Section 1: Establish Your Estate Plan Foundation
A trust is a legal arrangement where one person (the trustee) manages money or property for someone else (the beneficiary).
You (as the settlor, the person who creates the trust) decide the rules for how and when the assets should be used.
Trusts are a useful way to keep some control over how your assets are handled, even while permitting your beneficiaries from benefiting from them.
There are 2 main types of trusts:
Living trusts (inter-vivos): Set up while you're still alive, these trusts let you manage and distribute your assets during your lifetime and can help avoid probate fees when you pass away
Testamentary trusts: Created in your will and are created after you pass away
You can consider a trust for:
Providing for a spouse or children
Supporting someone with special needs
Managing assets for a spendthrift beneficiary
Reducing probate fees and potentially capital gains taxes
Maintaining privacy (unlike wills, trusts aren't public)
