Estate planning in Washington isn’t quite complete without considering creating a trust. Your living or testimonial will is an estate tool that manages your public assets. However, you get to decide what’s public and what remains private. Having both a public and private directive planned out for your assets gives you tremendous flexibility. A revocable trust, not a will, is what gives a grantor the right to change directives, beneficiaries and even make withdrawals.
Acts as an asset shelter
Having a trust in your estate plan gives you something to shelter your assets with. “Sheltering,” in this use, means protection against creditors, taxes or frivolous spending. Trusts are intended to hedge chosen assets until those assets are passed onto beneficiaries. Due to this holding, the government allows trusts to remain tax-free or private until they’re transferred.
May be complex to write up
Your estate may contain diverse assets that require special instructions for both your trustee and beneficiaries. Since the trustee is who you assign to manage the trust and its contents, it’s imperative that you think deeply about what you need him or her to do. It may take more time than you initially want, and higher fees are often encountered when writing complex trusts. When drafting your trust, some of the basic things to consider include:
- Beneficiaries
- Asset classes
- Expiration dates
- Trustee orders
- Living directives
Estate planning in Washington
Time and patience are needed when developing an effective estate plan. Determining how your wealth is to be managed after your death can be done in the exact manner you hope. Without a trust to work over or alongside a will, however, you leave your estate subject to public courts. For as long as you can keep your assets private, public interests won’t influence your estate.