Knowledgeable Personal Asset Trust℠  Lawyers Assisting Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts

A Personal Asset Trust℠ is a special kind of trust derived directly from your living trust document. It is designed to help you put certain protections in place for your money once it gets passed on to your beneficiaries. While most living trusts are designed to allow assets to be transferred to beneficiaries immediately or shortly after your death, such a transfer can prove to be a risky move and result in the loss of some or all the inheritance, depending on the particular life conditions of each person who is receiving your assets.

In other words, if a beneficiary is receiving government benefits and suddenly inherits assets from your trust, he or she may lose those benefits, which leaves them in an unfavorable situation. Likewise, if the person receiving the inheritance is going through some issues such as drug or alcohol abuse, gambling, or any other situation in which they are unable or unlikely to preserve the wealth you pass on to them, a simple living trust may put the entirety of your wealth in jeopardy if handed off to a beneficiary in those situations.

A Personal Asset Trust℠ is a different way of passing on your wealth but still having control over who, where, and how you wish for funds and assets to be spent. You can stipulate conditions and keep the family money in the family. Furthermore, you can help insulate and protect your inheritance from creditors and lawsuits that your beneficiaries may be subject to once they receive the money.

How Can a Personal Asset Trust℠ Trust Help My Beneficiaries?

The Personal Asset Trust℠ is designed to enable you to protect your life savings for your loved ones. Instead of receiving their inheritance directly, you are able to create trusts for each beneficiary and transfer the assets to the trust. Your loved ones can have access to the trust as deemed appropriate by the rules you have defined, but they will not lose government benefits or be at risk of losing everything due to life events such as a divorce or debt collection by creditors.

Besides the ability of shielding your assets from third parties, a Personal Asset Trust℠ also allows you to decide who will be in charge of assets and how the money will be spent. This type of sub-trust allows your beneficiaries to have all the benefits without the liabilities that ownership may bring.

Why Should I Consider Reviewing or Updating My Living Trust?

A properly drafted living trust that includes a Personal Asset Trust℠ is a way of increasing the likelihood that your assets and wealth will be protected from lawsuits, divorces, creditors, and family members who may not have the skills or capability to handle your wealth properly at the moment they are due to receive it.

There are constantly updates and new laws, and a trust set up years ago simply to help family members save time and money by staying out of probate may or may not work the way you intended when the time comes. A Personal Asset Trust℠ is a choice you can make to add more flexibility and protection to your living trust. If you have not reviewed or updated your trust in many years, you should consider speaking to a qualified estate planning attorney who offers a Personal Asset Trust℠ option to ensure your trust will work the way you intend.

Is a Personal Asset Trust℠ Right For Me?

A Personal Asset Trust℠ is based on years of research and development in the field of asset protection law. It gives you the power to shield your wealth by protecting it for your beneficiaries in case they are hit with lawsuits, divorce, or simply lack the skills to manage your money in a way that would be deemed safe and responsible.

Not every estate planning attorney offers this option to customers looking to create or update their living trusts. At the Law Offices of Boyd & Boyd, we took the time to extensively study it and prepared an amendment that can add the Personal Asset Trust℠ to your current living trust at a fraction of the cost necessary to set a stand-alone Asset Protection Trust. Contact us today at (508) 775-7800 to speak to one of our planning attorneys and decide if adding a Personal Asset Trust℠ is the right choice for you.