There are multiple objectives to be taken into consideration when you are arranging for the eventual passing of your assets to your loved ones after your death. You have to do what is necessary to mitigate your estate tax exposure if you are in taxable territory, and you would also do well to consider the personal proclivities of the people on your inheritance list.
You can get assets from point A to point B in a number of different ways and it is your estate planning attorney’s job to make the appropriate recommendations given your unique situation.
Asset protection is a priority for many people, and one tool that is often utilized to this end is the generation-skipping trust. As the name implies you skip a generation when you name a beneficiary. The beneficiary need only be an individual who is 37.5 years younger than the grantor, so it doesn’t have to be your grandchildren as a matter of law but most people will name their grandchildren as the beneficiaries.
Your children don’t own the assets and they aren’t the beneficiaries so they cannot be targeted by claimants of any kind. Yet, they can benefit from the resources that you placed into the trust throughout their lives.
These trusts provide asset protection, but they are perhaps more commonly utilized as a way to mitigate estate tax exposure. Two generations benefit from the resources, but only one imposition of taxation takes place in the form of the generation-skipping transfer tax.
To learn more about asset protection strategies, simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with an experienced and savvy central New Jersey estate planning lawyer.
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