Oceanside Trusts Attorney
Protecting Your Assets And Money With A Trust
Trusts are a great way to protect your personal investments and protect your family in the future financially. While trusts can be revocable or irrevocable, an experienced Oceanside trusts attorney can determine which type of trust best meets your needs depends upon your individual circumstances. It can be complicated and time-consuming trying to figure out which trust works best for you.
At Century Trusts & Estate Planning, our attorney has over a decade of experience and knowledge. We dedicate ourselves to helping clients in Oceanside, CA and the San Diego area create detailed trusts of all kinds that will meet their needs now and in the future.
Call our Oceanside law office today to schedule a free consultation!
Why Do I Need an Oceanside Trusts Attorney in California?
The internet has allowed your everyday Joe to gain access to any information they need, including how to set up a trust. Technically speaking, you can set it up on your own. However, do you think your 20-minute knowledge of DIY trusts can compare to years of study and experience? Yes, you may save a buck or two from skipping the attorney. But that could backfire once your family spends a lot of money dealing with the consequences of a sloppy estate plan.
Attorney Ashby Sorensen from Century Trusts & Estate Planning is here to ensure your plans comply with the law while representing your last wishes. You may ensure that your loved ones receive the inheritance you intend for them with the help of our Oceanside trusts lawyer. In order to provide our clients peace of mind, we have assisted many of them in estate planning matters.
Here’s what you can expect when you retain the legal services of our estate planning lawyer:
Personalized legal services
As a smaller firm, we are client-focused. Our attorney takes a personal and professional approach toward every case we take. We will take the time to learn more about you and your family and explain how your trust will protect your personal and financial investments for the ones you love well into the future.
Asset protection
Imagine putting much effort into something just to see someone else take it away from you. That’s one harsh effect of dying without a will. You increase the likelihood that your intended beneficiary will receive your estate assets if you hire an Oceanside trusts attorney to review your estate planning documents.
Update your plan
Estate planning is a continuous process. You must alter your plan in response to certain life events, such as divorce or new children. Our lawyers are here to consider your situation, so your trust still reflects your desires.
A trusted person your loved ones can turn to
Upon your death, your family may be grieving, making it challenging to deal with the legal repercussions of the unfortunate events. Your family will have someone to deal with the legal side of things if you employ us, allowing them to focus on processing their feelings.
What is a Trust?
Despite popular belief, trust is not exclusive to wealthy people. Any person with assets can benefit from having a trust as part of their estate plan.
But what is trust? In legalese, trust is a fiduciary relationship. “Fiduciary” simply means that one person (or entity) can make decisions over another’s property. To better understand this, it’s best to learn about the people involved in this relationship.
- Trustor: Known by names like grantor or settlor, this person creates the trust and puts in the assets.
- Trustee: This is the person entrusted to manage the trust property. Their duties include safeguarding trust assets, making wise investments, and managing the trust administration process.
- Beneficiary: This is the entity (person, group, organization, pet) that benefits from the trust property.
Don’t procrastinate! Contact our Oceanside estate planning lawyer to help you build your trust today.
Why Should I Set Up A Trust in California?
Have you ever wondered why wealthy people set up trusts? Let’s compare trusts to wills so you can see what the benefits are.
Avoid Probate
This may be one of the biggest reasons for setting up a trust. When a person passes away, probate happens. This process is the administration of your estate, including the verification of your will and your named executor. Even the simplest probate procedures take up a lot of time and money, delaying when your beneficiaries receive their inheritance.
It’s much worse when other people get involved. Some may claim that they were accidentally excluded from the will or that they are entitled to a portion of your property. Probate litigation increases the costs and the time of the probate, which can be stressful for your grieving family.
While wills can improve the probate process, they do not avoid it. A trust skips the probate process to ensure that your wishes are carried out and that your beneficiaries receive what you intended.
Flexibility and Specificity
While wills are helpful in telling the court of your last wishes, the probate court still decides whether it’s valid enough to follow. However, a trust lets you handle your assets as you wish. A revocable trust is flexible enough to change it to account for new events in your life, such as a new grandchild or a new charity.
If you want any specific accommodations, a trust can get it done for you! For example, your Oceanside trusts attorney can set it up so that your beneficiaries can receive their share when they reach a certain age or only for a specific purpose, such as college tuition.
Tax Benefits
There are ways to set up your trust to avoid losing money from paying taxes. If sheltering your assets from estate taxes is your goal, then a trust may be your estate planning tool!
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to create trust. These aren’t just reserved for the rich and famous. Anyone, even you, can set up a trust! Call our Oceanside trusts attorney today for legal advice on your trust concerns.
What are the Different Types of Trusts in California?
Our Oceanside-based estate planning firm has experience working with several types of trusts that, include:
- A revocable and irrevocable trust
- Asset protection trust
- Charitable trust
- Constructive trust
- Special needs trust
- Spendthrift trust
- Tax bypass trust
Revocable and Irrevocable Trust
A revocable and irrevocable trust primarily vary in that the former can be altered at any moment (revoked, amended, destroyed, you name it). These kinds of trusts are also frequently referred to as revocable living trusts or living trusts.
Revocable Trust
- You can administer the trust alone; appointing a third party as a trustee is unnecessary.
- This kind of trust does not protect assets from creditors.
- Your social security number can be used to record income from trust assets without a separate tax ID or EIN being required.
Irrevocable Trust
- They are used for various things, including lowering estate taxes, utilizing the annual gift tax exemption through a gifting trust, and preserving government benefits for children receiving government assistance (SSI, medicare) through special needs trusts.
- Trusts that cannot be changed are immune from creditors.
- Because irrevocable trusts are subject to extremely high tax rates, it is crucial for the trustee to pay trust income to the beneficiary of an irrevocable trust rather than allowing it to accrue and trigger a high tax rate.
Asset Protection Trust
By surrendering ownership of their assets, people can protect their holdings. When a revocable living trust becomes irrevocable, this can happen with “usual” estate planning (for example, when the person who set up the trust passes away or some other triggering event occurs). In this approach, as long as the beneficiaries of your revocable living trust (often your children) do not have direct, unrestricted access to the trust assets, they may enjoy asset protection.
Spendthrift, support, and discretionary trusts are the three most typical types of third-party asset protection trusts permitted under California law.
- Spendthrift Trusts
- Support Trusts
- Discretionary Trusts
Charitable Trust
Sometimes people want to donate their riches to a charity out of altruistic motives. The California legislation supports charitable trusts, often known as public trusts, by giving them privileges like a beneficial tax position.
If you are looking into donating your assets to a chosen charity when you become incapable or pass away, seek the legal advice of an Oceanside trusts attorney as soon as possible.
Constructive Trust
A trust enables a third party to hold or manage assets on the beneficiary’s behalf. Typically, someone who wants to leave property to an heir creates a trust. A constructive trust, on the other hand, isn’t a real trust because the courts, not a person, establish it.
Instead, it is a method of redressing “unjust enrichment,” which might result from improper influence, fraud, or faulty trust or will. A constructive trust can also return the affected property to its rightful owner if a trustee violates its fiduciary duty by abusing a regular trust.
Special Needs Trust
Planning for the future of a child with impairments is a parent’s responsibility. You can provide for your child’s daily needs while preserving their eligibility for federal and state benefits through appropriate estate planning and establishing a special needs trust.
We have a great deal of experience using special needs trusts for these purposes at Century Trusts & Estate Planning. Our Oceanside trusts lawyers may examine your circumstances and review how our company can assist you in making arrangements for your child’s future needs during a free consultation.
Tax Bypass Trust
A tax bypass trust, also known as an exemption or A/B trust, aims to reduce or completely eliminate an estate’s tax liability for a married couple. It is often set up as an irrevocable trust, so it cannot be changed or revoked without the recipient’s approval. It houses the first spouse’s belongings. The trust’s assets, however, are still accessible to the surviving spouse. For instance, they could pay for medical expenses using the trust’s principal and income.
There are many more niche trusts that can serve your purposes. You can ask an Oceanside trusts attorney in San Diego to help you with your estate planning needs! Contact our California law office to schedule a consultation with an Oceanside trusts attorney.
Call an Oceanside Trusts Attorney in California Today!
Protecting You, Your Family & The Community
Century Trusts & Estate Planning is proud to work with the Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad. We do this because we understand what it means to live and work in our community. Giving back to the community we work and live in is vital to building trust and succeeding. Also, we know how important it is to make sure the ones you love receive the care they require.
Trust that we can help protect your family. Call our California estate planning lawyer to set up your free consultation, or email us your questions and concerns.
