Trusts to Protect Your Heirs
The most common types of trusts are those that provide for children and/or provide for a spouse. Trusts that provide for children can be done as part of a freestanding trust or part of a last will and testament. It is often one of the primary estate planning goals for clients. Call today to schedule a free initial consultation with a DC trusts lawyer to discuss setting up a trust.
The trust attorneys at our firm take into consideration your family dynamics. For example, do you have children from a previous marriage? Do you have children that are adopted? Do you have children that you consider children, but are your stepchildren and you want to provide for them? Because of the nature of your family, we will personalize the trust and the assets used to fund the trust to reflect your unique financial and family situation.
How Trusts Protect Your Heirs in DC
Trusts can help you protect your beneficiaries in DC by assisting with minimizing the exposure of the trust corpus to the creditors of your beneficiaries or to DC and federal taxes. A trust can also dictate the terms of distribution so you can provide for the availability of your assets for future generations. For example, if you have a child that is not financially savvy, you may wish to include trust provisions that allow the principle of that child’s share to be managed by a trustee for the benefit of your grandchildren.
Our Approach to Creating Trusts for Family
We enjoy building relationships with individuals and their families and creating estate plans that allow clients to provide for their future and future generations. We also enjoy helping families to create an estate plan that reflects their unique family dynamics, assets, and objectives.
Advantages of Consulting With an Attorney
A DC trusts administration attorney has the most experience advising and understanding how trusts are actually administered. One of the major ways that trusts often fail is if they are not funded or administered properly, or the trust no longer meets the client’s estate planning needs. A trust attorney advises you on some of the more practical aspects of the administration of a trust to meet your estate planning goals.
Marital Trusts in DC
A marital trust is a tool used to provide for the surviving spouse during his or her lifetime, with contingent beneficiaries, such as children, named after the death of the surviving spouse. Marital trusts are often used in conjunction with a bypass trust, and are designed to use the marital deduction to defer estate taxes at the death of the first spouse. Because the assets are not considered taxed at the death of the first spouse, whatever amount remains in the marital trust will be taxed at the death of the second spouse. It is important to note that your estate plan must incorporate this type of plan prior to your death.
Unlimited Marital Deduction
The unlimited marital deduction is a federal estate tax concept that DC honors in the course of its estate tax law. The marital deduction is often used to reduce the estate tax liability of the first spouse to die’s estate. Generally, to qualify for a marital deduction, the decedent must be married at the time of death and be survived by a spouse who is a US citizen.