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      • Glastonbury Elder Law Resources
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What if I Make the Wrong Kind of Trust?

August 15, 2017 //  by Jeffrey A. Nirenstein, Estate Planning Attorney

A Westport trust attorney helps you to ensure that you make the right kind of trust if a trust is a viable legal tool for you to use to accomplish your goals. Trusts are versatile legal tools and there are many different kinds of trusts that can be created. The fact that you can use trusts in so many different ways is a big benefit since trusts help you to accomplish many estate planning and asset protection goals. However, the versatility of trusts can also be a bit of a downside for some people who wish to use this type of legal tool, since many people are not sure exactly what kind of trust is right for them or how to create a trust that makes sense for their particular situation.Ā Westport Trust Attorney

Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can assist you in understanding the different trusts that can be created and can help you to create the right kind of trust to accomplish your aims for protecting your assets or your loved ones. We work with you to identify the goals you’re hoping to achieve and to make a legally-enforceable trust that provides you with the expected benefits and protections. It is important for you to work with a Westport trust attorney at our firm to get help with trust creation because you could face serious consequences if you make the wrong kind of trust.

What if You Make the Wrong Kind of Trust?

If you make the wrong kind of trust, you could lose all of the protections that the trust was supposed to provide. Unfortunately, this means that you could essentially lose all of your assets and could even lose your ability to leave a legacy.

Consider, for example, what would happen if you made a revocable living trust because you wanted a trust that would keep your assets safe from all different kinds of losses. The revocable living trust would successfully protect your assets from being lost due to mismanagement in case of incapacity, since the trust assets would immediately begin being managed by the successor trustee that you chose when you created the trust. As long as you selected a reliable person with the knowledge to manage trust assets, the wealth would be kept safe.

However, if you had planned for your revocable living trust to protect your assets in case you were incapacitated and had to get Medicaid to pay for your nursing home, you would potentially be at risk of losing the assets you were hoping to protect. Nursing home care is very costly, and it’s not covered by Medicare or most other private insurance in the vast majority of circumstances. If you have only two options: paying out of pocket or getting Medicaid to pay for your nursing home, it’s a big problem if you can’t qualify for Medicaid. Unfortunately, putting your assets into a revocable living trust will not help you to qualify for Medicaid since the assets in the trust will still count as resources that can disqualify you from means-tested benefits like Medicaid.

If you thought you were protected and you weren’t, you could find yourself in a situation where you have to spend your wealth on a nursing home and only after you have impoverished yourself and lost the chance to leave a legacy would you be able to get Medicaid coverage. If you had worked with a Westport trust attorney, your attorney could have helped you to select the right kind of trust that would actually have kept your wealth safe.

Getting Help from A Westport Trust Attorney

This is just one of many examples of a situation where making the wrong trust type could cause substantial financial loss. You need to make certain that you understand what different kinds of trusts can do and that you make the right trust for your particular goals. Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates is here to help.

A Westport trust attorney at our firm will guide you through every step of the trust creation process so you end up with a legally valid trust that provides all of the protections that you expected the trust to offer you. To find out more about the ways in which we can help with creating a trust, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to get personalized one-on-one advice today about the trust creation process and more. Call now to get your plans in place.

  • Author
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Jeffrey A. Nirenstein, Estate Planning Attorney
Jeffrey A. Nirenstein, Estate Planning Attorney
Estate Planning Attorney at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates, P.C.
Jeffrey A. Nirenstein is a founding partner and vice president of the law firm of Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates, P.C. He received his bachelor of arts degree in government from Clark University and his law degree from New York Law School.

Mr. Nirenstein is licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court. He is a member of the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations, and the Estate and Probate, Elder Law, Business Law and Real Estate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.
Jeffrey A. Nirenstein, Estate Planning Attorney
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Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates P.C.
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