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This prevents your property from being held up in probate court, which could prevent your partner from keeping the business running until the probate process is complete. Our experienced estate planning team is here to guide you every step of the way to ensure your assets are distributed according to your wishes. With proper estate planning, you can bypass most or all of the probate process. Clear estate planning can prevent misunderstandings and ensure your wishes are carried out smoothly.
When you structure your estate to bypass the probate process, you ease the administrative burden on your family and give them peace of mind during a difficult time. To avoid probate, it’s critical to transfer title to all your assets, now and in the future, to the trust. Indeed, for larger, more complicated estates, a living trust (also commonly called a "revocable" trust) generally is the most effective tool for avoiding probate.
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These accounts allow you to name a beneficiary who will automatically receive the funds upon your death. Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts are additional tools to avoid probate. By designating a beneficiary, these assets can be transferred directly to the named individual upon your passing, without the need for probate.
Probate may result in family disputes
By using probate-avoidance tools, for example, a living trust, more of your assets can go directly to your heirs instead of being eaten up by fees. Avoiding probate allows your loved ones to receive their inheritances much more quickly. The timeline can be extended even further if disputes arise among heirs or if the estate includes complex assets. Probate is a legal procedure in which a court establishes the validity of your will, determines the value of your estate, resolves creditors’ claims, provides for the payment of taxes and other debts, and transfers assets to your heir


As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. Many retirees are reluctant to spend down their assets, fearing they might live longer than expected or experience poor investment returns at the wrong time. A nationwide poll conducted in 2022 by Athene in partnership with Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine revealed that 75 percent of Americans ages 50 and older want more guaranteed income than they already have or expect to have for retirement. Outcomes will depend on investment returns, which may be less than the assumed 6.0 percent (3.4 percent adjusted for inflation


One good family legacy protection reason to place your assets into a trust is to protect family wealth without fearing for its future. We are here to answer your questions about trust-based asset protection strategies and advise you on planning options. You can also include a Discretionary Trust for each of your beneficiaries in your Revocable Living Trust to protect other assets. Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts An ILIT is a powerful tool for leveraging generation-skipping planning and protecting insurance proceeds for the benefit of your intended beneficiaries. Aside from this, bankruptcy laws allow trust assets to remain exposed to the claims of your creditors for ten years. Domestic Asset Protection Trusts The goals of a DAPT are to allow you to fund the trust with your own property, maintain some degree of interest in the trust as a beneficiary, and protect the trust’s assets from your creditor


An adult child who inherits wealth outright even becomes a target for frivolous claims. Even if kept separate, a court may consider inherited assets as part of someone’s overall financial picture when dividing marital assets or determining spousal support. Inheritances given to an adult child outright can become marital property if the assets are commingled with marital fund


In blended family situations, many parents want to provide for their children – and ensure that what they leave eventually passes to their grandchildren, not to their progeny’s future spouses, ex-spouses or unrelated heirs. Trust-Based Asset Protection Planning – The Bottom Line Although asset protection trusts must be irrevocable to safeguard the trust property, they still offer a great deal of flexibility and protection for your own property as well as property gifted to, or inherited by, your loved ones. Upon your death, your successor trustee can distribute the assets in the trust to your beneficiaries according to the terms in your trust document. If you’re concerned that your loved ones will be unable to manage an family legacy protection inheritance, you can name a trustee to provide professional investment management and administration. Assets held in a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust remain separate property and are far more insulated from divorce claims. Working with a state-licensed estate planning attorney can ensure you create a legally valid family trust.
What are the pros and cons of asset protection trusts?
They’re often used to help reduce exposure to potential future liabilities, whether personal, professional, or related to high-risk investments. Once assets are transferred to the trust, they are generally managed by a third-party trustee according to the terms laid out in the trust agreement. For families with complex holdings, high visibility, or professional liability exposure, asset protection can be an important consideration within a broader estate planning strateg