If chosen wisely, with the help of an experienced estate planning attorney, a trust can be a great chance to minimize taxes on your estate.
Forbes’ recent article entitled “Estate Planning Opportunities: How Trusts Can Minimize Taxes On Your Legacy,” explains that trusts are legal arrangements that benefit causes or people you choose down the line. They vary in how they are activated and accessed, according to these basic types.
If you have concerns about taxes, consider an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT). This is used to manage life insurance for your beneficiaries, while offering you insulation from your creditors and reductions on your taxable estate. A life insurance policy’s “death benefit” is usually protected from estate tax already, but even policy premiums can be structured as tax-free gifts inside the ILIT.
There’s also the Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) can help married couples achieve similar tax reductions while helping them maintain indirect access to the cash values in each other’s life insurance policies. This is essentially an ILIT with added access during the spouse’s lifetime for health, education, maintenance, support, and under any other specified terms for withdrawal.
When properly structured, assets belonging to an Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT) will also transfer to your beneficiaries free of estate tax.
With the help of an experienced estate planning attorney, you can look at the best opportunities for you to protect your assets from unnecessary charges, leaving behind as much of your legacy as possible. Book a call with one of our staff members to discuss trust planning. We have offices located in Bassett, Danville, and Lynchburg to better serve you!
Reference: Forbes (May 23, 2022) “Estate Planning Opportunities: How Trusts Can Minimize Taxes On Your Legacy”
Suggested Key Terms: Estate Planning Lawyer, Probate Court, Inheritance, Asset Protection, Grantor Trust, Non-Grantor Trust, Revocable Living Trust, Irrevocable Trust, Testamentary Trust, Probate Attorney, Estate Tax, Life Insurance, Tax Planning, Financial Planning, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT), Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT), Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT)
810 Main Street, (3rd Floor of the Truist Building)
Lynchburg, Virginia 24504
109 Bridge Street, Suite 104 (First floor of the Spectrum Medical Building)
Danville, Virginia 24541
1460 Fairystone Park Hwy,
Bassett, Virginia 24055