There are many reasons why you might wish to establish the use of a trust in your estate plan in California. Consulting with a qualified lawyer is extremely important for creating a trust that is aligned with your individual needs. This is because not all trusts are created equal, and you need to have a trust that is aligned with your potential estate planning goals.
Depending on your family, you might be concerned about one or more heirs’ ability to manage a large inheritance, and that’s a normal issue to think about in the estate planning process.
The first of these is to decide whether or not you need a revocable or an irrevocable trust. An irrevocable trust cannot be changed whereas a revocable trust can be updated. A spendthrift trust is another form of estate planning tool. This is for beneficiaries who do not manage money well or might even have a substance abuse problem. A spendthrift trust is put in place to protect the beneficiary from too much spending and can also preserve these assets. The person establishing a spendthrift trust in California can determine the scheduling of distributions and the conditions under which a trustee is able to make distributions to a beneficiary. The trustee can also do things such as requiring rehabilitation or a blood test before distribution in a suspect blood or alcohol abuse. This is based on the individual terms of the trust itself as established by the creator of the trust.
If you’re not sure where to start with trusts and estates issues, our lawyers can help. We can work with you to determine whether a trust meets what you’re looking for in an estate plan.
