Articles Posted in Irrevocable Trust

Summary

A Florida revocable trust can be a helpful estate planning tool. It retains flexibility while the grantor is alive and has capacity and allows for them to name a trustee who will handle their affairs if they were to loose capacity or when they die and helps avoid probate in Florida. The technique is not for everyone though and you should discuss the various Florida estate planning options of a will to pass on your property, a revocable trust and in large estates that would be subject to estate taxes possibly additional irrevocable trusts and other estate planning techniques would also be appropriate. With full knowledge of your specific facts and what you would like to do with your property after meeting with a trust attorney they can help and offer advice regarding your situation and which documents would be most appropriate for you.

Testamentary Trusts

A testamentary trust in Florida is formed through a provision in a will and does not come into existence until a person dies.
It does not help if someone becomes incapacitated although hopefully that person will have a power of attorney to handle their financial affairs otherwise a guardianship would likely be required. A testamentary trust does not avoid Florida probate. It would need to go through probate and after all costs and delay of probate had been wrapped up and all valid creditor claims had been paid then the trust could be funded and operate.

5. How do you name a trust?

Revocable Trusts

A revocable trust usually includes the following information:

For an understanding of Estate Planning you might read an article for some background. Mark A. Cline has written an article about the value of trusts for Megayacht news online where he talks about Trusts not only being for wealthy individuals. I am not sure any people who are not wealthy will be reading Megayacht news, but thought that others might find the article interesting.

He does a good job of explaining the various terms of trusts like the grantor, beneficiary, and trustee. In addition, he makes the point that ” these documents (trusts) protect your assets and carry out your wishes in the event that you cannot.” Here is the link to the article
For those who like this article you may also want to read his article on Estate Planning (wills, trusts, or both)

A firm in Dallas has created a program to help widows deal with financial planning. They state that the average age of a widow in America is 56 and that offen estate planning was not created to provide for widows as they need. They do a preliminary evaluation and work on restructuring estates to provide the necessary cash flow to last for the remainder of the spouses’ lives. See the above link for more details. They may be able to help or refer you to someone in your area who can provide similar services.

Florida law specifically authorizes Spendthrift provisions in a revocable living trust or irrevocable trust. A spendthrift clause in a trust prohibits transfers of a beneficiary’s interest in the trust. In some jurisdictions, all income interests are automatically given limited spendthrift protection meaning that they cannot be transferred by a beneficiary or reached by his creditors unless a provision is inserted in the trust document allowing such transfers. If there is no provision allowing the beneficiary to transfer his interest, it can be reached: by a creditor that furnished necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, or medicine; in suits to enforce child support or alimony; to collect a federal tax lien; to the extent of income beyond that reasonably needed by the beneficiary for support and education; and by creditors who have a judgment against the beneficiary and can levy upon 10 percent of the income due. There is no spendthrift protection where the trustor is also the beneficiary.