Miss Daisy has been after me about some inheritance planning, spoke to a lawyer and he was pushing for an irrevocable trust, I get the advantages, but I'm leery of giving up control, plus it was expensive...A revocable trust you still have control, but the disadvantage is less protection from creditors, (nursing homes)
There are some other options but all come with some disadvantages....so, I figured the braintrust here must have some experience, success stories, or nightmares, lol

Any ideas warmly welcomed...

I'm in the same boat.

Similar here too. Looking at a trust for the real estate that the kids can borrow on the equity and grow it or sell to them at a give away price to avoid inheritance tax. Many times it's hard to find two nickles to rub together but the properties are a decent amount. Personal items like guns and swords I will just say who gets first choice in what catagories. Some pieces I would like to see stay for furure generations, the guns I made for instance where aas they can sell the others. I got hit with an extra tax load this year because of some money from my late father and that sucks

I was the Administrator for my parent’s revocable trusts as my wife was for her parents, no creditors were involved so all was very straight forward when administrating the trusts at deaths. My wife & I each have revocable trusts and no creditors, very cut & dried. I’ve made some changes over the years to my trust that I considered important to me so I appreciate the ability to do as I please without limitations. As far as $$$ are concerned, nobody gets out of this life free!!!

Don't do the irrevocable trust. You lose control forever. Id recommend a revokeable trust as long as both of you are alive. If no heir after one of you dies then move it to a life estate in an irrevocable trust.

Bought 200 acres from a trust that was inherited by 4 kids. One kid loved the place and his kids did also, other 3 kids forced a sale, I got a great deal on it.

Worked great for me but in a lot of ways it seems like your just putting off hard decisions and forcing the kids to figure it out.

Just finished mine, was a process of thought about things I did not want to go through but finally made it

Ours is a revocable trust but can be changed if needed after one of us pass's, we don't expect this to happen
but have made it rather difficult to do as well.

The tax's on death are not what people think any more, so many rules have been changed and the tax limit
for most regular folks is set so high that many now have no worries about being taxed on your personal
amounts

Yes it cost's some cash and you do have some changes in your holdings that have to changed as well

As to giving or leaving things to others, actually should be given and taken care of way before death of either
spouse, and things should be actively be talked about the trust when it's done, so they know exactly how things
are written in it.

We gave a copy to both our son's and have also sat down before hand as well as afterwards with questions
and answers given, because we did not want any hassles between them about things, which usually isn't
brought up by family but by spouse's we found out from our attorney who helped us with ours

I think you may be misinformed a bit about any protections or maybe on some subjects needing protection
trusts are pretty difficult to attack when done correctly

When it comes to care facilities and medical help, there is always a chance of a reach on the trust if the cost of
care reaches past what has been seen as appropriate in the trust, one can actually list how far care can be taken
and also your trustee's decisions regarding such, always best to be open with family what your wishes are if
taken ill or any thing heavy such as dementia or other brain problems develop, there are also places
in the trust that notes these decisions and how to make them and actually a order of problem before they need to be made

You can actually state exactly what your wishes are to be done and when the time arises to make them as well as who

Trusts make is seem you have less control that you think simply because everything is worded out, however they
still can be changed after recorded and many do this when others pass on and they re-marry, as well
as those not whishing to be involved with them any longer.

As said death tax has changed and wot hit average people its in the millions now before it kicks in. .

That said if you have realstate and know the kids won't want it folks often sell it to save the kids the hassle. This is a mistake. They will have to pay the capital gains tax on the amount above what they paid years ago reducing the amount left for whom they want to leave it to.

When they inherited the property the government ses it value as what it was on the day they got possession of it not what dad or grandpa paid back in 1960. So thay can sell it for that amount and not have to pay capital gains tax on the appreciated amount like you will if you sell it to save them the hassle.


My farm is in a trust it avoids probate and adds another layer making my assets harder to find. If you have assets your a target if you look poor there is no reason to go after you for anything and not worth the effort.

No. A trust makes transfer of things after death easier and with little or no cost to those that receive the things. There's no probate and less hassles.

I hope I’m not considered to be hi-jacking this thread but I think it’s pertinent to the thread. The very 1st thing I learned as a trust Administrator was that as soon as death has been reported, a new tax number is given to the trust. At that point, the administrator has to deal with 2 income tax returns, one for the trust and one for the deceased!

I did deed transfers and recording of deeds for a company for 10 years (2011 to 2021). Deeds put into a trust were often a nightmare. Every state is different but many make it impossible. If both trustees are deceased it can cost thousands to transfer ownership if it can be done at all. I had several where the trustees were deceased and had not been married (sometimes they were sisters or cousins or unmarried lovers) and you could just not transfer ownership in the property to someone else. I would never consider putting a property I owned into a trust.

You hit the nail on the head. Every state has different rules.

Wait a minute! Yes, every State can be and is different I'm sure BUT the Trustee is the administrator of a deceased person’s trust!!! It’s the trustee that does the slicing & dicing as per the specific directions within the trust which is considered “tangible property”, period! My folks, my wife’s folks and our house/property was/is in a trust. The trustee, as per the trust’s directions, dispositions(sells) or distributes the tangible property of the estate as per the trustees duties as directed within the trust! That is the straight, simple facts, been there, done that as a trustee within the State of Michigan!

Many are going with Family Endowment Funds. This maybe something you want to ask about and research. There are three ways the Endowment can be managed and each ways has a set way and time frame how things can be changed.