If
You Have Children, You Should Get a Trust!
For most of us, our children are our most precious
“possessions”. At Peace Talks Mediation, we feel the exact same way and we make
their well being the focus of our divorce mediation. However, while we may
believe that we place our children’s interests as our highest priority, many of
us have not taken the necessary steps to protect and provide for them in the
event that we come to an untimely demise. Often we procrastinate believing that
estate planning is only for the rich or the elderly. Or perhaps, we wishfully
think that our extended family will jump in and take care of our children in
case we die. At Peace Talks mediation, we encourage you to do the responsible
thing: Get a Trust!
Financial planning is an essential part of protecting your
children and creating a family trust is an excellent vehicle to accomplish
this.A trust, which is a formal legal document, achieves many important things:
It manages your money, and distributes it for you upon your death. It puts
conditions on how and when your assets are distributed after you die; it can
also reduce your estate and gift taxes. It enables your assets to be
distributed efficiently without the cost, delay, and publicity of the probate
court. It may also insulate your assets from creditors and lawsuits. Additionally,
you are able to name a successor trustee who will manage your trust after you
die, and is also empowered to do so if you become disabled. At Peace Talks’
divorce mediation, our financial experts can explain this process in detail to
you.
This is the key fact: the truth is that all parents of young
children, regardless of their net worth, need comprehensive estate planning.
The reason is that if you don’t have an estate plan, you forfeit the
opportunity to make many important decisions that you are in the best position
to make. In Peace Talks’ opinion, this is the primary reason: You are able to
choose a guardian for your minor children. If your children lost both you and
your spouse in a tragic accident, would you trust a complete stranger to choose
a guardian for them? We at Peace Talks mediation don’t believe you would. But
that’s exactly what can happen if you don’t take the time to designate a
guardian for your minor children. If you die intestate (without a will or
trust), without having designated a guardian, you leave that important decision
in the hands of a judge who doesn’t know you or your children. Peace Talks
believes that would be a big mistake.
Next, you are able to choose the person who will manage the
assets that you will leave for you children. With a trust in place, you can
have some say in how your children’s money is spent. Setting up a trust for
your children allows you to delay when they get control of assets you leave
behind, or even stagger the distribution over a number of years. Otherwise,
your children could receive their share of assets at 18 years of age, when they
might not have the maturity to manage it.
Without a trust, you leave the decision making to a judge
who doesn’t know anything about your financial values and will be required to
appoint a guardian of your estate to oversee its management. As we urge at
Peace Talks divorce mediation, all this can be avoided by proper advance estate
planning. Remember these are important issues for your family. Since trusts are
flexible, varied and complex with each type having its advantages and
disadvantages, you should discuss your desires and goals thoroughly with your
estate-planning attorney before setting one up.
Call us at Peace Talks divorce mediation for further information.
(310) 301-2100.
