Spendthrift Trusts

In a very surface manner planning your estate can seem like a rather straightforward and automatic exercise. We will all pass away someday and when we do we will have assets remaining that must be transferred to our family members. You simply need to consult with an estate planning attorney who can advise you on the proper way to state your wishes and arrange for your resources to get into the hands of your loved ones.

This is the first impression for many, but as you get older and the trigger event is not so far in the distance you may truly comprehend the enormity of what your permanent absence will mean to your family members. Your estate is going to be the last safety net that you can provide, and this can be a profound realization, especially when you have some loved ones who have consistently had to seek you out for financial help due to their inability to handle money well.

Family members with these proclivities provide you with a conundrum because they certainly need a financial cushion yet it is difficult to feel good about handing them a large sum of money all it once. One way that this situation can be addressed is through the creation of a spendthrift trust.

With these vehicles you fund the trust and empower the trustee to make the decisions; the beneficiary does not have direct access to the assets in the trust. You can stipulate how you would like funds from the trust to be distributed to the beneficiary, perhaps limiting distributions to a percentage of the income that the trust derives. Many people will also allow for situational or emergency distributions at the discretion of the trustee.

In addition to meting out funds intelligently, spendthrift trusts protect assets from creditors and other claimants. Should you feel as though a spendthrift trust is of interest to you, simply contact an experienced estate planning attorney to discuss the matter further.

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Anthony Moccia

Anthony Moccia is an attorney and partner at The Law Offices of Kobrick & Moccia.His practice focuses on estate planning and elder law.He is a member of the New York State and Nassau County Bar Associations.He frequently presents free seminars on wills & living trusts to area residents and his seminars are said to be “informative, entertaining & easy to understand.”

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