When someone adds a trust to their estate, they may have a specific estate planning goal in mind. They may want to protect certain property from a creditor’s claims or prevent their loved ones from misusing an inheritance. They may even make to pave the way for an easier Medicaid application process when they grow older.
Whatever estate goals you may have, the specific terms you said in your trust can help you achieve them. You can provide very clear instructions about the rules for accessing or distributing trust assets.
Whether you want to protect certain property or provide for family members, funding the trust is crucial. The assets you transfer to the trust won’t pass through probate and will be subject to the oversight and management of the trustee that you appoint. How do you find your trust?
Using assets with substantial value
There are many assets that you can hold in a trust, ranging from bank accounts to real estate. If there are specific assets that you don’t want creditors to make claims against as you age or after you die, you may want to include those in your trust.
Your most valuable assets, like retirement savings or the title for your home, may be what you want to use to fund the trust. If your goal is to protect those assets against creditor claims, moving them into a trust while you are still alive could be the best approach. If you want to manage how your loved ones use those assets later, you could arrange for them to transfer into the trust when you die.
Making the trust your insurance beneficiary
If you don’t have any personal property with substantial value or if you don’t want that property to fund the trust, your life insurance policy could be the answer. The proceeds from your life insurance policy could go toward the trust after you die, which will properly fun to the trust and reduce the risk of your loved ones misusing those insurance proceeds.
Thinking carefully about your goals and your financial situation can help you decide the best way to fund a trust that you create as part of your Nevada estate plan.