Agriculture-involved LLCs and trusts require certain key steps that aren’t necessarily included in other LLCs and trusts. Omitting these keys steps can be fatal to the LLC or trust’s operation.
While some law firms do take these key steps for agriculture-involved LLCs and trusts, not all do. Don’t assume the steps are being taken unless your lawyer explicitly tells you that they are.
When reading about trusts, it makes sense to replace “trust” with “rulebook.” The trustee of a rulebook is the manager of assets that have been made subject to the rules in the trust. The owner of the assets subject to the rules in the trust is called the beneficiary. Trusts can have multiple beneficiaries or successor beneficiaries. For most trusts, there is no rule that the trustee and beneficiary must be different people.
Trust are like the new exercise wrist watch that Lee recently purchased; while it can perform many tasks, he’s likely to only use the watch for the right tasks, and the same can be said for trusts.
Many people have trusts that include tools that are being underutilized, and the trusts may also be used for tasks that would be best handled independently of the trust.
The biggest recognized benefit of a trust is the ability to have assets distributed to heirs without being administered through probate.
To help try to simplify legal ideas, they’re often generalized into broad categories to help make them easier to navigate. However, trusts shouldn’t be generalized when it comes to nursing home and long-term care planning.
Trusts are typically categorized as revocable and irrevocable. Revocable trusts can usually be amended, and completely irrevocable trusts cannot be either amended or revoked. As with many parts of the law, the title of the trust is much less important than the substance of the trust rules.
Trusts are set of rules related to assets. Trusts that can be changed are called revocable trusts, and trusts that cannot be changed are called irrevocable trusts.
Up until very recently, trusts were necessary to avoid or decrease estate taxes. Trusts help people avoid probate for the assets in the trust. Trusts can also set up rules on how assets are used by heirs. Finally, trusts are used to gradually distribute assets to people who might struggle if given a large sum of money at once or who may have creditors who would try to seize money if it were readily available.
While this hasn’t always been the perception about probate, the probate process has improved significantly as a result of simplification of federal estate law calculation formulas as well as administrative efficiencies that have been implemented by our local probate judges.
Trusts can be thought of as contracts. They allow people to impose rules on inheritances, minimizing or eliminating estate taxes, if necessary. The “trustee” of the trust can distribute the property owned.
Our neighbors can inspire and motivate us to consider investments, vacations and other improvements for our lives. In addition to discussing potential improvements and purchases, it’s great when neighbors discuss their estate planning experiences to encourage each other to properly identify their wishes for their surviving family and friends. But it’s important to keep in mind that while your neighbor may have what sounds like a great plan in place, your life may be different enough that another model would be a better choice for your estate plan. It’s important to discuss your estate planning with an attorney who can help you make sure you’ve made the right choices.
Trusts must be prepared by attorneys as they’re legal documents. While many trusts are created by local attorneys, others are created by attorneys from outside of our area who offered a “free steak dinner” to discuss the protection of the client’s assets. The generic statements of “safety” and “protection” that were often mentioned in relation to the preparation of trusts for the last several decades are often misunderstood.