Trusts are important estate planning tools your clients may benefit from. Use these articles to brush up on your understanding of different types of trusts and whom they’re appropriate for.
Originally created to address land ownership issues, today trusts are well suited to address significant taxation of income, complex family structures and a desire to protect vulnerable family members.
3 ways to create an insurance trust
An insurance trust is a tool that can allow a policy owner to control the timing and use of insurance proceeds following the death of the life insured. While commonly used for situations involving minor beneficiaries, using insurance proceeds to fund a testamentary trust can also be effective in many other situations. There are three methods by which an insurance trust can be created.
5 tax benefits of testamentary trusts
Testamentary trusts arise after someone dies and are set up for various reasons—one of which is their tax treatment.
How to use testamentary trusts
One effective way to use a trust structure to minimize tax for an estate and its beneficiaries is to income-split by using multiple trusts in a will.
Inter vivos trusts help minimize tax
Here’s how to use an inter vivos trust (a trust created while the donor is alive to hold property for the benefit of others – usually family members) for income splitting.
5 reasons trusts work for incapacity planning
Your client owns property and wants to protect it in case she becomes mentally incapable of managing it. She has two options: a trust or a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property (CPAP). If she’s over 65, either an alter-ego or joint-partner trust can be a better choice.