As you plan for your family’s future in Illinois, you may benefit from setting up a trust. There are several advantages to this form of estate planning, one of which could be avoiding probate. However, according to Forbes, the greatest advantage to having a trust rather than simply a will is the freedom to control the fate of your estate while you are living and alter it when you see fit. There are various types of trusts, depending on your situation, and you could tailor your estate to fit your family’s specific needs. We at Zapolis & Associates, P.C. help our clients through the estate planning process.
You may wish to set up a trust fund (or a combination of multiple funds) to mitigate the tax burden on your estate. This should result in more money for your beneficiaries. For example, a credit shelter trust moves a portion of your estate into the trust when either you or your spouse dies. Upon the death of the other spouse, your beneficiaries receive the money without a tax penalty. A small percentage of the portion that was not placed into the CST will be taxed, but the taxable amount would be significantly less than if you had not set up the trust at all.
Other trusts allow you to decide not only who will receive your estate, but when and how. You may choose to dole out an inheritance to your heirs in small portions to prevent them from spending it all too quickly, or you could set up a fund for your grandchildren. In this case, your children could still receive the interest from the assets in the trust, but the bulk of the estate could go to your grandchildren. More information about preparing your estate for the future is available on our webpage.