Right now, the estate tax exemption surpasses $10 million (doubled if a client is married), and although it is due to revert back to $5 million (adjusted for inflation) in 2026, many clients believe their revocable trusts have become obsolete. The truth is, a revocable trust offers many benefits a plain old last will and testament cannot. Understanding why it is important to have a revocable trust will position our clients and understand that Cynthia Lucksinger of Lucksinger Law is the trusted advisor who can spot the issues and then fix the problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#1 \u2013 Revocable Trusts Help You Faithfully Implement Your Investment and Distribution Strategies.<\/strong> When a client dies, custodians freeze accounts owned individually, which can complicate your asset management process, especially if you are tactical or are making periodic distributions. But a revocable trust with a co-trustee or successor trustee can be managed seamlessly, without the need to open another account and transfer assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #2 \u2013 Revocable Trusts Simplify Management of Illiquid Alternative Assets.<\/strong> This is especially true of real estate<\/mark>, private equity, and private debt. Normally it is much simpler to alert an issuer\/sponsor about a change in the acting trustee(s) than to retitle such accounts or property, especially since many sponsors fail to offer Transfer on Death provisions. And, if these investments are spread across multiple states, a revocable trust also avoids opening probate in each jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #3 \u2013 Revocable Trusts Reduce Paralysis or Rash Changes During Times of #4 \u2013 By Helping a Surviving Client Avoid Rash Changes, You Add Tax Alpha.<\/strong> While all the accounts and property in certain revocable trusts may enjoy a step-up in basis, in many cases those notionally owned by the surviving spouse will not. If the account or property\u2019s basis is low and a surviving spouse opts for a wholesale sell-off, it may lead to unnecessarily large capital gains taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #1 – Act as a Disability Plan.<\/strong> A revocable trust provides protection during three phases: what happens while you (trustmaker) is alive and well, what happens if the trustmaker is alive but not so well, and what happens after the trustmaker dies. It is during the second phase that a trust really outperforms a will \u2013 if the trustmaker becomes unable to manage their affairs, the trustee can step in and take care of things immediately and without court intervention. This keeps the trust property under control of a trusted family member or friend instead of a guardianship judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #2 – Keep Assets Outside of Probate.<\/strong> Probate is a time-consuming and costly court-supervised public process. A will-focused estate plan will land the client\u2019s family squarely in probate court. A trust-focused estate plan allows the trustee to step in and carry out your final wishes without any court involvement or oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #3 – Keep a Minor\u2019s Inheritance Outside of Guardianship.<\/strong> A minor who is named as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, IRA, or payable-on-death account will require a court-appointed guardian to manage the property until the minor turns 18. On the other hand, a trust for the minor can be created in a revocable trust and named as the beneficiary of a policy or account. This allows you to decide how long the trust will continue \u2013 age 25 or 30, or even the beneficiary\u2019s lifetime \u2013 not just until 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note<\/em>: Due to the additional tax considerations involving retirement accounts, #4 – Keep Final Wishes Private.<\/strong> A will filed for probate becomes a public court record, which means anyone, including predators and your competitors, can go down to the local probate court and read wills and other probate documents. On the other hand, a revocable trust is a private document that remains confidential during life and after death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having your accounts in revocable trusts make your life easier because:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As always, Cynthia Lucksinger is available to answer your questions about revocable trusts and meet with clients and prospects who are considering scraping theirs or whose will just is not going to provide the protections they need. If you have a trust, and you would like Lucksinger Law to review or any estate planning questions, let us know. We are available to meet in person or virtually, whichever you prefer. Thank you and be safe!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Right now, the estate tax exemption surpasses $10 million (doubled if a client is married), and although it is due to revert back to $5 million (adjusted for inflation) in 2026, many clients believe their revocable trusts have become obsolete. The truth is, a revocable trust offers many benefits a plain old last will and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucksingerlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Grief.<\/strong> A grieving surviving spouse often suffers from either decision-making paralysis or may opt for an entire investment strategy change. By holding the client\u2019s accounts and property in trust, we lighten the client\u2019s decision-making load during a stressful time, and help you avoid rash changes instigated by new account and transfer paperwork. Depending on the mix of accounts and property and the current market price, premature liquidation may produce a disappointing outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFour Things a Trust Can Do That a Will Cannot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
it is important that your you discuss your wishes with your tax advisor and
us, to ensure that the your current plan is not frustrated by unforeseen taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou Will Benefit From Accounts Held in Revocable Trusts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Let\u2019s Work Together<\/h2>\n\n\n\n