What is a Medicaid trust?

While modern medicine provides frequent breakthroughs for disabled patients, a long-term disability can be very costly for an estate. In fact, many modern couples may spend down their entire estate paying for medical care during a long-term disability. A Medicaid trust or spend down trust is a form of trust designed to preserve the trustor’s assets in anticipation of a possible long-term disability.

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Special Needs Trusts Overview

To qualify for most government programs, there are strict limits on the special needs individual’s income and assets. Inherited assets are counted when looking at what assets are available to a special needs beneficiary. Therefore, the family members of a special needs individual should consider passing wealth to that person through a trust.

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What is a special trust?

A special trust requires the trustee to actively execute the settlor’s instructions. These actions to execute a special trust can include selling the trust property and using the proceeds to pay off debts or investing cash that is part of the trust in a particular manner.

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What is a unit trust?

Unit trusts are created with both wealth management and estate planning in mind. A unit trust is not actually a “trust” at all, but rather a form of mutual fund. A unit trust differs from a regular trust in that it’s completely unmanaged and not handled by attorneys, but are sold by brokers.

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What is a bypass trust?

A bypass trust is a trust designed to contain property that bypasses the surviving spouse’s estate thereby avoiding inclusion in that later estate. Bypass trusts are especially useful for spouses with large estates who are eventually planning to leave the remainder of their estate to children because it reduces the amount of estate taxes owed and aids in avoiding probate court.

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Administering a Living Trust

The simple answer to this question is: very carefully. As trustee/administrator to a living trust, you are considered liable for any substantial damage to the trust. Ideally, the grantor kept a trust portfolio while he was alive that can be used to ensure a smooth transition. If not, you’ll have to begin the same way someone executing a will begins.

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Resulting Trusts

It’s always the goal of the court to follow the wishes of the deceased person, so resulting trusts are a very common occurrence. The first, and most common way a resulting trust occurs is when a trustor attempts to create a living trust without drafting the proper documents or noting the trust in the will.

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