham Greenebaum Doll and Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs. [ Attorney Bio ]