What Are 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.

A trust is considered to be a legal entity that holds an asset which will benefit another. Trusts are made up of three parties. The trustor is the person who funds and creates the trust. The beneficiary is the person who will benefit from the trust. The trustee is the person who administers the trust and is bound by a duty to act in the beneficiary's best interest.

A trust is created by the execution of a legal document known as a trust agreement. This agreement names the beneficiary and the trustee. It also contains instructions related to what the beneficiary will receive. It lists the trustee's duties and when the trust will end, among other considerations.

This entity can contain any asset, such as stocks, bonds, real estate. What you choose to put into the entity will be dependent on your goals for starting the deed. An example is if you want to form an entity that will be used for the payment of estate duties and taxes, or to provide financially for your family upon your death, you may choose to fund the trust with an insurance policy or real estate.

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.

Asset protection is classified as an irrevocable trust for the protection of your assets from creditors. To establish it, you can transfer specific assets to the entity. Once transferred, the assets will afford protection from all 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.

In order to offer protection to your assets, you may not have full control over all the assets listed. This does not mean that you will lose control over the economic benefits linked to the property that has been transferred.

Upon consultation with your attorney, you will have the choice of several types of trusts. A testamentary trust is one which is stated in your will. A living trust is one that you make use of during your lifetime. A revocable entity can be changed or cancelled and an irrevocable entity may not be changed or cancelled. The choice you make is dependent upon your current and future requirements.




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