If you currently have an estate plan in place, chances are you intend to leave your assets directly to your children without protection until they reach a certain age, perhaps around 35 or later. Take a moment to review your estate plan and assess its provisions. And if you haven’t established an estate plan yet but have children or loved ones you care about, reach out to us today, and let’s address this essential matter together.
If your plan indeed distributes assets outright to your children, even in staged increments over time, such as at 25, half at 30, and the remainder at 35, you might be missing out on a significant opportunity to provide your children with a lasting and invaluable gift. This gift extends beyond mere monetary value and carries on to future generations. Once your children receive their inheritance outright, this unique opportunity is irrevocably lost.
Protect your children’s inheritance from potential lawsuits, divorce, and estate taxes. While you might assume that your children won’t face lawsuits, divorce can unexpectedly jeopardize inheritances. By safeguarding the money you leave to your children from future divorces, you provide invaluable protection, regardless of your relationship with their spouses. Furthermore, if your child encounters legal challenges, such as a lawsuit stemming from a car accident or a business transaction gone awry, the assets you leave them can remain shielded from any future claims or lawsuits.
The beauty of this approach is that your proactive planning could potentially save your family up to 40 cents on every dollar passed down from one generation to the next. With the current federal estate tax rate at 40%, every dollar beyond the estate tax exemption rate is taxed at this rate. Additionally, many states impose estate taxes, further diminishing your family’s financial legacy over time.
Leaving assets to your children protected within a trust, rather than outright, ensures that everything you’ve diligently built will remain within your family for generations to come, untouched by external forces.
But how will your children access the assets you leave them? The Asset Protection Trust offers a unique solution: not only are the assets protected, but your children also maintain control over them when deemed ready. As the trustee of the trust, your child can determine how to invest the assets and manage them according to their specific circumstances, ensuring both control and protection.
Even if you leave a modest sum, such as $10,000, it can prove invaluable when protected within an Asset Protection Trust. This small amount, when invested and nurtured, can potentially grow into millions for your loved ones over generations, safeguarding your family’s financial future for years to come.
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