A Connecticut trust lawyer at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can provide you with invaluable help in determining if you need a trust. If you could benefit from including a trust as a part of your comprehensive estate plan, an experienced attorney can also assist you with creating a trust.
Trust creation is one of the most important parts of estate planning for many people, including individuals who want to address the special needs of heirs or beneficiaries, such as heirs who may have a spending problem or who may be disabled and need to protect assets to means-tested benefits. You cannot afford to make mistakes when creating a trust, so call Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates for help today so you can get the legal advice that you need in order to make trust law work for you.
Top Four Mistakes a Connecticut Trust Lawyer Helps Avoid
A lot could go wrong with creating a trust if you do not know the law and do not get help from an experienced attorney who can help you to create a legally-valid trust. Four of the key mistakes that an attorney can help you to avoid as you create a trust as part of your comprehensive estate plan include the following:
- Choosing the wrong kind of trust: There are lots of different kinds of trusts, with different rules for how trust assets are handled and with different kinds of benefits. You don’t want to make the wrong type of trust, only to find out you aren’t getting expected benefits. A special needs trust, for example, works very differently than a trust designed to avoid estate tax or a trust created for the purpose of choosing a backup trustee to manage trust assets in case something happens to you. An experienced attorney will help you to select the type of trust needed to fulfill your aims.
- Mistakes in your trust document: If you make errors during the trust creation process, it is possible your trust either won’t be considered legally valid or will not work in the way that you expected it to work. You should get help to follow all rules for trust creation so there is no question that you followed the law and made a trust that will achieve your goals.
- Failing to select the right trustee: Your trustee manages the trust assets and has the responsibility of trust administration. A trustee has a fiduciary duty so action can be taken against the trustee if the trustee doesn’t follow your instructions and act in the best interests of beneficiaries. Still, it can be stressful and difficult to deal with problems caused by a bad trustee. An experienced attorney can advise you on the role that a trustee will play and can help you to select a person who you can count on to do the right things when managing trust assets and following instructions set forth in the trust document.
- Not properly funding your trust: Actually creating your trust is only a first step. You have to fund the trust with the trust assets that you created the trust to protect. You need to know what rules apply to transferring assets into a trust; what the tax implications are for transferring assets to a trust; and what steps you have to take to officially transfer assets. An attorney can help with this entire process.
Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can assist you with avoiding these mistakes and other common errors that occur during trust creation. Trusts are one of the most powerful of the legal tools that you can use to make the most effective estate plan possible to protect your assets and your loved ones. It is up to you to use trusts to your advantage and our firm will help you to do just that.
Getting Help from A Connecticut Trust Lawyer
Often, mistakes in creating a trust are not discovered until correction of those errors is too late. You don’t want an inheritance to be in jeopardy, assets to be lost, or heirs or beneficiaries to face hardship because of the failure of a trust to provide expected protections. Let a Connecticut trust lawyer help to make certain that does not happen. Call Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates today to find out more about how our firm can help.
To discover some of the basics you need to know about trust creation, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to talk with an attorney for personalized advice. Call us today to get started.
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