Do You Need Asset Protection Trusts?

By Tracie Knight


Trusts are a great tool to manage your personal assets or you want to keep control over the way in which your assets will be distributed upon your death. Asset protection trusts are useful to protect all your personal assets, as well as your professional assets, from possible creditors. It is an extremely safe method to use to plan your wealth goals.

Trusts are regarded as legal entities which hold assets for the benefit of another entity. It contains three active parties. The trustor or grantor is the one who creates and funds the trust. The beneficiary is the one who will gain from it. The trustee administers it and is duty-bound to act in the best interests of the beneficiary.

This type of entity is formed by the raising of a legal document, called an agreement. The agreement stipulates the names of the trustee and the beneficiaries. Instructions stipulating what the beneficiaries will receive are included in the document. The list of trustee duties, the date it will end and all other stipulations are included in the document.

The trust may contain any type of asset, including bonds, real estate and stocks. Your reasons for implementing the entity will be the determining factor as to what is placed in it. For example, you may want an entity that is useful for the payment of taxes and other estate duties or for the financial provision of your family when you die. In these cases, it may be necessary to add real estate or a life insurance policy to the entity.

People use these entities for various reasons. Some of the reasons include the minimization of estate taxes, protection of their assets from potential creditors and the preservation of assets. You could choose this method to move assets to others who are liable for lower taxation. An asset protection trust is ideal if you want to make sure that the assets stay in your possession.

This is an irrevocable trust that will protect all your assets within it from potential creditors. To establish the entity, you are allowed to transfer certain assets to it. Once the assets have been transferred, it will be protected from future creditors.

The assets that are placed in the entity will still be controlled by you. As the grantor, you are allowed to determine how the assets will be invested. You are allowed to obtain income from it and stipulate distributions to other parties.

To offer adequate protection for the assets placed, you may not be able to gain full control over the assets. This does not imply that all control will be lost over the benefits derived from the property which you have transferred.

You should consult an attorney to find out about the various types of entities. A trust which you refer to in your will is called a testamentary entity. You can make use of a living trust while you are alive. If you wish to have the facility to amend or cancel the entity, you will obtain a revocable version, or if you do not want this facility, an irrevocable entity. Your choice will be wholly dependent on what you currently require and may require in future.




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