Three Lesser Known Reasons For Using a Trust
You may already know that setting up a trust can be an investment tool to help you save money, protect your assets, and ensure the easy transfer to your heirs. While trusts can avoid estate taxes and provide for you and your family in the case of your incapacitation, there are a few lesser-known ways to take advantage of a trust.
- Protect your assets from creditors and settlements. When you move assets into a trust, legally they don’t belong to you anymore and they will fall outside of the assets a court could force you to forfeit in the event of a judgement. While this is particularly helpful for business owners (even those with an incorporated business), protecting your assets can become a priority with a car crash or slip and fall in your home.
- Allow professional investors to be aggressive with your money. If you allow a group of professional investors access to a trust specifically for aggressive growth strategies, you might find they are generally more successful at managing your money. When the investors have to call you for every purchase, sale, and transfer, the investment process can be slow and difficult. Set up a trust and let the investors have their way. It might just pay off.
- Shift your incoming producing assets to members of your family in a lower tax bracket. If you have a spouse or children producing less money than you, you can move your assets into a trust and put the tax burden in their names. And yes, you can still maintain control of the assets.
None of these options with a trust is simple or easy. These creative uses of trusts require a few long hours with a good attorney to help you understand what you are getting — and what you are giving up.
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