All posts tagged: testamentary trust

Testamentary Trusts – Trusts When You Can’t Be There

Published by

More trusts?  Yes, but only a little bit more.  So far, we’ve discussed only trusts that can be established during the grantor’s lifetime.  This entry concerns trusts that only come into existence once the grantor is deceased. A testamentary trust is a trust created by a person’s will.  No will, no testamentary trust.  The person creating it is the testator, not the grantor.  A grantor sets up a trust during his or her lifetime.  Here, where the trust is established after death, it is established by a person who executed a will – a testator.  To do, the testator’s intent to set up the trust must be clear in the testator’s will.  This is important –  if the intent to create a trust or to grant powers to a trustee in the will is not clear, then there will be no trust. Testamentary trusts can be used for tax purposes, or they can be used for other purposes, such as making a gift to someone under a will who is under some legal incapacity, e.g.: …

Trust Me, Trust You – Not Just for Rich Uncles and Railroad Barons Anymore

Published by

The most basic tool for estate planning is the will.  But what about doing more than just making sure that the right people get the right stuff after a person passes away?  Scratch the surface, and several basic questions loom: How to minimize taxes?  How to protect a legacy?  How to protect an estate from creditors?  How to make gifts last?  How to protect beneficiaries from themselves? There is any number of ways to answer those questions, but let’s start with an unlikely one – trusts. Fundamentally, a trust is where one person holds legal title to property or assets for the benefit of another person.  Trusts came to America from equity courts in England where they had developed in the Middle Ages when wealthy benefactors would hold property on behalf of churchmen bound by vows of poverty. Trusts serve two essential functions in estate planning.  First, a trust allows someone to achieve creditor protection and tax deferral during his or her lifetime. Second, it allows a person to pass on that same protection and …