A Trust is a legal arrangement through which one person, called the Trustee, holds assets for another person, the Beneficiary, in accordance with the Trust document. It can be funded during your lifetime or at your death. It can be revocable, which means you retain the right to change or terminate it, or it can be irrevocable, meaning that you cannot change it. A revocable trust funded during your lifetime is called a “living trust”.
Protecting Children: Trusts are often used to provide for minor children or adult children who are not yet able to manage money in order to provide for their needs without giving them complete control.
Incapacity: If you were worried about eventually being unable to manage your own affairs, you might want to use a Trust. In the event you became incapacitated, the Trustee (your spouse or child, for example) would manage the property in the Trust for your benefit in accordance with your wishes as specified in the Trust document.
Disabled Dependent: If you want to provide for a disabled child or sibling who is receiving or may need public benefits, such as SSI or Medicaid, a Supplemental Needs Trust can be used as part of your estate plan to protect that person’s inheritance and eligibility for benefits.
Avoiding Probate: Probate is a court supervised process for the transfer of your assets to your heirs and can result in delay, loss of privacy and expense. Trusts offer one way to avoid probate. Any assets in your Trust at your death pass to the beneficiaries you named in the Trust without going through probate.